Can a burnt mash be saved?

[nzl.james]

Hi all,

I was cooking my first large scale mash and it smells burnt and has some black kernels swimming in the mash.

Is it worth continuing?

It is a 100 litre mash with 22kg corn. I added the corn to a boiling pot with the gas still burning and continued cooking with gas for about 1 hour. I have let it sit overnight. Its time to add the malt (65deg C) but I'm not sure if I should waste the malt trying to continue?

[Expat]

In my experience, scorch carries over into the product, so it may be better to cut your losses. YMMV

[seabass]

In my experience, scorch carries over into the product, so it may be better to cut your losses. YMMV

That's been my experience as well. I hoped I could remove it by redistilling, but I was mistaken. It was terrible.

[cob]

could be you could make some smokey holler hand sanitizer, and sacrificial run product.

[HDNB]

In my experience, scorch carries over into the product, so it may be better to cut your losses. YMMV

That's been my experience as well. I hoped I could remove it by redistilling, but I was mistaken. It was terrible.

+1

yup we all try that.

once.

[nzl.james]

Haha thanks for the advice. Looks like a pretty clear consensus.

I have transferred the mash to a plastic drum, added 3kg of distillers malt and 2 packs of high temp alpha amylase (24grams total, that's the only enzyme I had) at a temp of 60deg C.

I want to continue the process for practise as I'm new to corn mashes. I was trying to add the minimum malt so not to waste it, but I still want it to convert and ferment.

[rubber duck]

No. A burnt mash is pretty much a lost cause.

[NZChris]

The advice around here is usually pretty good James. If you search the forum you will get a bunch of threads contributed to by distillers who have made the same mistake before you. I've done it myself. I used it for lighting fires and for a sacrificial run on a new still head.

I can imagine Her Indoors not being too happy if you kick twenty gallons of porridge over on her lawn though.