Why is my wort dark? (lager)

[HootHootHoot]

This is my second attempt at brewing my recipe. It calls for

8lbs German pils
.5 lbs of Munich
.5 lbs of Vienna
.5 lbs of carafoam

90 min boil

Estimated color is 4.3

I brewed this first as a test batch, and I completely missed my OG (1.033 missed from 1.053, i do know what the problem was) but the color of the resulting wort was very very light.

I brewed this today and had some issues with the mash/mash out temps, but ended up with what I needed... But way too much wort. I had to boil for an hour to boil the water off, then started a 90min boil for the brew process. I also added rice hulls to this batch (just had some extra) but that does not impart color on the beer.

The resulting wort of this second attempt is very very dark. I'm not sure why. My OG is much closer (1.050), so this could be why? The sparge showed very light wort, but during the boil this darkened up considerably. I did not detect any burning of the sugars.

So my questions are:

1. Why is my wort darker? I understand as this ferments it will lighten up, but I can't imagine this going from what looks like a finished amber to a nice light lager.

2. Could this be from boiling an extra hour? I am unaware of color changing due to boil times

3. Is it from having a better efficiency?

4. Maybe I got the wrong grains? (but the sparge showed very light wort).

5. Just paranoid? Step away from the beer and leave it alone, let it do it's thing?

Thanks for the help. Driving me crazy

 

[Yooper]

This is my second attempt at brewing my recipe. It calls for

8lbs German pils
.5 lbs of Munich
.5 lbs of Vienna
.5 lbs of carafoam

90 min boil

Estimated color is 4.3

I brewed this first as a test batch, and I completely missed my OG (1.033 missed from 1.053, i do know what the problem was) but the color of the resulting wort was very very light.

I brewed this today and had some issues with the mash/mash out temps, but ended up with what I needed... But way too much wort. I had to boil for an hour to boil the water off, then started a 90min boil for the brew process. I also added rice hulls to this batch (just had some extra) but that does not impart color on the beer.

The resulting wort of this second attempt is very very dark. I'm not sure why. My OG is much closer (1.050), so this could be why? The sparge showed very light wort, but during the boil this darkened up considerably. I did not detect any burning of the sugars.

So my questions are:

1. Why is my wort darker? I understand as this ferments it will lighten up, but I can't imagine this going from what looks like a finished amber to a nice light lager.

2. Could this be from boiling an extra hour? I am unaware of color changing due to boil times

3. Is it from having a better efficiency?

4. Maybe I got the wrong grains? (but the sparge showed very light wort).

5. Just paranoid? Step away from the beer and leave it alone, let it do it's thing?

Thanks for the help. Driving me crazy

1. Boiling for 2.5 hours would definitely darken the wort ("maillard reactions").
2. Yes, the longer something boils/cooks, the darker it gets. If you've ever made homemade caramel, it starts as very light tan and will end up darkening the longer it's cooked. Or if you make toast, even at the same temperature you can get "light" or "very dark" just but leaving it in the toaster longer (again, maillard reactions).
3. Efficiency won't affect color.
4. Maybe, but probably not.
5. It might be toastier tasting, due to the maillard reactions and the darkening of the wort. But it might be really good, just not what you original planned.

 

[Brewskii]

I would double check the lovibond numbers on your packages Of malt or shipping invoice if you can and make sure they jibe with whatever your using to determine the expected color. There are a lot of cara- whatever malts with a broad range of colors and they are easy to shuffle.

Also, 90 min boil is gonna get the color up there. What are you using that is telling you it should be around a 4?

 

[HootHootHoot]

Beer smith says 4.3. However after double checking my recipe it does call for a 60 min boil (90 min mash screwed me up!)

I had a feeling it was because of the boil time: I thought of the same analogy, making caramel.

We'll see how it turns out. I imagine it will be more bitter and darker than it should be, but it could be quite tasty. Beer is beer. I was just hoping if it tasted well to enter it into a few competitions, but I doubt this would qualify as a Helles anymore.


I'll get this damn recipe right some day... Still tuning myself in for all grain if you haven't guessed

 

[HootHootHoot]

I would double check the lovibond numbers on your packages Of malt or shipping invoice if you can and make sure they jibe with whatever your using to determine the expected color. There are a lot of cara- whatever malts with a broad range of colors and they are easy to shuffle.

Also, 90 min boil is gonna get the color up there. What are you using that is telling you it should be around a 4?

Also, can only blame myself, I went to the store to get it, but was certain I got the right grains. I'm polish, but not that bad!

 

[HootHootHoot]

I would double check the lovibond numbers on your packages Of malt or shipping invoice if you can and make sure they jibe with whatever your using to determine the expected color. There are a lot of cara- whatever malts with a broad range of colors and they are easy to shuffle.

Also, 90 min boil is gonna get the color up there. What are you using that is telling you it should be around a 4?

Also, can only blame myself, I went to the store to get it, but was certain I got the right grains. I'm polish, but not that bad!

 

[Yooper]

Also, can only blame myself, I went to the store to get it, but was certain I got the right grains. I'm polish, but not that bad!

I'm Polish too. But I blame most of my silly mistakes on my early-onset old age dementia instead of being Polish because I'm getting older now. Not wiser, just older!

You may find that you have a very nice beer when this is finished, even if not a helles. Maybe it'll be a bock?

 

[HootHootHoot]

I'm Polish too. But I blame most of my silly mistakes on my early-onset old age dementia instead of being Polish because I'm getting older now. Not wiser, just older!

You may find that you have a very nice beer when this is finished, even if not a helles. Maybe it'll be a bock?

Interesting you say that, I used WLP 833, German Bock Lager Yeast. Heard it worked out well with some previous Helles recipes so thought I'd try it.

Looking at the requirements, it would potentially fit right in as a Bock, though slightly light- so a Light Bock?

Oh well, so I can't enter it, as long as I can drink it down fast I'll be happy.