In terms of SRM I could not get color anywhere near to what Wheeler was claiming for some of his milds. I inputted a couple of Wheeler recipes from "Brew Your Own British Real Ale" by Wheeler and Protz (I don't know the name of the book in the UK) and would end up with color that was 1/2 of Wheelers (in terms of SRM).
Has anyone else had this experience?
I guess it isn't a big deal but I tend to like my beer on the darker end of the color range for most styles.
Beersmith and color
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steve_flack
Beer colour is a curious thing and actually is really difficult to calculate for darker beers. The thing is that the obvious way of working out the colour (taking the colours of the ingredients times the amount of each ingredient and relating that to the volume) doesn't actually work for dark beers. The relationship between the calculated colour and the real colour only really holds for very light beers (5 SRM or less). Generally beers turn out less dark than their calculated values. Maybe there's a magic formula for fixing it but I haven't found it and I've looked pretty hard.
Besides there's a lot more to color than just the color of the ingredients - pH, boil time and wort gravity all affect colour.
There, another of homebrewing software's dirty mathematics secrets out in the open!
Besides there's a lot more to color than just the color of the ingredients - pH, boil time and wort gravity all affect colour.
There, another of homebrewing software's dirty mathematics secrets out in the open!
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mysterio
I always found Beersmith spot on but maybe i'm just lucky.
Are you sure you have the colour set to EBC and not SRM?
Do you have your base malt set to the correct EBC? I think Maris Otter from H&G is about 5 - 6 EBC.
More importantly, have you put the correct grade of crystal malt in? This can make a big difference in the colour. Beersmith gives you a wide selection. I'm not sure, but I don't think Wheeler gives you the colour of crystal malt he uses. From H&G you can get ~79 EBC (40L) 'lower colour' crystal malt (this is what I use in his recipes), and you can get 120 EBC (60L) crystal malt.
Are you sure you have the colour set to EBC and not SRM?
Do you have your base malt set to the correct EBC? I think Maris Otter from H&G is about 5 - 6 EBC.
More importantly, have you put the correct grade of crystal malt in? This can make a big difference in the colour. Beersmith gives you a wide selection. I'm not sure, but I don't think Wheeler gives you the colour of crystal malt he uses. From H&G you can get ~79 EBC (40L) 'lower colour' crystal malt (this is what I use in his recipes), and you can get 120 EBC (60L) crystal malt.
Thanks for the suggestions.
I have color set to SRM (so are the recipes I inputted). Maybe the type of crystal malts may make the difference. The recipes just state crystal (which I take to be medium crystal). I will go back and double check the color inputs for the various malts.
I noticed it playing around with some mild recipes.
Not a big deal at the end of the day as I can fine tune with experience.
I have color set to SRM (so are the recipes I inputted). Maybe the type of crystal malts may make the difference. The recipes just state crystal (which I take to be medium crystal). I will go back and double check the color inputs for the various malts.
I noticed it playing around with some mild recipes.
Not a big deal at the end of the day as I can fine tune with experience.