Carmelized Pale Ale

I brewed a Northern Brewer Sierra Madre extract a few months ago and followed the instructions given. I did a full boil and added the LME at the proper timing. After reading multiple posts here in HBT about this I learned to add the LME at flame out. My Pale Ale is darker than it should be, has a caramel flavor and took about 8-10 weeks to carb in bottles. My question is, will the caramel flavor fade with a bit more time or is this the flavor I get until the next home brew is ready to drink?

what was the rest of the grain bill?

unionrdr said:

That's what happens when all the LME is added at the start of the boil. You get mailard reactions that darken the beer & give darker color. You're pretty much stuck with it on this one. Next time,use late extract additions. That'll take care of it. I also took to using plain DME in the boil,half a 3lb bag. The remaining DME & all the LME at flame out,cover & steep 15 minutes. It's still plenty hot enough at that point to pasteurize,which happens about 162F.

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Thanks for the info. I was hoping the caramel flavor would fade but I guess not. It's not too bad but it's not good. haha. I know for next time I do an extract, I've been getting into all grain these last few brews so no problems with the mailard reactions there. Have a good week.

8-10 weeks sounds like a very long time to carb also.

You may not have been stirring vigorously enough when you added the LME and had some of it sink to the bottom of the pot and caramelize. That would also give you a darker color and the caramel flavor. When I used LME, I would put the container in hot water for quite some time to make it flow more freely and mix in easier.

RM-MN said:

You may not have been stirring vigorously enough when you added the LME and had some of it sink to the bottom of the pot and caramelize. That would also give you a darker color and the caramel flavor. When I used LME, I would put the container in hot water for quite some time to make it flow more freely and mix in easier.

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Good call on how slow it poured and I was stirring but not overly vigorous. Live and learn. Next few brews are all grain but I may do an extract on Home Brew Day with a friend that wants to learn how to get into basic brewing. Thanks.

kagythings said:

Good call on how slow it poured and I was stirring but not overly vigorous. Live and learn. Next few brews are all grain but I may do an extract on Home Brew Day with a friend that wants to learn how to get into basic brewing. Thanks.

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Put 6 ounces of water in a clear 8 ounce drinking glass. Grab a toothpick for a stirrer and slowly drip in some honey and try to stir that in. The honey (LME) is pretty dense and really likes to sink to the bottom. I think that is how it happened.

I'm about to start a Muntons export pilsner tomorrow. My first brew. So if I do the boil and add half the 3 lb bag of DME at the start, then add the rest of the DME and the (somewhat heated) LME after I pull the pot off the boil and stir them in vigorously and steep with lid on for 15 minutes, that'll do it? Then I can add a bit of water to top off to 5 gallons.

That's what is sounds like. Just want to be sure.