How to darken the color of gluten free beer?

[Lacarp]

I'm on my 4th or 5th batch of gluten free beer. Among all the other challenges with brewing a good tasting beer, I'm also having a problem getting it to look good. My first batch looked deep yellow and I've had variations on that since. Honestly, that first batch looked like urine. Arrrggghh!

My current batch just went into the secondary fermenter today. It looks very light tan; I added 3 pounds of very dark roasted Millet & Buckwheat hoping that the color would transfer to the wort. No luck there; hopefully it'll help the flavor but it didn't do much for the color. I'm thinking of experimenting with food coloring in the secondary (probably a mix of red & green). Has anyone experimented with this? Any other ideas?

LaCarp

 

[igliashon]

Dude, molasses. Or dark candi syrup (a little goes a long way). NO food coloring! Bad idea. Also, what are you using for fermentables? Just sorghum?

 

[Tex60]

I used dark candi syrup and the results were great

 

[urbanmyth]

http://www.weyermann.de/eng/produkte.asp?idkat=26&umenue=yes&idmenue=0&sprache=2

 

[Lacarp]

My fermentables are 3 lbs. sorghum syrup & 4.4 lbs. brown rice syrup. This is the first time I've used rice syrup. Keep in mind that the beer is in my secondary fermenter. Won't the use of molasses or dark candi syrup sweeten the beer like crazy? It's not like I'm going to have the yeast break it down at this point in the process, is it?

 

[Lacarp]

I've never heard of Sinamar before. It says it's gluten free; does it have any flavor impact? Is it too late to add it in the secondary?

 

[Lacarp]

I see Sinamar on the Midwest Brewing website. It claims to not influence the flavor; has that been your experience? "4 oz. will add 16 srm units to 5 gallons" So I should add the whole 4 oz. to my batch? I've never messed with darkeners before. Is adding it to the secondary too late in the process?

 

[ChasidicCalvinist]

I have a GF dunkel bubbling away that is black as tar. I dark toasted millet but that really didn't impart much flavor for the work. But it has 2lbs of D-180 in it that gives it a good color. If you don't use much molasses, like 8oz in a 5 gallon batch the yeast should take away much of the sweetness and (my hope--I'll let you know) leave some malty flavor behind.

 

[igliashon]

If you just want to darken a few degrees SRM, 4 oz of molasses in a 5 gallon batch adds 4° SRM, and will add just about nothing to the taste. New Planet uses it in their pale ale to give it a nice red color, and I'll be damned if I can taste it. Amber candi syrup should work about the same, though I tend to use it for more than coloring because it really adds a nice taste to sorghum-based brews. I rarely brew without it, in fact...only when I want something super-light, in which case I wouldn't want extra coloring anyway.

 

[ChasidicCalvinist]

*color...I meant the millet did not impart much color.

 

[oneillkza]

If you just want to darken a few degrees SRM, 4 oz of molasses in a 5 gallon batch adds 4° SRM, and will add just about nothing to the taste. New Planet uses it in their pale ale to give it a nice red color, and I'll be damned if I can taste it. Amber candi syrup should work about the same, though I tend to use it for more than coloring because it really adds a nice taste to sorghum-based brews. I rarely brew without it, in fact...only when I want something super-light, in which case I wouldn't want extra coloring anyway.

Which molasses, though? There are several grades -- "light", "dark" aka "fancy"?, "blackstrap", and all come sulfured or unsulfered. I'd imagine the blackstrap molasses would work well for colour, but the strong flavour might come out in the beer.

And I think I may need to try using candi syrup in my next batch. The first one is still in primary, but even with 100% sorghum extract the wort looked pretty light.

 

[bernerbrau]

Toasted sprouted quinoa, perhaps.

 

[spaced]

According to the "Radical Brewing" book by Randy Mosher, for three years prior to the release of patent black malt brewers would cook down molasses. Then light it.

Access to molasses in Australia is sadly very limited so I don't have much ability to get the different degrees you have in America.

 

[igliashon]

I've only ever seen unsulphured blackstrap molasses in the stores around here. I've always wanted to get my hands on light molasses, but even at specialty grocers I can't seem to find it. Anyway, 4 oz in a 5 gallon batch won't add anything to the flavor. A little goes a long way for color.

 

[Satisfaction]

Just made a 4 gallon batch of GF Amber Ale and put in one pound of homemade dark amber syrup. This makes a pretty good color contribution.. And phenomenal flavor addition.

Here is the directions:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/20-lb-sugar-jar-yeast-nutrient-114837/