Cedar Rapids Brewing Society

So I made 10 gallons of 11-12% scotch heavy. It's at 1.020 and seems great at 6 weeks (no fusels or other common high gravity issues), except for one major flaw: my ULWD element majorly scorched it at some point. It's the characteristic over-caramelized, ash, burnt sugar aroma.

I'm wondering if anyone has experience with this flaw being able to be aged out, or filtered out, or anything else?

If it was a cheep batch I'd dump it, but a double 1.110 batch + a triple starter step-up was a lot of time investment.
(I've had a similar element scorch issue on 1.05-1.06 batches before, and not come through in the final product, maybe because it had so much less sugar in it)

(troubleshooting the reason for the scorch is a different issue, and I'm pretty sure I know the reason(s) )

Thanks!

Just a shot in the dark, I'd say probably not, unfortunately. Like burnt food, those flavors are pretty much locked in.


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Depends on how heavy the burnt smell is, but you could try and mask it with a splash of liquid smoke and convert it to a rauchbier??

Unless you need the equipment, I say let it sit and see what happens for a while. No need to dump.

Matt F wrote:Unless you need the equipment, I say let it sit and see what happens for a while. No need to dump.

That's my current plan. It's sitting in purged 5gal secondaries now. I'll probably check it again in 2 months and see what's up. If it seems to be fading, I'll bottle it for more storage.
If not, maybe bottle half, put some brett/pedio into half, then check it all in a year.

tony b wrote:Depends on how heavy the burnt smell is, but you could try and mask it with a splash of liquid smoke and convert it to a rauchbier??

The thought did cross my mind, though I don't think the ash/char flavor would complement it well. Even peated malt might not cover it, but, those are some potential ideas.


I might go back and remake it at 10% shortly so I have something to drink sooner also.

Throw some bourbon soaked oak at it for a month or so?


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Yep, if you can, let it age and see what happens. People might remember me bitching about my Disaster wort rally results -- I added 3# of dark candi syrup among other brilliance, and it was really unpleasant. Very harsh, burnt flavor. Blech. I left the keg alone for a while, and then refrigerated and sampled a couple weeks ago, and it was actually pretty tasty. Maybe I'll turn it in for this year's wort rally.

If it tastes unpleasant now, I doubt adding other flavors will transform it into something delicious. But a lot of flavors will mellow with time. Adding Brett also sounds like a fun tack. What's to lose?

TappedOut wrote:Yep, if you can, let it age and see what happens. People might remember me bitching about my Disaster wort rally results -- I added 3# of dark candi syrup among other brilliance, and it was really unpleasant. Very harsh, burnt flavor. Blech. I left the keg alone for a while, and then refrigerated and sampled a couple weeks ago, and it was actually pretty tasty. Maybe I'll turn it in for this year's wort rally.

tangent: interesting. I didn't get to taste it because I was out of town for the event last year.
Did ou accidentally scorch the syrup at the addition time?
Was that 3lb D180 in 5 or 10 gallons? I ask because 2lb D180 in a pilsen base of 1.06-1.07 (with an optional small wort boil-down into syrup) is pretty much the recipe for St. Bernardus 12/ Chimay Blue / Westvleteren 12 -- but they aren't using any dark malts, which the competition base wort had. Just curious -- and let me taste it

It was for 10 gallons. I don't think I scorched it, but maybe??? Half of it I added ginger to (going for a Dark & Stormy inspired brew.) Also you didn't get to taste it because I didn't bring it because I wasn't putting my name on something that was that unpleasant. I'll try to bring some to the next club event I am at. (March meeting is, I think, during spring break and I will be out of town.)

unremarkable update: after bulk aging for almost 2 more months, I don't interpret any positive change in the burnt issue. Without that, it would be a very good beer. With the flaw, it's pretty crap. Not sure If I'll give it another few months or not.

At this point, keep experimenting and see if something works. If not, then pitch it.

over 4 months now, and if there is any positive change in the flaw, it isn't happening fast enough to motivate me to keep the batch. Even chilled and carbed a serving, but I wouldn't want to put my name on it in public.
If anyone wants it so they can evaporate it or get really experimental, let me know within a week, otherwise this batch of "Electric Ashtray Scotch Heavy" is a dumper. Time to rebrew.

Sorry to hear that you couldn't salvage it. Trust me, we've all been there. No one likes dumping a batch, but sometimes it just has to be done.