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Color Seems Off

Mashing
#1

New brewer here and my 6th batch was going to be a Haus Pale Ale,simple and quick. I like darker beers so I started to modify it but then decided stick fairly close to the recipe. Not posting all the in’s and out’s but here is the grain bill and a pic of the primary.

8lbs Briess Pale Ale Malt (3.5L - edit)
2lbs Briess Caramel Vienna (20L)
1lbs Briess Caramel 10 (10L) - Seemed very dark in bag
2oz Cascade

one hour mash at 152
One hour boil starting with 6.5 gallons down to just under 5 in fermenter

My guess is that no way was that caramel 10 they sold me. (Local outfit not NB) I am wanting to email them but figured ask here first to get some opinions.

Thanks

#2

briess pale ale malt is around 3.5L, not 10. The L stands for lovibond, and signifies color.

caramel 10L is the lightest crystal malt there is, as far as I know. what kind of color were you aiming for? That is a pale ale recipe after all.

also, thats 30% crystal malts, which is a lot. If you want darker, more caramel malt isnt the best route. A better idea would be using less of a darker caramel malt. Typically people like to keep their caramel malts under 20%, most prefer under 10%. That doesn’t mean your beer will be bad, everyone has different tastes. Just something to keep in mind for the future.

*(caramel malts are also known as crystal malts)

#3

Copied that down wrong, You are correct it is 3.5L

I was assuming it was going to have a very light color. All I am really asking is if anyone thought it was possible for this grain bill to produce a color this dark. I am thinking they mislabeled at least one of my grains.

#4

[quote=“SkyHigh”]Copied that down wrong, You are correct it is 3.5L

I was assuming it was going to have a very light color. All I am really asking is if anyone thought it was possible for this grain bill to produce a color this dark. I am thinking they mislabeled at least one of my grains.[/quote]

I thought you were aiming for a darker color, my misunderstanding.

The beer always looks much darker in the fermenter. It will look a lot lighter in the glass. with that amount of crystal it looks about right.

#5

It is possible I added the wrong type of Vienna. I am sometimes a bit confused going from a recipe to Beersmith to my store. I do a bit of guessing and that’s probably not a good idea.

#6

after looking at the origional recipe, from other forums. I think that’s what happened.

you used caramel vienna instead of vienna. Caramel vienna is a crystal malt, whereas vienna malt is a base malt (much lighter).

you used cara vienna 20L
where vienna is around 3L

That’s where a majority of your color came from

#7

It will still be beer, and i’m sure it will be good. also, it will look lighter in the glass, probably a nice orange amber color

#8

Yeah, think of the distance you’re looking through: probably ~18 inches. Your glass is going to be about about 4 inches. It’s going to look much lighter in the glass.

#9

Just like what was just stated you cant judge the color for shit when its in the carboy have to wait till its done and then put it in a glass.

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