Stout looks like an amber

[chickypad]

That wouldn't hurt, but it is no way needed. Grain bill as OP listed is pretty much a Guinness clone, with the addition of cara pils and crystal. Has 1# roast barley according to his recipe... that's correct, beer SHOULD be black.

Agreed. You can go with more dark grains but I've done stouts with 1 lb of roasted barley or 1 lb total roasted barley plus chocolate and they were very dark, and that's without the Amber LME or darker crystal. As I mentioned before these were partial mash but my software says extract with steeping should be same color.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I seriously think that he was given the wrong grain, most likely "special roast" instead of "roast barley"

that, my friend, sounds like it could be the culprit here!
sure wouldn't be the first time someone saw one of those grains and their brain processed the other. i almost did that to myself a few weeks ago in Midwest's grain room. using special roast in place of roasted barley in that recipe would sure make an amber beer.

 

[AgentHubcap]

That wouldn't hurt, but it is no way needed. Grain bill as OP listed is pretty much a Guinness clone, with the addition of cara pils and crystal. Has 1# roast barley according to his recipe... that's correct, beer SHOULD be black.

I seriously think that he was given the wrong grain, most likely "special roast" instead of "roast barley"


OP, was a significant portion of the grains very, very dark like coffee beans? Roast barley should be darker than a Hershey bar... special roast is a sort of red-brown

To be honest, I didn't really pay much attention to what he was doing. It was really busy, and my kid was acting up in the store.

Since I'm at my FG, I'm going to just bottle it and do the recipe again. This time I'll use a second bag to steep so the grains have some room to move around.

 

[Brew_4iT]

I'm getting 42 SRM from that recipe. This is 5 gallons, right?

Yeah nevermind don't trust hopvilles calculator... it didn't count the SRM from the amber LME. I did it again with Briess Amber LME with their calculator which had the SRM, came out to 37 now using this brew software.

Wow I wonder how many miss calculations I've had up to this point using Hopville :cross:

 

[cdubbaya]

On the topic of letting the grains breath a bit in the bag...

I wonder if anyone uses a hop spider to put grains in, so you can stir them around while they are steeping? I guess in my steeping experience, we always had a large grain bag for several pounds of grain, but the results were the same. The grains would bunch up in the bag and since there wasn't an "opening" at the top of the grain bag, it was hard to get the grains well saturated.

Point is, since hop spiders are designed with a larger opening at the top, you might have better luck using one for grains and stir them while they're steeping. Never thought of that before, but maybe others have?

 

[Brak23]

I see you are in Hillsboro. Where do you go for your LHBS?

Try F.H. Steinbart. Great store, however, its in east Portland.

 

[stevedasleeve]

I skimmed through this thread, not reading it all, but if you really used 1 lb of black roasted barley then there is just no way this would not be a black beer! I would guess you got something other than this. If it tastes great then perhaps you have hit on something?!

 

[Brew_4iT]

I skimmed through this thread, not reading it all, but if you really used 1 lb of black roasted barley then there is just no way this would not be a black beer! I would guess you got something other than this. If it tastes great then perhaps you have hit on something?!

Black barley and roasted barley are two different grains. Although roasted barley is 300L (black barley 500L) it is still possible in consideration of the rest of grains in a recipe to not come out black.

 

[wailingguitar]

Black barley and roasted barley are two different grains. Although roasted barley is 300L (black barley 500L) it is still possible in consideration of the rest of grains in a recipe to not come out black.

While you are correct that black malt and roasted barley are not the same thing, 1# of roast barley in a 5 gallon batch is the appropriate amount for a Guinness or Beamish type stout... There is no reason, assuming correct grind and sufficient steeping of the grain, that the beer would be that amber color... NONE... there are only four possible culprits; the grain was not crushed properly, the grain didn't get saturated properly, the amount of roast was actually substantially less than 1#, or it was not in fact roast barley at all but a different grain altogether... the last, again, is the most likely culprit of the four.

 

[AgentHubcap]

I went back and looked at the receipt, and it looks like they subbed the 7.1lbs of amber LME with 6.85 gallons of golden light LME (4.0L) and 0.25 gallons of traditional dark LME (30.0L)

The rest of the ingredients list out as expected.

I see you are in Hillsboro. Where do you go for your LHBS?

Try F.H. Steinbart. Great store, however, its in east Portland.

I've been going to brew brothers (I can practically walk there).

