Answers.Body: <p>You're right - is the high kilning temperatures used in the malt that give it a dark color. </p>
  
  <p>Note that not all Stouts use black patent malt - some use roasted unmalted barley, most famously, Guinness, which uses 18% roasted barley in the recipe (IIRC from my trip to the brewery.) If you look through a pint of Guinness, you'll see that it's not simply jet black, but in fact fairly clear, and the light will give ruby highlights to the beer.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-04-15T14:41:10.597Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-04-15T14:41:10.597Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: mdma
Answers.Body: <p>If you follow the information trail through Wikipedia's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stout">page about Stout beer</a>, you find that what was known as Stout became a strong, dark beer in the 1800s:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>In the 19th century, the beer gained its customary black colour through the use of black patent malt, and became stronger in flavour.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>You can see from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mash_ingredients#Black_malt">article about mash ingredients</a> that black patent malt is "barley malt that has been kilned to the point of carbonizing, around 200 °C." It is apparently called "patent" malt because the inventor was awarded a patent for it. </p>
  
  <p>Sometimes, this malt is used to darken the colour of other beers.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2014-04-15T13:09:40.270Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2014-04-15T13:09:40.270Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: Anthony
Body: <p>I imagine it's probably just that the barley has been roasted darker, and that comes out.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2018-09-03T21:41:00.517Z
Comments.Text: Because the barley is burnt (i.e. "carbonized," as another poster stated)
Comments.UserDisplayName: Ray Wi
Tags: <colour>
Title: What gives a porter or a stout its dark colour?
UserDisplayName: dwjohnston
ThreadText: # What gives a porter or a stout its dark colour?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2014-04-15)
  
  I imagine it's probably just that the barley has been roasted darker, and that comes out.
  
  **Tags:** colour
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: Because the barley is burnt (i.e. "carbonized," as another poster stated)  
  
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  ## 2 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_3 on 2014-04-15. Score: 10
  
  If you follow the information trail through Wikipedia's [page about Stout beer](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stout), you find that what was known as Stout became a strong, dark beer in the 1800s:
  
  > In the 19th century, the beer gained its customary black colour through the use of black patent malt, and became stronger in flavour.
  
  You can see from the [article about mash ingredients](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mash_ingredients#Black_malt) that black patent malt is "barley malt that has been kilned to the point of carbonizing, around 200 °C." It is apparently called "patent" malt because the inventor was awarded a patent for it.
  
  Sometimes, this malt is used to darken the colour of other beers.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2014-04-15. Score: 5
  
  You're right - is the high kilning temperatures used in the malt that give it a dark color.
  
  Note that not all Stouts use black patent malt - some use roasted unmalted barley, most famously, Guinness, which uses 18% roasted barley in the recipe (IIRC from my trip to the brewery.) If you look through a pint of Guinness, you'll see that it's not simply jet black, but in fact fairly clear, and the light will give ruby highlights to the beer.
  
  
  ---
  
  