Late extract = cloudy??

[linuxelf]

So i'm going to give this late extract addition a go next time. what's the story, just bring water to a boil, add hops per usual, then dump in the extract with 20-15 mins left, finally add finishing hops? Does it work the same for liquid and dry extract? seems like the malt would miss out on all the hoppy goodness of the boil.

does this work better with a specific style of beer or is it good across the board?

The hops need a bit more than just water to do their thing. You can add a little bit of the malt extract up front, or you can do what I do, go ahead and steep specialty grains first. Then, it's pretty much just like you said. Follow the recipe as if the malt had been added, then at the last 15-20 minutes, remove the pot from the heat, add your malt extract, make sure it's good and disolved, then put it back on the heat. Do not try adding the extract while it's still on the burner or the extract will dive to the bottom of the pot and scorch like crazy.

So far, I've only done it with an APA, a DIPA, and just last weekend with a Sam Adams Boston Stock clone, but I believe it would work great with most any style.

[brewcrew]

Does the late extract addition make the beer lighter or darker? I just did a mini mash Wit and the Wheat extract I added (30 minutes) was pretty dark. Right now in the carboy it looks more like an amber than a Wit.

[linuxelf]

In my limited experience with it, it's made the beer considerably lighter in color. YMMV, but for me, since I'm doing partial boils, there is a significant amount of darkening and carmelization with the traditional method. When I add late, that is significantly reduced.

[Biff]

Hi guys,
The porter I did was a late extract addition (about 15 minutes left in the boil). I took a sample this past weekend, and it actually looked really good. It's a porter, so the dark color makes it a little harder to tell, but it looked good to me.

$0.02 for you

-Steve

[Dr Scott]

Does the late extract addition make the beer lighter or darker? I just did a mini mash Wit and the Wheat extract I added (30 minutes) was pretty dark. Right now in the carboy it looks more like an amber than a Wit.

Brewing light colored beers with extract can be a challenge. The whole idea of the late addition is to cut down on the amount of unwanted kettle caramelization that happens in the boil. This effects both color and flavor. If you're doing a partial boil, this is even more of an issue because a conc. solution (your wort) will caramelize easier than a more dilute (full wort boil) solution. This why you will see a vast improvement in your beer when you change from a partial to a full boil. (not to mention the increase you will se in hop utilization)