I use an aluminum pot and do half-size stovetop batches (electric stove). I have done the standard practice of boiling water in the new pot to blacken (oxidize) the sides an bottom of the pot. After several brews, I have noticed that I have some brown stuff on the bottom of the pot, which indicates to me that I've been scorching the beer. I leave the burner on high for the whole boil, which does maintain a full rolling boil. In winter (indoors, dry air), I usually get around 1 gallon/hour boil-off.
Should I back off a bit on the burner setting?
I have been doing 90-minute boils (with recipe volumes adjusted accordingly). I believe that current wisdom is that BIAB can use the smaller volumes of a 60-minute boil with good results.
Would shortening the boil to 60 minutes but keeping the burner on high be enough to prevent the scorching?
Post #2 made 12 years ago
smyrnaquince,
You may be worrying for nothing? Normal ware and tare on a pot should have some discoloring. It's one thing to pour liquid extract into a boil and scorch it on the bottom. I have normal patina on the bottom of my pot and just attribute it to The Maillard reaction which is a form of nonenzymatic browning. It results from a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar, usually requiring heat. Maybe you are OK and a 90 minute boil is preferred.
You may be worrying for nothing? Normal ware and tare on a pot should have some discoloring. It's one thing to pour liquid extract into a boil and scorch it on the bottom. I have normal patina on the bottom of my pot and just attribute it to The Maillard reaction which is a form of nonenzymatic browning. It results from a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar, usually requiring heat. Maybe you are OK and a 90 minute boil is preferred.
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Post #3 made 12 years ago
How thick is your bottom Dave? Not your bottom, the aluminum pot's bottom 
.
Thin-bottomed pots will scorch your beer whereas thick ones won't. (With thin ones, it is like you are applying flame directly to the wort.)
I know you've been away for a bit but whoever is saying that a BIAB brew is fine with just a 60 minute boil is not giving what I would call wise advice on quality. It's quite likely that many people, me included, would probably not be able to tell the difference between a 60 and 90 minute boiled beer on many styles but a 60 minute boil is certainly not the safest practice in an all-grain home brew. And, a BIAB wort does not possess some magical quality that allows it to be boiled 30 minutes less than any other wort!
Heaps of brewers, traditional and BIAB only boil for 60 minutes and the beers are fine but it should never be considered as being first or best practice. Have a read of this link I've been touting here for a while
.
PP
.Thin-bottomed pots will scorch your beer whereas thick ones won't. (With thin ones, it is like you are applying flame directly to the wort.)
I know you've been away for a bit but whoever is saying that a BIAB brew is fine with just a 60 minute boil is not giving what I would call wise advice on quality. It's quite likely that many people, me included, would probably not be able to tell the difference between a 60 and 90 minute boiled beer on many styles but a 60 minute boil is certainly not the safest practice in an all-grain home brew. And, a BIAB wort does not possess some magical quality that allows it to be boiled 30 minutes less than any other wort!
Heaps of brewers, traditional and BIAB only boil for 60 minutes and the beers are fine but it should never be considered as being first or best practice. Have a read of this link I've been touting here for a while
. PP
Last edited by PistolPatch on 25 Nov 2013, 20:35, edited 2 times in total.
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