Belgian Wit Color

[natemtb]

A Belgian Wit Beer is supposed to be pretty light colored isn't it? The pics I've looked at are pretty light colored anyway. Wit = White I'm thinking this whole time it should look like Blue Moon from coors. (trying to brew this batch for my wife, and to try something a little different)

This is my second brew, I am wondering about the color of this batch. It seems to be alot darker than it should be. The reason I think that is because about a month ago I brewed my first batch of IPA, and the color of the IPA and this Batch Of Wit seems to be pretty close. I'm wondering if it will lighten up or did I do something wrong.

So I guess my question is, what is most responsible for the color of beer. Is it the malt? The IPA I brewed had 6.6 lbs Amber LME, the Wit I Brewed had 3.3 lbs Amber LME and 3.3 lbs Bavarian Wheat LME. Both of these beers can in a kit from my local Homebrew shop.

or am I just way off

Thanks,
Nate

 

[natemtb]

oh yea, forgot to mention my O.G. was 1.050. The kit said its supposed to be 1.048-1.051. Don't know if it matters or not but thought I would post it

 

[jman1972]

I have the same question. I just did my forst 5 gallon brew. It was Witbier from BB. I thought it was pretty dark going into the fermenter too.

 

[cooper]

Extract brews tend to be darker than AG brews. The most likely cause would be that the extract is darkening during the boil because it's more concentrated in 3 gallons than it is in 6.5 gallons. Color and hop utilization are the main reasons why doing full boils are better than doing partial boils but some ppl aren't set up for full boils yet.

 

[Revvy]

Extract brews tend to be darker than AG brews. The most likely cause would be that the extract is darkening during the boil because it's more concentrated in 3 gallons than it is in 6.5 gallons. Color and hop utilization are the main reasons why doing full boils are better than doing partial boils but some ppl aren't set up for full boils yet.

Cooper nailed the answer.

I found that using DME rather than LME did make for lighter beers when I did extract. Especially if you begin your recipe design with Extralight DME

 

[TimT]

A wit done all grain would be pilsner malt and wheat so to get that color with extract you would need the lightest extract there is. Amber is more like pale malt in color which is quite a bit darker than pils.

 

[mcbethenstein]

I have the same question. I just did my forst 5 gallon brew. It was Witbier from BB. I thought it was pretty dark going into the fermenter too.

This was my second batch. It is quite a bit darker than I expected, but it tasted pretty good. I didn't get the color I wanted for wit's & weizens until I went all grain with full boils. PLUS the sheer volume in the fermenter is always darker than when 12 oz is poured out in a glass. No matter what you made beer, and it will be good.

 

[natemtb]

You guys rock! Thanks for all your input so far.

 

[squirrelly]

Chris graham and JP from more beer talk about this regularly. More beer refuses to stock any extract darker in lovibond than amber because they feel the brewer should get the colors and flavors of the darker malts from partial mashes and steeping grains. The same goes for any wheat beer. Your extract at best should have been malted from 70% wheat instead of 70% barley which is often the case. One can hardly make a genuine wheat beer and not have sufficient wheat in the grist. My Witt is 5 pounds flaked wheat, 2 pounds torrified wheat, and 2 pounds German pils malt. That gives me a very low SRM and a fluffy white cloudy beer. It is really hard to achieve that from extract if you are not absolutely sure you are using wheat extract. The same goes for pilsner extracts. Up until recently the extract brewer really had no choice but to use either LME or DME for a pils. I think it is Williams who finally started mashing true pilsner malt to make pilsner extract. I am not sure if the same has been done for wheat malt extract or not.

 

[Rev2010]

the Wit I Brewed had 3.3 lbs Amber LME and 3.3 lbs Bavarian Wheat LME

For one, you don't use Amber extract in a Wit, of course it will be dark and out of style both in color and taste for a Wit.

That aside, yes extracts will give you a darker color in general, but you can still hit the style color fine with extract. Use a combination of Wheat DME and Pilsen DME. I typically shoot for a 50/50 wheat to barley ratio so keep in mind wheat DME is typically 65% wheat and 35% barley, just do the math from there.

All grain is really the only way you can achieve such a light color like a Hoegaarden - I nailed the color and taste perfectly with my last batch. My extract Wit's were always more orangey in color.


Rev.