Help with stout recipe color

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masonsjax

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I assembled this recipe based on several other Beamish stout clone recipes I found scattered across the internet. I bought the grain before punching it into any software. According to my calculations this will only get me about 20 SRM. I don't want to up the gravity much, but I'd like it to be darker, so do I just add more chocolate? A little of everything?

Here's what I have:
6 lbs 2 Row Malt
8 oz White Wheat
6 oz Chocolate
4 oz Caramel 60
4 oz Roasted Barley
2 oz Black Malt
2 oz Acidulated Malt

Hop to 25-30 IBU.
Use 6 oz Dextrose and 2 oz Lactose.
Mash 149.
Safale S-04.

Thanks in advance for the advice.
 
7% Roasted Barley and 3.5% dark Chocolate (450L) and no Black malt gets me 40 SRM. The stout is very smooth, yet bigger than what you are shooting for. It may seem like a lot of roast, but it is very drinkable at a month in the bottle. Recipe is in database.
 
Upping the roasted barley to 12 oz and the black malt to 6 oz puts me at ~ 35 SRM. I'm not going for an exact clone, but somewhere in the ballpark, since it's one of SWMBO's favorite beers. One of the clone's I've seen doesn't use any chocolate malt, so I think I'll leave what I've got.
 
Upping the roasted barley to 12 oz and the black malt to 6 oz puts me at ~ 35 SRM. I'm not going for an exact clone, but somewhere in the ballpark, since it's one of SWMBO's favorite beers. One of the clone's I've seen doesn't use any chocolate malt, so I think I'll leave what I've got.

You can make a great dry irish stout with pale, flaked barley, and roasted barley. The classic ratio of those is 70:20:10, plus ~35 IBUs of English hops at the start of the boil. It just seems like you have too much going on (9 fermentables) in what can be a very simple recipe.

That said 12 oz of dark malts should be enough to get a beer that is dark brown. If you were going to add anything more roasted barley in a hallmark of the style.

I would also suggest adding some chalk to your water, a light beer with a lot of roast can get acrid if you don't prevent the pH from falling too far (the acid malt will only makes things worse).
 
Good tips, thank you. My well water is quite hard (no lather at my house). I haven't had problems with dark beers.
Unfortunately the grains I bought for this recipe are already mixed in. I'll probably just increase the roasted barley until I calculate 30+ SRM and see how it turns out and adjust next time as needed. Thanks!
 
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