Red ale looks more brownish. Can I fix it?

[nuber]

Howdy,

I brewed a red ale and it came out kinda brownish red and not really the color I was going for. I normally wouldn't care but i'm doing it for a contest.

If I were to brew up a bit of amber malt or carared or something really red and add it to the existing batch would it redden it or just make it browner since it's already dark?

 

[atom]

it would make it darker.

i think it would be hard to change the color without changing the flavor. if it were me, i'd just rebrew.

 

[SudsyPaul]

There's not much other than food-coloring that would redden a beer without also darkening it.

Sounds like to need to rebrew for your comp :/

 

[beergolf]

Are you looking at it in the fermenter or a glass? It will appear much darker in the fermenter. Take a sample and put it the sample tube and then judge the color.

 

[nuber]

Are you looking at it in the fermenter or a glass? It will appear much darker in the fermenter. Take a sample and put it the sample tube and then judge the color.

I viewed it through the hydrometer tube and it was sort a sort-of reddish brown color. Of course it had just been poured through a strainer and into the fermenter before the sample was taken so it's possible it'll clarify as it settles and lighten up. I may just have to roll with it and hope those who are judging it don't think it's too dark. I don't like red ales so I really don't wanna make ANOTHER batch .

 

[beergolf]

Let it finish and it will look much different.

 

[m00ps]

Have you bottled it yet? If not, I would siphon out maybe 1/2gal of it and boil it on the stove until its consistency starts to get slightly syrupy. Cool that, keep it sanitized, and gently add that back into the fermentor. It can really give some color to beers. I made a Maris Otter SMaSH that looked like an Amber Ale by doing a separate mini boil like this. Also makes great toffee flavors

Edit: Oops, just realized he wants to LIGHTEN the beer. But, as stated, let the beer finish. I've had a number of beers that completely changed color during fermentation

 

[Brettomomyces]

3rding the suggestions to wait it out, after fermentation and cold crashing it will become much less opaque and you'll get a better sense of the true color.

 

[GHBWNY]

I viewed it through the hydrometer tube and it was sort a sort-of reddish brown color. Of course it had just been poured through a strainer and into the fermenter before the sample was taken so it's possible it'll clarify as it settles and lighten up. I may just have to roll with it and hope those who are judging it don't think it's too dark. I don't like red ales so I really don't wanna make ANOTHER batch .

Viewing it through a hydrometer tube is going refract the light at a much sharper angle (concentrate it) than in a glass, so whatever shade it is will be intensified. I'd pour off a glass, stick it in the fridge for 24 hrs and see what it looks like afterwards. If it's short of being be a red, then you're prob outa luck for this batch. For kicks, I would add a teeny-tiny bit of red food coloring just to see what effect it would have, but obviously, you cannot enter it in a comp by doing that.

 

[giraffe]

You may want to add finings. If it is not read the newspaper through it clear, its never going to be red, red. If its still brown with perfect clarity, well you are out of luck.