My first batch

[MattyIceGfunk]

So I moved my first batch into secondary last night. I am making an American Cream Ale(Brewers Best kit) because I thought it would be a good place to start. When I popped that top on the primary it was one good smelling batch of beer. Only thing is I thought this batch was supposed to be straw colored and as you can see so far it is somewhat darker and a little cloudy. I guess I will just have to wait and see how it turns out.

 

[dos_perros]

Extract brewing especially Liquid Malt Extract (LME)tends to be darker than the style. My first brew was an American Wheat and its quite a bit darker than most wheats but tastes just the same. People will do late additions with extract to try to counter act this as well as removing the kettle from the stove when adding it in to prevent scorching which will lead to darker brew as well. Hope this helps you some.

 

[BendBrewer]

Well 5 gallons of a liquid is going to appear more dark than a glass of it. Plus, you have a lot of 'stuff' still in suspension. As that falls out it will lighten up.

 

[chaydaw]

The color will look drastically different once you pour into a glass as well. When its in the bucket it looks far darker than when in a pint.


Edit: Beat me to it BendBrewer!

 

[commonsenseman]

Keep up the good work!

Maybe it's just me, but color seems secondary to taste. As long as it tastes good, drink it!

Oh yeah, what those guys said too ^^^. Wouldn't it also look a lot clearer after being in the fridge for a while?

 

[MattyIceGfunk]

So my batch has been in secondary for a week now and I will probably try to bottle it up tomorrow. Brew has looked the same just sitting there for a few days now. There are though a few little white specs floating at the top of the brew. Not much though.

My question is, is there a way I will know if the batch will taste ok before bottling? Is it worth tasting/smelling it before I bottle it up to know if the brew spoiled?

 

[NcSpar10]

You certainly could taste it. I always sample the gravity sample that I pull. Just realize that it will be flat ( of course), and in my experience hop flavors are a lot more pronounced in the sample than in the finished product. The white specks are prob just some proteins that haven't settled. If it still looks the same as when you put it in the secondary, you could let it go a little longer. Cream Ale's should be clear, but that would only really matter if you were having it judged. If you wanted it to clear some more, you should put your secondary in a cold place and force that stuff out of suspension. Either way you do it, if it tastes good, then that's all that matters.

 

[unionrdr]

I find my brews coming out like the pic in the recipe,on the can,whatever. But my own recipe changed during ferment from a dark amber with a touch of copper to a light golden with a blush of amber. In my experience, Adding LME &/or SDME after the boil only makes them darker as wort. But ferment,& it lightens up a lot! & boiling LME doesn't make it darker Boiling extract,by currant experiences of many,lightens it. The sugars in the wort aren't going to get caramelized in the time it's being boiled. The off flavors are from too hard of a rolling boil.
Caramel is equal amounts of sugar & water heated to form a syrup. You have to keep heating & stirring till it reduces & browns up. Then,a lil butter,maybe a lil cream...dang,time to shut up. I'm thinkin of puttin that on buckwheat cakes.
Speaking of which,I wonder if I could use that to make bu-wheat beer,with the our gang character on the label?lolz

 

[RM-MN]

The next time you brew, leave the beer in the primary fermenter longer. Your top picture looks as though the yeast is still actively fermenting and moving it to a secondary at this point is counter productive as you will remove it from the mass of yeast it needs to clean up. In fact, many of us are not moving our beer to secondary at all and getting better beer because of it. Yeast does all kinds of weird chemical reactions during the active ferment besides what we think of as usual. Given time, the yeast will go back and break down these chemicals, many of which are undesirable, into more desirable ones. It can do this even if moved but it takes more time as there is less yeast to work on it.

With that in mind, plan to leave the next beer in the primary fermenter for 3 to 4 weeks, perhaps even longer for a dark or for a higher alcohol beer. You will find that it clears up quite well that way and will taste better.

 

[MattyIceGfunk]

Thanks for all the input guys. I just had a taste to make sure I was on my way and what I was afraid of, the batch was kinda sour. I might just go ahead and bottle and cross my fingers. The only reason I put it in secondary was I thought if u left brew in with the finished yeast too long it would produce an off flavor. I'll start my new batch tomorrow. Honey Ale.

 

[RM-MN]

It definitely can cause off flavors if you leave your beer on the yeast cake too long. However, as a new brewer, I doubt you have the patience to leave it the 6 to 12 months that it likely would take. An extra couple of weeks is not anything to worry about. Another brewer posted that he had had several batches going at once and forgot one of them for over 6 months and had no off flavor from that long.