Beer color

[Brewpup506]

So... I’m about 5 brews in , pumpkin ale, vanilla coffee porter, 2 IPA’s (1 peach, 1 triple dry hopped), and recently a tester Xmas ale. All of them save the porter are dark red! I can’t get a clear light colored beer. I use LME and specialty grains to brew. Normally at a 5g batch. I stir the crap out of it when dropping the LME to avoid scorching and yet I just can’t get the color right. Any suggestions.

they all turn out like this or darker. That one actually got darker after fermentation

 

[bobeer]

Can you post the specialty grains you're using in each recipe?
Same kind of dme? Light dme?

Are you boiling 100% of the dme% It's been a while since I've used it but I recall a late edition of 85% of the dme resulted in lighter and clearer beer since you don't caramelize the extract during the boil.

 

[Jag75]

I believe it's due to the LME. I've done a kolsch kit with LME & DME . My all grain Kolsch considerably lighter then extract.

 

[bracconiere]

That one actually got darker after fermentation

i've heard that could be oxidation....

 

[Pappers_]

I'm not 100% on this, but I would think using the lightest version of DME you can find would be the way to go. As an experiment, maybe try making a simple blonde ale with 100% Extra Light DME, no steeping or specialty grains, a few hops at 60 min and 10 min, and US-05 yeast or something similar. That should set the baseline for you on how light a beer you can make with this process. Plus, it will be an easy drinking blonde ale, which isn't bad LOL.

 

[bucketnative]

I'm not 100% on this, but I would think using the lightest version of DME you can find would be the way to go. As an experiment, maybe try making a simple blonde ale with 100% Extra Light DME, no steeping or specialty grains, a few hops at 60 min and 10 min, and US-05 yeast or something similar. That should set the baseline for you on how light a beer you can make with this process. Plus, it will be an easy drinking blonde ale, which isn't bad LOL.

I'm not sure that he would even need a 60-min boil. The wort will darken a little bit during the boil. With the extracts, you could get away with a 20-min boil, compensating with a larger bittering charge instead.

 

[kevin58]

"darker after fermentation" hints at oxidation. Are you racking to secondary? Assuming you are bottling, what is your process...Is there a chance air is getting into the bottles (during bottling or after)? What kind of bottles are you using (clear, green, dark brown) and how are you storing them (warm, cold, in the light or dark)? And if it's not oxidation try not boiling the wort for the full 60 minutes. You can actually get away with boiling malt extract for as little as 15 minutes.

 

[bucketnative]

Wort can appear darker after fermentation when all of the trub and yeast have dropped out of suspension. I would say that darker after packaging, like a week or so after bottling or kegging, would hint at oxidation.

The color that you show in that hydrometer tube (assuming pre-fermentation) is pretty much on par with how my extract Kolsch and witbier recipes used to turn out with LME. I would say it looks pretty normal. It's tough to get really light beers with LME (and sometimes DME) and full boil.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I stir the crap out of it when dropping the LME to avoid scorching and yet I just can’t get the color right.

Complete recipes (or grain bills) and the process steps during boiling would help with troubleshooting.

Some general thoughts:

• If the estimated color is consistently wrong, maybe it's the estimation process and not the brewer.

• LME tends to darken during storage: http://blog.brewingwithbriess.com/secrets-to-keeping-your-liquid-extracts-fresh/.

• If one is using "Golden Light" DME/LME to make an IPA, and expecting to get an SRM around 4 at OGs above 60, one may end up being disappointed: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=29885.msg392903#msg392903 .

• Late additions of DME/LME will help (see http://menuinprogress.com/2007/08/on-importance-of-late-extract-addition.html ).

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

I'm not 100% on this, but I would think using the lightest version of DME you can find would be the way to go. As an experiment, maybe try making a simple blonde ale with 100% Extra Light DME, no steeping or specialty grains, a few hops at 60 min and 10 min, and US-05 yeast or something similar. That should set the baseline for you on how light a beer you can make with this process. Plus, it will be an easy drinking blonde ale, which isn't bad LOL.

I'm not sure that he would even need a 60-min boil. The wort will darken a little bit during the boil. With the extracts, you could get away with a 20-min boil, compensating with a larger bittering charge instead.

I brewed a pair of "no-boil" 1 gal batches recently. The goal was to experiment with cryo Citra hops and to experiment with DME color.

process (both batches): heat water to "strike temperature", add DME and hops, hold at 180* F for 20 minutes, chill.

"grain bill" for batch 1: 16 oz "golden light" DME

"grain bill" for batch 2: 12 oz "golden light" DME, 4 oz brewers crystals

estimating SRM: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=29885.msg392903#msg392903 to estimate SRM.

measuring SRM: I compared the beer to the SRM chart on the cover page of HtB, 4e (not exactly scientific, but 'close enough' for me).

Result: SRM estimates were roughly +/- 1 actual SRM; batch 2 was visually lighter (and for me, no 'unexpected flavors' from the brewers crystals); batch 1 was around 6 SRM, batch 2 around 4 (which is a 'close enough' match to the estimated SRM).

With regard to how much DME darkens during boiling, http://menuinprogress.com/2007/08/on-importance-of-late-extract-addition.html is enough information for me - so it's not likely I'll do a longer boil to understand the impact of longer boils on color when brewing wth DME.

I also brew "small batch" BIAB - so when color really matters, I just BIAB.

 

[Brewpup506]

Thank you all for your comments! Super busy I’ll reply with answers and details once things settle down at home. I just wanted to say thanks for feed back first