What type of grain for a darker Bitter?

[GBH]

Hi,

Ive taken my first tentative steps in AG and the results of colour are all very similar ie my beers take on a light amber-ish appearance.

So how do I go about getting more Colour in the brew? ie like a nice dark bitter for example? Up the Crystal? or add more to boil (in muslin sock)
Should I add the crystal first to mash tun to get the colour in the water first?

If anyone has any experience with getting a deeper browner /amber colour in their bitter id be grateful for the advice!

Thanks!

[russt1969]

Darker beers use normal Pale malt with crystal/chocolate/black malt or roast Barley added. The more "darker" malts you add the more bitter it will get. ie Guinness etc.
Hope that helps
Russ

[jubby]

Lots of breweries use colouring also.

[mysterio]

Dark crystal malt if you want more of a dark-toffee type of flavour, or a small amount of chocolate malt to take you into a slightly drier, biscuity brown ale type of flavour.

[Oscar Brewer]

Using roasted grains such as chocolate, black malts, roasted barley even in small quantities will impart their own flavour into the beer and may introduce toasted or burnt flavours which can dominate the taste. I've used both caramel and dark invert sugar ( the latter home made ) with good results; the grains used just being pale and about 10% crystal malt. ( 120 EBC ) It all depends on your particular palate and whether you like roasted notes in your beers.

[Aleman]

For purely colouring purposes the use of 50g of roast barley in 23L of beer (finished Volume) will add significantly to the colour without adding any roast notes . . . You can reduce this further by adding the roast grain towards the end of the mash.

I tend to use Light Chocolate malt for colouring, or when I have some some Weyermann Carafa Special I . . . which is a dehusked roasted malt and has practically no roast character
All grains should go into the mash tun . . . never add crystal malt to the boiler even if it is in a hop sock.

[BarnsleyBrewer]

All grains should go into the mash tun . . . never add crystal malt to the boiler even if it is in a hop sock.

I always thought you could, I never have myself though.

[yashicamat]

All grains should go into the mash tun . . . never add crystal malt to the boiler even if it is in a hop sock.

I always thought you could, I never have myself though.

I believe the reason is that crystal still has a husk on it just like normal malt, consequently boiling it will extract tannins into the wort.

[BarryNL]

Small amounts of chocolate or black malt or roasted barley will significantly darken your beer. As little as 150g in a 20 litre brew will give you a dark brown beer - 300g should give you a completely black beer. If you just want colour without flavour you should probably use the de-bittered (de-husked) versions of chocolate or black malt. For flavour, chocolate gives a, well, chocolatey flavour while black and roast barley give burnt, roasted and coffee flavours - some people say roasted barley is more strongly roasty but apparently Guinness use roast barley and black interchangeably and can't discern a difference.

The higher kilned crystal malts will also give significantly darker beers - Belgian Special-B is a good example. And many of the Belgian beers use dark candi sugar which also create quite dark beers (though they also sometimes use caramel colouring too). Using a darker base malt such as Munich is another way to create a darker beer - though large amounts will have a significant flavour impact.

[kevthebootboy]

what kind of flavours and characteristics would Amber malt bring to a beer?

[kevthebootboy]

Amber Malt is a very lightly roasted Chocolate Malt and this reduces the harsh flavours associated with higher coloured roasted products. This leaves it with a pleasant dry, baked flavour. It was recently used by a Hertfordshire brewer to produce a ‘Traditional I.P.A.’ which was a distinctively flavoured golden beer with a full dry palate.


IOB EBC ASBC
EXTRACT (DRY) RANGE 270-285 l°/kg 72-76%
MOISTURE <3% <3% <3%
COLOUR RANGE 40-80° 48-96° 25-35°
NORMAL COLOUR 60° 72° 32°

why didnt i just google it in the first place, sorry lads

[BarnsleyBrewer]

what kind of flavours and characteristics would Amber malt bring to a beer?

I seem to get a smoky biscuit taste.

[oblivious]

Dark crystal malt if you want more of a dark-toffee type of flavour, or a small amount of chocolate malt to take you into a slightly drier, biscuity brown ale type of flavour.

Nice addition indeed, worth playing around with