 

[Brew_4iT]

While you are correct that black malt and roasted barley are not the same thing, 1# of roast barley in a 5 gallon batch is the appropriate amount for a Guinness or Beamish type stout... There is no reason, assuming correct grind and sufficient steeping of the grain, that the beer would be that amber color... NONE... there are only four possible culprits; the grain was not crushed properly, the grain didn't get saturated properly, the amount of roast was actually substantially less than 1#, or it was not in fact roast barley at all but a different grain altogether... the last, again, is the most likely culprit of the four.

It is odd.. I looked at Biermuncher's Guinness clone recipe and it was definitely black with only 1.75# of roasted barley and didn't even have the 120 crystal that this recipe had <shrug>

It must be one of those reasons like mentioned above. Even with the golden LME instead of amber I believe now over my previous knowledge that it should be black.

 

[AgentHubcap]

I just got finished bottling and brewing the same recipe again. They still didn't have any amber extract, so the recipe is exactly the same as before.

We'll see how it goes this time. One thing is for sure. 2 oz of hops was way too much for that beer. I scaled them back to the proper amount this time. (1.5oz)

I ended up with 49 bottles. I'm going to name it Inbetweer.

 

[dankev]

I see you are in Hillsboro. Where do you go for your LHBS?

Try F.H. Steinbart. Great store, however, its in east Portland.

Have you ever been to Brew Brothers? It's a 25ish minute drive for me, but absolutely worth it. Nice people, fantastic prices, and they have everything.

 

[strambo]

Brew Bros has great prices...can be a little disorganized at times. Mainbrew off of 26 at the Brookwood Pkwy exit (1 exit W. of Cornelius Pass) is also a good store. Prices are a little higher, but great selection, can buy commercial beer in bottles and kegs, growlers etc. also.

 

[atom]

I'm may a similar issue with a stout... a 2 week gravity sample of my deception milk stout was way more brown (chocolate milk color) than black. I followed the recipe listed here:

4.50 lb Amber Dry Extract - 53.76 %
1.5 lb Wheat Dry Extract (60% Wheat) - 16.37 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L - 8.96 %
0.75 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) - 8.96 %
0.50 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) - 5.97 %
0.50 lb Lactose 5.97 % (Boil 10 min)

0.75 oz German Magnum [13.40 %] (60 min) - 27.0 IBU

with the only differences being an extra .25 lb of crystal (accident) and an extra .5 lb of lactose (on purpose). Hopville shows an SRM of 37, so i hope when i bottle in a few weeks the color has changed.

 

[wailingguitar]

I'm may a similar issue with a stout... a 2 week gravity sample of my deception milk stout was way more brown (chocolate milk color) than black. I followed the recipe listed here:

4.50 lb Amber Dry Extract - 53.76 %
1.5 lb Wheat Dry Extract (60% Wheat) - 16.37 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L - 8.96 %
0.75 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) - 8.96 %
0.50 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) - 5.97 %
0.50 lb Lactose 5.97 % (Boil 10 min)

0.75 oz German Magnum [13.40 %] (60 min) - 27.0 IBU

with the only differences being an extra .25 lb of crystal (accident) and an extra .5 lb of lactose (on purpose). Hopville shows an SRM of 37, so i hope when i bottle in a few weeks the color has changed.

Assuming there are no issues with the crush, etc., chances are that you just have a lot of yeast still in suspension... stout tends to look like milk chocolate until it floccs out

 

[atom]

Assuming there are no issues with the crush, etc., chances are that you just have a lot of yeast still in suspension... stout tends to look like milk chocolate until it floccs out

kinda what i was thinking...

 

[Lilahblossom]

Don't fret over the color. Just enjoy drinking it and use a different recipe next time.

 

[jpsloan]

I had a very similar experience earlier this year. In my case, the culprit was the virtue that my LHBS was selling roast at 300SRM instead of 500SRM, which the recipe technically called for. I have since learned to double-check the roast level on my dark grains! I ended up adding some Sinnamar to the batch to darken it up.

 

[Bombeque]

I have the same issue. Russian imperial stout. I went back to the manufacturer and got a different kit for no cost. Figure if its gonna take me 3-4 months of effort and waiting, I want it to turn out like its supposed to. I have to give em props, they have a satisfaction guarantee and they stood by it (home brewers outpost).

 

[AgentHubcap]

Don't fret over the color. Just enjoy drinking it and use a different recipe next time.

I'm mainly looking to correct errors that I'm making, rather than stressing over what the beer looks like.

