I started an Imperial IPA about a month ago and it is now in my Secondary with about a week or two left before I bottle. The only thing is that it is much darker than I had anticipated. I used all light malts (60 and 120) standard all gain mash, and a 60 min boil (plus dry hopped). I was anticipating about a 15.8 on the color scale and mine is looking more like a Brown Ale at the moment. Any suggestions as to why this could be/ things to change next time?
2 things: 15.8 is getting towards copper/brown color Beer always appears darker in bulk, such as in a carboy compared to in a drinking glass
You could avoid using c120 next time. I tend to use caramel malts more in the c10 through c40 range in my Imperial IPA's.
Are you actually judging the color by looking at the carboy? If that's the case, OddNotion is right...there's a huge difference between the apparent color in the carboy and in the glass. But maybe you adjusted your expectation for that. What was the exact grain bill?
Sorry to all I ment 15.8 is the current color rate, was estimating it to be abround the 11-12 range. I was just looking at the Carboy so that makes sense(first time I have used a clear secondary). Just wasnt sure if I should ferment longer in the secondary to try and help clear it up or if this will naturally happen when I bottle condition? This is only my 3 batch (of non extract brew) so still figuring everything out.
