NEIPA Darkening in Primary?

[tjz827]

Hey Guys,

So I am trying my hand at this style and am wondering why this went from a nice orange color to a dark orange/brown color during active fermentation.

Here are the details:

9.75 LBS 2 Row
1.4 LBS Wheat
1.4 LBS Flaked Oats
.4 LBS Canadian Honey
Wyeast 1318

Irish Moss - 15 mins Boil
Yeast Nutrient - 15 mins boil

Citra, Galaxy, and Mosaic at 10 mins and at Whirlpool.

I still have two dry hop additions left to add. One at 7 days and one at 3 days.

I have not opened the lid at all during fermentation. A lot of what I read, people have said that oxidization has made this style darken. From everything i can tell, this shouldn't have been exposed to oxygen yet at this point. Here are two pictures. First one at 24 hours and the second at 4 days in. I did fill up the carboy a little too much and the aggressive fermentation has pushed krausen into the blowoff causing a little bit of strain at times for the CO2 to push out into my container of Starsan. Could this have been a factor? Let me know what you guys think. Everything is temperature controlled at 68F.

 

[day_trippr]

I expect most of the change is due to yeast dropping out. Before you panic, pull a few ounces into a small glass and see how it looks.

As for oxidation, yes, neipas are prone to exhibiting the effects much more than most. And unless you used some fairly strict methods pre-pitch, that beer actually saw quite a bit of oxygen exposure along the way from being unmilled grain to boiled wort...

Cheers!

 

[tjz827]

I expect most of the change is due to yeast dropping out. Before you panic, pull a few ounces into a small glass and see how it looks.

As for oxidation, yes, neipas are prone to exhibiting the effects much more than most. And unless you used some fairly strict methods pre-pitch, that beer actually saw quite a bit of oxygen exposure along the way from being unmilled grain to boiled wort...

Cheers!

Just an update. All turned out well! Taste is great and it turned back to an optimal color for an NEIPA. Once all the yeast dropped out it looks like I got my color back. Maybe the dry hop additions helped as well.

 

[jheinikel]

Definitely normal. Mine typically go from almost solid white, to orange, darken, and then re-surface to a bright and hazy brew.

 

[ESBrewer]

Yes, even small amount of yeast will reflect some light making it a lot lighter colored (but more opaque) than it is when the yeast drops. If it appears much darker than expected when the yeast drops down then there may be oxidation but this is unlikely to happen during active fermentation.