Question about color

[DrMojo]

Hello everyone. This is the first time I've brewed anything. I have the Brew Demon witbier kit. I've had it fermenting for 14 days. According to the instructions it should be clear by now. It smells like beer and tastes like flat beer the way it's supposed to but, it hasn't cleared up yet and its a very dark color. I expected it to be a light color. Sooooo...I could really use some input from someone who knows what they're talking about. Will this beer be ok? Or am I about to poison myself?

[MichaelJ]

My Brew Demon pilsner was also darker than expected. This can be due to older HME/LME. I have not seen much info about how old it has to be to start to darken though.

I wouldn't worry about the cloudiness. Once you bottle it and let it condition for ~3 weeks it will settle out and clear up. Then once it hits the fridge for a week it will finish clearing if it hasn't yet.

[berryman]

Welcome to the forum. Caned extract and for that matter most any extract might come out a little darker. Any beer with a lot of wheat will be cloudy as in a Wit. I am sure it will taste good, let it carb up for a couple weeks then fridg. one for a few days and report back.

[John Sand]

Welcome aboard Mojo!
If it smells and tastes alright it's probably alright.

[mashani]

My Brew Demon pilsner was also darker than expected. This can be due to older HME/LME. I have not seen much info about how old it has to be to start to darken though.

Not very. Liquid extracts are best to use just a few months from manufacture if you want them to remain light colored. Stuff is cans is rarely that young. So stuff in cans is pretty much always darker then it should be. If you are looking for fresh LME, then you need to find a place that turns it over rapidly and pick a kind that turns over rapidly as well, which typically are the simple base LMEs, like pale or pilsner malt extracts. Northern, Midwest, MoreBeer all turn over those things rapidly since every kit they sell comes with them, so normally if you get that from one of them it will be fresh.

You can freeze it if you aren't going to use it right away, and it will slow the reaction that darkens it.

You can keep your beer a lot lighter in color by using only enough LME to get your boil to about 1.030, and then add all the rest in the last 10 minutes.

Note that you have to boil your own hops with such things, they are not HMEs. I don't know of any HMEs that are you are likely going to get 2-3 months or < from manufacture date unless you are just lucky and happen to buy them right after a shipment came in and inventory was low.

[bpgreen]

My Brew Demon pilsner was also darker than expected. This can be due to older HME/LME. I have not seen much info about how old it has to be to start to darken though.

Not very. Liquid extracts are best to use just a few months from manufacture if you want them to remain light colored. Stuff is cans is rarely that young. So stuff in cans is pretty much always darker then it should be. If you are looking for fresh LME, then you need to find a place that turns it over rapidly and pick a kind that turns over rapidly as well, which typically are the simple base LMEs, like pale or pilsner malt extracts. Northern, Midwest, MoreBeer all turn over those things rapidly since every kit they sell comes with them, so normally if you get that from one of them it will be fresh.

You can freeze it if you aren't going to use it right away, and it will slow the reaction that darkens it.

You can keep your beer a lot lighter in color by using only enough LME to get your boil to about 1.030, and then add all the rest in the last 10 minutes.

Note that you have to boil your own hops with such things, they are not HMEs. I don't know of any HMEs that are you are likely going to get 2-3 months or < from manufacture date unless you are just lucky and happen to buy them right after a shipment came in and inventory was low.

Very good points.

I did extract and partial mash batches for a decade. One of the main reasons is that once I got away from HMEs, my LHBS sold LME at a great price, especially if you bought in bulk. My LHBS isn't all that convenient, so buying in bulk made sense, anyway. They bought it in big barrels (probably 55 gallon/110 lbs/50 kg). They used to sell a variety of extracts, but then started selling the lightest they could get (I think it was extra light when I started buying it and pilsner later) and helping people choose steeping grains to get the desired results.


They make their own kits, but they also sell a lot in bulk to local bakeries (I learned that when I bought a huge amount and the guy asked me which bakery I worked for). They probably went through those barrels in a week or two. Sometimes, they'd finish one and tap a new one partway through my order but I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.

When covid hit, I had more motivation to go all grain.