hoppybrewster
Well-Known Member
OK, so no matter what my beer is ALWAYS darker than planed. What's up with that? Run all my recipes through beersmith software. NEVER looks like the picture when done. All my beers look like a nut brown. What gives?
Beer color
- Thread starter hoppybrewster
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
WizardBill
Active Member
I have the exact same issue. Trying to get a "yellow" beer. Even used a LME and a Pilsner extract. What gives?
JuanMoore
Getting the banned back together
Could be several things, but to keep color lighter when brewing extract you might need to make most of your extract additions at flameout. Boiling the extract the full time can darken it and cause it to caramelize some.
brettg20
Well-Known Member
Don't go by the color on your computer screen
flars
Well-Known Member
Here is my response to the same question a bit ago at this link.
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=120078
Go for late extra addition to end up with a lighter colored beer. Heating extracts, more pronounced with LME than DME, results in darkening of the color. The extract in the jug you received has already been heated once and you are going to heat it again. The flavor is not changed because it isn't scorching or carmelization. The darker color is the result of the Mailliard Reaction. Same reason bread is darker on the outside than the inside. DME, if used in bread making, gives an even darker crust.
Use roughly one pound to one and a half pounds of extract per gallon of the boil volume. If the recipe has both LME and DME add the DME first and the LME fifteen minutes before flame out or power down, (electric brewing).
The change in hop utilization is negligible.
There has been some work to say that hop oil isomerization is less with hops like Magnum because of reduced hot break material in the wort, for sixty minutes of boiling, with late extract addition. On the other hand hop oil utilization is thought to increase with hops like Perle because there is less hot break material in the wort.
I haven't found any confirming information on this yet.
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=120078
Go for late extra addition to end up with a lighter colored beer. Heating extracts, more pronounced with LME than DME, results in darkening of the color. The extract in the jug you received has already been heated once and you are going to heat it again. The flavor is not changed because it isn't scorching or carmelization. The darker color is the result of the Mailliard Reaction. Same reason bread is darker on the outside than the inside. DME, if used in bread making, gives an even darker crust.
Use roughly one pound to one and a half pounds of extract per gallon of the boil volume. If the recipe has both LME and DME add the DME first and the LME fifteen minutes before flame out or power down, (electric brewing).
The change in hop utilization is negligible.
There has been some work to say that hop oil isomerization is less with hops like Magnum because of reduced hot break material in the wort, for sixty minutes of boiling, with late extract addition. On the other hand hop oil utilization is thought to increase with hops like Perle because there is less hot break material in the wort.
I haven't found any confirming information on this yet.
OP
OP
hoppybrewster
Well-Known Member
Bump-more opinions ?
BostonHomeBruin
Active Member
I agree with the others. I mainly use DME and I found that if you add around 1 lb of it at the start of the boil and add the rest at flameout, it can help keep things lighter.
BostonHomeBruin
Active Member
Also, I believe the more water you can boil on your stovetop, the lighter your beer color will be. I can't say from experience since I usually only boil 2 gallons but if you can use more in the boil then that should help.
GASoline71
Well-Known Member
Maillard Reaction...
Common occurance in extract brews. Again, like stated above... Do more of your extract additions with 15 minutes or so left in the boil. It's near impossible to brew and extract beer that is very light straw yellow in color.
Gary
Common occurance in extract brews. Again, like stated above... Do more of your extract additions with 15 minutes or so left in the boil. It's near impossible to brew and extract beer that is very light straw yellow in color.
Gary
