A question of color...and how it happened.

[seatazzz]

So I just tapped the Strata SMaSH that I brewed two weeks ago. 14lbs two row, and lots of delicious Strata hops as late additions. Will put it out there that I use Great Western two row as my base malt for most of my beers, including lagers. It usually throws a nice slightly reddish-gold color, fairly consistent. I have a cold-fermented lager on tap right now as well, that was brewed with that same malt, although different hops (Chinook and Crystal, it's my house lager and turns out great every time), and of course fermented on lager yeast where the Strata was done on Nottingham. On pouring the Strata, I was amazed to note that color-wise it looks almost as light as a pilsner; not clear yet but will be in a day or two. The lager (currently 5 weeks old) is a darker gold, and had two pounds less in the grain bill than the Strata. It hasn't changed much in color since it was first tapped, so I don't think it's oxidation (although yes I know that happens with all beers no matter what we do). The Strata did get an extended cold crash (life got in the way, also laziness) of over a week with the dry hops in it. Any ideas (however far out there) from you guys as to how this could have happened? Both beers taste great, no off flavors and carbonated perfectly. I'm stumped.

 

[Vale71]

Same malt from the same lot, no specialty malts?
Then it's definitely oxidation, the younger beer will most likely catch up eventually.
Can you measure beer PH? Higher final PH will make color change faster than lower PH, so that might also be where the difference comes from.

 

[jack13]

What about the mash? Anything different between the two?

Or grind?

This reminds me of a question that I thought of the other day that relates to this: If you get more sugars out of a mash (higher efficiency), does that necessarily mean it would be darker than an equivalent brew were you had less efficiency? I'm not asking whether just generally speaking darker means more sugar (obviously it does not). I'm talking about two brews with same grain bill, but say with different mash temps or times, or maybe in one you added acid...comparing those two brews, would color and sugar content/efficieny go hand-in-hand?

 

[Vale71]

In short, yes. But in the case of the OP the darker beer had a lower OG so there must be another reason.

 

[imasickboy]

Kettle caramelization is a possibility.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

For the darker lager it may be that the pH is not low enough.

 

[seatazzz]

Thanks guys. My pH meter is crap, so I can't really get an accurate reading. Both were brewed with two-row from the same bag. I am noticing that the lager isn't aging out very well (very very slight sourness in it, could be the yeast, was third generation, could also be me being overly critical) but I'm not getting any of the common oxidation off-flavors in it. Nothing was much different in the mashes, mash temperature was about 152 in each, 50 minutes with 10 minutes lautering, and both grain bills were double-milled as that is working for me right now (I MIAB). Just wondering if the IPA will color up like that if it lasts long enough. Doubt it, it's super tasty and refreshing after a long day, and I have requests from coworkers for bottles. Just struck me as odd.