American Cream Ale Kit question

[koikkara]

First time brewer here.

I started brewing American Cream Ale Kit couple of weeks ago. Wort sat in the primary for a week. Now it is in secondary. I was really careful sanitizing pretty much everthing I touched. According to the recipe, beer should be straw in color. However it looks brown to me. Not sure If I did something wrong. I tasted it while I was trasfering over to secondary. It was bitter, not so sweet...tasted like beer. Wasnt sure abt the color. Is it going to change as it sits longer? Any tips would be appreciated. Receipe is below.

http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1011_American_Cream_Ale.pdf

 

[Yooper]

First time brewer here.

I started brewing American Cream Ale Kit couple of weeks ago. Wort sat in the primary for a week. Now it is in secondary. I was really careful sanitizing pretty much everthing I touched. According to the recipe, beer should be straw in color. However it looks brown to me. Not sure If I did something wrong. I tasted it while I was trasfering over to secondary. It was bitter, not so sweet...tasted like beer. Wasnt sure abt the color. Is it going to change as it sits longer? Any tips would be appreciated. Receipe is below.

http://www.brewersbestkits.com/pdf/1011_American_Cream_Ale.pdf

My guess is that your extract was added at the beginning of the boil. Boiling extract causes "maillard reactions", like caramelization, so that the wort will get very dark.

Next time, add the majority of the extract at the end of the boil and it will keep the color lighter.

 

[koikkara]

Thanks. I did add the extract at the beginning and bolied for another 40 minutes per the instructions.Do you think it is going to affect the quality? or taste bad?

 

[biohaz7331]

I just did a cream ale and to reduce the caramelization I added half of the lime and the beginning of the boil and half 15 minutes before flame out. Also letting it sit will also help the color. When I transferred it, it was light brown but after letting it sit and filtering it, it is now a nice light yellow like you would expect.

 

[Yooper]

Thanks. I did add the extract at the beginning and bolied for another 40 minutes per the instructions.Do you think it is going to affect the quality? or taste bad?

No, it should taste ok. It might taste a little bit like cooked extract, or be a little bit thicker than you might like, but it should be fine.

 

[biohaz7331]

Oh right sorry didn't answer part of the question. Just as yooper said it shouldn't really affect taste. I haven't noticed a big taste difference between splitting up the lime into two additions but there may be a slight difference. Biggest difference I see is color/appearance.

 

[koikkara]

Thanks Guys! Will post how it turned out

 

[biohaz7331]

Good to hear! Oh and welcome to Home Brew Talk : )