Wheat DME

[tonyd2]

Hello new to the site. I hope to be able to contribute as well as find some answers. I've been extract brewing for about a year and a half now. I mostly use LME for my recipes but I purchased a Hoegaarden clone from a local brewshop that came with Muntons Dry Wheat malt. I brewed two days ago and the wort is more of an amber color than that of hoegaarden's pale cloudiness. At first I thought I might have scorched the malt extract somehow but then I saw a post on this website that related the same problem. does anybody know if this common with DME. before I brewed I thought it would be less likely to caramelize the DME because it wouldn't sink to the bottom and would dissolve a lot quicker than liquid.

 

[homebrewer_99]

Sorry, but what ever doesn't dissolve sinks to the bottom also...

Do a search for "late boil" and add the majority of the malt at the end of the boil for a lighter colored beer. Even that won't get it as light as a Hoegarden.

And...welcome!

 

[tonyd2]

Yeah I always split the extract and add either half at the end or the majority at the end of boil with burner off
thanks for the reply

 

[Cheesefood]

I think the nature of *ME in general will always make for a darker beer. The lightest I've gotten is a pale orange when I did a LAB on my heffe.

 

[tonyd2]

well I don't know it smells great so far lightened a little bit but still has orangish tint though thanks for the replies

 

[SteveM]

Us extract brewers have to go to great lengths to get lighter color beers. Inevitably there are trade offs. Color can be achieved but you are often sacrificing something more important. Most of us just live with the color we get and go for the right flavor, carbonation and head.

 

[Georgian Novice]

I tried the Hoeg Clone from the book as well and mine also turned out amber as opposed to the pale color I was expecting, but now I am used to that. I had not read about late boil add at that point, so I could have lightened it up more but it would have still turned amber I am sure. Be careful of the coriander on that recipe as well. Mine is "over-coriander-ed", I believe, and my carbonation is just not there. Some, but not a lot. Had it in the bottle for 8 weeks now and just forgetting about it in a warm place. :rockin:

 

[tonyd2]

well thanks for the feedback that eases my mind a little I used a clone kit from brew-kits.com and I've always had good results with their kits so hopefully it won't be too spicy fermentation is going crazy for the past three days and my whole bathroom smells like beer so far so good
thanks again