Darkest Koelsch EVER

Just did a partial mash Koelsch recipe that I posted on here a couple weeks ago. Everything went fine except for the fact that Koelsch looks more like a brown ale...

Partial mashed by the steps of DeathBrewer. Only had a 6 gallon pot and a 3 gallon so I boiled half of the wort in one and half in the other. 60 minutes each, exact same batches split in half: 1 can LME per each, divided hops evenly, etc.

At the end when I was chilling the wort to pitching temps, the beer looks RIDICULOUSLY dark for a koelsch. It's probably going to taste fine, pitched the yeast @ 68F. OG 1.063, FG mark 1.014

Is the color going to mellow out at all? Why is the beer so dark? Beersmith says otherwise and I plugged everything in correctly (yes, i know: beersmith is not 100% accurate when it comes to colors). What can this be attributed to?

Edit* Yes, I know, RDWHAHB. im not worrying, i want to learn why the colors are the way they are is all. btw, this is still a koelsch because I say it is.

One thing to keep in mind is that it looks a lot darker when it's all in one big container, than when you pour it into a glass. However, if your hydrometer samples look dark that's another story.

In my experience LME-based beers tend to be darker, I think maybe because they are already carmelized a bit from the process used to make them (that is just a wild guess). If I am planning a partial mash of a lighter beer like a kolsch or blonde, I use DME. Actually I use DME anyway because it's easier to store and measure out portions.

pwndabear said:

Edit* Yes, I know, RDWHAHB. im not worrying, i want to learn why the colors are the way they are is all. btw, this is still a koelsch because I say it is.

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did you look at it just in the carboy/bucket or did you put it in the hydrometer tube? Most beers look pretty dark in a carboy... My blonde ale looks like an amber in the carboy, but is very light in a glass.

How old was the LME? LME tends to darken over time.

There is the LME issue but then this beer is also nearly 50% higher in gravity than any Koelsch (with a capital K) and so you would expect it to be 50% darker than a beer made with similar materials to an authentic gravity.

Looked at it just in the bucket but it was WAY dark, even for being all together.

LME was purchased just today. no date on it but the store i bought it at just restocked.

Higher grav is also true. Very much so, that would make the most sense.

someone said that if i had boiled the LME for only 15 mins, it would have been much lighter.

Oh well. No matter. My last batch of homebrew tasted mighty fine during this brewday. thanks for the suggestions! HAPPY BREWING!

Recipe? If you used any steeping grains did they look dark after steeping? Did the LME look dark going in? At what point did it look too dark? Just after boiling?

the LME did look pretty dark come to think of it. maybe next time i'll use DME.

When using LME you can use 1/2 at the start of the boil and 1/2 at the end. This will make your beer much lighter in color. Also, the bigger volume of the boil, the lighter color of the beer.
So next time try boiling the wort in a bigger amount of water and adding LME 1/2 in the beginning and 1/2 at the end of the boil.

I just racked mine to the keg last night. In the carboy it looked like a Brown Ale. When i put it in the hydrometer test tube it was a beautiful straw color.