nowhere near expected color

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rmedved

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So my first ever batch has been in the primary for four days now. I opened it up and took a sample to check the gravity.
It is supposed to be a stout, but the color is a medium brown, nowhere near what I was expecting.
I forgot to have the LHBS crush my grains for me so I did it at home with a rolling pin. I'm guessing that I didn't do a good enough job of crushing them and therefor didn't get as much color from them as I was expecting.
What else could cause this?

Here was the recipe I used:
1.00 lb Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM) Dry Extract 9.09 %
6.00 lb Pale Liquid Extract [Boil for 15 min] Extract 54.55 %
2.00 lb Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) Extract 18.18 %
1.00 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 9.09 %
0.50 lb Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) Grain 4.55 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 4.55 %
2.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] (60 min) Hops 35.9 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (15 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1 Pkgs Scottish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1728) [Starter 1000 ml] Yeast-Ale


I realize now that the brown malt really needed to be mashed and not just steeped, however there should have been more than enough roasted barley to get a good dark color right?
 
One thing to remember is those hydrometer tubes only hold so much liquid. It will look darker in a glass.

And 4 days? Probably a lot of yeast in solution which would make the sample a lighter color. I bet it darkens up on you as it finishes.
 
my brown ale looked like a hefe in my hydrometer tube when I pulled a sample from my primary, racked to secondary and it cleared up to a nice dark brown within 48 hrs, so don't sweat it
 
ARRRGGGHHH. So when I bought the ingredients, I was going from a recipe listed at the LHBS. I have never brewed so I had no idea what each grain was supposed to look like. Now, after seeing what roasted barley should look like online, I realize that what the 85 year old dude at the store sold me was probably something more like crystal 40. Now I know why the color was so far off.

Now this is definitely not a stout, but I have no idea what to classify it as, I'm thinking it's either an extra hoppy dark brown ale, or a dark not so hoppy ipa.

I will be going to a different LHBS in the future.
 
Historically stouts began much lighter than today. Just call it an Old Stout.

I have been toying with the idea of one after reading about it in “Designing Great Beers.” You may be surprised by how good it tastes even if it is not BLACK.
 
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