2-row Cascade Nottingham SMaSH - Darkened by about 10 SRM in secondary

Hey gang,

I made 3 gallons of a 2-row smash and decided to rack it off of dry hops that I put in the primary. In the secondary it turned from a pale 4 SRM to the color of a brown ale. What could cause this?

There's a lot of headspace in my secondary (3 gallons into a 5 gallon carboy) so maybe oxidation?

I took about 12 ounces of it out (about 10 thiefs worth at 3 gallon depth) to take to a tasting. I did not sanitize between each pull. Maybe an infection could have caused it?

Thanks!

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I cold crashed it (34F), then did not have the time to bottle it because something came up. I brewed another batch for a competition, and raised the temperature back to 62F for it to ferment. Maybe I killed the yeast with the wild temperature fluctuations? Can autolysis turn the beer brown?

mavandeh said:

Hey gang,

I made 3 gallons of a 2-row smash and decided to rack it off of dry hops that I put in the primary. In the secondary it turned from a pale 4 SRM to the color of a brown ale. What could cause this?

There's a lot of headspace in my secondary (3 gallons into a 5 gallon carboy) so maybe oxidation?

I took about 12 ounces of it out (about 10 thiefs worth at 3 gallon depth) to take to a tasting. I did not sanitize between each pull. Maybe an infection could have caused it?

Thanks!

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I cold crashed it (34F), then did not have the time to bottle it. I brewed another batch for a competition, and raised the temperature back to 62F for it to ferment. Maybe I killed the yeast with the wild temperature fluctuations? Can autolysis turn the beer brown?

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Yeast crashing out in secondary often makes beer look darker...

pabloj13 said:

Yeast crashing out in secondary often makes beer look darker...

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This. The beer darkening is one of the indications that I use to determine that the beer might be done.

Color can be pretty subjective too- maybe the secondary carboy is a slightly different tint? Simplistic, yeah, but it always amazes me how much darker a carboy look than the hydrometer sample or a pint.

hillhousesawdustco said:

Color can be pretty subjective too- maybe the secondary carboy is a slightly different tint? Simplistic, yeah, but it always amazes me how much darker a carboy look than the hydrometer sample or a pint.

Click to expand...

You're right about the subjectivity. Also, the carboy has a wider diameter than that of a glass or hydrometer jar, more color compounds to diffract/absorb the wavelengths that I've perceived to disappear. However, comparing the light copper color that I saw before in my carboy to the dark amber or light brown that I see now (it is the same color as my mirror pond clone and I used no crystal malt), it has definitely darkened.

It smells fine.