Oakwood said:
...How would some one go about clearing a beer... I tend to get more amber beers then I plan on...
First off are you asking about clearing beer or keeping the color very pale?
Clearing is more of getting yeast and proteins and such out of the beer so it isn't hazy and doesn't create chill haze. This is achievable a couple of ways. One way is with an agent like Irish moss that binds to the proteins and yeast to help them drop out (that's what all that gunk is on the bottom of your fermenter). Plop in a teaspoon of it or a whirlfloc at the end of the boil and it does the trick.
Another way is with cold conditioning. Putting the beer in cold storage for a period of time clears out the beer pretty darn well. Usually around a week or more in just above freezing temps does the trick.
Now if your looking for a more pale colored brew, as it sounds you are, then CBBaron has some good advice for you.
For extracts you can opt for DME rather than LME. The late extract method can be very helpful also, just remember to adjust your hops since the lower gravity boil will extract more bitterness. Search the forum for late extract method.
If full boils are possible this will also help out. Not usually the case but if you do have a rather large pot lying around boiling the entire amount of wort will induce less darkening.
And yes the darker specialty malts will definitely add to your color. Take a look at your recipe, sometimes darker specialty malts are thrown in mainly for their coloring. When you steep your specialty grains take note to how dark the water gets before you even put your extract in. If you can sub some lighter malts to get the same or close to the same flavor profile your good to go.
In the end though, how does your beer taste? If it tastes amazing, does one or two shades mean enough of a difference? It's completely up to personal opinion, and that's the beauty of this hobby!
