Achieving lemonade color in NEIPA

[Brew-Dog]

I’ve had some New England IPAs, DIPAs and TIPAs that are SUPER light in colour (often described as looking like lemonade). I can’t figure out how some of these high ABV NEIPAs are so light in colour. It doesn’t appear to be yeasty/turbid, just hazy. I can make a hazy pale ale with Pilsner malt, wheat and oats that’s pretty light in colour, but it’s still not as pale as some commercial hazy beers that are in the 8-10% ABV range. Oxidation isn’t the culprit, my set up is a closed system. Is there some crazy malt that is less than 1 SRM? Maybe they’re using Pilsner malt and something like clear maltose syrup? Rice? Corn?

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

My guess is to look into the percentages of grains used in their recipes. For instance, a beer brewed from 45% Pale Ale malt and a 55% blend of wheat and oats will produce a 4.5 SRM beer.

 

[wepeeler]

All standard 2 row or Pilsner and some flaked adjuncts will give you a very light straw color. Don't go overboard with the boil. Color is affected if you boil aggressively. Some people use honey malt or light crystal malts which also darken the beer.

 

[Brew-Dog]

Just not sure which grain or combination of grains would produce a beer this light in color at an ABV above 8%. See the beer on the left. Some breweries are making 10% ABV IPAs this light in color. Just to reach that ABV requires a massive grain bill, and the more grain you use, the darker the beer will be due to the higher concentration/viscosity of the wort. Kinda makes me wonder if there’s a specialty base malt I’m not familiar with or a large percentage of sugar and/or colourless adjuncts.

 

[wepeeler]

I've routinely made beer that light with Standard 2 Row and Pilsner. 10-12lbs of pilsner and flaked oats/wheat and a gentle boil will easily get you that color. Hops can also make a difference in color, although I'm not 100% sure which ones add more color. I do know that my all Citra Neipas tend to be lighter in color than say a Citra/Mosaic combo.

 

[Vale71]

That beer looks "light" because it's so cloudy that you're not actually seeing "through" the beer, like you would with any regular beer, but you're actually just seeing the reflected light.
Standard reference colors for beer are actually measurements of beer's light transmissivity and are meaningless for beer that is not completely filtered.

 

[ihavenonickname]

Pilsner, dextrose, short boil, yeast selection.