Extreme color change

[MoMoney2]

Pretty new to home brewing. I finished my first partial mash of a blue moon, my 6th brew to date. I racked to a secondary fermenter after a week and it has now been in the secondary for 2 weeks. I understand that beer goes through color changes as the yeast does its work and begins to settle, but this beer changed from a golden color to almost like an Irish Red in the past 2 days. I have seen my other beers go through 2-3 different color changes, but never this late in the process, or this drastic. Would this be considered normal or is there something wrong with this batch. I don't see how the color could change back to what a Blue Moon SHOULD look like. I am going to bottle it soon anyway, but any advice, suggestions, or ideas why this has happened would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[unionrdr]

The beer gets a bit darker because the yeast that's reflecting all that light is settling out. but it won't be quite as dark in the glass,since the fermenter or carbot is so big & wide it looks darker. And was the beer at FG at the end of that one week when you racked it? You should never rack to anything before FG is reached. It could stall out before finishing up for one. Not to mention,cleaning up by products of fermentation after the yeasties finish all the sugars. It's not good to try & rush things along. Patience with regard to time yeilds better beer.

 

[MoMoney2]

Thanks for the information. How long is to long to leave it in the primary? Should it always just be left in the primary until the final gravity is reached? Do you think this beer will come out to be the color of Blue Moon after further conditioning and a nice nap in the bottle, or will it remain the color of an Irish Red?

Appreciate the feedback!

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Thanks for the information. How long is to long to leave it in the primary? Should it always just be left in the primary until the final gravity is reached? Do you think this beer will come out to be the color of Blue Moon after further conditioning and a nice nap in the bottle, or will it remain the color of an Irish Red?

Appreciate the feedback!

There's really no answer to how long is too long in the primary. Many folks have left beers for months in primary before getting around to bottling/kegging.
IMO I don't find a secondary necessary for most beers. Nothing wrong with them, you just dont need to in most cases unless your adding fruit, aging on wood, or dry hopping in which many also do that in the primary too. If you would still like to use one though I'd recommend letting the beer finish fermenting and giving the yeast a few days to settle before racking to a secondary.
As for the color, its hard to tell what the color is gonna be in the glass by looking at the carboy. The beer is always going to look darker in the carboy. So once you see the beer in a pint glass the color might be spot on. Did you brew a kit or order the ingredients for the recipe?
In the end, if the beer comes out darker than Blue Moon normally is but still tastes good, then I really wouldn't worry too much about it

 

[MoMoney2]

Great information, thank you so much. This was brewed from a partial mash kit that was purchased at my local brew shop. In the end you are right, if the taste is good...............then the beer is good.

 

[StoutattheDevil]

Unionrdr hit it on the head. I've had lagers that look like red ales when they hit secondary. Take a 2-4oz sample glass and use that as your judge of color on each beer. Take notes throughout the fermentation process on each batch on the recipe sheet. This way if you notice an abnormality or a "trend" you'd like to omit in your beers, you have a paper trail to follow.