I brewed Northern Brewer's cream ale kit in early June. I batch sparged for 60 min. Missed my mash temp by +2 degrees, and my OG was with in the range. The flavor seems ok, this is my first cream ale so i cannot compare it with any thing. The color,however, is totally off. Instead of light yellow the beer is amber. What could have caused this?
Cream Ale wrong color
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elkdog
Well-Known Member
Can you post a recipe?
dontman
Well-Known Member
That annoying little frenchman - Maillard - has gone and reacted in your beer.
Where are you judging the color at? In the primary, secondary, or in a glass after it has been fully carbed and conditioned?
It is really hard to judge the color of the beer, while looking at it in a bucket or through the thick glass of a carboy, due to refraction of light THEY ALWAYS appear darker (and we get plenty of threads like this, where later they look fine.)
Also your beer is going to go through so many processes in the next few weeks, that it may appear dead on down the line in your beer glass...and that is all that matters...
If it is carbed and conditioned, if it as extract batch, they do usually appear a little darker than all grain batches...has to do with carmelation of the liquid extract....look at late extraction additions as a cure for that...or consider, if you aren't ready for all grain, to do partiall mashes and try to get the most fermentable sugars from grain, then round our the recipe with late extract addition.
Hope this helps.
It is really hard to judge the color of the beer, while looking at it in a bucket or through the thick glass of a carboy, due to refraction of light THEY ALWAYS appear darker (and we get plenty of threads like this, where later they look fine.)
Also your beer is going to go through so many processes in the next few weeks, that it may appear dead on down the line in your beer glass...and that is all that matters...
If it is carbed and conditioned, if it as extract batch, they do usually appear a little darker than all grain batches...has to do with carmelation of the liquid extract....look at late extraction additions as a cure for that...or consider, if you aren't ready for all grain, to do partiall mashes and try to get the most fermentable sugars from grain, then round our the recipe with late extract addition.
Hope this helps.
I've got a cream ale in the fermentor right now actually. Mine is a light yellow color but I hadn't even considered what color it is supposed to be. As long as it taste good is all I am worried about. But I am curious of the recipe you used. I am certain if the recipe was followed it is the color its supposed to be, but I suspect you had some darker grains in yours. Maybe they were out of domestic 2 row and they gave you maris otter, which would be a little darker, but still tasty.
Here is the recipeO.G: 1040
Fermentables
7 lbs. Rahr 2-Row Pale
0.75 lbs. Gambrinus Honey Malt
0.25 lbs. Dingemans Biscuit
1 oz. Cluster (60 min)
Wyeast #1056 American Ale Yeast. Optimum temperature: 60-72° F.
Mash Schedule
153° F for 60 minutes
170° F for 10 minutes
. My mash temp was 155 to start and after 60 min was down to 153. Would 155 really make the sugars caramelize more compared to 153?
The color of the beer has been dark all along, but pulled straight from the keg this weekend it was amber. The flavor does matches the description on NB site, i would just like to know if my mistake or a substation from NB.
Fermentables
7 lbs. Rahr 2-Row Pale
0.75 lbs. Gambrinus Honey Malt
0.25 lbs. Dingemans Biscuit
1 oz. Cluster (60 min)
Wyeast #1056 American Ale Yeast. Optimum temperature: 60-72° F.
Mash Schedule
153° F for 60 minutes
170° F for 10 minutes
. My mash temp was 155 to start and after 60 min was down to 153. Would 155 really make the sugars caramelize more compared to 153?
The color of the beer has been dark all along, but pulled straight from the keg this weekend it was amber. The flavor does matches the description on NB site, i would just like to know if my mistake or a substation from NB.
I don't know about anybody else, but that doesn't look like a Cream Ale recipe to me.
Honey malt = 25 SRM
Biscuit Malt = 23 SRM
Those are too dark an frankly not appropriate grains for a cream ale.
Generally speaking, Cream Ale is 2-row, some flaked corn adjunct and flaked rice adjunct. Often times, simple sugar is added to lighten the body and the color should be a light straw color.
Honey malt = 25 SRM
Biscuit Malt = 23 SRM
Those are too dark an frankly not appropriate grains for a cream ale.
Generally speaking, Cream Ale is 2-row, some flaked corn adjunct and flaked rice adjunct. Often times, simple sugar is added to lighten the body and the color should be a light straw color.
user 22118
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+1^^
That is not a cream ale recipe to me either without the corn or rice adjuncts. And as BM mentioned those are some dark grains for a lighter beer.
Last cream ale I made had corn, rice, sugar and a little bit of grain (like 5 lbs or something super low like that)
That is not a cream ale recipe to me either without the corn or rice adjuncts. And as BM mentioned those are some dark grains for a lighter beer.
Last cream ale I made had corn, rice, sugar and a little bit of grain (like 5 lbs or something super low like that)
Agreed. That recipe, however, might taste just like a cream ale but it'll not have the light color most of them have.
My cream ale recipe is very light yellow, and has a pound of flaked corn in it. (It's in my recipe pull-down if you want to take a look).
My cream ale recipe is very light yellow, and has a pound of flaked corn in it. (It's in my recipe pull-down if you want to take a look).
I made that as a extract kit. It was darker than any real cream ale I have made. I think a cream ale has to have some corn in it. The cream ale I have now is more a straw color.
Yep, that definately doesn't look like a cream ale to me. Mine was as follows:
7lb pale malt 2 row
2lb corn, flaked
.5lb cara-pils
1oz cascade 60
1oz cascade 2
Pretty much what everyone else listed above. But you can be certain that the honey and the biscuit is why your beer is dark, those are pretty amber adjuncts/malts in general. It does sound good though, I may make that in my next batch, lol, lemme know how it ends up after its all ready to go.
7lb pale malt 2 row
2lb corn, flaked
.5lb cara-pils
1oz cascade 60
1oz cascade 2
Pretty much what everyone else listed above. But you can be certain that the honey and the biscuit is why your beer is dark, those are pretty amber adjuncts/malts in general. It does sound good though, I may make that in my next batch, lol, lemme know how it ends up after its all ready to go.
vtbeerman
Well-Known Member
They call it a Cream Ale, but it is more of a Blonde Ale. I've made it four times (2 extract & 2 all-grain) and it comes out at about 5 SRM. It tastes great by the way.
elkdog
Well-Known Member
The OP's recipe does look like a tasty beer, though. Call it a pub ale, and brew one of these recipes here for a cream ale.
Irie5447
Well-Known Member
I made this all grain kit a few months ago. I was also surprised by the darker color and that there was no rice or corn in the recipe. I was pretty tasty but I imagined it to be a little lighter in color and flavor.
