Colour Too Dark Using Jw Pils

[DiscoStu]

Has anyone had any colour problems with JW Pils malt. Bought a 25kg bag recently and I've just brewed a La Chouffe clone using it, 7kg + 1kg of clear candi sugar.

I expected a colour of around 8 EBC, instead it looks more like a red ale, my guess would be around 26 EBC.

Mash was 60mins at 66C, batch sparge. Had no issues hitting my mash temps or anything. Boil was 90mins.

Thoughts ?

cheers

Stu

 

[QldKev]

What was your boil off rate? I wonder if you have caramalised some sugars?

QldKev

 

[Pennywise]

Might have had some sugars sitting in the bottom of the boil pot while it was comming up to the boil? Did you stir while bringing it up to boil? Few times I've forgotten to stir I ended up with a nice darker film caramalized onto the bottom of the pot, haven't really noticed it come through to the beer though.

 

[argon]

Belgian Red... that sounds fantastic :chug:

 

[dent]

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php/How_p...llard_reactions

Maybe.

 

[Bizier]

I recently brewed a beer with basically all JW pils, and was as pale as could be expected without significantly augmenting with adjuncts. Can you verify that the grain is correct?

 

[brendanos]

Do you measure/adjust the pH of your mash & your sparge liquor Stu? Alkaline water will extract more colour from your malt than if you keep it mildly acidic (ie sparge liquor pH of around 6)

 

[Barry]

Does the malt look pale, paler than traditional ale malt?

 

[Tony M]

I brew lagers with JW pils and 3 or 4% carapils all the time and the colour is around 2 to 3 SRM so I would say you burnt something, tho I know nothing about candi sugar. maybe it isn't as clear as they say.

 

[manticle]

Too dark in the pot or too dark in a small sample (say hydrometer tube)?

If you didn't overboil and the malt is the correct malt then it seems odd.

For a belgian beer, I'd use a belgian or at least continental malt. Dingemans if you can find it, weyermans if you can't. Love La Chouffe - what's the recipe?

 

[craigev]

I had the same issue with Global maltings bohemian grain recently. Never used it before, but it was way darker than expected just coming out of the mash tun. I was making a czech pils with 100% of this (presumable) pils grain - nothing else to add to the colour.

Does anyone know if darker grain extract is related to the age or storage conditions of grain like it is with DME and LME ?

 

[Fourstar]

Do you measure/adjust the pH of your mash & your sparge liquor Stu? Alkaline water will extract more colour from your malt than if you keep it mildly acidic (ie sparge liquor pH of around 6)

Calcium is your friend.

 

[drsmurto]

Might have had some sugars sitting in the bottom of the boil pot while it was comming up to the boil? Did you stir while bringing it up to boil? Few times I've forgotten to stir I ended up with a nice darker film caramalized onto the bottom of the pot, haven't really noticed it come through to the beer though.

That was my first thought.

If you managed to get a nice hot spot and very little dissolution of the sugar you could well have made dark candi sugar on the bottom of your pot.

The last series of Bo Pils i made using JW Pils and they were nice and pale.