Copper ale darkened in secondary

I brewed a batch of copper ale kit from Midwest last weekend. Following Brewsmith2 i moved it into secondary on Friday. Wile in the primary it was a nice copper color. But within a day of racking it has darkened. I keep the shades drown in the room and even leave the lights off when getting a bottle out of the fridge. I have since covered the secondary to block any light at all.

What caused the darkening?

I tend to think that beer darkens as it clears. The thing I would be most concerned about with exposing it to light is it picking up a skunky smell from the hops interaction with UV light (much like the way Mexican Lagers smell). I always throw a t-shirt over my carboy to block any light. Also it may look closer to what you expect when you move it to your glass.

brices121 said:

I tend to think that beer darkens as it clears. The thing I would be most concerned about with exposing it to light is it picking up a skunky smell from the hops interaction with UV light (much like the way Mexican Lagers smell). I always throw a t-shirt over my carboy to block any light. Also it may look closer to what you expect when you move it to your glass.

Click to expand...

This is pretty close. When your beer was in the primary you had a lot of yeast suspended in it and they reflected the light back to you, making the beer look light in color. Now you have had it in secondary long enough to let the yeast settle out and you are looking at light through the entire carboy and the beer absorbs light making it look dark. When you pour it into a glass, it will look the right color because there is less beer for the light to pass through.

cool deal :rockin:

If you look at the picture you posted of your beer in the carboy, you would notice the off white layer of yeast in the bottom. That's what came out of your beer.