Lefty Blond Ale

breweringbeaz said:

Finished brewing Jamil's blond ale yesterday and I have questions regarding color. The color at the preboil was spot on. However after the 60 min boil the color changed to a much darker wort. This is an extract batch there was no scorching of the malt. Any ideas on the possible cause?

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duboman said:

If you boiled all the extract for the full 60 minutes it attributed to the darker color as it Carmelites a bit

Next time add half at the beginning and half at the last 5 minutes and the color will be better

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masterfool101 said:

This is pretty close.

If you boiled the extract for 60 minutes, it DID darken . . . but not due to carmelization (which is what I assume he meant) . . . due to Maillard Reactions. If you want to read up on them, there are plenty of posts on here that deal with why they occur, and what to do to reduce them.

As Duboman, noted, the simplest way, when brewing with extract, is to add half your extract late in the boil (5 mins remaining or so).

Don't be surprised if your beer is still a bit darker than you expect . . . it's common in extract beers.

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breweringbeaz said:

Thanks guys-- should this effect flavor?

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Vuarra said:

If you are going to enter it to a beer tasting, possibly, but I've never had an issue with the taste.

I don't usually bother with the extract in the boil at all, I usually just throw it in the carboy. Everything is sanitized, but I boil the hops with a small amount (about a cup) of extract in 3 gallons of water, let that cool, and add it to the carboy. The extract doesn't always dissolve that way, but they yeast will find it after a couple of weeks.

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