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Author Topic: Off flavor, more like burnt  (Read 2633 times)

Offline BairsBrewing

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Off flavor, more like burnt
« on: January 27, 2016, 09:03:33 pm »
Have a question as this is the first time for me.  I make a black ipa and it has a burnt flavor. At first I thought it was my heating element in my rims tube. Then when I went to my HBS to get more grain, I found that the scale doesn't register until you get to 1#. I remember adding chocolate malt and the scale kept going to zero, this was before my primary grain. I think I had almost 1# when the recipe called for 8oz. If I had too much chocolate would it give the beer a burnt flavor?

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coastsidemike

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Re: Off flavor, more like burnt
« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2016, 11:13:19 pm »
Have a question as this is the first time for me.  I make a black ipa and it has a burnt flavor. At first I thought it was my heating element in my rims tube. Then when I went to my HBS to get more grain, I found that the scale doesn't register until you get to 1#. I remember adding chocolate malt and the scale kept going to zero, this was before my primary grain. I think I had almost 1# when the recipe called for 8oz. If I had too much chocolate would it give the beer a burnt flavor?


Could you share your recipe, and then describe how the heating element is cleaned after use?  I'm asking for more context, thanks.

Offline BairsBrewing

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Re: Off flavor, more like burnt
« Reply #2 on: January 27, 2016, 11:17:42 pm »
Heating element always cleaned after use, but it was an el-cheapo. I've since purchased a stainless steel one. Here's the recipe.

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Offline majorvices

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Re: Off flavor, more like burnt
« Reply #3 on: January 28, 2016, 04:14:32 am »
Scorching from an electric element will taste like ash tray. If you did not have a low density element that probably is the problem.

Offline Phil_M

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Re: Off flavor, more like burnt
« Reply #4 on: January 28, 2016, 04:55:43 am »
Scorching from an electric element will taste like ash tray. If you did not have a low density element that probably is the problem.

+1

I did this on a beer a couple years ago. Ended up with noticeable burnt "chuncks" floating around as well. The wort carbonized the element so badly that I nearly replaced it to avoid the cleanup. If you scorched it, you would know.
Corn is a fine adjunct in beer.

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Offline tommymorris

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Off flavor, more like burnt
« Reply #5 on: January 28, 2016, 05:56:09 am »
Have you successfully used the rims tube before?

I think 1# of chocolate malt in a 5G recipe could be perceived as a dark roasted coffee flavor. Depending on the intensity you may perceive that as burnt.

Offline Lazy Ant Brewing

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Re: Off flavor, more like burnt
« Reply #6 on: January 28, 2016, 07:42:17 am »
Even if you used a full pound of the chocolate, it would only account for about 6.2 % of your grist.  Adding about 10.5% for the caramel malt you used means about 17% of your grist is dark grains.

Most of my stout recipes have about 15% dark grains in them including grains with Lovibond ratings higher than the crystal you used, and they taste good to me and some of my friends who like stouts.

If I bumped up my percentage of dark grains by another 2%, would it make my brew taste burned?  I don't know.
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Offline BairsBrewing

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Re: Off flavor, more like burnt
« Reply #7 on: January 28, 2016, 08:56:43 am »

Have you successfully used the rims tube before?

I think 1# of chocolate malt in a 5G recipe could be perceived as a dark roasted coffee flavor. Depending on the intensity you may perceive that as burnt.

Yes, this batch number 15 or so on my rims setup.

Offline tommymorris

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Off flavor, more like burnt
« Reply #8 on: January 28, 2016, 09:28:18 am »

Have you successfully used the rims tube before?

I think 1# of chocolate malt in a 5G recipe could be perceived as a dark roasted coffee flavor. Depending on the intensity you may perceive that as burnt.

Yes, this batch number 15 or so on my rims setup.
Tough one. I asked about how often you have used your system because if the other 14 batches didn't taste burnt it may be a recipe issue. But, the element hypothesis has merit too.

Good luck.