My wort is waaay darker than it should be...

[nathanziarek]

I have a feeling I burnt this beer, but I'm not entirely sure how and am hoping for some tips.

I'm brewing from the White House Honey Ale kit.

I was supposed to get a nice, light amber beer, but instead have something approaching black.

vs

I took the pot off the burner when adding the DME and syrup, gave it a quick stir and then tossed back on the burner (at full blast) to get back to boil. Total time off burner ... maybe 90 seconds.

I did not remove from the heat when adding the hops or honey.

Two questions:

1. I run the burner at full blast--it's supposed to be at a boil, after all. Should I be regulating that more closely?
2. Is this beer "ruined"? I foolishy offered to bring (lots) of beer to a few Christmas parties this year, and I don't want to be completely embarrassed by what I bring.

Really looking forward to this forum as I make my way through the (often complicated) world of home-brew!

Best,
Nate

 

[EDF713]

Did you boil the full amount of extract and top off the water after the boil? That is not uncommon, when I started out doing extract I had a few darker beers due to that, and eventually started boiling half the extract and adding the rest at the end. It will probably taste fine, with a little more Carmel or roast flavor.

 

[JugDog]

I brewed this once before. It was an extract kit with steeping grains from Northern Brewer. It was a few years ago and I remember it being a lot darker than the picture on the website. It was one of my favorite beers and it was especially good with a splash of Makers Mark.

 

[kh54s10]

Extracts are almost always darker than all grain versions. The pictures that retailers use are done for advertising purposes, brewed by very experience home-brewers, and may not even be the beer of the kit that is being sold. I am not saying that NB did this.

Running the burner full blast probably contributed to the darker color. You only need a constant roll, not a volcanic turbulence. You don't need to stop the heat for the hops, but probably should have for the honey.

The beer is probably not "ruined". Taste it, then if you like it and take it to parties, just don't tell anyone what style beer it is.

If you are like me that one will be long gone before any Holiday parties. Brew another batch.... or 3 or 6.

 

[kh54s10]

Did you boil the full amount of extract and top off the water after the boil? That is not uncommon, when I started out doing extract I had a few darker beers due to that, and eventually started boiling half the extract and adding the rest at the end. It will probably taste fine, with a little more Carmel or roast flavor.

This is a common technique to keep extract brews lighter.

You add half of the extract at the beginning of the boil to make the hop bittering work properly and then the rest of the extract at flame out. The longer the extract boils the darker it gets.

And if the extract gets to the hot bottom of the pot before mixing in it will scorch some. How bad depends on how thick it is and how long in contact with the heat.

 

[chickypad]

Just checking because those look like stock photos from something online, are you looking at your beer in the fermenter or in a glass or hydrometer sample? A lot of people panic seeing how dark their beer looks in the fermenter due to the volume of liquid the light is traveling through. Golden ales tend to look dark red in the ferementer IME, and pale ales often look brown. I wouldn't be surprised if your beer is darker than the kit picture using extract with a concentrated boil, but if you're trying to go by color in the fermenter it may not be as bad as you think.

 

[ncsuwerewolf]

I brew 2 seperate beers that are right at 2 srm. One has nothing other than pils. The pther has 8 oz of vienna for 9 lbs of 2 row. Both look brown in the fermenter and pale yellow in the glass. Think about the ocean. Its green in mass and clear in a bucket.

 

[nathanziarek]

...and it was especially good with a splash of Makers Mark.

That's an awesome tip.

 

[nathanziarek]

...eventually started boiling half the extract and adding the rest at the end.

When you say you add the rest of the extract at the end, do you add it after the boil (and just give it a stir) or just very late in the boil?

 

[nathanziarek]

...Running the burner full blast probably contributed to the darker color. You only need a constant roll, not a volcanic turbulence. You don't need to stop the heat for the hops, but probably should have for the honey.

I make the same mistake when cooking things like pasta. Good tip. Thank you.

 

[nathanziarek]

Just checking because those look like stock photos from something online, are you looking at your beer in the fermenter or in a glass or hydrometer sample?

Those are definitely pics from the NB website. It was pretty dark in the hydrometer, but you're right that it's in a pretty dark room and in that volume probably looks worse than it is.

I brew 2 seperate beers that are right at 2 srm. One has nothing other than pils. The pther has 8 oz of vienna for 9 lbs of 2 row. Both look brown in the fermenter and pale yellow in the glass. Think about the ocean. Its green in mass and clear in a bucket.

Very true.

Thank you both. You've made me feel much better about my second and third batches of beer!

 

[TheCrackpot]

When you say you add the rest of the extract at the end, do you add it after the boil (and just give it a stir) or just very late in the boil?

I used to add the last half of the extract with10-15min left in the boil just to make sure it's sterilized but stayed the proper color.

 

[EDF713]

When you say you add the rest of the extract at the end, do you add it after the boil (and just give it a stir) or just very late in the boil?

It's been a while because I started all grain BIAB about a year back, so I don't remember the exact timing. I think I added it right before I turned the heat off when adding the aroma hops, stirred it in, and let it sit for a few minutes before the ice bath. Some folks will want to boil it more, but I never had any issues.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Sounds like you got some carmelization of the extract. Not a big deal with this brew. I've brewed the same recipe several years ago with extract and more recently with an all grain version. Even the all grain version was significantly darker than the NB photo. That photo looks like about 6-8 SRM and the recipe calls for about 12-13 SRM. In other words, don't sweat it. BTW, they were both really good.

 

[nathanziarek]

Sounds like you got some carmelization of the extract. Not a big deal with this brew. I've brewed the same recipe several years ago with extract and more recently with an all grain version. Even the all grain version was significantly darker than the NB photo. That photo looks like about 6-8 SRM and the recipe calls for about 12-13 SRM. In other words, don't sweat it. BTW, they were both really good.

I'm pretty excited for this one. Thanks!