Color too dark

hurleybrew · 01-02-2011, 06:59 PM

All my beers seem to come out one color- caramel brown. I just brewed a wheat beer today with 7lbs of LME and had the same thing happen. Today I even tried the late addition. 50% in the beginning and 50% at 15minutes. WTF??

On top of that my SG was 1078??? The recipe said it would be around 1054. Would volume (ie 3 gallons of concentrated wort affect this?). I do partial boils of about 3-4 gallons.

**Kaz** · 01-02-2011, 07:44 PM

Are you topping of with fresh water after the boil to get about 5-5.25 gallons? If not, then that would lead to a darker and stronger beer. I think that its the nature of extract brews to be on the darker side as a result of the extraction process. If you are topping off to 5 gallons and the O.G. is higher than expected, are you thoroughly mixing the wort after adding the top off water?

hurleybrew · 01-02-2011, 08:51 PM

I do top off with 1-2 gallons of water to bring it up to 5 gallons. I took my OG before I added the extra 2 gallons. I assume this is why I got such a high number? I do thoroughly mix the wort and aerate it before pitching. It still looks like a murky caramel brown color.

**RM-MN** · 01-02-2011, 09:14 PM

Try your next brew with DME instead of LME. I'll bet it will come out lighter. Make sure you use the lightest DME you can get too.

JBmadtown · 01-02-2011, 09:20 PM

Look at this search.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/gtsearch.php?cx=016873362520281466893%3Axvnx8yvgpl a&cof=FORID%3A11&q=late+extract+addition&siteurl=w ww.homebrewtalk.com%2Ff37%2Fcolor-too-dark-215105%2F#913

The late addition method does help to lighten the color.

**RugenBrau** · 01-02-2011, 09:21 PM

you got a high reading because you didn't top off. The first time I brewed I topped off but didn't give it a stir and I got a low reading becuse it was not mixed enough. When using 6 lbs of LME I put in about 1 lb at the start and the rest @ flame out. That lightened mine up. Using DME will do the same.

**Austinhomebrew** · 01-02-2011, 09:21 PM

Is the extract in a metal can?

DME is made from LME so it won't be much lighter. What brand of extract are you using? Breiss Pilsen extract has a lovibond of 2 (compared to a lovibond of 1.8 for 2-row). Briess has the lightest extract by far. Muntons is probably the darkest. I would try a mini-mash using Briess extract.

Forrest

**RugenBrau** · 01-02-2011, 09:24 PM

What effect does the metal have?

hurleybrew · 01-02-2011, 10:04 PM

Here is what I did:

Steeped 1/2lb wheat, 1/2carahell @ 160F for 35 minutes
3.5lbs Wheat LME from LHBS at 60minutes
3.5lbs Wheat LME @ 20minutes

Is it OK to add the majority at flame-out? I thought you had to give the LME 15 minutes for sterilization?

honeybadger · 01-02-2011, 11:05 PM

LME should be sanitized in the can so you should be able to add at flameout with no issue. I've done this a few times with good results.

I recently switched from LME to DME... you don't have to mess around with late additions which means you have to adjust utilization etc.

I think I read somewhere here that the best thing to do is start with the absolute lightest LME or DME you can find and let your grains change the colour.

Good luck.