The title says it all. Steeped the grain bag (½ pound crystal 10L), later added the extract (7 pounds pale ale) and 1 ounce of Tettnang. Started the hour boil. Through all of this it was a very nice golden yellow...blonde. But as soon as I added more Tettnang with 15 minutes left, it turned brown. Eventually turned a dark amber, almost copper. That's what I have in the carboy now. So what gives?
Brewed blonde ale today...why is it amber/copper color?
- Thread starter MrBJones
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk:
Extract darkens in the boil, due to maillard reactions. Next time, add the majority of the extract at flame out instead of at the boil, add the beer be lighter colored. Extract just darkens when you boil it, and it doesn't need to be boiled (it's already cooked), so adding the majority of it when the flame goes out helps keep the color lighter.
It will look darker in the fermenter or boil kettle than in the glass when it is ready.
YES
and YES....
My blonde ale always looks copper colored until I bottle and condition it.
Suspended yeast and proteins can cause light refraction/reflection that does not accurately represent the real beer.
Late extract additions (at flameout) will also keep it more true to color in the end result as well.
Thanks to everyone for your replies.
LME and DME -- is one or the other more susceptible to darkening because of these maillard reactions?
Some swear by using only DME for lighter colored beers. I personally have no scientific proof but that seems to be the case.
From experience, I can however defend that using late extract editions helps the color and clarity of the beer. Also, the fermenting vessel makes the beer look much darker than it will in a glass.
![Craft A Brew - Safale S-04 Dry Yeast - Fermentis - English Ale Dry Yeast - For English and American Ales and Hard Apple Ciders - Ingredients for Home Brewing - Beer Making Supplies - [1 Pack]](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41fVGNh6JfL._SL500_.jpg)
So I racked it to the secondary today and took a SG reading. All is well, the color is really pretty close to what I'd expect -- and for warm flat ale, it isn't too bad.
Note to self: Things really do look a LOT darker in the carboy.
Note to self: Things really do look a LOT darker in the carboy.
Because your looking at it through a larger volume container that a glass. Optical illusion time. And I've found time & again that DME is far less susceptible to maillard reactions in the boil than LME. Late extract additions are great with both, however. Also in terms of hop utilization in the boil with regard to water volume.
NoIguanaForZ
Well-Known Member
Well, of course; the light's traveling through a lot more fluid, and the color effectively attenuates it a certain amount per length of path. (There are probably other effects contributing, related to indexes of refraction and such).
SRM color measurements are explicitly based on a 5cm thick sample for precisely this reason.
Knightmare1
Active Member
Messing around with a IBU calculator I found online in appears to drastically affect hop bitterness to do a late addition LME/DME(IE at flameout)
Should it also be good advice to reduce initial Hop addition at 60 minutes or maybe don't do a late addition at all unless you have the software to figure new hop schedule to obtain the beer you are targeting?
I am new and basically still learning what ingredients cause what flavors and how the boil comes into play so I am using clone kits to try learn these things as well as figure out if my process is working.
Should it also be good advice to reduce initial Hop addition at 60 minutes or maybe don't do a late addition at all unless you have the software to figure new hop schedule to obtain the beer you are targeting?
I am new and basically still learning what ingredients cause what flavors and how the boil comes into play so I am using clone kits to try learn these things as well as figure out if my process is working.
I think those calculators exaggerate a bit on bitterness contributions of all hop additions in a recipe. I don't think flavor & aroma additions add as much bittering as the calculators say they do? So I keep my hop additions the same, using the same 3.5 to 4 gallons total boil volume & relative gravity I always do. Bittering & flavors are fine to great.
Knightmare1
Active Member
Ok, Thanks. Trying a Sierra PA clone next. Will add approx. 1/3 LME up front and the rest at flameout. Hop schedule as stated in recipe and see how it goes.
BrewinBromanite
Well-Known Member
Darkening can happen with either, and late additions will help, as noted above. I think LME can be more "susceptible," because it is more likely to sink to the bottom and get more Maillard reactions. But, from my experience, this has mostly by been due to my own laziness and lack of sufficient stirring with the LME when adding to the boil. Easily avoidable, though. Just have to stir it well (pouring in slowly helps), to make sure it gets all dissolved rather than sinking straight to the bottom. Stir well, and when you think you've stirred enough, stir a little more.
First time I used LME, I assumed it would dissolve almost instantly. I stirred it in pretty well, but still had some scorching on the bottom of the pot when I was done.
