BeerSmith - what am I doing wrong

[leigh1919]

Hi dudes -

Despite Beersmith giving my recipes a real shot in the arm, I'm still struggling ith aspects of it. the main one that's annoying me right now is the colours. I adjust all the colours of the malt to what I am actually buying, but the colours still come out (in the finished product) waaay off.

I suspect it may have something to do with my mash/sparge profiles. Here's what I do, a standard batch sparge:

Hit 82c in the HLT for all parts of the procedure.
Hit the cold mash tun with it, add grain and stir, hit 67c.
After 90 minutes fill the mash tun up with 95c water aiming to get the mash at or above 72c, stir, leave 10 mins, drain.
Refill again with 95(or higher) water aiming to get around 75-82 (75c as a minimum) stir, leave 10 minutes, drain and that's the mash completed – Repeat as needed – no more than three times.

....And I have my settings set to 'Medium body, Batch Sparge' and my volume at 22L (about capacity for my 25L boiling bucket, which I would never fill to the brim)

Can anyone offer Any help?

To illustrate even more:

This grist came out on beersmith as a nice, orangey Amber

80% M.o
16% Crystal
4% Melanoidin

...Yet has come out distinctly paler - straw-coloured....


any ideas? Realise it could just be me but it's really frustrating as I spend a lot of time on recipes- to find the flavors usually ok but the colours just not right.

[mysterio]

Yeah this is not uncommon. It is one of Graham Wheelers bugbears. He things the colour formulas are all wrong, but I can't remember the gyst of his argument. Maybe he'll be along.

16% crystal and it's straw coloured?? What colour of crystal have you got?

[leigh1919]

H&G's ....120L I beleive!!

you understand my surprise!! Granted, I've not bottled it yet, but early samples are very light...considering it's an amber ale...not good. At least i'm not alone though.

[mysterio]

That will be 120 EBC, or 60 L.

Should still be pretty brown/red though. 16% is quite a lot. One thing to keep in mind is the sample will look quite light in a low volume (like a hydro) compared to a pint glass. You definitely mashed the crystal... ?

[leigh1919]

Yeah, good point. Maybe I need to wait until it's bottled, conditioned, and poured before jumping to conclusions. I just dont think it's even going to be in the ballpark. I'll keep you updated.

[EoinMag]

One thing, you need to know the exact colours of what you put in and adjust your inventory accordingly.

H&G's ....120L I beleive!!

See you're not sure, so until you know that for sure you can't be sure that the recipe will turn out the correct colour either.
If you find out for sure what values your grain has then adjust the colours in your inventory, that will at least help. I find that the colours in the approximations are always pretty close to what I have in my sample jar when I'm taking a hydro sample.