Lesson Learned: A little color goes a long way

[Strangelove]

Howdy,

I made a simple recipe to refine my technique. I wanted a light yellow cream ale. I made a 6 gallon BIAB with 11 lbs 2 row, 4 oz Crystal 40 and 1 ounce of Northern Brewer. In the vial for SG it was a nice yellow beer color.

Then..

I added the 2 L starter I made with 1 bottle of Malta Goya, water and WL Irish Ale yeast. I figured since at was less than 10% of the batch it would only darken it slightly. Wrong. It's not brown ale brown, but it sure ain't yellow.

Does beer aver lighten as it ferments?

 

[Revvy]

Beers often appear darker it really is for several reasons, mostly having to do with optics. But also suspending yeast make many beers appear darker, then as it flocculates it looks like it is changing color, or getting lighter, when in reality it isn't. It's just that as the yeast falls out more light gets through and it looks lighter.

 

[frazier]

What color is Malta Goya? I've seen it on the shelves but never bought one.

Anyway, did you decant prior to pitching?

And, what Revvy said. Six gallons of the stuff will always look darker than one glass will. No worries!

 

[Strangelove]

Beers often appear darker it really is for several reasons, mostly having to do with optics. But also suspending yeast make many beers appear darker, then as it flocculates it looks like it is changing color, or getting lighter, when in reality it isn't. It's just that as the yeast falls out more light gets through and it looks lighter.

Sounds good. Just what I'd hoped.

What color is Malta Goya? I've seen it on the shelves but never bought one.

Anyway, did you decant prior to pitching?

It's the color of porter. If I stay lazy and use Malta Goya again I'll have to think about fridge + decant. It's probably just me, but using it woken up and rev'd up seems more to the point with a starter (vs cold).