Help w/ Extract Brewing

What kind of water are you using? An alternative to new equipment is 2.5-3 gallon batches so you can do a full boil.

Also, you can use your current equipment to do all grain BIAB(again, may have to do smaller batch size). Read up on it a little

 

What type of extract are you using? In my experience LME (Liquid Malt Extract) adds darker color than DME (Dry Malt Extract) even if you are using the extra light kind. I would suggest using Extra Light or Light Pilsen DME and see if that gets you the color and flavor you are looking for. Look for the Lovibond rating on the package, lower numbers will give you lighter color.

 

Hold back half the extract until 5 minutes before the boil is done. That, combined with light extract, can have a major influence on color.

 

You could do a late extract addition, it will help lighten your beer.

 

For sure:
Partial Boil --> Dark Color

Possibly in your case:
Stale LME --> an oxidized flavor that some describe as sweet

 

I brewed exactly like this for four years. Made a lot of tasty beer. Extra light or Pilson DME is the way to go. You can steep other malts for flavor and color. Not sure why you are using distilled water? If your on city water use a charcoal filter. There is no reason to sweat about color at this stage of the game. Focus on brewing beer you like to drink. Take care.

 

If you are not versed or dont care to be versed in water chemistry distilled is the way to go in my opinion, especially for hoppy beers. At the very least hed need a water report which he may or may not have easy access to.

 

This is generally true for extract beers. Indeed, some would say it's preferable for extracts, due to the fact that the minerals are already present. For all grain, distilled is generally not appropriate, especially for hoppy beers. The mineral content affects the mash and the hop flavor, though I don't have the chemistry background to explain what's going on.

 

I use distilled as a base and software to build up my water(AG), with good results. But I also dont have a solid enough background to argue about it lol

For extract, Ive definitely had better hoppy beer success with distilled vs. MY city water(ymmv)

 

A issue that you may be having is condensing. Say you start with 3 gallon at beginning of boiling and add ingredient, during say 60 min you can lose a gal. So like cooking, you are starting with a higher volume and ending with less at 60 min. I keep a separate pot with boiling water and top up my boil every 10 min, it keeps my pot consistant from 0-60 min,etc.

Condensing will concentrate your wort and darken it sometimes.

Its always best to do a full 5 gal boil if you can. By adding boiling water during the boil you can mitigate the loss and effects.

 

That wasn't clear from your post. If you're building your own profile, then the blank slate provided by distilled/RO is, indeed, a fine place to start.

 

Just to echo what @Mag00n mentioned, batches smaller than 5 glallons are great, IMO. Not only can you do a full volume boil in the equipment you have now, but you'll get through each batch of beer faster. This is great if you're doing APAs and IPAs because you'll finish the batch before oxidation sets in and changes the flavor, but it'll also allow you to brew more often, so you gain experience faster (also it's fun!).

 

I was thinking more on paying for water verses using what you have. My knowledge on water chemistry is limited as I don't care as long as I am happy with what I brew. Take care.

 

I always start with 6 gallons of water for a 5 gallon batch, partial mash, partial extract.

-first I boil 3 gallons of water and let that cool. this is the dillution.
-I then use the other three gallons for the entire 90 minute boil of malts, hops, sugars, grains etc..
-then I oxygenate them by pouring them back and forth between the boil kettle and a bottling bucket, let them cool to ferm temp before funneling them into the glass carboy.

this method usually works out perfect as far as head space in the glass carboy, and I usually have about a pint of wort left over to fill a mason jar.