color of brews?

[nobody]

i've been doing axtract brewing for years. i have never had one come out a gold color. mine have always come out more of a darker gold/brown color. now they have always been great brews and friends drink the crap out of them, but i've been puzzled as to why none ever come out gold in color.

i keep everything spotlessly clean. i sanitize everything before i use it. i have gone as far as to buy new better bottles and ale pales. i follow directions down to the letter. the brews are always great, but they are always darker than what i feel they should be.

i have been using brewers best kits lately and they are the exact same way. i did a white ale(wheat beer) and it turned out darker as it should have.

what in the world am i doing wrong?

 

[birvine]

Your LME might be too dark. You can lighten the batch by adding half the extract at the beginning and half towards the end of the boil.

I got a really light beer when I brewed the Cream of three Crops ale.

B

EDIT: You'll need to do a mini-mash but...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/cream-three-crops-extract-version-78864/

 

[aiptasia]

I'd also suspect it's in your fermentables. You can use software to estimate the color of the beer based on the lovibond of the grains/extracts/adjuncts you're using in your beers. Beersmith 2.0 will do this for you. You might also want to keep an eye on your boil temps to avoid ancillary carmelization of the malt sugars. This might also darken the sugars in your wort unintentionally.

 

[theonetrueruss]

Do you trun off the fire before adding the extract and make sure it is well mixed in before turning heat back on? If not that is one suggestion. Also, some people wait until near the end and put a bunch of the extract in for only the last 10 minutes or so of the boil. All this is to reduce carmelization.

Are you doing partial boils? doing a full boil may help some with this as well. The sugar concentration will be lower and there will be less carmelization.

Just some thoughts.

 

[jmprdood]

I've started only adding 1/3 the amount of the extract to start (for hop utilization) and the rest at flameout so it doesn't carmelize. That way I get a lighter color, but all my hops...

 

[mewithstewpid]

use Pilsen or Gold Dry extract only, no LMe. it makes a big difference, mine come out much lighter since i switched a while ago. 6lb Gold dme, steep a little carapil, some hops, u have a nice pale ale perfectly gold in color.

 

[nobody]

what is the hottest the boil should be? i normally don't let it get to hot, but i very well could be. i haven't really checked the temp at boil. i do keep the steeping temp around 155 degrees, but i have never check it at boil.

 

[RM-MN]

Your boil should always be around 212 F. (100 C.) adjusted for altitude because that is the boiling temperature. You should have a slow rolling boil. Try using only the light color dry extract, use only 1/3 of it for the 60 minutes making sure it is well mixed so it doesn't burn on the bottom of the kettle and the last 2/3 for the last few minutes, again making sure you mix well.

Search for a term Mailard Reaction. It will help you understand why the late addition.

 

[Paul07293]

^ RM is right, you are seeing the effects of the Maillard reaction. Basically the darkening of a substance due to exposure to heat. It is what happens when you make toast or cook a steak. There is no caramelization happening, you need to be at 300F+ and have very little moisture for sugar to caramelize. Try adding 50% of your extracts near or at the end of the boil

 

[unionrdr]

Not exactly 300F+. My daughter caramelized equal amounts of sugar & water into caramel sauce on the stove. You add other things to harden it into candy,but it can be caramelized in liquid. Just not literally caramel in the sense most people envision. It darkens in color & changes the flavor when boiled for the time full boils are done. Especially noticable when all the malt extract is added at the beginning.

 

[nobody]

hey thanks guys. i'll start watching and when i see it just starting to boil i'll keep the temp right there with a candy thermometer in it at all times from now on out. i'll also just add a 1/3 of the lme or dme at the beginning of the boil. i have always mixxed it well with the burner turned off when i added it. i use a wire wisk to mix it when i add it and i mix it hard and fast so nothing goes to the bottum and stays there.

