Problem with Porter coloring

[edpelo]

I've brewed about a dozen IPAs using extract with specialty grains with no issues. I decided to try making a porter and seem to have a problem getting the color anywhere near black. The best I seem to be able to get is a dark brown.

My understanding is that I can use a pils or pale extract and rely on the grains to achieve the color. I tried that on my first porter and did not get a dark black beer. On my last try I used even more grains for the steep as well as the darkest extract they have at my shop (amber) and still the beer turned out brown rather than the dark black I was hoping for.

At this point I'm beginning to wonder if I need to use a different brand of extract. Maybe a more expensive DME instead of the bulk LME at my shop? Any thoughts? Has anyone had similar issues?

Here is the last recipe I made:

-2oz black patent
-6oz chocolate
-8oz dark crystal (120 L)
-8oz Victory
-8oz American Wheat
-8lbs Amber LME (10L)
-2oz Chinook (60)
-1oz Willamette (10)
-1oz Willamette (0)
-WYeast 1084 Irish Ale Yeast

I steeped at 150 for about 30 minutes. I intentionally did NOT do a late addition on the LME, all of it went in @ 60.

 

[joyceman]

Might want to up the Chocolate and the Black Patent. You can also try some Carafa III. In stouts I usualy use 8oz of choc and 8-16oz of roasted barley with 8-16oz of a 60-100 Cyrstal malt. In a Black IPA I'll go a full lb of Carafa III.

Funny usually its people complaining that their extract beer is too dark.

 

[edpelo]

Funny usually its people complaining that their extract beer is too dark.

Thanks for the response Joyceman. I too thought it was funny as I was searching google that all I stumbled across were people complaining of the opposite.

 

[unionrdr]

I've had porters that were really dark brown,but not dead of night black. Porters being the precursor of stout,shouldn't it be a tad lighter than stout?

 

[Golddiggie]

Depending on the porter style/type it can be anything from light brown to very dark brown (17-35 SRM). All [porter] style parameters are NOT black. If you want BLACK, then you want a stout. Brown porters are typically 20-30 SRM. Robust porters are typically 22-35 SRM and Baltic porters are 17-30 SRM. While 30 and 35 SRM are DARK, they're not black. Most stouts cap out at 40 SRM, with many being in the 30-40 SRM range.

I would advise going for the flavor profile before color. While you often want to be within the color range of the style, I would place less emphasis on that.

Plugfinf your recipe into BeerSmith, it comes out with an SRM of almost 26. That's completely within the range of Porters, but below those of most stouts (except for the dry stout. or oatmeal stout).

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Most porters are not that dark, really. Often they appear darker than they really are because there's something creating a hazy effect so light doesn't pass through as easily. That might be wheat malt, unmalted wheat, flaked wheat, torrified wheat, oats, rye, or some combination of those. Stouts also usually have that very dark color and may or may not have the added hazy appearance due to the use of wheat or an adjunct. However, many porters are very clear but a dark ruby color.

With the patent malt, chocolate and chocolate malt and wheat malt you should have a dark enough beer with enough haze to give it a sufficiently dark color. Your water supply may have something to do with the lack of color extraction from the specialty grains but I wonder whether your beer is appropriately dark for a porter but you are seeking a darker color than is common for porters.

 

[Gameface]

Make sure the black patent and chocolate malt is crushed really well. Since you're using it for color and steeping it it's fine to grind it almost to a powder.

 

[D-Hutt]

You can also use a darker malt extract if you didn't mind ordering it. http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/northern-brewer-dark-malt-syrup.html

 

[edpelo]

Thanks for the info guys. I guess I hadn't realized that the SRM range for porters wasn't super black. The reason I began wondering was due simply to a side-by-side comparison with some other porters I drink, like the Sierra Nevada Porter for instance. It certainly appears significantly darker than mine.

 

[edpelo]

Make sure the black patent and chocolate malt is crushed really well. Since you're using it for color and steeping it it's fine to grind it almost to a powder.

That could be an issue to. I use a hand-cranked grinder at the brew shop. Maybe I'll use there automatic one instead and run it through a time or two. Thanks!

 

[Golddiggie]

Are you comparing the same amount of finished beer in the same size/shape glass? Either way, the SN could be on the darker side of the scale.

 

[Zandrello]

Thanks for the info guys. I guess I hadn't realized that the SRM range for porters wasn't super black. The reason I began wondering was due simply to a side-by-side comparison with some other porters I drink, like the Sierra Nevada Porter for instance. It certainly appears significantly darker than mine.

Agreed on that. I had a Sierra Nevada porter just 2 nights ago, and I'll tell you what, that sucker is BLAACK. LoL, I mean, no where near a stout that lets NO light through, but hey, it's as close to black as any dark porter I have ever seen out there.

 

[disney7]

To the OP, I can't really help you other than to commiserate.

I switched to all grain about four batches ago and haven't made an AG porter yet, but my last extract batch was an imperial porter. It tasted fine, but was an awful brown color than I can only compare to sewage. I called it Treatment Plant Porter. It was great as long as you drank it in a dark room :cross:

 

[edpelo]

I may check this out too: http://www.midwestsupplies.com/sinamar.html

 

[unionrdr]

Looks like a new product for them. Interesting idea.