Porter color

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Ridire

Ridire

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Just took my first gravity reading of a porter that's been in primary for about two weeks. Gravity is fine but it looks very light for a porter. Any chance it gets darker as it clears or while conditioning in the bottle? Or did I just not steep the darker specialty grains long enough (20 minutes per the recipe)
 
It probably just looks light in your sample tube (assuming thats what you use) as there isn't much liquid for the light to shine through. I'm sure it'll look much darker in a full glass
 
Thanks. I'm not too worried about it but it's my first brew. It was in a very thin test tube. Tasted ok for what it is, a very immature, uncarbonated beer. Also, it's a lighter porter to start...a Brown.
 
The beer will appear to darken slightly when the yeast settles out. Yeast is usually a light tan color, and when it is floating in suspension, it tends to make the beer appear lighter in color than it actually is.
 
Just for kicks and giggles I opened a microbrew stout I had in my fridge and put some into the same test tube. It did look a shade lighter in there but I'm still convinced I'm going to have ver light porter. Oh well, it will be beer, right? And you don't taste color.
 
DrummerBoySeth said:
The beer will appear to darken slightly when the yeast settles out. Yeast is usually a light tan color, and when it is floating in suspension, it tends to make the beer appear lighter in color than it actually is.
Click to expand...

I guess I'll see in a few weeks. Thanks.
 
It's cool man, brown porters can be lighter than some people expect. Porters don't need to be black. And in the tube it's definitely lighter, yeah. Congrats, I'm sure it will taste great! :mug:
 
Again, I'm not too worried but was a little surprised by the light color. I did a search for "brown porter" on this site and found this link. The picture is pretty close to the color I saw last night:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/blimeys-brown-porter-88813/

EDIT: I guess the biggest problem here is my ignorance. I love dark, coffee porters and the like and just grabbed a boxed recipe that said "porter" on it. I didn't realize there was such an animal as this style of porter. I guess I'll form an opinion pretty quickly here.
 
I the color is what you are looking for you can get a coloring agent called Sinamar that will make your porter black but add no flavor. I'm looking for flavor so I don't care what color mine turns out.

For your next porter you will know better what to expect from a kit. Adding a couple ounces of black malt will get you darker color and a coffee flavor. Add 2 ounces of chocolate malt and you get darker color and chocolate flavor (muted, gotta go looking for either of the flavors and if the beer is too cold you won't taste them).
 
RM-MN said:
I the color is what you are looking for you can get a coloring agent called Sinamar that will make your porter black but add no flavor. I'm looking for flavor so I don't care what color mine turns out.

For your next porter you will know better what to expect from a kit. Adding a couple ounces of black malt will get you darker color and a coffee flavor. Add 2 ounces of chocolate malt and you get darker color and chocolate flavor (muted, gotta go looking for either of the flavors and if the beer is too cold you won't taste them).
Click to expand...

No more kits for this guy. From now on, I am looking at recipes of beers I know and looking at what ingredients get reasonably close to what I'm shooting for. I'll then either post the recipe here, talk to the guys at the brew supply store, or both (as I've done with my next brew, an IPA).
 
Ok. I MAY have misjudged the color. Now that she's in secondary, it looks like a porter.

image-3282734713.jpg
 
Ridire said:
Ok. I MAY have misjudged the color. Now that she's in secondary, it looks like a porter.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's a porter. As others have said, Porters don't have to be opaque. It's all in the taste and feel. At the end of the day though, just remember, you just made beer. You now have a measuring stick to go by so if you wish to make it darker next time you can do so. Your first brew is always a great one to drink. Welcome to the obsession.
 

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