Lightening up color on IPA

[the-adjunct-hippie]

Just created an IPA from scratch that turned out very nicely but ended up having an SRM of 19 or 20 (dark vienna, light brown). It was a small batch (3 gallons net) and I used 3 lbs of Pale Ale Malt, 1 lb of flaked oats, 1/2 lb of Gambrinus Honey malt (20L), and 1/2 lb of Amber malt (25L).

I'm curious if I dwindle that Amber malt down to say, 1/4 lb, if it will make much difference. I'm looking to lighten it up by 4-6 points. It has a really good malt base, I don't want to change the flavor too much. ABV is about 6.5%.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, Gambrinus Honey typically runs around 25L, so you have two fronts to consider. Knock them both down by half and make it up with base malt, perhaps?

Cheers!

 

[ba-brewer]

Something does not seem right, you said you netted 3gal of 6.5% beer from 5lb of grain, did you also add sugar or something?

I entered your info into beersmith and get 4.5%ABV for 3gal net into the fermentor with 70%BHE. SRM was 7.1 which seems OK for an IPA.

The color change could be oxidized oats.

edit: A second look at the beer in the bottle that does not look like 19 or 20SRM, maybe 8 or 9.

 

[the-adjunct-hippie]

Something does not seem right, you said you netted 3gal of 6.5% beer from 5lb of grain, did you also add sugar or something?

I entered your info into beersmith and get 4.5%ABV for 3gal net into the fermentor with 70%BHE. SRM was 7.1 which seems OK for an IPA.

The color change could be oxidized oats.

edit: A second look at the beer in the bottle that does not look like 19 or 20SRM, maybe 8 or 9.

I did add some sugar and malto, sorry I forgot that important point.

The photo makes the beer look a little sunnier than it is, it's actually a bit muddier. It's not way off base, but it's darker than I'd prefer it to be. I'll try cutting both the Honey and Amber malts down by half and boosting the pale malt or oat content... see if that brightens things up a bit.

 

[thehaze]

If you want to brew a lighter coloured IPA or beer, stick to pale base malts, like Pilsner, Pale Ale, 2-row, etc. Neqxt time, just blend Pilsner with 2-row. It will be very light.

You say 19-20 SRM, but is it morrey scale? 19 SRM is really brown, and not murky deep orange/light amber. Which recipe creator did you use?

 

[JohnSand]

While it isn't the same flavor, you can change half of the Honey Malt for lighter crystal.

 

[RM-MN]

If you want to brew a lighter coloured IPA or beer, stick to pale base malts, like Pilsner, Pale Ale, 2-row, etc. Neqxt time, just blend Pilsner with 2-row. It will be very light.

You say 19-20 SRM, but is it morrey scale? 19 SRM is really brown, and not murky deep orange/light amber. Which recipe creator did you use?

Base malts range in color from Pilsner at the lightest followed by brewers malt, pale malt, pale ale malt (not the same as pale malt), Munich malt and finally Vienna malt. Your choice of pale ale malt was nearer the darker end of the base malts.

 

[ba-brewer]

Base malts range in color from Pilsner at the lightest followed by brewers malt, pale malt, pale ale malt (not the same as pale malt), Munich malt and finally Vienna malt. Your choice of pale ale malt was nearer the darker end of the base malts.

I think you got munich and veinna reversed.


The murky brown color is very common with NE style IPA when people do not control oxygen exposure very tightly.

 

[RM-MN]

I think you got munich and veinna reversed.


The murky brown color is very common with NE style IPA when people do not control oxygen exposure very tightly.

Not only that. According to Briess, Pilsen and brewers malts are the same lovibond plus Munich malt comes in 3 different colors, 10, 20, and 30. Confused much? I am.

 

[ba-brewer]

Not only that. According to Briess, Pilsen and brewers malts are the same lovibond plus Munich malt comes in 3 different colors, 10, 20, and 30. Confused much? I am.

yes

Munich can be confusing you really need to look at the Lovibond in recipes. Some people assume munich means munich I (6 Lovibond) but most assume munich II (8-9 lovibond).

I assume Vienna to be about 3 Lovibond.

 

[shortyz]

again, watch out for oxidization. its real with IPA's bigtime.

 

[thehaze]

Weyermann Vienna is 2.7-3.8 L
Weyermann Munich I is 5-7.2 L
Weyermann Munich II is 8-9.9 L

Anything over that and they are not proper german Vienna and Munich. Munich 20 and 30 L or whatever else you can find around the world, are not even close to the real Munich II/Dark malt, which your favourite german style beers use in their recipe.

Other maltsers like Best, The Swaen, from experience produce the same kind of Vienna and Munich malts.