Scorched Element

[Brew_DD2]

Firstly, is my brew ruined? Secondly, would a lack of stirring during the boil have caused this?

First time I've had it happened and I'm pretty gutted. Wort didn't smell the way it normally did when I cane to do 5 minute addition and I knew something was awry.

 

[BeerCat]

What does the wort taste like? I have thrown away a few batches that tasted burned. Its made worse if you have lots of particulates. If it smells funny it probably is.

 

[Simonh82]

What type of element is it? Is it an exposed coil in the kettle or a flat concealed element. I've only had a scorched element a couple of times, both times when I've used rye malt, so I think it's something to do with the gloopy wort that you get when using rye.

I have a concealed element in a Burco tea urn boiler and I've never stirred much but might try to have a quick scrape the element during the boil. Most of the time this seems precautionary but if I every use rye malt again I will make sure I do it regularly.

I'd taste the wort and unless it's undrinkable I'd be tempted to let it ferment out. It it really is unpleasant to drink as wort it is unlikely to make great beer. It it's just a faint taste it might disappear with fermentation and conditioning.

 

[Brew_DD2]

There is definitely a faint taste but I'm goibg to let it ferment out. Was a great brew day too. All my numbers hit etc. Didn't have any hop additions through boil so thought I'd just let it do it's thing. I won't be doing that again in a hurry.

It's an exposed element. It's just taken me over an hour to get it pristine again.

Grain bill was 50:50 Vienna:Golden Promise. 150g of Aussie Cascade hops in at the end. I'll cry if it's ruined.

 

[Brew_DD2]

Just thinking aloud but would a recirculation pump for my kettle potentially prevent this from occurring again? I don't mind standing over my boil and stirring but occasionally I like to get other things done.

 

[foxbat]

Just thinking aloud but would a recirculation pump for my kettle potentially prevent this from occurring again? I don't mind standing over my boil and stirring but occasionally I like to get other things done.

You only need to stir during the ramp up. Once the wort's visibly roiling on its own you can forget about it. I personally don't think a pump would be up to it and just make sure it's kept moving until the boil is reached. The cost of not doing this is just too high to ignore.

 

[BeerCat]

Hate to say it but if it tastes funny now i doubt it will improve. Do you recirculate your wort when mashing? I used to get a lot more build in my kettle before i did.

 

[Brew_DD2]

I don't recirculate but I've never had this problem before. I'm going to just have to be vigilant when getting up to a boil. Today was probably the first time I tried to do it casually and it seems as though I've paid the price.

I figured that if it tastes burnt it won't go away but I guess there is no harm in letting it ferment out.

Hoppy Rauchbier anyone? :tinhat:

 

[BeerCat]

I gave a mate one of my burned beers accidentally and he told me it was fantastic and smoky. I was horrified. When i started brewing for reasons lost to me i put rauchmalz in the first 10 brews or so and couldn't drink any of them. I used to do stove tops in a very thin pan and pretty sure i burned most of those as well so your not alone. Fingers crossed. :)

 

[Brew_DD2]

Sadly Rauchbier is one of the very few beer styles I am not a fan of. I'll give it a week and have a taste.

Hopefully the huge amount of hops will mask any smoky flavours.

 

[Simonh82]

Sadly Rauchbier is one of the very few beer styles I am not a fan of. I'll give it a week and have a taste.

Hopefully the huge amount of hops will mask any smoky flavours.

Maybe just make sure that you only drink it alongside smoky foods. Better stock up on smoky bacon, smoked cheese, chorizo, kippers, etc.

 

[IainM]

Depending on how bad the scorching is, it is probably ruined. I've ruined a few batches this way. Stirring on the ramp up will help. So will recirculation; I've had no problem since moving to an all-in-one system.

 

[Brew_DD2]

It's ruined. Oh well, lesson learned. Thou shalt stir wort until it comes to a rolling boil. Absolute gutter.

 

[AdeDunn]

It's ruined. Oh well, lesson learned. Thou shalt stir wort until it comes to a rolling boil. Absolute gutter.

Always, it helps to prevent foam over too. :thumb:

 

[Brew_DD2]

I always have plenty of headspace in my boiler and I don't think the element is up to boiling over thankfully. Never say never though.

No cutting corners now. I'll be stirring religiously from now on.

 

[IainM]

Absolute gutter.

Mate, tell me about it. It's these moments that make you a better brewer though.

 

[Brew_DD2]

Rebrewed today and stirred until boil. No scorched element. I think it's safe to say why I had problems last time.

 

[Fil]

you might want to look at using some sort of control over the element.
either a pid controller which will switch the power on and off rapidly and minimise the heat inpu t that requiered to provide the target boil temp(107-111c, tune on the fly).

Or a simple power controller the most basic of which can be built from a 500kohm linear potentiometer (electric guitar volume knob) and a resistance controlled ssr which unlike the ssrs used by pids etc will allow more or less power through depending on the position of the volume knob connected to its control terminals.

either would allow you to modify the ferocity of your boil. minimising the heat input to that required to maintain a boil and should minimise any scorching.

 

[foxbat]

This is what an exposed element should look like after the boil if it's been stirred during the ramp up. The pale coating can be wiped off with a finger because it's just stuff that's settled during the whirfloc doing its business and not caramalised sugars.

 

[Brew_DD2]

I've done dozens of brews in that kettle and never had a problem. I won't be leaving it alone to ramp up again, that's for sure.