Stirring the Pot

[chrisboyle]

So when your wort is boiling, how often should it be stirred to prevent burning? I brewed my first batch ever and it was an Irish Red. Sat in the primary for a week then the secondary for a week and a week and a half in the bottle. In much anticipation I opened up a bottle last night. Wasn't that foamy, probably needs more time to bottle condition, and it had a slight burnt taste to it. Any suggestions?

 

[Captain Damage]

You can stir the pot as often as you want, but most of us don't need to. If you're using extract, mix in the extract thoroughly with the heat off. If you're doing a partial boil, try to increase the volume of your boil - foam control, such as FermcapS, will help you get closer to the top of your kettle without boilovers. If your recipe included very dark caramel malts, like Special B, or a lot of black patent malt (unlikely in an Irish red), the burnt flavor could just be part of the profile of that recipe.

 

[unionrdr]

I add LME's at flame out to keep colors lighter & flavors cleaner. Unless I use all LME,then I use about 2lbs in the partial boil,the remainder at flame out. Always add LME off the heat source & stir it in completely to prevent it's sinking to the bottom & burning on the heat.

 

[BigFloyd]

When adding malt extract, you'll want to turn the fire off until you've had a chance to stir the heck out of it. LME is pretty thick and it takes a bit of time and effort to get it all mixed in.

If you have a powerful burner, moderate the flame. Some can scorch the wort at the bottom of the pot even if you've mixed well, especially if you have a pot with a thin bottom. It also doesn't hurt to stir it every once in a while during the boil.

 

[JimRausch]

To answer your question: I stir every 10 minutes or so. More to control the foam and prevent boilover. Back when I was cooking on the electric stove I was more worried about scorching than I am with a propane burner. I do LOVE my burner.....

 

[unionrdr]

Yeah,I brew on an electric stove myself,but with aftermarket burners from amazon. It'll go from mash temp to boil in about 18 minutes on high. I stir often enough to keep the wort moving,even a little. I can still get a light ring on the bottom in the shape of the burners. And I do PM with plain DME.

 

[chrisboyle]

I brewed this one an electric stove as well. Took it off the heat to add the LME and stirred like crazy to completely dissolve it. I did take quite a while to reach a full boil too on my stove. Next time I'll be brewing outside on my new propane burner as the wife banned me from the kitchen.

I hope that as it ages in the bottle it will mellow out. Maybe on my plastic bucket primary I should've soaked it over night in oxyclean.

 

[flars]

I brewed this one an electric stove as well. Took it off the heat to add the LME and stirred like crazy to completely dissolve it. I did take quite a while to reach a full boil too on my stove. Next time I'll be brewing outside on my new propane burner as the wife banned me from the kitchen.

I hope that as it ages in the bottle it will mellow out. Maybe on my plastic bucket primary I should've soaked it over night in oxyclean.

I do partial boils on the electric stove. I boil with the lid partially on so a rolling boil is maintained at medium high heat.
I stir about every 5 minutes and wipe the condensation from the underside of the lid. Stir and wipe to prevent boil overs and eliminate DMS precursors from dripping back into the pot.
Never had scorching. Some fine grain particles would stick to the bottom, but not burn.

My Irish Reds primary for three to four weeks. Amount of time is determined by when they clear. I don't use a secondary for them.

Happy Brewing New Year.

 

[GASoline71]

I don't stir at all during the boil... just let it boil away.

When I was doing extract brew... I would turn off the flame and stir in the extract until it was completley dissolved in the wort. Then flame back on, and back to no stirring.

Gary