carmalising a wort

[mirsultankhan]

How do you caramelize a wort and in what quantities say for a 23 litre batch?

 

[Covrich]

Adding Caramalt/ crystal to your grain bill, you could add up to say 500 grams and see how that goes?

 

[MyQul]

I'm sure I read a thread about doing this last week. Can't find it though

 

[stevej]

How do you caramelize a wort and in what quantities say for a 23 litre batch?

What do you intend on brewing? why not just use a high Crystal Malt say 240EBC , i have used it a few times it gives a nice caramel / toffee taste

 

[mirsultankhan]

What do you intend on brewing? why not just use a high Crystal Malt say 240EBC , i have used it a few times it gives a nice caramel / toffee taste

I plan on doing a TT clone. I was reading that the GW recipe was quite close but that it lacked a little caramel edge to it. Others were saying to add crystal, but i want to caramalise some wort and add it back to see what its like. What to do? Should I take two liters of first runnings and boil it down to like a syrup?

 

[stevej]

I plan on doing a TT clone. I was reading that the GW recipe was quite close but that it lacked a little caramel edge to it. Others were saying to add crystal, but i want to caramalise some wort and add it back to see what its like. What to do? Should I take two liters of first runnings and boil it down to like a syrup?

Never tried it tbh, like i said if i wanted caramel notes ive used darker crystal or cara malts it would be interesting to find out though, if you have any luck report back:thumb:

 

[mirsultankhan]

Never tried it tbh, like i said if i wanted caramel notes ive used darker crystal or cara malts it would be interesting to find out though, if you have any luck report back:thumb:

will do , I watched a video yesterday of an American dude using an old German technique of heating up ceramic stones and pouring his wort over the top to caramelize it. Too much faffing around. Where is Lord Vader when you need him, I am sure he must have some knowledge! Someone use the force to send a message to the dark side!

 

[mirsultankhan]

I found this,

There is another way to add color and flavor which can’t be duplicated in any other way: caramelization. Caramelization occurs when sugars (in the case of brewing, that’s malt sugars) are scorched during the boil. This generally happens in most flame fired kettles, but there are several techniques for achieving this effect.


The most common method of achieving caramelization is the long boil. When a wort is boiled for more than two hours, the caramelization effect begins to become noticeable. The effect is more pronounced in high gravity worts.


A second technique is to take a small pan of wort and boil it aggressively. A good deal of caramelization will occur by reducing 2 litres of wort to a half a litre in a two hour vigorous boil. For all grain brewers, the first runnings from the mash, being higher in gravity, work great. One pound of dry malt extract in two quarts of water works equally well. Add the reduced wort back to the main boil just before cooling.


Finally, some brewers will heat their empty kettle. When the first wort comes in contact with the empty kettle, some of the sugar will instantly caramelize. Be careful, this technique produces a lot of steam and hot wort may come splashing out.

Caramelization can be used to produce any beer style. It is recommended in making Scottish Ales, as well as Old Ale, Brown Ale, Porter and Bock.

http://www.bacchus-barleycorn.com/catalog/article_info.php?articles_id=102

 

[mirsultankhan]

Actually there is some controversy over this issue as it seems that simply running some wort off and reducing it is not caramelizing it, for true caramlisation to occur you need to almost burn the wort, to seriously scorch it. Hmmm, some Aussie guys recommend adding some dark candi sugar citing that this practice happens in many Belgian and UK breweries. I am going to ask my mom, she knows how to caramelize stuff, she was always making caramel shortbread, tablet, toffee and stuff.

 

[mirsultankhan]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLWkFEaLdos&feature=related[/ame]

 

[rodabod]

I would take 4-5L and boil to a thick syrup. Should reach around 120c at caramelisation. You can't mimic the flavour you get from this by using speciality malts, though you may be able to get close. It seems almost add a butterscotch-like flavour which could potentially be confused with diacetyl, but it is certainly pleasant.

You must stir constantly as it begins to approach caramelisation!

 

[clibit]

Sorry been avoiding this thread cos my ex wife is called Carmel and having been totally carmelised myself I needed to steer clear! You wouldn't wanna do that to your wort, it'd be bitter as ****! So spelling really is important! :lol:

I've never done this. Doesn't interest me really, my taste in beer is not for caramel I think. But I've read about it a fair bit. A good idea seems to be to take some first runnings from the mash and boil those down. Taste as you go.

 

[MyQul]

Ahah! Found the thread I was on about. Forumite Tartanspecial talks about how he caramalizes wort in post 4

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=57718

 

[mirsultankhan]

Sorry been avoiding this thread cos my ex wife is called Carmel and having been totally carmelised myself I needed to steer clear! You wouldn't wanna do that to your wort, it'd be bitter as ****! So spelling really is important! :lol:

I've never done this. Doesn't interest me really, my taste in beer is not for caramel I think. But I've read about it a fair bit. A good idea seems to be to take some first runnings from the mash and boil those down. Taste as you go.

I think its mostly been used for like Scottish ales (which I am not particularly fond of, they are too sweet for my palate) and porters, but I plan to use it on a pale ale which has mostly the emphasis on bitterness, just to add a little dimension.

 

[mirsultankhan]

I would take 4-5L and boil to a thick syrup. Should reach around 120c at caramelisation. You can't mimic the flavour you get from this by using speciality malts, though you may be able to get close. It seems almost add a butterscotch-like flavour which could potentially be confused with diacetyl, but it is certainly pleasant.

You must stir constantly as it begins to approach caramelisation!

how do you know when it begins to caramelize?

 

[dad_of_jon]

dark begian cndi sugar will give you those flavors its been heated until it browns.

 

[clibit]

You have what looks like a good example here:

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=70841

This fella is into these techniques, and is probably a good chap to ask.

"In the meantime, I combined the sugar with a little first-runnings and a few drops of lime juice, then boiled it down to a thick, dark caramel syrup. I eventually added this to the main boil kettle. I find this adds a deep caramelly, toffee-like trait which is common in English ales."

 

[rodabod]

how do you know when it begins to caramelize?

Change of colour, viscosity, and by using a k-type thermocouple, to monitor the temperature.

 

[TartanSpecial]

I do similar to Rod though don't measure the temp...I only do it when I'm doing strong scottish ales..so I take approx 3-4 litre first runnings and boil it down fairly vigorously on the stove until it starts to noticeably thicken, usually when about 2/3rd has evaporated. I'm not sure if it is properly caramelized at that stage but it does add an extra caramel type taste to the finished beer. (batch size 22.7ltrs)

 

[mirsultankhan]

I am gonna ask my mom to make me some Candi sugar, all it looks like is boiled sweets.