Extract brews coming out too dark.

Yup, later additions of extract (last 15 minutes) will aid in achieving lighter colors.

Also, using the lightest malt extract available (e.g., Briess Pilsen DME) will help as well.

Cheers!

 

When I did extract and had same issues. It seems the extract caramalizes and adding it late reduces that effect creating a lighter color.

 

The best cure for dark beer is to switch to all-grain. Honestly, I think it's the thing I like the most about doing AG now, I can get beers that look like they're supposed to!

 

You might be surprised at how much this is affecting the taste, if you could do a side by side comparison.

Partial boils are a cause of darker wort. As is using extract in general (vs all grain). It's particularly true with LME, which tends to darken as it ages. But DME also tends to throw a slightly darker color than an equivalent all grain bill. You can counter that by using a very light pilsen DME, but then you're using pilsner malt in an IPA instead of a more standard 2-row or pale ale malt. Most people wouldn't build an IPA with pilsner malt. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

That can certainly help.

That'll help too!

 

Is maltose needed for hop isomerization to occur, or will this work in any liquid? I'm thinking that some steeped grains would typically be present for the boil, but not if you're doing a SMaSH.

 

I would not recommend brewing indoors with propane. Open that door up!

 

When I was brewing extracts the color was not that important for me. I did not want to deal with a second hot break by adding dme late in the boil.

 

I'm unsure what exactly happens to the DME during the boil, but I have always assumed it's boiled for an hour for a reason... Wouldn't adding half of it so late in the boil cause some process to be only partially completed?

 

Peter, it is not a requirement that malt extract be boiled for the full hour. In fact if you are using a malt extract that is pre-hopped and you do not desire to add hops for flavor/aroma you can conduct a no-boil batch: http://byo.com/stories/item/767-homebrew-101-brew-a-no-boil-brown-ale

I would just re-emphasize the comment that Jim (@premierpro) made that adding dried malt extract later in the boil can be a bit messy due to the occurrence of a second hot break. A loooong time ago I made a Saison using Briess Pilsen DME where I decided to add half of the DME for the last 15 minutes of the boil. Those last 15 minutes were a BIG pain in the butt; I was constantly watching and adjusting the heat to ‘manage’ the boiling wort since it was constantly trying to boil over.

Cheers!

Jack

 

I think I get it - the boiling time effects how the hops will react with the bitterness or flavor or aroma. The extract just has to get dissolved. Makes sense.

 

I still say that there is very little hot break (coagulated proteins) from DME, because it is mostly removed during the manufacturing process. IIRC, you had promised to take a picture of yours and post it. I'm looking forward to that.

 

I brewed with extracts for four years and can tell you that there seams to be the same amount of hot break from extracts to all grain batches.

 

By hot break, do you mean foaming?

 

yes.

 

I also get lots of foaming initially with DME. But what I've never seen is any significant amount of coagulated proteins, i.e. the "egg drop soup" or flakey chunks afterwards. I believe that's because the manufacturing process removes most of these hot break proteins.

I think a lot of the foaming might be due to the increase in nucleation sites provided by the extract, eventually dying down when the extract has completely dissolved. That's my hunch. I don't have anything to back that up except observation and educated guessing as to the cause.

 

Below is from John Palmer’s book How to Brew in the chapter for Extract Brewing:

“8. Watch for boilovers. As the wort boils, foam will form on the surface. This foam will persist until the wort goes through the "hot break" stage. The wort will easily boil over during this foaming stage, so stay close by and stir frequently. Blow on it and turn the heat down if it begins to boil over. Put a few copper pennies into the pot to help prevent boilovers.(See Chapter 7 - Boiling and Cooling for more info.)”

Cheers!

 

Is your point that DME makes foam? (No argument here.) Or that the foam is related to "hot break" formation because John Palmer wrote it in a book? "How to Brew" is IMO the best book for new brewers. But it's not perfect.

Please post the picture of your DME hot break like you promised.

 

When I boil with DME it looks just like the photo above.