I recently brewed a SMaSH beer with 2 row malt. The resulting beer tasted great but instead of resulting in a beer that was light in color it was more like 5.5 L. It seems like this has happened when I’ve brewed other light beers (ipas and pale ales). I scale my all grain brews down to 3 gallons to be able to brew inside during the winter. What am I missing in my process that’s causing the off coloring? Thanks in advance!
The more you boil off, the darker the resulting wort/beer will be. This can be especially true if any scorching takes place during the boil. There isn’t a set color for 2-row pale malts either. It’s common to see them in the 1.8 to 3.4 SRM range. Ten lbs. of base malt at 3.4SRM will get you over 5 L in a 5 gallon batch.
Did you happen to use Viking Pale Malt? That is notoriously darker than your standard 2 row.
High Wort pH during the boil is notorious for darkening the color. Adjust to pH 5.1-5.2 (as measured at 68 degrees F., or nominal room temperature) leading into the boil and you will see lighter color as a result.
Thanks for all of the tips! Relatively new to all grain brewing so these are some things that I’ve overlooked and can change.
My sack of Viking pale malt was 3.6L. So I agree.