 

[Paul07293]

Not exactly 300F+. My daughter caramelized equal amounts of sugar & water into caramel sauce on the stove. You add other things to harden it into candy,but it can be caramelized in liquid. Just not literally caramel in the sense most people envision. It darkens in color & changes the flavor when boiled for the time full boils are done. Especially noticable when all the malt extract is added at the beginning.

What you are describing is sugar undergoing maillard reactions, darkening from heat exposure. Sugar can be melted in water to create a sauce and darkened much like creating a roux with flour and butter. These are the temp at which sugars caramelize

Sugar Temperature
Fructose 110° C, 230° F
Galactose 160° C, 320° F
Glucose 160° C, 320° F
Maltose 180° C, 356° F
Sucrose 160° C, 320° F

There is a great write up explaining the two processes on the Science of Cooking website
What is Caramelization?
Why does Food Brown when Cooked

 

[hawkeyes]

My boil reaches about 217-218 degrees according to my thermometer. Should I adjust the heat so it reads closer to 212?

 

[Yooper]

My boil reaches about 217-218 degrees according to my thermometer. Should I adjust the heat so it reads closer to 212?

No. First, I doubt it actually reaches 218 degrees, so your thermometer may be faulty. Second, boiling is boiling. If it's boiling, the temperature doesn't matter a bit. Water boils at 209 degrees at my house, and I can boil forever and NEVER get it higher. But it's still boiling.

You just want to set your heat so you maintain a rolling boil throughout. Not a simmer, but a boil. It doesn't have to boil so hard that it shakes the pot, but you must have a rolling boil.

 

[nobody]

well since yooper said that, i have been just getting my brews to the boil and holding it there. so of mine called for a rolling boil. what i'm going to do is just add a 1/3 of the malt extract and the bittering hops, then add the last of the malt extract when i add the flavoring hops. maybe this will help me get the right coloring. all of mine have been darker than they should have been.

what would happen if i just got it right up to boiling, but didn't allow it to boil?

 

[unionrdr]

In our stove top endeavors,some 230-360F isn't going to happen. But the length of time of heat exposure certainly will cause it to happen. so it seems to me it's either the high temps you listed,or boiling temp for a long enough time to cause it to happen. Hope that makes sense,since that's what it seems like ime.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

#1, extract beers tend to turn out darker than AG brews. Extract darkens on its own with age. (i.e., a year old can of pale LME is going to be darker than a month old can of the same LME)
Also, extract can darken in the boil even when you're careful not to scorch it.

#2, boiling is boiling. Whether your water boils at 209 or 213 (mainly based on altitude), water CANNOT get hotter than boiling, when it does, it becomes gaseous (steam) and BOILS out in that bubbling action you see.

To make lighter extract beers, your best bet is to add the bulk of your extract near the end of the boil or after flameout.

 

[unionrdr]

Yup. The late extract additions def worked out better ime. All the LME,& the remaining half of the DME at flame out,cover & steep for 10-15 minutes to sanitize. Def lighter color & cleaner flavor.

 

[nobody]

i brewed a wheat beer last night. i put a 1/4 of the lme in at the boil with the bittering hops. i put the rest in with the final hops addition 5 minutes before flame out. it was much lighter in color than i am used to seeing. seems to be working much better now. thanks guys. and by the way my water was boiling at 209 degrees.

 

[browndawg]

When you guys do the late extact additions do you cut back on the hops at all?

 

[biestie]

When you guys do the late extact additions do you cut back on the hops at all?

I used to, but it turns out that whole gravity affecting hop utilization was untrue. There's threads on here about that.

 

[nobody]

it was my first time doing it, so no. i added the entire amount it called for. i'll let you know how it turns out in a few more monthes. i'll let it sit in the primary a month. then i'll cold crash it for a week or two, then i'll adjust the wine cooler back up to around 65 degrees for a few days, then i'll bottle it and sit it in the basement to condition for a month before i will be drinking it.

that is how i'll be doing all my beers now that the wine cooler is up and running. i did a pilsner that might be the best beer i have ever made.