I get all my brewing bags from the 'bj-filters' shop on ebay. The one I'm using for hops at the moment is the 58x38cm bag. I tie it off above where the wort is boiling so it gets kicked around as much as possible.
Scorched/burnt wort
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Happened to me with an early peco boiler a big ipa and a 60% rye beer Did a bit of research and its the sugars and fine particles that initially stick around the element as they sink in the wort then coat the element and just basically smoke the beer. It’s not nice and it won’t go away EVER don’t waste the marshmallows. I can’t convince you to dump it as I was the same but I ended up dumping both. After that I stirred like crazy until it got to a rolling boil and it was all good.
Can’t comment on the leaf hop issue as I used pellet and hop spider.
Can’t comment on the leaf hop issue as I used pellet and hop spider.
bobukbrewer
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If you warm up a casserole in a saucepan on your cooker top, with the ring setting too high, you burn the bottom of the saucepan as sugars caramelise. Your kettle elements are not designed for sugar solution. But, good news, easy to fix. Use a voltage regulator in the circuit. I have one and can maintain a steady boil, I do get a very slight discoloration in the bottom of my Burco Boiler, but it wipes off in literally seconds with the back of a washing up sponge.
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Anny suggestions for a easy to install voltage regulator?
bobukbrewer
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Will try and find paperwork - ~~I have had it for 15 years....
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4000W 220V AC SCR Voltage Regulator Dimmer Motor Speed Controller Module Tool﹑UK
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Unfortunately as has been said already I'd agree that you've used less than ideal heating elements which are delivering too much power into a small volume of wort with the consequence that the local temperature around the element is very high. Moving the wort will clearly help i.e. a pump to create rotational circulation or constant stirring.
A possible answer might be power control. This would be done using thyristors and control circuitry (rheostats and relays having gone out of high power use when Noah was a boy). Essentially a thyristor is a solid state switch and is controlled to allow a certain percentage of the AC sinewave to pass thus limiting power but not voltage. I've just done a very quick search and Amazon sell this power controller (link) which I think might do the job. The problem is that the description as a voltage control I'm fairly certain is incorrect. It would need to be boxed and wired up. If you have the skills then fine, but otherwise you would need to find a friend with electrical & electronics knowledge. The circuit claims to be able to control up to 8kW so should be able to control both but as I suspect you are using 2 x 13A plugs then 2 controllers might be easier to arrange. This control should allow you to back off the power level below where burning occurs and increase once active convection takes over.
PS. eBay sourced product looks OK, slightly concerning that it states 220V AC when UK nominal is 230V AC, but I suspect this would not be an issue. Test with rubber wellies on and one hand in your pocket!
A possible answer might be power control. This would be done using thyristors and control circuitry (rheostats and relays having gone out of high power use when Noah was a boy). Essentially a thyristor is a solid state switch and is controlled to allow a certain percentage of the AC sinewave to pass thus limiting power but not voltage. I've just done a very quick search and Amazon sell this power controller (link) which I think might do the job. The problem is that the description as a voltage control I'm fairly certain is incorrect. It would need to be boxed and wired up. If you have the skills then fine, but otherwise you would need to find a friend with electrical & electronics knowledge. The circuit claims to be able to control up to 8kW so should be able to control both but as I suspect you are using 2 x 13A plugs then 2 controllers might be easier to arrange. This control should allow you to back off the power level below where burning occurs and increase once active convection takes over.
PS. eBay sourced product looks OK, slightly concerning that it states 220V AC when UK nominal is 230V AC, but I suspect this would not be an issue. Test with rubber wellies on and one hand in your pocket!
Last edited:
peebee
Out of Control
What is the "burnt" taste? I'm slightly concerned by you mentioning you could smell burning during the boil and switched an element off.
If it's brewing debris burning it will taste/smell of burnt sugar. If it tastes/smells of something electrical burning, you are most likely looking for the wrong thing! I did hear of one person getting a burnt flavour and that was due to an element cracking! You are using cheap elements after all. Such a crack will be difficult to see, a large crack that lets wort flood in would probably lead to breakers tripping, fuses blowing, etc. Try boiling plain water; does it flavour ("burn") the water?
Don't get diverted by "low-watt-density" elements. That's an imported "Americanism" that we've managed without for years. Leaf hops will be fine, pellet hops require complex solutions to separate them from wort (or mesh bags, SS mesh containers, etc ... coupled with a good imagination). 220V, 230V or 240V all stems from an attempt to unify our domestic electricity with Europe; it actually stayed the same (pre-EEC) and they jiggled the tolerances on paper to satisfy Europe, but we got left with descriptions of product voltages from all over that range (and pretty coloured wires).
The smell and taste might even be separate issues: As @Bill_g implied, two 2.4kW elements on the same (dual) plug socket (and therefore circuit) can be pushing it.
My boiler runs three 2kW elements on a dedicated 40A circuit (it's actually a 6kW three-phase element, but at such "low" total wattage it is okay to wire them together on single-phase). The element is not "low-watt-density". It does not "burn".
And I've been daft enough to try hop pellets on many occasions. In trying to troubleshoot the issues it brought, I did learn that many Americans must use pellets, because leaf hops are not common. At the moment, we do not have that issue over here.
If it's brewing debris burning it will taste/smell of burnt sugar. If it tastes/smells of something electrical burning, you are most likely looking for the wrong thing! I did hear of one person getting a burnt flavour and that was due to an element cracking! You are using cheap elements after all. Such a crack will be difficult to see, a large crack that lets wort flood in would probably lead to breakers tripping, fuses blowing, etc. Try boiling plain water; does it flavour ("burn") the water?
Don't get diverted by "low-watt-density" elements. That's an imported "Americanism" that we've managed without for years. Leaf hops will be fine, pellet hops require complex solutions to separate them from wort (or mesh bags, SS mesh containers, etc ... coupled with a good imagination). 220V, 230V or 240V all stems from an attempt to unify our domestic electricity with Europe; it actually stayed the same (pre-EEC) and they jiggled the tolerances on paper to satisfy Europe, but we got left with descriptions of product voltages from all over that range (and pretty coloured wires).
The smell and taste might even be separate issues: As @Bill_g implied, two 2.4kW elements on the same (dual) plug socket (and therefore circuit) can be pushing it.
My boiler runs three 2kW elements on a dedicated 40A circuit (it's actually a 6kW three-phase element, but at such "low" total wattage it is okay to wire them together on single-phase). The element is not "low-watt-density". It does not "burn".
And I've been daft enough to try hop pellets on many occasions. In trying to troubleshoot the issues it brought, I did learn that many Americans must use pellets, because leaf hops are not common. At the moment, we do not have that issue over here.
bobukbrewer
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My triac controller holds the mash at 66 C - after 40 minutes I may need to tweak it up or down a touch. Then I move the liquor to a second Burco boiler, set power to 90%, then once boil starts back it off to the intensity of rolling boil that suits me. I would'nt be without it. As mentioned above it needs installing correctly, my two are on a 30 x 30 cm aluminium sheet to dissipate heat and I used some heat transfer paste as used in computers. The aluminium gets "slightly" warm only. I had it checked by a qualified electrician. Because it plugs into the mains via a normal socket, no regulations are broken.