Process will be even more critical when I step up to an all-grain brew.

 

[wailingguitar]

Don't fret over the color. Just enjoy drinking it and use a different recipe next time.

There was nothing wrong with OP's recipe, it should have yielded the beer he was expecting

 

[terrapinj]

Black barley and roasted barley are two different grains. Although roasted barley is 300L (black barley 500L) it is still possible in consideration of the rest of grains in a recipe to not come out black.

UK Roasted Barley is 500-550L, according to Forrest at AHS it's the same as black barley

 

[Brew_4iT]

I think you are getting black barley confused with black patent. The wiki explains a difference as well as SRM and I've found numerous forums explaining the difference. It does get confusing because a lot of people seem to mix up Black malt with black patent, black roasted malt.. etc.

http://hbd.org/discus/messages/26895/27511.html?1104560000

 

[Bombeque]

My next batch after the imperial stout was my first all grain kit. Cream stout. Came out black as night!

 

[terrapinj]

I think you are getting black barley confused with black patent. The wiki explains a difference as well as SRM and I've found numerous forums explaining the difference. It does get confusing because a lot of people seem to mix up Black malt with black patent, black roasted malt.. etc.

Brews & Views Bulletin Board Service: Roasted v. Black barley

Black Malt = Black Patent (malted)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/black-patent-black-malt-88387/

Black Barley = Dark Roasted Barley (unmalted)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/black-patent-roasted-barley-500l-black-barley-difference-127331/

 

[Brew_4iT]

UK Roasted Barley is 500-550L, according to Forrest at AHS it's the same as black barley

Black Malt = Black Patent (malted)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/black-patent-black-malt-88387/

Black Barley = Dark Roasted Barley (unmalted)
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/black-patent-roasted-barley-500l-black-barley-difference-127331/

Quotes from the link posted earlier....

"In the Zymurgy issue with the Bell's recipes, the article differentiates between roasted and black barley. It says most English rb are almost black and most American rb are closer to choc. malt color and temperament. Briess sells both "roasted" and "black". Bell's recommends the blacker, English type."

"Of course you know that Briess roasted barley, and Briess black barley are both "roasted barley". The difference is that the one is 300L and the other is 500L. The lighter roasted barley has a more coffe-like flavor while the darker is drier. I like to mix the two, but I don't see much point in using both the black barley and black patent. Old 1800s stout recipes show black patent in place of roasted barley, since stouts were just pumped up porters anyway."

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/bl...0l-black-barley-difference-127331/index2.html

In case you don't want to search through the link..

"Yea Black Patent is malted, Black Barley is 500+L unmalted, and Roasted Barley tends to be 300L, sometimes it's called light."

 

[terrapinj]

Quotes from the link posted earlier....

"In the Zymurgy issue with the Bell's recipes, the article differentiates between roasted and black barley. It says most English rb are almost black and most American rb are closer to choc. malt color and temperament. Briess sells both "roasted" and "black". Bell's recommends the blacker, English type."

"Of course you know that Briess roasted barley, and Briess black barley are both "roasted barley". The difference is that the one is 300L and the other is 500L. The lighter roasted barley has a more coffe-like flavor while the darker is drier. I like to mix the two, but I don't see much point in using both the black barley and black patent. Old 1800s stout recipes show black patent in place of roasted barley, since stouts were just pumped up porters anyway."

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/bl...0l-black-barley-difference-127331/index2.html

In case you don't want to search through the link..

"Yea Black Patent is malted, Black Barley is 500+L unmalted, and Roasted Barley tends to be 300L, sometimes it's called light."

right - that's specifically talking about Briess 300L roasted barley which they refer to as light roasted barley

i was referring to the dark Roasted Barley which is 500+L

I'm 99% sure that black barley and roasted barley is the same thing (highly roasted unmalted) aka, the thing required in Stout. Black patent is malted and used mostly in Porters.

You are correct, sir.

 

[Brew_4iT]

You quoted and contended with me that black barley and roasted barley aren't two separate grains...

From Briess website nothing about "light" in reference of either barley
Briess Malt & Ingredients Co.: Roasted Barley

UK and American roasted barley are not synonymous with eachother...

 

[terrapinj]

my original quote stated UK roasted Barley which is 500+L - i should have stuck with UK Roasted barley in the last quote instead of calling it "dark roasted"

it wasn't really specified earlier as to which you were referring to originally

i guess the confusion lies in that roasted barley seems to have the most variance based on who it comes from