That's not CaraPils...

...is it? Below is a pic of some specialty grains. Clockwise from the bag labeled CaraPils 2# is: Bag labeled CaraPils 2# - Belgian Special B - Crystal 40L - CaraMunich - Belgian Biscuit - Belgian Aromatic (top left corner). That stuff looks to be at least 60L if not 90L. I just brewed what was supposed to be a Bohemian Pils with just a 1/4# of CaraPils but it came out way too dark. Has reddish tones too.

This alleged CaraPils was from my LHBS. I thought it looked dark but just didn't think much about it. So much for my QC. Any guesses?

That's a darker crystal. Dat ain't no cara.

Which one is Special B? That top right one looks like it could be the Special B.

Edit- duh! just reread your post. It's the carapils you're asking about. Ignore me. I drink, you know.

Maybe we should call it "ScaraPils"?

Looks just like my CaraPils - will snap a pic once my camera batteries charge up.

Looks exactly like my Carapils too... have the sack here comparing them. Looks like they are twins...

SO are you telling me that MINE is not really Carapils?

Looks exactly like my Carapils too...

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Your CaraPils is darker and redder than either Crystal 40L or CaraMunich? It may not come out in that pic well but that's the case here.

How does it taste compared to the others?

The cara pils I've used have always been very light.

SpanishCastleAle said:

Your CaraPils is darker and redder than either Crystal 40L or CaraMunich? It may not come out in that pic well but that's the case here.

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Okay, in your pic... your carapils looks lighter than both the 40L and the Munich. So I suppose that the photo really doesn't show what you are saying. My bad... I went by the pic.

the carapils I brew with is 1.8L, even in the pic it looks to dark for that.

CaraPils 14L on the left, Crystal 80L on the right.

Pseudochef,
That does look very similar. I guess I need to specify light CaraPils when I get it because I think of CaraPils as a 2-3ish Lovibond malt. That's usually what I get when I order it from other sources (I haven't bought any from this LHBS for many years). I didn't even know it was sold as dark as this.

Thing is that this brew is really dark for just a 1/4# of this mystery malt in a brew that had 10# Pils malt and 1/4# Corn Sugar (nothing else). Makes me wonder if the Pils was really Pils (same source).

With a 1/4# it shouldnt be THAT much darker... Even if you had caramel pils at 20L... you souldnt SEE much of a difference at all.

ProMash sayes that .25lb of 20L compared to .25lb of 2L would be 5.3SRM compared to 4.8SRM in your recipe.

Something else is wrong here.

Sure seems like it Pol. This stuff seems like it would need to be 60L-90L to give this much color. I just compared leftover Pils from yesterdays brew to some Pils from AHS and they look identical so I think the Pils really was Pils. If I had to guess I'd say this brew is in 7-8 SRM range. The stuff looks more red and slightly darker than my CaraMunich (which I think is in the 55L range).

WEIRD... yeah, I have some Caramel Pils that is 20L... and it isnt even dark enough to throw my recipes that call for Carapils (2L) out of style.

You have a color problem somewhere, but I dont think the Carapils is it.

Do you think they gave you a crystal malt??

I plugged this into ProMash and even if you had #1/4 of 120L... you would only be looking at 6.4SRM.

Are you basing this on the color of the runnings in the tubing from the lauter? Or are you basing this in what you see in your fermentor?

Are you basing this on the color of the runnings in the tubing from the lauter? Or are you basing this in what you see in your fermentor?

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Both...plus the hydrometer. It just so happens that several of my recent brews have been around 7-12 so I have something to compare it against. I did a decoction on this so that will add a tiny bit of color but just a tiny bit...I only boiled the thick decoction for 12 minutes.

This brew is what it is and it'll still be good...just not a Bohemian Pils. At this point I guess I'm just trying to find out what I have 1-3/4# left of. Aside from the fact that it's totally not what I expected I actually like the color. At this point Crystal 90L is my best guess.

My carapils is the color of straw.

With only 1/4# in there, it needs to be 120L to see much of a difference. And it just doesnt look that dark.

I agree Pol...it doesn't look dark enough to impart as much color as it did. But if the extra color didn't come from the base malt I dunno what else it could be (other than me not judging the color very accurately which is entirely possible). My mash pH was 5.2-5.3, my sparge stayed between 162-168o F (I usually don't measure this but did this time for some reason...I was standing there with a themometer in my hand so I shoved it down in there). So I'm pretty confident it wasn't any sort of tannin extraction or anything. It def wasn't any sort of burning/scorching of a decoction or anything. The Helles in my sig is extremely light...almost too pale and I didn't even use any corn sugar in it.