Trying to get color of beer lighter in color...Any Advice?

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andoniu83

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Hey everyone, working on my 8th batch of homebrew now and I am consistently running into the problem of the finished color of the beer being to dark. While reading posts, I seem to see alot of members mentioning that boiling the LME for 60 min willcause this.

Well the instructions for every kit say to boil the LME for 60 min. Does anyone have advice on how to get the beer lighter in color?

Alot of folks Ive let taste my homebrews are unattracted to trying the beer because they do not want to try something that is so dark. Right now Im brewing NB Honeyweizen and NB Cream Ale, color looks good but once I bottle im worried I will run into the same situation as before, a beer that is darker in color then the picture.

Any advice would be great. Thanks
 
Boil the hops, not the extract. Look up "late extract addition", it is a rather simple process of adding most of the extract with little time left in the boil or even after flameout.
 
Boil the hops, not the extract. Look up "late extract addition", it is a rather simple process of adding most of the extract with little time left in the boil or even after flameout.

+1 when I use LME, I add the bulk of it with fifteen mins left in the boil. It won't caramelize this way. It will definitely lower the srm of your beer. It also allows your boil hops to utilize better due to a thinner boil. And IMO, will add a little bit of depth to your malt flavor.
 
If you do the late addition it will change the final product. If you like the way that it tastes you might want to think twice about changing the recipe. I agree that you are looking at a caramelization issue. I have had the same issue on occasion. AG helps the problem. Try Alexanders Pale as far as I know it is the lightest LME but again you have a change in recipe issue. If your friends don't like the color of your beer...just more for you.:ban:
 
are you doing a full boil. boiling only 2.5 gallons and then topping off at the end will cause that
 
Yes, I follow the instructions and boil 2.5 gallons, then top off. Is there another way to complete the boil, and if so, how?

Thanks
 
Boil the hops, not the extract. Look up "late extract addition", it is a rather simple process of adding most of the extract with little time left in the boil or even after flameout.

i used to add the LME with 15 mins. left when i did partial boils.
should i do the same now that i do full boils or still add late?
should i adjust my hop schedule?
 
Yes, I follow the instructions and boil 2.5 gallons, then top off. Is there another way to complete the boil, and if so, how?

Thanks

i bought a 8 gallon pot and boil 6.25 down to 5 gallons during a 1 hour boil.
i use a turkey fryer in the backyard, most stoves cant boil 6 gallons.

and yes there was an amazing difference compared to when i did partial boils.
ps. you WILL need a wort chiller also. i tried cooling 5 gallons with an ice bath.. took an hour and 55 LBS OF ICE. did that once then bought a chiller.
 
I'd like to 2nd the motion to go all-grain, or if not, at least go to full-wort boil. A 9 gallon brewpot and a propane burner (i.e. turkey fryer). Full wort boils will help your extract brewing a lot, but you'll also need an immersion chiller...worth it though. I think as a general rule-of-thumb, if you're doing a partial wort boil, you want to match your 60 minute ME addition to your boil volume. So if you're brewing a 5 gallon batch, divide your total pounds of ME by 5. If you boil only 3 gallons, ad no more than 3/5ths of your extract @ 60 minutes. If you boil 2.5 gallons, ad no more than 1/2 @ 60 minutes...etc.
 
Yes, I follow the instructions and boil 2.5 gallons, then top off. Is there another way to complete the boil, and if so, how?

Thanks

As was mentioned, bigger is better. In a boil, that is! The more wort you start with, the less carmelization and darkening you will get. If you can only boil 2.5 gallons on your stove, then you're limited. But if you can boil more at the beginning, do it!

i used to add the LME with 15 mins. left when i did partial boils.
should i do the same now that i do full boils or still add late?
should i adjust my hop schedule?

I'd like to see the LME always added late, as it's less "extract-y" tasting that way. You could adjust your bittering hops slightly if you want, but no need to adjust the flavor or aroma hops.
 
The late extract addition is frequently given as advice, but I have never done it because it seems to complex for the beginner brewer. I feel like it is a big change for someone who doesn't know how to accurately adjust to it. If you find a recipe that already takes it into account then do it, or if you have software that I think does it as well.

Also a main reason I didn't do it was because after adding LME it took a while for my stove to come back to a boil. I don't know this for sure, but it left me thinking that the bittering hops would be essentially "boiled" for longer than intended. Idk if its the boiling action that extracts bitterness, or if it is just the heat. All of those things can be accounted for, or you can just wing it, and end up with good beer either way, but you won't really be understanding what you are doing.

The easiest way IMO to get a lighter color is to use DME instead of LME and do a full boil. Partial mashes will also help.

Another thing to consider if you want others to enjoy your homebrew is the clarity. I enjoy a wide range of beers, but a cloudy beer I can't see through gives off a look that it will have a strong flavor. I had a brown ale that I could see perfectly through up next to my IPA which is very light, but it was cloudy. The brown ale definitely looked tamer to me just because you could see through it.

The last (and best) option is to just tell your friends that the color doesn't matter, and if they don't believe that, then maybe craft brew just isn't for them yet. I know that's easier said than done, and a lot of my friends think a dry stout at 4% is a big heavy beer that they can't drink more than 1 or 2 of, but a golden IPA at 8% is a session beer.
 
I'll second (or third) most of the options already given. The easiest to do is to switch to DME. It costs a little more, but you can also store it a lot longer than LME so you can buy in bulk. Go with the extra pale, and you can use it in about anything. Depending on where you get your LME from, it might be a little older than ideal, which can lead to some darkening as well.

After that, adding the extract late is a good call. I usually add the extract at 15 min. so I don't throw off my aroma/flavor hop schedules. I figure the difference in IBUs between a 60 min boil and a 70 min boil aren't that much at that point. What will change is the fact that you'll get higher IBUs in your weaker wort at the start of the boil. If you download the free recipe builder BrewTarget it will calculate everything for you and let you adjust those first additions if the recipe says otherwise.

Finally, partial mashes and all-grain require more from you, but you'll like the product. Look up Deathbrewers stove-top partial mash if you want a quick/easy/cheap way to get started, but be warned that the quick/easy/cheap ways tend to lead to long/expensive/complicated ways :D.
 
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