Why is my pilsner wort brown?

[jakehoodlum]

On brewday, after i cooled the wort, I racked into my carboy. I was surprised to find that I only had about 4 gallons out of the 5 I brewed with and that my noble pilsner wort was brown instead of gold. I brewed on a propane burner, is it possible too much heat caused a discoloration? Has anybody experiences a brown pilsner wort?

Recipe
1/2 german oilsen
6 lb extra light dme

1 oz of:

Hersbrucker, Hallertau - 60 min
Spalt, Tettnang - 10 min
saaz - 5 min

Thanks guys!

 

[schokie]

Did you start the boil with 5 gals? Don't forget about that evaporation thing. Depending on how vigorous of a boil you get you'll need to start with 6-6.5 gals to wind up with 5 at the end. You can always top up with water post boil to make 5 gals. Too late now though, but I wouldn't worry about it.

Boiling can cause darkening thanks to the Malliard reaction. A common practice is to only include part of the extract for the boil and add the rest at flameout.

Also, keep in mind your beer will look darker in the fermentor than it will in your glass. So while it probably is a little darker than you'd prefer, it's probably not as bad as you think.

 

[jplowe]

I had the same experience last weekend after cooling the boil of an American Wheat Beer kit. I though it would have been lighter but looked like a nut brown ale. I was worried at first and then decided to RDWHAHB.

 

[ncbrewer]

Did you start the boil with 5 gals? Don't forget about that evaporation thing. Depending on how vigorous of a boil you get you'll need to start with 6-6.5 gals to wind up with 5 at the end. You can always top up with water post boil to make 5 gals. Too late now though, but I wouldn't worry about it.

Boiling can cause darkening thanks to the Malliard reaction. A common practice is to only include part of the extract for the boil and add the rest at flameout.

Also, keep in mind your beer will look darker in the fermentor than it will in your glass. So while it probably is a little darker than you'd prefer, it's probably not as bad as you think.

+1, +1, and +1

 

[SquidPope]

Part of the darker colour is due to the Maillard reaction like schokie said; also, all the little bits of hops and proteins and yeast and everything else are still swirling around in there.

I put an IPA into primary on Sunday that was a deep, opaque walnut brown; when I checked on it this morning the colour was already much closer to yellow. RDWHAHB

 

[kh54s10]

As noted Maillard reaction from boiling can darken the beer. Having less than intended will make it darker.

Extracts tend to be darker than the all grain equivalent.

Is this your first batch? Are you looking at the full batch and deciding it looks dark? You are looking at a large volume, in a glass it will be a lot lighter. If you have brewed a lot and this one is darker than normal disregard the above.

As the yeast chew through the sugars it will lighten some.

 

[schematix]

What vessel was the beer in when you determined coor? Was it a hydrometer tube, pint glass, fermenter? The color of beer is greatly impacted by the amount that light must pass through. Bigger vessels make the same beer look darker.

The lighest color beer I ever made (a Pilsner), was straw in the hydrometer tube, yellow in the glass, and brown in the fermenter.

 

[cjbalough]

Schokie-,why is it too late to add water??

 

[schokie]

I suppose it's not too late to add water if the OP really wanted to. Though he'd just be watering down the beer he already has. But depending on the OG and FG it might actually help. But I wouldn't recommend it without some volume and gravity measurements and number from the OP.

The other concern would be the additional water has oxygen in it, which the yeast would consume. This is desired immediately after pitching, but at this point in the fermentation it's only going to produce off flavors.

 

[cjbalough]

O2 is a good point - I suppose boiling would drive off most of the oxygen and would be a good idea anyhow.

 

[Yooper]

If it was my beer, I'd add water to the appropriate level.

The next time, I'd add the majority of the extract at flame out.