OVHA Chat

First time to this site but unable to find any info that applies to my situation anywhere else. I brewed a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone about 3 weeks ago, pitched yeast w/ starter and primary fermentation went as smooth as any other batch. I racked to secondary after about 8 days and dry hopped w/ 1/4 oz. Cascades pellets by just pouring into carboy. After about three days the color changed from a light amber to almost black!?! Is this normal? I would expect cloudiness but it's an extreme color change. No other sight or smell of contamination as far as I can tell. Any info is greatly appreciated. Cheers!

Dan B.

Probably just the wort/beer is clearing and all the light reflective matter is at the bottom.Unless you're talking about a pulled sample,and it is black in the test tube,it's probably a good thing.I generally see dark brown or black wort/beer in my carboys unless I'm using a yeast that doesn't floc well or ther is a lot of protein,such as a wheat beer,etc.

Thanks for the reply. I wasn't sure what was going on. All the things I've ever read about dry hopping and nothing about this much color change. I'll update after its bottled. Thanks again.

db

Steve could be right about the yeast floccing to settle out resulting in a clearer beer that appears darker. But I don't know about turning black. 1/4 oz dry hops for a 5 gallon batch is tiny. That would have had no effect on beer color change. Possibly if you increased that to 8 oz, you would get a green cast to the hop soup.
I'm not aware of any infection that results in a drastic color change that you described.
Best bet is to use your other senses of smell and taste. If those are good, then it's fine. If in doubt, bring a sample to a meeting and someone will be able to diagnose for you.

You people are racists!

Thanks again for the help. I believe Steve was right with his diagnosis. I took a sample for a gravity reading and the color in the tube was really perfect and so was the FG! I went ahead and tasted the sample and is right on what I was going for. I just never noticed that before but most of the beers I've brewed start very dark and end the same way. Anyway, thanks again!

db