Curious what you guys think about this color change

I brewed my second batch, a Belgian Tripel kit, 2 weeks ago and racked to my secondary this past Thursday night. Everything had gone fine, gravities were checking out, the color looked right, and the sample I had wasn't too terrible. Anyway, the next morning I snuck a peak of the beer and saw this:



The dark band that had developed at the top kind of stood out to me, simply because it was a pretty severe contrast to the rest, which again is what I expected it to look like. Well, I held off on checking again until last night, and I saw this:



Definitely not what I was hoping to see. What do you guys think of this color change? The only other beer I've done is a pale and it maintained a pretty standard color throughout. I'm having a hard time understanding why it held the standard color for 2 weeks, and then started turning dark like this. My fear of course is that I screwed something up sanitation-wise...but I really have no idea.

But like I said, I'm curious what you guys think of this. Really hoping it's nothing to worry about.

And thanks in advance for all input!

rdwhahb

davemcphee said:

rdwhahb

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+1

The lighter color you saw earlier is due to the yeast (and other stuff) that was in suspension. As the yeast drops out of suspension the beer appears to darken because it's not reflecting as much light anymore.

DaveMcPhee said:

rdwhahb

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Ha, my first batch is bottle conditioning so I can't!

I agree with weirdboy. That thick looking brown color is from stuff in suspension. As the beer clears its true color starts to show. Without knowing the recipe there isn't any way of knowing the expected SRM (color).

Good deal, you guys are making me feel better about this. Suspended particles makes a lot of sense. But still, I didn't expect a Tripel to come out at such a dark color (assuming the "top" color is where it'll end up at).

I appreciate the replies!

Its just settling out. Its fine. The top color is about where it should end up. Of course colors always look different after you pour a glass. Good news, its beer!:rockin:

From what I have seen and tasted from a Belgium Triple (and I have them here in Brussels all the time) they all look different....some are darker than others, some have a more spicy taste, some have a tint of red in them....they all rock, and plant me on my ass.

Tim

Your brew looks so dark because you are looking through a lot of it. If you took a sample to use your hydrometer on, it would look very pale because there wouldn't be so much to absorb the light. Since you don't have a homebrew to relax with while you wait for the rest of the yeast to settle, come on over and I'll share some of mine. It's only about a 1000 miles or so.