Just recently brewed the Petite Saison Extract Kit. This was our first brew. We are in week two of fermentation and the color of the beer is dark. Comparable to the pictures of the regular Saison. The pics of the petite look like the bottle of Saison Dupont i recently drank and not like ours. Is that normal? Or did we mess something up? Like I said, This is our first brew so we have no clue. It smells like beer so that is a plus.
Thanks for any insight.
Bw
Extracts tend to be darker. There are things that you can do to help keep your extract brew lighter. Did you do a full boil in lieu of partial boil and topping up with water? A full boil will help reduce color. Also you can do a late extract addition. When starting the boil only add 15-25% of your extract and add the remaining in the last 15 minutes of boil. This will help reduce carmelization and maillard reaction which contributes to a darker color. Now is the darker color going to make bad beer? No, I am sure if you followed all the other procedures correctly it will be just fine. I feel their is a very slight taste difference when doing full boil and late addition, this may simply have to do with your sight plays a part in how you may perceive the taste.
We topped off with water. I don’t mind darker beer or even semi cloudy beers. As long as it tastes good. The smell was pleasing but we were just confused on the coloring. Especially after seeing how dark the wort was in comparison to what the final product “should” look like. Probably just freaking out a bit on out first time. Would hate to mess something up and have to wait another month with a new batch. So I guess we better start another just in case! : )
When you have the beer in a large vessel, carboy/pail, they tend to look a little darker also.
What yeast is in that kit? Some tend to peter out a little and it helps to be able to raise the temperature of the beer to the mid 70’s after 7 days or so.
