Off Color on our first IPA?

Partial Boils (topping off with water at the end) result in darker color, due to more maillard reactions in the denser boiled wort. So does using LME, particularly if it's older. High pH can cause it too.

 

So it wasn't due to a partial boil...

Yes, generally it would be better both for color and for flavor.

Distilled water plus extracts wouldn't result in a high pH. So it wouldn't have been that.

Irish moss is for clarity. Doesn't really impact color much.

 

Did you add the LME at the start of the boil, or add some, and then most of it later in the boil?

I suspect you added it early, it could have been older, and it probably scorched in your pot, despite the full boil.

 

I like DME better for a couple of reasons: t's easier to measure and it stays fresh longer.

DME won't in itself give you a lighter colored beer. But one "trick" you can do to lighten the color is withhold some of the extract until the final 10 minutes of the boil. It's been a while since I've brewed with extract, but I think I used hold off about 1/3rd of the total extract until the final ten minutes.

Unfortunately, there's only so much you can do with extract as far as color goes, and most extract beers are a bit on the dark side. It's one reason people switch to all grain, which gives you pretty exact control over color.

 

It can when compared to stale LME. Which doesn't sound like a fair comparison, but LME does stale much faster.

 

Fermenting wort always looks darker in 2ndary.
Something to do with Beer's Law. No really...it does. You can look it up.

Two things:
1) Fuggetabout Irish moss with extracts. Using it with extracts is, with good reason, thought to have an adverse effect on head retention.
2) Try adding 1/3 LME/DME at the beginning of boil and the remaining 2/3 at 15".
This should produce a lighter color wort than adding 100% of the extract at the beginning of boil.

Adding all of the malt extract at the beginning of the boil and / or scorching.

Make sure the heat is off when adding the extract.
Resume heating after the extract has been well-mixed.

Doesn't look too dark for an IPA to me. Looks like a brew with an SMR from Crystal 60.

 

Make that 2/3

 

You never told us how it tasted. That's what really counts, in my book. It looks like a fine beer to me.
I use only DME and add it at 10 minutes before the end of the boil. AND I stir extremely vigorously while adding it. I found that adding a couple pounds of Maris Otter (or other British) Pale malt lightens the beer and allows me to use less DME, and it gives it maltier backbone.

One other thing... it still looks cloudy even though you used a clarifier. Did you lager it for at least a few weeks in a cold place? That helps a lot. My guess is it wasn't as long or as cold as you should get it, resulting in a higher haze factor due to the protein still in suspension.

 

Old LME oxidizes and darkens. Was it light or brownish coming out of the container?

I got some old LME as a bargain, it tasted stale, was brown, and was used for starters.

 

What he said...
Unless you're entering into a competition, it's not really important if the beer is a few shades lighter or darker than it "should" be, as long as it tastes fine and everything else is as it should be.
IMO, YMMV.

 

Just to be clear, did you just use the LME or did you also steep some grains? What was your recipe?

 

Once more from the top...
1/3 DME/LME at the beginning of the boil.
2/3 DME/LME ~15" before the end of the boil.

One-third...two-thirds
One-third...two-thirds
Ohm.

 

When I use liquid extract, I add it in various small portions throughout the boil, making sure it all gets boiled for at least a few minutes. It doesn't need to all go in at once tho. I basically do the same thing with dry, but use fewer portions. Adding malt extract this way won't hurt your beer, and might reduce malliard reactions* a little. If you're not getting a real good rolling boil, this might also prevent scorching that might otherwise occur. Strong boils prevent scorching by keeping the wort circulating.

However, try to keep the big picture in mind. How's the flavor and aroma? Any obvious flaws? Off-flavors? If your beer is in the tasty beer category, and it's your first batch of anything, then color is almost a moot point. Homebrewers can't control every parameter the way craft breweries do. All of our beers tend to be a bit darker, which is not to be equated with "bad." Work on clear/light color in beers later. Those are relatively small points in the big picture.

*generally I haven't found malliard reactions to be a big issue. Even when I've tried to intentionally increase malliard reactions with a long boil (and partially boiling some of the wort even longer), malliard reactions haven't been that big of a deal (read: they were barely noticeable).

 

That color is a bit dark but definately could pass as an IPA

 

For my first brew (partial extract)two weeks ago, I did this same thing and waited until 20 minutes left to add the last 1/3 of my extra light dme for my apa and it actually turned out lighter than I anticipated. This is solid advice for extract brewing.

 

I'll repeat what I asked above. What was your recipe? The hops could have been hidden by the yeast or it could have been old LME or it could have been the grains you steeped. The color is likely because you steeped something that adds color (duh ) but we can't say anything more than that without knowing exactly what you did.

BTW, saying "Simtra" IPA is likely meaningless to a lot of people here. I had to google to find that it is a beer made by a brewery I have never heard of.