I did a decoction for one of my lagers a while back. While I was heating it, I got distracted and scorched some of the grain on the bottom of the pot. There was a pretty good layer of burnt grain on there. Anyway, I figured what the heck, and dumped the unburned grain back into the mash. I tried some last night and it’s got a distinct bitter, burned flavor to it.
This happen to anyone else? Will it fade over time or should I just ditch this batch? It’s been about six weeks since I brewed this.
Happened on the cereal mash for my wit, but I don’t think the scorching was as bad. Didn’t show up in the beer thankfully.
Your beer’s still in fermenter it sounds like. If so, I’m trying to think of an addition that might help improve the flavor.
If you have the time and fermenter space, then I’d say ride it out and see if it the flavor drops out over time with conditioning. If it’s not noxious, you could always add some Sinamar and call it a schwarzbier.
I’ve picked up some scorched caramel flavors in a Scottish ale that I caramelized the first runnings on. That flavor faded out with a little time, but the beer also has a rich base malt and caramel flavor that can mask some of that. In something like a lager I’d be worried that even if the flavor fades to a low level there isn’t going to be much for it to hide behind.
To me, this is a fatal flaw. I doubt that it will fade much, but I tend to pick out this flavor more than other people.
+1. Especially in a lager, I don’t think it’ll fade enough to be drinkable. It works the same way in cooking -even if you dip well above the scorched bottom of a pot, the scorched flavor permeates everything.
Damn. Well, I’ll report back in a few weeks.
I scorched a decoction once a long time ago (back when I still bottled), and I got the same thing.
The good news is, the scorched flavor eventually did fade away and the beer was quite drinkable. Maybe the yeast scavenged the smoke?
The bad new is, it took about six months.