no yellow beer

I am not new to drinking beer but new to brewing. I just brewed my 5th batch of beer (1. czech pilsner, 2. Dunkel Weizen, 3. Czech pilsner, 4. Weizen, 5. American Lager). I brew with extracts but have the capability of fermenting at lower temps and lagering at cold temps. I have done all of these to different degrees with these beer and besides the dark wheat, they all exhibit the same redish color. My first csech pilsner, which I thought would have at least a yellowish tint was also very ruddy in color. It also presented a slightly sourish, suck-your-cheeks-in after tast, but I drank it all the same. I am currently fermenting the american lager and it looks dark brown, what gives?

Q:1. Do all extract brews turn out dark in color?
Q:2. Could this be a sanitization issue (follow all instructions and sanitize like crazy).
Q:3. Could this be a tap water issue. (brew with local tap water)

are you using Liquid extract or dry? Generally liquid extract will turn out darker than if you used a dry extract.

But you'll be hard pressed to make a beer that has the commercially brewed light yellow tint to it.

until you go all grain.

With extract, a light color is hard to achieve. If you're using LME, add the majority of your syrup just before flameout.

If you're using DME, select the lightest kind possible. You can always add ingredients to make it darker, but one cannot make beer lighter.

Jim Karr said:

With extract, a light color is hard to achieve. If you're using LME, add the majority of your syrup just before flameout.

If you're using DME, select the lightest kind possible. You can always add ingredients to make it darker, but one cannot make beer lighter.

Click to expand...

Sure you can. Just add water.


But yeah seriously. I concur with the idea of adding your LME at flame out. In other words, part of the darkness comes from the LME hitting the bottom of the brewkettle and scorching. To prevent this, you must either constantly stir-stir-stir as you add the LME to prevent it from reaching the bottom, or else (better yet), remove the flame, then add the LME.

Search for "late extract addition". This is a method that does a great job with keeping extract brews light... IIRC, homebrewer_99 has pictures of some stunningly light, clear beers he's made with extract.

I didn't think that extract darkness comes from scorching in your brew kettle. I thought that wort gets darker the longer its boiled and since LME or DME is already boiled wort that has already darkened in color, boiling it longer will darken it that much more. It still boils down to, no pun intended, adding a little extract at the beginning, and the rest as a late extract addition to keep color darkening to a minimum. Or you could always brew some delicious, black beers

I think it's kind of like coffee that has been sitting on the hot coffee maker too long--it turns very black. The fresh coffee is quite a bit "less blacker".

The last two beers I've made -- Kolsch and SNPA clone -- I've used a modified late addition extract method. I've put 40-50% DME to start, the other 60-50% at 30 minutes left. The Kolsch looks wonderfully golden, and the SNPA clone is just a hair darker (I used more steeped caramel 40 on that one). Use DME, rather than LME (which tends to be darker, IMO), and hold half the extract until the last 30 minutes - or less.

As for the taste - too much hops? Probably not, if you follow the recipe. Alternatively, it might be green apple-y flavor that's called Acetaldehyde

From John Palmer:

A flavor of green apples or freshly cut pumpkin; it is an intermediate compound in the formation of alcohol. Some yeast strains produce more than others, but generally it's presence indicates that the beer is too young and needs more time to condition.

Hope this helps.

gonna try bits and pieces from everyones reply. Thanks.
Going to use DME VS LME and add when not on the heat and also add slowly and sir. Can't wait to see what happens.

My last IPA I made using extra pale LME was extremely light... like an SRM of around 7-8. I think thats pretty decent

To avoid scorching, steep your grains in the boiler, add the (lme) extract once you have removed them and stir in well before lighting the flame. If you are using dme, mix it with cold water first to avoid clumping.

Alternatively mix the lme with some boiling water/wort in a seperate pan before adding it, stiring as you do,or add the dme to cold water and gently bring to the boil before adding.

With both examples you don't loose as much wort once you remove the grain bag, you get proper hop utilisation, you can achieve and secure a proper hot break and neither method will result in any more caramelization than a regular all grain wort.