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Author Topic: Ideas to slightly darken a pale ale  (Read 5662 times)

Offline djsanta

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Re: Ideas to slightly darken a pale ale
« Reply #15 on: September 06, 2013, 06:56:19 pm »
+1 to a little Carafa III or some Midnight Wheat...all color/no flavor, especially if added late in the mash.  Also, GMAC's "grain tea" idea if great.  Dose near the end of the boil to dial in the color you want.
On Tap: nada
Conditioning: nada
Fermenting: Mexican Lager
Planned: Doppelbock or Weizenbock, Oatmeal Stout, DIPA

Offline scottNU

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Re: Ideas to slightly darken a pale ale
« Reply #16 on: September 06, 2013, 08:18:18 pm »
I ended up using 1 oz of debittered black malt in the MLT, sprinkled onto to the grist after first runnings before adding the sparge water. The color ended up where I wanted it to and I didn't detect any excessive roastiness when I sampled from the carboy.

It looked and tasted good. I will keg it sometime next week. I need to drink some more beer to clear out a keg space.  Thanks again for all the advice.

Offline gmac

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Re: Ideas to slightly darken a pale ale
« Reply #17 on: September 08, 2013, 04:45:25 am »
Glad it worked out.

Offline bobberdc

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Re: Ideas to slightly darken a pale ale
« Reply #18 on: September 08, 2013, 07:30:29 am »
Too late now, but for future reference you could try adding some melanoidin malt. The color is around 20L and will add a nice maltiness to the beer without adding sweetness.

Also - if you want the darker munich next time, ask for caramunich.

Offline erockrph

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Re: Ideas to slightly darken a pale ale
« Reply #19 on: September 08, 2013, 02:00:19 pm »
Too late now, but for future reference you could try adding some melanoidin malt. The color is around 20L and will add a nice maltiness to the beer without adding sweetness.

Also - if you want the darker munich next time, ask for caramunich.

Something like Victory or Aromatic would work similar to melanoiden as well, but the amount needed to get the color you want would definitely have an effect on flavor.

And CaraMunich is a completely different animal from dark Munich. CaraMunich is a crystal malt, and Dark Munich is a darkly kilned base malt.
Eric B.

Finally got around to starting a homebrewing blog: The Hop Whisperer