Why does my wort have an ugly gray hue to it?

[BreathingHeat]

Not a happy camper over here. I'm making an American Farmhouse/Strong Golden/IPA hybrid and the wort looks like shit.

The beer is for a wedding, thus an appetizing appearance is essential. What I was/am going for a very light golden/yellow color and this ain't it.

30 lt batch (final)

7 kg - Belgian Pils (castle)
2 kg - JW Wheat
1 kg - Flaked Barley

Is it the JW wheat? The grayness seems to happen whenever I use the stuff.

Where did I go wrong?

BIAB sparge wort:

 

[vortex]

No photo?

 

[BreathingHeat]

Are the photos not showing up? I can see them.

 

[Proffs]

Looks fine to me. Should ferment out to be fairly golden.

 

[Mr. No-Tip]

Looks like break material. Should ferment out fine.

 

[dent]

Looks like the turbidity (from dirty lautering/biab or poor mash conversion) coupled with the very pale grain bill gives you the grey appearance. Could be mash pH too high with those pale malts.

It doesn't look flocculated at all either - you use whirlfloc or similar?

If you're lucky after it is fermented out it will look OK in the end anyhow.

 

[Florian]

Are you serving wort or beer at the wedding?

If the latter then I would just wait and see how it looks after fermentation.

My wort rarely looks appetising (well, for non brewers at least).

 

[pk.sax]

Biab is your culprit atm. However, fear not, recently did a very pale ale, wort and the fermenting beer looked much like that. Then the yeast kicked in and took the break down with it as it settled. A nice orange in the fermenter and nearly straw in the glass.

 

[vortex]

Are the photos not showing up? I can see them.

Probably related to my ad blocker or some other plugin. Sounds like your question has been answered now anyway, so no worries.

 

[nathan_madness]

Looks fine! It I think that you might be getting reflection off the pot. With wheat and oats I would expect that haziness. It will ferment out nicely.

 

[BreathingHeat]

Thanks for the help everyone.

Those pictures were taken pre-boil and it's looking at bit better now.

Are you serving wort or beer at the wedding?

We had only intended on serving beer at this point, though I suppose serving some of the wort that made the beer would be a nice touch. Not sure the masses would get it though.

 

[wbosher]

Looks ok to me. Sure it'll be fine once it's finished fermenting and all the crap has settled.

Is it the JW wheat? The grayness seems to happen whenever I use the stuff.

You've used it before then? How did it turn out other times?

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Biab is your culprit atm. However, fear not, recently did a very pale ale, wort and the fermenting beer looked much like that. Then the yeast kicked in and took the break down with it as it settled. A nice orange in the fermenter and nearly straw in the glass.

Nope - I've used JW Pils both BIAB and ghetto 3V with a proper lauter.

It appears to be the grain.

Having said that, my belgian has settled down with a bit of gelatin into a nice clear beer upon bottling.

 

[Spiesy]

looks brown to me... the only thing that looks grey is the bottom of your pot.... maybe my monitor screen isn't picking up what you're putting down.

 

[pk.sax]

Nope - I've used JW Pils both BIAB and ghetto 3V with a proper lauter. It appears to be the grain. Having said that, my belgian has settled down with a bit of gelatin into a nice clear beer upon bottling.

Hmnnnn. I've used JW pils, but that was my first few stovetop biabs, been a few years now. I don't remember the wort looking that pale, actually I have pics and it definitely didn't look that pale. This was in 2010 though, maybe different crops are a bit different.

 

[Blitzer]

Yeah BIAB pre-boil will always look quite light (maybe grey) in colour. As you are putting all those sugars in a lot more water than is usual. After boil the colour should pick up!

 

[CosmicBertie]

If you BIAB you'll find that its all grain particulate, because it hasnt been filtered through the grain bed. Once boiled and kettle finings have been added, it should have the appearance you want.

If you're panicking at this stage, you'll have a heart attack by the end of carbonation