Domestic Two Row Vs PaleTwo Row???

[DrKennethNoisewater]

Disclaimer, I'm brewing like my 4th batch of beer ever ....

I'm following the recipe for that chocolate covered beaver nuts stout, and it says to get 11.75lbs of "domestic two row." At my homebrew spot today, the main dude was out and there was a fill-in who was a bit clueless. All I saw there was "pale two row".....and that's what I got.

Almost finished with the whole brewing process now (about to transfer to carboy) and the color is way off. More like a coffee colored brown.

My question is...did I get the wrong grain or will it get darker?-

I think I f'd up....

 

[apalke]

"Domestic two row" and "pale two row" are gonna be basically the same thing, so I doubt this is what went wrong. In fact, the pale two row you bought likely was domestic unless it was labelled otherwise.

Can you post the recipe so we know a bit more what's going on? Where did the recipe come from and what is the estimated SRM?

 

[plankbr]

From Denny a while back: 2 row is a type of barley. Pale or pale ale refers to the amount of kilning it gets. Pale malt is generally about 2L, and pale ale is usually about a degree darker at about 3L...a very minor difference.

 

[bzwyatt]

Most people I know call it just '2 row'. I think the sign on the barrel at my HBS says 'American 2 row'. I've heard it called pale malt also. You got the right stuff, I think, unless they label their stuff a lot different at your HBS.

As for color, base malt doesn't add much at all, so if you don't think it is as dark as it should be per the recipe, or what you expected, it is not because of your base malt. What special malts did you use?

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

2-row is 2-row, more or less. That is probably fine.

I also wouldn't judge the color of the final beer by what it looks like going into primary. Dark beers often look lighter when cloudy, but darken when all of the light colored haze particles settle.

RDWHAHB...it will be fine.

 

[Ridire]

Honestly, I hand my grain bill to the guy at the LHBS and never question what's in the bag.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Domestic two-row and pale two-row should be different names the same thing, unless you grabbed "pale ale" malt which is actually a touch darker (3-4L instead of 2-3L), closer to an English pale malt. Don't read too much into the color until you're looking at the beer in a glass. Volume can do whacky things with the perception of the color.

However, if it is indeed lighter, I don't think it'd be that base malt. It'd possibly be the darker grains you used. There can be a pretty wide variation in color between maltsters when it comes to roasted grains, and if you're only using a small amount (I don't know how much is in the recipe you're using), 300L roasted barley vs. 500L roasted barley will make a big difference in color.

 

[jbguzzi]

F'd up? No not likely. Domestic two row and pale should be the same if not identical. Did you look at the SRM? Between US, UK And Belgian there is only a 1 SRM difference, I would not be quick to judge the color of the unfermented wort and extrapolate out . I have seen big differences in pre and finished beer. I did a Saison that started out looking an amber ale and finished like a straw wheat beer. In the boil you get the Maillard reaction which is good. Caramelization of the sugars. The yeast will eat it all up. Its all good.

 

[DrKennethNoisewater]

Here's the recipe: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/chocolate-covered-beavr-nutz-362380/

Man, thank you all for the quick responses. I can't thank you enough. This place is really incredible.....

I think I got the right thing and hopefully it just darkens up in the fermenter.

Thanks again!

 

[apalke]

I don't know man, with 1.6lb chocolate malt and 0.5lb roasted barley I would have thought this thing would turn out black as night... even with stuff floating around in there as suggested above. I could be wrong though and I hope the color clears up to where you want it. Regardless, it looks like a good recipe and should make good beer.

I was curious about this and plugged the recipe into BeerSmith and it says the SRM should be 42.6. Which should indeed be nice and black. But this isn't at the extreme end of the SRM scale, so maybe if it is off by a few points it could put you into the dark brown realm. Do you have an estimate for your SRM?