My beer is too dark

[kylebenton]

Every time I brew, my beer turns out darker than expected. I am assuming that maybe I am scorching the wort. It doesn't taste scorched but it always turns out darker than it should. I usually start out with 6.5 to 7 gallons. I boil on my stove. I put the brew pot over two elements and turn them up to high. I achieve a good boil in about 30 - 45 min. I have a fairly cheap brew pot that has a thin bottom. I want to know if you guys think if is the thin bottom of my brew pot or using my stove to boil that is causing this. I am considering going with a propane burner but wonder if i also need to upgrade my kettle. Maybe if is something else that is causing the beer to turn out darker.

 

[Butchv12]

If you scorched or burnt your wort while cooking --- your boil pot would show it.

ButchV12

 

[stratslinger]

All grain or partial mash?

If it's partial mash, are you using LME or DME, and are you adding it at the start of the boil or towards the end? Extract, particularly LME, can darken more than expected when added at the start of the boil, and can be safely added towards the end (make it a 10 or 15 minute addition) without impact to flavor, but with a great impact on your color.

If you're talking all grain, can you share a couple of your recipes, what you expected, and then describe what you actually got? It's possible some of us may be able to point you in the right direction.

 

[GrogNerd]

I had the same problems with my extract batches.

brewed same recipe twice; Midwest Belgian Blonde / extract version of Biermuncher's SWMBO Slayer

first time I boiled all the extract for the full boil. that came out dark. 2nd time I boiled 1/3 of it and added the remainder at 10 minutes left in the boil and GD if it didn't end up darker!

should be last extract batch I do, I have all the equipment for all-grain now. but even the one all-grain I did turned out a little darker than the recipe said.

 

[Chuckd76]

If your pot doesn't show any scorching and you can't detect any burnt/caramel aromas or flavors you probably aren't scorching your wort. It could be your boil time as that affects wort color, i.e. longer = darker. When you say you get a good boil do you mean vigorous like boiling water or a nice "rolling boil" in which it looks like an invisible person with a spoon is stirring up from the bottom of your pot? I used to not consider it a boil until my wort was going vigorously but then, after countless hours of youtube "research," have switched to waiting for a rolling boil and starting the timer then.

 

[kylebenton]

I am brewing all grain. I like pale ales so that is what I brew most of the time. The last recipe I brewed was

11# pale
1# 60L
Mash@154 60min
Batch Sparge
60 min boil

I was expecting a lighter pale ale but it turned out looking more like an amber. Taste is good. After a boil I do see a little scorching in the pot. I can see the coil on the bottom of the pot. I want to go with propane but worry that with the pot I use the higher temp of a propane burner would make matters worse. I would say my boil is vigorous almost rolling.

 

[chickypad]

Depending on what pale malt I plug into Beersmith I get 9.5-10.4 SRM for that recipe - which is pale amber range. I think you need to go to a lower L/cut down your crystal if you want a lighter pale.

 

[CoalCracker]

Yea I think you're using to much 60L. I would either cut it in half or drop down to C40.

 

[chri5]

11# pale
1# 60L

A pound of 60 with 11 pounds of pale should be in the ballpark for APA, or even an IPA. I would probably swap out the crystal 60 with crystal 40.

Do you have any pictures you've taken of the beer in a glass so we can see how dark you mean?

I would switch to a propane burner, it will bring your wort to a boil much faster. You can probably keep your current brewpot, most people start with a cheap brewpot over a turkey fryer. Not ideal but it works.

If your beer really does look overly dark, you are probably getting some level of maillard reaction going on. Not scorching, but just some darkening. I imagine a full boil on the stove top takes a long time.