Question about the color of my black IPA... looks brownish...

[Garage12brewing]

Hi everyone,

I do have a black IPA into my fermentor that I just dry hopped... I also took a gravity reading and the color was kinda brownish to me... I already made a lot of dark beers recipes and I cant remember if they were looking like this.

It might be because of the yeast and hops still in suspension. The only thing is... my 2L starter... I pitched the complete thing and I use Pale Ale DME to make the starter... So in Beersmith this 2L of clearer wort isnt calculated...

I used 1 pounds of Blackprinz Briess malt and 3oz of Chocolate malt I had laying around....

11lbs pale malt
1 lbs Vienna malt
1 lb cara/crystal 60L
1 lb organic cane sugar
1 lb Blackprinz
3 oz Chocolate malt

If I ever want to make it darker... can I do a cold infusion of Blackmalt.. boil it and put it in my fermentor....

Thanks !

 

[day_trippr]

There's a check box in the Starter sheet where you can tell Beersmith to include your starter volume in its calculations.
I expect you are indeed seeing the effects of suspending particles which will lighten the apparent color of pretty much any brew until they settle...

Cheers!

 

[Garage12brewing]

There's a check box in the Starter sheet where you can tell Beersmith to include your starter volume in its calculations.
I expect you are indeed seeing the effects of suspending particles which will lighten the apparent color of pretty much any brew until they settle...

Cheers!

Oh I think this box is checked... I just remember it... it also add the volume of the starter to the final volume. I am almost sure its all good but when I took the readings the color was like a brown ale... the taste was very good tho lol.

 

[Erik the Anglophile]

Even dark beers often look paler when in a narrow test tube that lets a lot of light through, it will probably look more black poured in a glass.

 

[Miraculix]

And if not, the boiled cold extract you mentioned would also work.

 

[Jayjay1976]

And if not, the boiled cold extract you mentioned would also work.

Sometimes I do the cold extract thing with all the dark malts in a recipe, then add it at the beginning of the boil. For me the beer turns out darker and also less bitter, and in my imagination requires less maturation time before it's ready to enjoy.

 

[madscientist451]

Weyermann makes Sinimar that is used to create dark beers. They supposedly make it from Carafa II, so I don't see why you can't make your own.
https://www.williamsbrewing.com/Hom...rings-Colorings/4-Oz-Sinamar-Natural-Coloring

 

[Miraculix]

Sometimes I do the cold extract thing with all the dark malts in a recipe, then add it at the beginning of the boil. For me the beer turns out darker and also less bitter, and in my imagination requires less maturation time before it's ready to enjoy.

If you add it only at flame out, it will be even less bitter. Don't ask me why... there is something going on with longer heat and roasted malts but I do not remember what exactly.

 

[Dgallo]

that’s plenty of dark grain to make the beer black. The reason it looks brown is because you have yeast and polyphenols in suspension. Given time and/or cold crashing, the beer will drop these and when the beer clears it will become black.

If you want you could step 1/2 lb of carafa III at mash temps in a 1/4 gallon of dechlorinated water. Bring it to a quick boil, cool, and add it to the beer. You’d probably want to dryhop again if you do tht.

When I want a beer black, I target a minimum of 42 srm

 

[tennesseean_87]

I decided to brew a Black and White IPA one time: a wheat based IPA, but with some dark malt in it to also be like a Black IPA/CDA. I thought the name sounded clever, I often like wheat in my IPAs, and thought a dark one would be cool, too. It turned out brown due to a bit of haziness.

 

[Jayjay1976]

Weyermann makes Sinimar that is used to create dark beers. They supposedly make it from Carafa II, so I don't see why you can't make your own.
https://www.williamsbrewing.com/Hom...rings-Colorings/4-Oz-Sinamar-Natural-Coloring

Thanks for this, would be super useful to have some on hand.