Lets brainstorm why this turned out so much darker than I expected...

So I recently brewed an (almost) all grain BIAB IIPA. I didn't go all grain because I was stil trying to figure out the limits of the grain bill that I could do with BIAB without overflowing my kettle. I learned several lessons from this and I'll share them briefly for brewers that haven't seen them before.

Firstly - a little bit of Honey malt goes a long way. I used 1/2 lb in a 1.094 beer and it was almost too much. Mileage may vary.

Secondly - With a huge grain bill in a beer that isn't supposed to be super sweet, dry it out with a very fermentable sugar like table sugar or dextrose. IIPAs in particular ar meant to showcase hops and with so much grain, the malty sweetness can be over powering.

OK. Now here is the real question. How did my beer end up with this color.

BeerSmith Predicted SRM 7
Guesstimated SRM 12-16

Grain Bill
12 lbs 2-row (75%)
1/2 lb Honey Malt (3.1%)
1/2 lb Vienna Malt (3.1%)
3 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract (18%)

Boil time 60 mins
I did a double crush for BIAB
Added the DME from ~30 mins (~1lb) to 15 mins (~2lbs)

Fermented with 2 packs of Nottingham @ 68 degrees
1 week primary
2 weeks secondary
3 weeks in bottle

Two samples were tested
2 weeks in fridge (12-16SRM and cloudy but clearing)
5 weeks in bottle/warm (12-16SRM and clear)

Don't think that the boil time with the DME (stirred vigorously so it didnt burn on bottom) would have darkened it.

Would the crush make a difference?

Thanks for the help!

Because you used extract. Extract beers, which includes this partial mash you did, are usually darker than their all grain counterparts. The making of extract results in kettle caramelization during the process, as does adding it to our boil kettles. That's why late extract additions are recommended because it reduces (not eliminate totally) kettle caramelization.

No, it's not the crush. In order to get to 12 SRM using your grain bill, the Honey Malt would have had to be at 250 SRM to get the beer up to 12 SRM. Something in the actual grain bill had to have deviated from the recipe.

Ok, first... I don't see if this was meant to be a 5gallon, 10 gallon, or other size batch... second, I would be curious to see your OG

Revvy said:

Because you used extract. Extract beers, which includes this partial mash you did, are usually darker than their all grain counterparts. The making of extract results in kettle caramelization during the process, as does adding it to our boil kettles. That's why late extract additions are recommended because it reduces (not eliminate totally) kettle caramelization.

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I seriously doubt that small amount of extract would have a significant effect on darkening the wort. I have often made beers that were 100% extra light DME, full boil for an hour, the resulting beer is only slightly darker than the identical gravity with a 100% 2row, and not quite as much color as 100% pale ale

wailingguitar said:

I seriously doubt that small amount of extract would have a significant effect on darkening the wort. I have often made beers that were 100% extra light DME, full boil for an hour, the resulting beer is only slightly darker than the identical gravity with a 100% 2row, and not quite as much color as 100% pale ale

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3 pounds is not a small amount in terms of the color it's going to add.

We still need to know what the batch size and OG were... He may be saying that his OG was 1.094... the mention of that is a little ambiguous... If that grain bill had been used in a 5 gallon batch, his color is about where I would expect it.... the estimated color is about where I would put it for a 10 gallon. Could that be the issue?

Regardless, extra light dry malt doesn't add a heck of a lot of color, sorry Rev, but blaming a jump like that on the DME itself... no. More color than the same gravity of 2 row with simple infusion yes? As much as the same gravity of pale ale? not quite. It would only happen if it were allowed to scorch. Sounds like he didn't let that happen.