Brew Too Dark

[John Sand]

I brewed NB Brickwarmer Holiday Red (all grain) in November. As advertised, it had a quick turn-around, and was ready for Christmas. It's good, people like it. But I thought right away that it was too dark to be a "red ale". NB calls it an "amber", listing the color as amber. Mine is as dark as a porter, much darker than their picture, and has plenty of roast flavor in it. I can only think of two reasons for this: overcooked, or the mix was wrong. The grain arrived crushed and mixed. If they made a mistake at the shop, too much or too dark a grain, it would have this result. Or if I scorched it in the pot it might. It does seem that some of my brews are darker than I expect, but I hardly believe I could make an amber into a porter without a very hot boil. Thoughts?

[mashani]

You can caramelize your wort in the pot in an extra long boil or a low volume / high gravity boil. In fact I do this "on purpose" sometimes by removing some of my wort from the main boil, and putting it in a smaller pot and letting it reduce, then re-integrating it. (I call that a "pseudo-decoction").

But it should not really happen enough to change an AG recipe that you followed to the T. The projected color and such would include any expected kettle carmalization. So I dunno what happened in your case, maybe the grain mix was off as you say?

It would more likely happen if you used some LME and it sank to the bottom of the pot and didn't get fully integrated. Or with old extract that had significant maillard reaction already going on.

[John Sand]

As ever, thank you Mash. That confirms my thoughts. I have carmelized extract, probably more than once. But this mash contained no extract, and also has a noticeable roast flavor.

[mtsoxfan]

I second that thought.... My first brew with extract I scortched..... As I grew as a brewer, I used this method on purpose. Not wanting to use stell wool in my brew pot, it took some elbow grease to clean...

[Gymrat]

Bartender's Friend and a blue scrubby would have gotten that right out without leaving metal dust in your pot.

[John Sand]

By the way, posted this question on Northern Brewer's forum, everyone had the same results.