color of brews?

nobody · 12-10-2011, 05:37 PM

i've been doing axtract brewing for years. i have never had one come out a gold color. mine have always come out more of a darker gold/brown color. now they have always been great brews and friends drink the crap out of them, but i've been puzzled as to why none ever come out gold in color.

i keep everything spotlessly clean. i sanitize everything before i use it. i have gone as far as to buy new better bottles and ale pales. i follow directions down to the letter. the brews are always great, but they are always darker than what i feel they should be.

i have been using brewers best kits lately and they are the exact same way. i did a white ale(wheat beer) and it turned out darker as it should have.

what in the world am i doing wrong?

**birvine** · 12-10-2011, 05:47 PM

Your LME might be too dark. You can lighten the batch by adding half the extract at the beginning and half towards the end of the boil.

I got a really light beer when I brewed the Cream of three Crops ale.

B

EDIT: You'll need to do a mini-mash but...

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/cream-three-crops-extract-version-78864/

**aiptasia** · 12-10-2011, 05:58 PM

I'd also suspect it's in your fermentables. You can use software to estimate the color of the beer based on the lovibond of the grains/extracts/adjuncts you're using in your beers. Beersmith 2.0 will do this for you. You might also want to keep an eye on your boil temps to avoid ancillary carmelization of the malt sugars. This might also darken the sugars in your wort unintentionally.

**theonetrueruss** · 12-10-2011, 06:30 PM

Do you trun off the fire before adding the extract and make sure it is well mixed in before turning heat back on? If not that is one suggestion. Also, some people wait until near the end and put a bunch of the extract in for only the last 10 minutes or so of the boil. All this is to reduce carmelization.

Are you doing partial boils? doing a full boil may help some with this as well. The sugar concentration will be lower and there will be less carmelization.

Just some thoughts.

**jmprdood** · 12-11-2011, 12:47 AM

I've started only adding 1/3 the amount of the extract to start (for hop utilization) and the rest at flameout so it doesn't carmelize. That way I get a lighter color, but all my hops...

mewithstewpid · 12-12-2011, 02:16 AM

use Pilsen or Gold Dry extract only, no LMe. it makes a big difference, mine come out much lighter since i switched a while ago. 6lb Gold dme, steep a little carapil, some hops, u have a nice pale ale perfectly gold in color.

nobody · 12-12-2011, 06:02 AM

what is the hottest the boil should be? i normally don't let it get to hot, but i very well could be. i haven't really checked the temp at boil. i do keep the steeping temp around 155 degrees, but i have never check it at boil.

**RM-MN** · 12-12-2011, 11:52 AM

Your boil should always be around 212 F. (100 C.) adjusted for altitude because that is the boiling temperature. You should have a slow rolling boil. Try using only the light color dry extract, use only 1/3 of it for the 60 minutes making sure it is well mixed so it doesn't burn on the bottom of the kettle and the last 2/3 for the last few minutes, again making sure you mix well.

Search for a term Mailard Reaction. It will help you understand why the late addition.

**Paul07293** · 12-12-2011, 12:15 PM

^ RM is right, you are seeing the effects of the Maillard reaction. Basically the darkening of a substance due to exposure to heat. It is what happens when you make toast or cook a steak. There is no caramelization happening, you need to be at 300F+ and have very little moisture for sugar to caramelize. Try adding 50% of your extracts near or at the end of the boil

**unionrdr** · 12-12-2011, 01:38 PM

Not exactly 300F+. My daughter caramelized equal amounts of sugar & water into caramel sauce on the stove. You add other things to harden it into candy,but it can be caramelized in liquid. Just not literally caramel in the sense most people envision. It darkens in color & changes the flavor when boiled for the time full boils are done. Especially noticable when all the malt extract is added at the beginning.