Weird color and smell..!

[anthonyb15fd]

I made a Classic English Pale Ale. Its been fermenting for about 10 days. I took the cover off today so I could check the gravity and it had a dark color, like a brown and it had a strong bitter smell.. I thought it should have been a light color like Pale.. Can anyone give me some clue as to what is wrong, if anything..? Is the color and smell right..??

Thanks
AB

 

[avidhomebrewer]

I wouldn't worry about it at this point. I bet what you are seeing is all the yeast, trub, etc. that is in suspension due to the yeast doing their work (releasing CO2 and kicking up all that stuff). RDWHAHB.

 

[BigB]

Classic examples of English Pale Ale (IOW "Extra special Bitters" BJCP style Category 8C) are Bass Ale and Fullers. Both are darker than say Newcastle (which is a brown ale). So the color sounds OK based on the style. What is your recipe? We can always give better advice with the recipe.

 

[anthonyb15fd]

The recipe is as follows:
3.3 lbs Plain Light Malt extract
2 lbs Plain Light Dry malt Extract
8oz Crushed Crystal Malt 60L
1oz Kent Golding hops (bittering)
2oz Argentine Cascade Hops (Finishing)
1oz Glacier hops (aroma)

 

[BigB]

Plugging the numbers into Beersmith, I come up with an SRM of 9.3 which is right in the range for an ESB. Now remember, when you are looking into a 5 gallon fermenter, the beer will ALWAYS look darker than it will when it is in a glass. 9.3 is as about as dark as Newcastle. EDIT: Also, that is lots of hops in the tail end, so I am not suprised at all that you have a hoppy or bitter aroma to the beer.

 

[D-Ring]

The smell may be because of the CO2. It is kind of sharp and assaults your nose. After 10 days, don't worry. You only have 4.5 weeks until it is ready to drink (IMHO).

 

[anthonyb15fd]

Hey, thanks for the help.. As a new brewer I really love this site. Everyone is so nice and have alot of knowledge..
Thanks again
AB