SRM

Is there an input field to enter actual (observed) SRM color?

If  you click on the slider on the design page of a recipe, a dialog box with the slider and the color will appear.  This allows you to make an adjustment to the observed color versus the projected color.  The same holds true for the OG and bitterness sliders as well.

Oginme said:

If  you click on the slider on the design page of a recipe, a dialog box with the slider and the color will appear.  This allows you to make an adjustment to the observed color versus the projected color.  The same holds true for the OG and bitterness sliders as well.

Click to expand...

The problem with that is, if you adjust the SRM it will modify your recipe to "explain" the color change.  It's not simply an override of the projected color with an observed color.

You can change the SRM of each ingredient. Depending on the maltster, the color they list may be the variable range of the grains, or an acceptable batch-to-batch variation.

SRM is a fairly weak way to measure the color in beer. It works quite well for the straw to golden amber range, but gets less accurate with more absorptive colors and turbidity. It should be read through clear, flat glass at a depth of 1 cm. 

I'd never noticed that before, probably because the changes were minor.  Usually, I can find the differences in the malt colors from standard to account for the differences, mostly in the darker roast malts.  It seems like every maltster has a different color value for chocolate malt....

I'm finding the predicted SRM to be significantly different (lighter) from recipes I'm using. One example is the BYO Eastside Dark clone - they predict 24 SRM and Beersmith only predicts 13.9. I contacted the magazine and Dave Green he says they use the Morey equation. He also recalculated it manually and came up with 18. I know that the value can vary depending on the maltster, but this is pretty simple: 5 oz chocolate at 350L, .75 oz black patent at 500L - the remaining 13 pounds is 2 row, pilsner, and munich.

Posting to get some clarification on the calculations because I made a red that turned out pretty dark brown and an amber that ended up pretty red. Not sure how to account for the difference.

Can you post the recipe file?  the water volume will impact color significantly, so we'd have to look at your recipe file to have a decent shot on helping.

Attached below. Maybe is it something off with the way my equipment profile is set up - I'm not sure. I know I'm using more water than the recipe suggests, which would make it lighter. I tend to see higher levels of evaporation in my boils and I use a large pot, so my trub loss is set higher. I played with those setting to see if it would make a difference and still only see 14.3 SRM. This just seems too far off for those things to explain it. Any help would be appreciated.

I also posted something about this on an older thread where it had been reported as a bug - that user had better data then I do on see the predicted color significantly lighter than the actual result: http://www.beersmith.com/forum/index.php/topic,5797.15.html

Thanks,
Steve

0.8 oz                Black (Patent) Malt (500.0 SRM) 

.75 oz black patent at 500L -



Is it really this fraction of an ounce?  Or is it supposed to be 8 oz?  When I put in 8 ounces, I get 25 SRM. 

When I zero it out, I hardly changes by one SRM. 

It is really that low: .75 oz (21 grams) is listed in the recipe. That's why I originally contacted BYO - I figured either the chocolate malt or black malt amounts must be wrong, but not according to those guys (and they predict extract efficiency at 65%). Not sure how Dave Green (at BYO) manually recalculated the SRM at 18 - which conflicts with their recipe too, but is still darker than BeerSmith. He suggested adding a bit of debittered black if I'm concerned about the color and I'll probably do that. If you've had the beer, there is none of the acrid note that is so easy to get with too much black patent.

I thought I'd bring this to the forums though because it is an illustration of something I've been noticing for awhile: the calculated value in BeerSmith and what I see on the screen are always lighter than the resulting beer.

I tinkered with that loss, but it doesn't seem enough difference.  So I Googled this up:  http://www.lakefrontbrewery.com/files/sell-sheets/lfsellsheet_eastsidedark.pdf


The brewer says it has 45 L Caramel in it, as well as dehusked dark (Carafa Special), which would mean they could use more of that for the color without getting the higher roast or acrid notes.    So it's your call whether you try the BYO version or try to get closer with what the brewer claims is in it. 

Here's a 24 SRM stab at it.    With that 45L crystal in there, you're just playing with 12 oz of the two dark grains. 


11 lbs 4.0 oz        Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)          Grain        1        77.9 %       
1 lbs                Crystal Light - 45L (Crisp) (45.0 SRM)  Grain        2        6.9 %       
1 lbs                Pilsner (2 Row) UK (1.0 SRM)            Grain        3        6.9 %       
10.0 oz              Munich 20L (Briess) (20.0 SRM)          Grain        4        4.3 %       
6.0 oz                Carafa Special II (Weyermann) (430.0 SRM Grain        6        1.7 %
6.0 oz                Chocolate (Briess) (350.0 SRM)          Grain        5        2.2 %       

Thanks a lot - in my digging I hadn't turned up that spec sheet. If I'm even close, it'll be a recipe worth playing with anyway.

Current BYO magazine has interesting article explaining caramel/crystal malts......and I'm trying to clone Lonerider Sweet Josie Brown......and someone got some tips from the brewer there..........all of which led me back to this post.  Whew......

You could call or email the Eastside brewer and ask for some specific (or rough) guidance on the ratio of the 45L crystal and the chocolate and the carafa. 

One point in the article was how the flavor changes a lot if you use too much of a lower Lovibond grain to reach the same color.    I just put a pound in there to hit the SRM target, but it may be only a half pound of the 45L, and more of the carafa special to reach the color.  If the original beer is not very caramelly/sweet, then it may be worth the time to ask the question. 

The Eastside brewer may give you the entire recipe, or some general guidance like the Lonerider brewer gave the guy whose post I saw.