My BIAB brews always too dark.

[Strangelove]

Howdy,

Like the title says. I'm always much darker than Brewsmith says I should be.

Any ideas?

Muchas Gracias.

 

[Waterboy42]

Can you elaborate a little more on your recipe/process? How much water you used for mash/sparge and kettle boil time?

 

[dwarven_stout]

How do you know that you're darker than Brewsmith says?

 

[Strangelove]

Can you elaborate a little more on your recipe/process? How much water you used for mash/sparge and kettle boil time?

Pretty much verbatim:


Recipe: Fat Squirrel Clonish
Brewer: Gene
Asst Brewer:
Style: Northern English Brown Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.74 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.24 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 6.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.046 SG
Estimated Color: 17.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.2 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 72.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
6 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 59.8 %
1 lbs Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 2 9.2 %
1 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 3 9.2 %
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 4 9.2 %
14.0 oz Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 5 8.0 %
8.0 oz Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 6 4.6 %
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 17.1 IBUs
1.20 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 8 -
1.00 oz Saaz [3.30 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 9 4.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 10 -


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs 14.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 30.15 qt of water at 158.8 F 152.1 F 75 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min 168.0 F 10 min

Sparge: Remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
Notes:
------

Was to have been a light brown. Came out fairly dark.

I made a Hoegaarden clone that, according to the picture on Beersmith and the thread it came from, was to have been a cloudy yellow. It ended up darker that New Castle Brown. I made a 2-row SMaSH (well a couple ounces of Crystal 40) that should have been yellow. It's a very light brown.

 

[Waterboy42]

The only time I really get any darker than I anticipate is when I really crank the heat to the kettle and/or have an extended boil time to get down to my fermenting volume.

 

[RM-MN]

Was to have been a light brown. Came out fairly dark.

Fairly dark in the fermenter or in the glass. Your beer will always look darker in the fermenter because you have so much more of it for the light to pass through. If it looks darker in the glass than it should then you have to look for the causes, darker grains than expected, maillard reaction, etc.

 

[Strangelove]

Very dark in the fermenter, darker-than-expected in the glass. Here's my Hogaarden clone right before bottling:

 

[Seven]

Something seems off. Are you sure someone isn't giving you some black patent or other dark malts by mistake? Can you post your Hoegaardenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoegaarden_Brewery recipe?

 

[Strangelove]

No dark grains at all.

Here's the recipe:


4lb Belgian 2-row Pilsener malt
3lb Belgian Wheat malt
2lb flaked wheat
8oz Belgian aromatic malt
4oz flaked oats
1lb rice or oat hulls

Mash at 150F for 90 min

Boil:

1oz Kent Goldings @60 min

.5oz Kent Goldings @15 min
.25oz bitter orange peel @ 15min
3/4tsp crushed corriander seed @ 15min
1/8tsp crushed cumin seed @ 15min

.5oz Czech Saaz @ 2 min
.5oz bitter orange peel @ 2min
1/2tsp crushed corriander seed @ 2min
1/8tsp crushed cumin seed @ 2min

 

[h22lude]

The recipe seems ok but I think what Seven is saying is that maybe the place you bought the grains gave you a darker grain by mistake. If you got it all milled together in one big bag then you would have never known. A small amount of black patent can make it black like that.

 

[Strangelove]

I bought the grains individually at the LBS. I did make a starter using Malto Goya. Would that be enough for a 6-gallon brew?

 

[beergolf]

Very dark in the fermenter, darker-than-expected in the glass. Here's my Hogaarden clone right before bottling:

That is no where near ready to bottle with a krausen that thick. Let it sit, let it clear and then let us know what is going on.

 

[usfmikeb]

Very dark in the fermenter, darker-than-expected in the glass. Here's my Hogaarden clone right before bottling:

There's no way this beer was made with that recipe. It definitely has some very dark malt in it.

 

[postal_penguin]

That is no where near ready to bottle with a krausen that thick. Let it sit, let it clear and then let us know what is going on.

That could be krausen residue stuck to the glass and not actually active krausen. There seems to be a settled layer of yeast at the bottom.

To the original poster: Is your brew kettle clean? You said you are making a starter with Malta-goya, are you pitching the whole thing or decanting and pitching the slurry? I'd say make a starter with light DME and see if it helps.

 

[Strangelove]

That krausen is stuck to the glass in the picture. It was super thick. This was a weird fermentation that stopped and started. I had to put a blowoff tube on it twice. It took 3.5 wees to finish.

The recipe I posted I copied from the recipe section here. I actually went back and reviewed my Beersmith recipe and guess what, 4 oz of chocolate malt slipped into the mix somehow. D'oh! Could 4 oz do this?

 

[Seven]

Could 4 oz do this?

Yes, it's strong stuff. At least you found the problem.

Chocolate Hoegaarden. How does it taste?