NEIPA Color and Extract Recipe

[Architect-Dave]

So, I had scored an IPA bundle from Northern Brewer. It was 3 extract recipes. Unfortunately, the recipe kits were made with LME (i am thinking darker / gray colored NEIPA). I had DME on hand that I substituted. Here is the recipe (5 gallons of beer - kegged)

1 pound Flaked Oats (steeped at 155 degrees for 30 minutes)
6 pounds Pilsen Light DME (boiled for 20 minutes)
1 pound Bavarian Wheat DME (boiled for 20 minutes)
2 oz. Mosaic (last 5 minutes)
1 oz. Citra (last 5 minutes)
2 oz. Mosaic (dry hop for 5 days)
2 oz. Citra (dry hop for 5 days)
1 pack Lallemand New England dry yeast
2 vials of Brewzyme-D (one at yeast pitching and one at dry hopping)

Fermented at 70 (plus/minus) for 14 days, dry hop for 5 (in primary) and transferred to purged Corny keg and pressurized w/ 12 psi for one week)

The beer came out great! But, I wanted to know if there was a steeping grain that I could add that would improve the color to be more of that ‘orange’ color associated with most NEIPA. I do think the color is good, but could it be better?

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Adding food coloring to beer [...]? (topic here at HomeBrewTalk)?

 

[Architect-Dave]

Adding food coloring to beer [...]? (topic here at HomeBrewTalk)?

Nope…looking for the adjunct grain option.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

Nope…looking for the adjunct grain option.

My thought is to use food coloring to see if it's possible to get to the orange color you are looking for. Food coloring is tasteless - no need to taste the beer - just observe the color.

Assuming it's possible, the next step would be to find a set of grains that, when steeped/mashed/whatevered and then blended into the keg, could produce that color in the final beer. Concentrating the color, without adding flavor, may be the problem.

FWIW, Sinamar is a product that is used to adjust beer color late in the brewing process. I have no experience with the product, so I won't opine on its usefulness in this situation.

 

[IslandLizard]

6 pounds Pilsen Light DME (boiled for 20 minutes)
1 pound Bavarian Wheat DME (boiled for 20 minutes)

Briess? Those are probably about the lightest DMEs you can find.
The 20' boil, followed by (perhaps slowish) chilling, may have unintentionally deepened the color.

You don't really need to boil DME, especially for 20'.
Although I've never tried it, it may dissolve in cold or lukewarm(ish) water, giving it ample time, stirring occasionally.

Now you do need to boil the hops to obtain bitterness, and that can be done in plain water. Then chill to lukewarm to help dissolve the DME easier, and chill to ferm temps. Or use a no-boil bittering hop extract.

NEIPAs rely on copious amounts of dry hops, not so much kettle hops. It has to be kept oxygen free as much as possible to prevent oxidation which can also darken the color.

On a side note, nothing to do with the color:

1 pound Flaked Oats (steeped at 155 degrees for 30 minutes)

Flaked grains are starchy adjuncts. They need to be mashed together with a diastatic malt to convert the starches into fermentables. Just steeping will only add a load of starch to your wort, that will just settle out eventually, without adding much or anything to your beer (such as the wanted mouthfeel and such).

For that, I suggest doing a mini-mash with those, ahead of your brew, using an equal (or larger) amount of 2-row or Pilsner malt. The resulting wort it creates will need to be separated from the used grain (filtered), so you don't end up with all the grain particles in the fermenter. [Added] After a good, 30 minute boil, [/Added] that wort can then be used with extra water, or your hop water, to dissolve the DME.
For the exact procedure, look up mini mash, or partial mash.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

The darkening (gray-ish tint that I see) is more likely to be from oxidation than from the boil time.

Although I've never tried it, it may dissolve in cold or lukewarm(ish) water, giving it ample time, stirring occasionally.

I have.

Muntons DME dissolves well in room (65F-75F) water. Briess DME dissolves better at around 140F.

The 20' boil, followed by (perhaps slowish) chilling, may have unintentionally deepened the color.

This speculation does not match my experience and, honestly, needs to be supported by something.

Once again, go back to BBR Aug 25 / Nov 17 2005 where the amount of darkening during the boil is stated.

As for chilling, I chill my DME and BIAB batches the same way - and in either case, estimated color matches reality.

Now you do need to boil the hops to obtain bitterness, and that can be done in plain water. Then chill to lukewarm to help dissolve the DME easier, and chill to ferm temps. Or use a no-boil bittering hop extract.

Let's be honest - NEIPAs are hard to brew well with DME.

And speculation on process 'hacks' isn't going to make it easier.

OTOH, over the past couple of years, a small number of brewers (1 maybe 2) here at HomeBrewTalk have mentioned brewing NEIPAs using DME that won local competitions where the prize was brewing the beer at the local brewery. OOPS.

For NEIPAs, I brew them on occasion to 'benchmark' my brewing processes. At the moment, my opinion is that rather than futz with brew day process hacks, improvements in color/flavor will come from pursuing oxygen mitigation techniques.