Brown Ale is not brown

[bredstein]

I made a mini mash AHS clone of Newcastle Brown Ale. It has been sitting in the bottles for two weeks, and yesterday I decided to try it. I know it is two early, but still. The taste is really close to the original, although somewhat flat, which will improve, I hope, after a few more weeks. What surprises me more is the color: it is much lighter, and even the head is white while the original beer's head is a little bit more dense and brownish. I doubt that it will become darker with time, so what could be done next time to bring this clone closer to the original color? This is what I had in the kit:
2.5 lb 2-row
6 oz Crystal 90L
3 oz Chocolate
3.5 lb Extra pale extract
1 lb Corn sugar

 

[Homercidal]

Did you crack the chocolate and crystal well? Maybe steeping time is to blame?

Looks like plenty of each to get a decent color IMO.

 

[cheezydemon3]

Newcastle isn't that brown.

Cracked grains? Oh, yeah, what Homer said.

 

[bredstein]

AHS grinds/cracks all the grains and combines them into one bag, so yes, everything was cracked. I steeped at 155 for at least 45 minutes.

I am not saying that the original Newcastle is very brown it's just mine clone is much lighter. I poured them both in two identical glasses and compared. I'll try to take a picture and post it here; maybe my eyes are just not good.

 

[KevinW]

Was the kit for a 5 gallon batch? It seems a little low on fermentables and steepables for a 5 gallon but that is just my thought!

 

[bredstein]

Was the kit for a 5 gallon batch? It seems a little low on fermentables and steepables for a 5 gallon but that is just my thought!

Yes, 5.25 to be exact. So which of the grains you think I might add next time?

 

[Revvy]

Newcastle isn't that brown.

Cracked grains? Oh, yeah, what Homer said.

Yeah it's more of a reddish brown to me....

Not like my brown, which is pretty dark.

 

[bredstein]

Yeah it's more of a reddish brown to me....

Everything is bigger here in Texas, even colors

 

[Revvy]

Everything is bigger here in Texas, even colors

LOL!!!

 

[KevinW]

Yes, 5.25 to be exact. So which of the grains you think I might add next time?

Hard to say without knowing the color of your finished beer but maybe another ounce of chocolate or even a 1/2 ounce of Black Patent. BP can impart a reddish hue when added in low amounts!

Do you do a starch conversion check for your grains when "mini-mashing"? If you mash in a bag the conversion can take longer which could give a lower efficiency, less body, and lighter color!

It is wise to "fine tune" in smaller amounts sometimes to prevent turning a brown into a porter or stout

As always just my own ideas and good luck!

 

[stratslinger]

Something's not quite adding up here...

It's a mini-mash, but you say you steeped the grains for 45 minutes... Might be a misuse of terms, might not. How much water did you mash those grains in, or did you really just steep them?

I'm kind of doubting that it'd have much effect on the color, but if you're steeping those grains rather than mashing them appropriately, you could get results other than what you intend.

 

[bredstein]

Something's not quite adding up here...

It's a mini-mash, but you say you steeped the grains for 45 minutes... Might be a misuse of terms, might not. How much water did you mash those grains in, or did you really just steep them?

Yeah, I may be misusing these term. Here is my view: mashing involves enzyme activity (starch becomes sugar), and steeping is a simple dissolution of sugars (no starch conversion). Since I had everything mixed together in one bag (base grain and specialty grains), I probably was mashing and steeping at the same time "Mini-mash" is how they call it at my LHBS to differ from extract and all-grain versions.

 

[stratslinger]

OK, but from that grain bill, you had the grains to perform an actual mash and sparge, and then to increase your volume and add the extract. But if you steeped those grains in a large volume of water instead of mashing in an appropriate amount (about 1.25-1.5qts/lb), then you likely didn't get everything you should have out of that mash.

A mini-mash recipe is supposed to be just what it sounds like: a small scale mash, whose resultant wort you add water to to increase the volume, then add extract to to bring the gravity up to where it should be. This is a different beast than extract w/steeping grains, and the two should be prepared differently.

 

[bredstein]

OK, but from that grain bill, you had the grains to perform an actual mash and sparge, and then to increase your volume and add the extract. But if you steeped those grains in a large volume of water instead of mashing in an appropriate amount (about 1.25-1.5qts/lb), then you likely didn't get everything you should have out of that mash.

I see what you are saying. No, I didn't steep in the full volume. I don't have my records at hand, but it was about 2 gallons if I recall correctly for 3 lbs of mixed grains. And that was what the instructions called for. After steeping (let's call it this way) for 45 minutes I put it on fire, and when it started boiling, I removed the pot from the stove and added another gallon of water and extract (I mixed them in advance), stirred and brought back to boil. It was close to 4 gallons. After boil I had about 3.25 gallons of wort, so I topped it with cool water and came to 5.25 gallons. This is my story

 

[JeepDiver]

OK, but from that grain bill, you had the grains to perform an actual mash and sparge, and then to increase your volume and add the extract. But if you steeped those grains in a large volume of water instead of mashing in an appropriate amount (about 1.25-1.5qts/lb), then you likely didn't get everything you should have out of that mash.

I do a full volume mash, with no sparge and I get everything I am suppose to out of my grains.