Judochop

Recipes 

Strangest thing. I created a Dubbel recipe using BeerSmith, and plugged in 1.25 lbs of amber candi sugar for a color boost, which was supposed to end up @ 18 SRM (right at the upper edge of style guidelines).

Only thing is… I checked on my FG the other day, and though the beer is tasty, it is nowhere near 18 SRM. In fact, I don’t think it looks any different than the wort I was drawing from the mash tun before I added the candi sugar; a deep, healthy amber, with nary a reddish highlight in sight. My dubbel looks positively tripelish!

I’ve always been very happy with how BeerSmith predicts my color. This is the first time I’ve used candi sugar as a color factor however, and so I suspect that’s where the ‘problem’ lies. The candi sugar I bought didn’t have an SRM rating on the package. It was just titled ‘amber’, and it was certainly dark colored.

Any thoughts?

RC0032

Recipes 

can you post the recipe?

I have to value to add to your question but I have been playing with a Dubble recipe and I wanted to compare

Judochop

Recipes 

At work now. I have the exact details at home. I will post tonight. For now though, it went something like this:

10.0 lbs Maris Otter
0.25 lbs Belgian Aromatic
0.5 lbs Belgian Caramunich
2.0 oz Chocolate Malt
1.25 lbs Amber Candi Sugar
Tettnanger @ 60 min
Tettnanger and Styrian Goldings @ 15 min
WYeast 1214 Belgian Abbey - 1L starter on stir plate

BTW - I fermented this puppy warm. Probably 76-78 for two days straight. Tasting it the other day, I'm completely satisfied with the ester output. Not over-the-top at all, for my tastes.

RC0032

Recipes 

bump for an answer to the OP question.

Judochop

Recipes 

Well, the situation has taken an even more perplexing turn. I checked up with the LHBS on the 'amber' sugar I bought there, and it turns out that it is rated at 200+ Lov. When I formulated my recipe, I used the default value for amber candi sugar that BeerSmith provided, and that was 75 Lov.

So, now I'm completely at a loss. Per BrewSmith, I had a target SRM of 17 using 1.25 lbs of candi sugar @ 75 LOV. It turns out I actually used 1.25 lbs of 225 LOV, and STILL my beer is as golden as a tripel!

The laws of physics once again kick me square in the balls.

Did I boil away the color or something? I didn't notice that the steam evaporating off my boil was any darker than usual.

mitch171

Recipes 

The only thing I can think of is look at the color in a beer glass rather than the hydrometer tube. Maybe the color will be right in the right glass?