How to Lighten up a Blonde

[berryman]

Tomorrow I'm going to brew a quick and easy recipe that I have done quite a few times before, A SMaSH 5 Gal. batch. 6 lbs. gold malt extract, .5 lb Carapils steep and Cascade hops, it always comes out darker then I'd like so here's my question, I have been boiling it for 60 min. with .5 cascade or I could cut the boil time down to 30 min and use 1 oz and come out with close to the same IBU, less boil time maybe lighter color, am I thinking right on this? Another idea I'm thinking would be to only use a couple LBS of the extract for the boil and ad the rest at flameout. Would that help to lighten the color? I finish this off with 1 oz Cascade @ 2 min. I use 05 yeast and ferment at the bottom. I brew this for new-to-real beer friends that think BMC is the only kind of beer that they like., but the first thing they say is wow that's dark I don't like dark beer ( and it's not dark to our standards) but that first impression on the color turns them off no matter what it tastes like or how low IBU it is.

[mashani]

Short boil will help IF the darkness is caused by kettle caramelization.

If it is caused by the extract itself, be it that it's just darker then you would like, or it's aged a bit and has had some maillard reaction in the container, then it's not going to help as much as you would like.

The answers there would be to use Light or Extra Light DME, or Pilsner DME, as they are more immune to this effect, or fresh bulk liquid malt extract.

I am very fond of the liquid extract I get from MoreBeer, their Pils and Extra Light extracts will produce very light colored beers and it's always fresh.

Note that the short boil is going to give you a lot more hop flavor. That's a good thing if your me. But you might not be me.

And also it could be a combination of the above, so might want to try lighter/fresher extract and also a shorter boil.

EDIT: You can also use some sugar/corn sugar or clear/1L candi syrup in place of some of the malt extract, which would lighten the color (and body) but keep the same abv. It just depends on if you want to lighten the body.

Sugar isn't evil as long as you don't over do it and do it for a good reason. Plenty of authentic English beers have a good bit of sugar adjunct in them for color/body (and cost) adjustment.

[jimjohson]

must be nice, my lhbs don't carry bulk lme. got to buy the cans

[mashani]

@Jim:

MoreBeer.com does free shipping on their LME if you buy $59 worth of stuff, even if it's all LME. And their price is good enough that the free shipping doesn't work out as a "trick" in this regards, ends up between $2.75 and $3.50 per pound / 18-22# of LME depending on the type, where the most expensive is the Crisp Maris Otter extract (which is awesome). Per pound that's cheaper then the 3.3# cans sell for at any of my LHBSs and it's fresh. I live close enough to the eastern distribution center that I get stuff in 1-2 days even with standard shipping. So pretty much when I use extract, that's what I get, I just pick up some hops and yeast and steeping grains from my LHBSs.

[mashani]

@Berrryman, one other thing you can do with extract to help with kettle browning is a late addition technique.

IE only put part of your extract in the main boil, just enough to get you to about a 1.03 gravity for hop utilization purposes.

Then in the last 10 minutes of the boil turn off the heat, add all the rest of the extract, stir it in good, then turn the heat back on and finish the boil.

I do this often, especially when I'm doing 5 gallon split batches with a partial volume boil.

[zorak1066]

ive done what mashani recommended in the last post too... it works great. make the bulk of the extract a late addition... but if you really want to lighten up a blonde, tell her a good joke or maybe try flowers.

[berryman]

tell her a good joke or maybe try flowers.

I'm married to a Blonde and a good joke doesn't work but flowers if the right color helps .
I boiled for only 30 mins. with 2 lbs of LME and added the rest at flameout MB style. I think this will come out a little lighter. Thanks for the advice above.

[BeerRust]

I was going to suggest the extra light DME as well. I lobe Cascade hops myself and that is the hop that Coors uses along with rice syrup solids. It should stay light even at 60 mins, but you won't need that long.
I did an extra light DME with halertau and some lime was very light and similar to a Corona.

[jimjohson]

@Jim:

MoreBeer.com does free shipping on their LME if you buy $59 worth of stuff, even if it's all LME. And their price is good enough that the free shipping doesn't work out as a "trick" in this regards, ends up between $2.75 and $3.50 per pound / 18-22# of LME depending on the type, where the most expensive is the Crisp Maris Otter extract (which is awesome). Per pound that's cheaper then the 3.3# cans sell for at any of my LHBSs and it's fresh. I live close enough to the eastern distribution center that I get stuff in 1-2 days even with standard shipping. So pretty much when I use extract, that's what I get, I just pick up some hops and yeast and steeping grains from my LHBSs.

Thanks for the heads up! I know what you mean about beating lhbs prices. I bought a couple lbs of cluster hops for less a lb. than the lhbs wants for 3 oz..