British Crystal Malt too dark? How to use in recipe?

I just got 5 lbs Crystal 65, Crystal 85, and Crystal 120. Going by look, these grains look nearly identical on level of roast/ Lovibond. The only difference is flavor.
Also, I noticed that the C 65 is considerably darker than some C 60 I have on hand. When brewing with this malt, will the color imparted to the wort be significantly darker than intended? How should I compensate?

Thanks in advance for help/ insight.

Don't be deceived by the look of the malt. The difference in color between 65 and 120L is striking. Between 65 and 85L, not so much.

Many maltsters make products which look similar or counter-intuitively different. For example, I recall seeing plastic bags of roasted malts recently. There was a Chocolate malt rated at 300L which looked positively black, and a Roasted Barley rated 600L which appeared significantly lighter.

That said, the difference between 65L and 85L is not pronounced.

Weight for weight, the difference in color between the 65L UK and 60L US will not be very pronounced; °L are determined scientifically, and the difference between 60 and 65 is not large enough for any but the most trained eye to detect. The difference in flavor, however, can be very obvious.

The solution for compensating is simple: Don't. Use the correct tool for the job. The 65 and 60 should be close enough that it won't make much difference in terms of color, but it may make differences in flavor. So if you want to replicate a given recipe, use the same specific crystal malt.* There's no real way to make 120L Crystal do the same job as 60L. The two ingredients are different. Square peg, round hole, and all that. It's not as simple as just cutting the amount in half.

Cheers,

Bob

* That's why it's important to list ingredients by supplier as well as color and type. Muntons Crystal malt is a hell of a lot different than Briess!

Thank you very much.