My darkness went away

[Nomofett]

I brewed what I planned to be a red ale the other day and it turned out pretty black in the fermenter. But then 2 days later (when the fermentation really kicked in) it went from almost black in the morning to yellow like an IPA at night. All the darkness totally left. It was really strange and I've never seen this and none of my friends have either.
Any idea what happened?

It's 8 liters:
2000g 2 row
70g carared
100g c-60
50g c-40
25g chocolate malt

Hops (if that matters)

Dr. Rudi- FWH
Waimea- 26g @15 min
Vic Secret- 15g flameout
Motueka- 15g whirlpool

(Gonna dry hop with 20g each of Motueka, Waimea, and Vic Secret)

I used Barbarian yeast (Conan, but a diff. company)

It sat a little while before pitching because I was splitting the yeast and due to no temp control it warmed up a bit for a few hours each day.

Thanks!

 

[RM-MN]

I brewed what I planned to be a red ale the other day and it turned out pretty black in the fermenter. But then 2 days later (when the fermentation really kicked in) it went from almost black in the morning to yellow like an IPA at night. All the darkness totally left. It was really strange and I've never seen this and none of my friends have either.
Any idea what happened?

It's 8 liters:
2000g 2 row
70g carared
100g c-60
50g c-40
25g chocolate malt

Hops (if that matters)

Dr. Rudi- FWH
Waimea- 26g @15 min
Vic Secret- 15g flameout
Motueka- 15g whirlpool

(Gonna dry hop with 20g each of Motueka, Waimea, and Vic Secret)

I used Barbarian yeast (Conan, but a diff. company)

It sat a little while before pitching because I was splitting the yeast and due to no temp control it warmed up a bit for a few hours each day.

Thanks!

Yes I have an idea of what happened. When you put the wort into the fermenter light had to travel through it which makes it look dark. When the fermentation kicked in, the suspended yeast and trub reflect the light so it doesn't have to travel all the way through the fermenter. When the ferment is over and the yeast begin to settle the beer will start to darken from the top and as time progresses and more yeast settle out the beer will get dark again all the way to the bottom.

 

[Nomofett]

thanks for the reply. Is there a reason it went from almost black to a bright orange? I'm on batch 30 something and this never happened before. And that was a week ago and it's still golden orange.

 

[Aristotelian]

I think it was from the yeast and proteins clearing out. When the wort is cloudy, just a little bit of darkness can make it appear black, but when light can get through it lightens up. I had the same thing with a 10L batch of Kentucky Common, a dark cream ale. I had 60g chocolate malt in my recipe. When it first hit the fermenter it looked black like a stout but then it cleared to a dark amber.