Colouring beer

[jubby]

I have been using brewers caramel to colour my beer, but this has some disadvantages. Firstly it's expensive and secondly it's not included in my brewing program, so I can't predict the colour, it's trial and error.

Are there any alternatives? I have thought of using German Carafa III, as it is very dark and not too bitter but i need to add around 200g to get the colour and I think it will affect the taste.

Any ideas?

[edit1now]

The really sneaky one is Weyermann Sinamar, which counts as malt extract under the Reinheitsgebot, but is functionally a food colouring I don't know if you can get it in homebrew quantities though.

[bloodoaf]

I use about 50-100 g of chocolate malt. Tastes lovely!

[aceuass]

http://www.northernbrewer.com/beer-additives.html
They do ship overseas
Cheers
Paul

[jubby]

Thanks for the advice chaps, and thanks for the link aceuass.

[DRB]

If you put some roast barley in your mash 10 min before the end that will colour your beer without adding any of the taste.

[subsub]

I used to use Brewers Caramel but found I got exactly the same results from Crosse & Blackwell browning which is a fraction of the price. It even mentions "Home brewed beers" on the label.

[jubby]

DRB wrote

If you put some roast barley in your mash 10 min before the end that will colour your beer without adding any of the taste.

That's an Interesting idea DRB, thanks.

subsub wrote

Crosse & Blackwell browning

Thinking outside the box there subsub, thanks.

[prodigal2]

Out of interest, why do you want to colour your beer?
Its just never crossed my mind.

[jubby]

prodigal2 wrote

Out of interest, why do you want to colour your beer?

Two of my favourite ales are Ruddles County and Adnams Broadside. Both of these use brewers caramel to colour. I also use a small amount in TTL to bring the colour up a bit.

[cooldad]

I've never done it but some people on this site boil to caramelise ,a litre of the liquid from the mash tun then add it at the end of boil . When you boil the small amount it reduces and the colour gets darker . ( I could be talking rubbish but that is how I understand it )

[subsub]

That's more to achieve a toffee flavour present in some commercial beer. It won't darken the wort as there's not enough of it to affect the bulk of the wort. Caramel/Browning or darker malts should do the trick

[bloodoaf]

That's more to achieve a toffee flavour present in some commercial beer. It won't darken the wort as there's not enough of it to affect the bulk of the wort. Caramel/Browning or darker malts should do the trick

Isn't that the technique used to get the Newcastle Brown flavour?

[mysterio]

Carafa works well, i've used 100g in a recipe and you barely get any flavour, but a lot of colour.

[eyeoftheduck]

Add some darker whole grains directly to the boil. 50g of crystal added to the wort from an all pale malt mash for 5 gallons will up the colour to medium amber, without affecting the flavour too much. But again it will be a question of trial and error, depending on how dark your crystal is, etc. Have not tried the same process with black or chocolate malt, but I'd imagine they would work as well. Have not noticed any astringency/tannins etc from adding whole grains to the boil.