Trying to darken a dry irish stout

[hifidelity]

I have a recipe for a dry Irish stout that I've brewed a couple times that I absolutely love except for its color. When I think about the style I'm thinking Guinness in all its black glory, but this beer is ending up at around 24 SRM so it's only just dark brown.

Here's the recipe:
Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
6 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 66.7 %
2 lbs Barley, Flaked (1.7 SRM) Grain 2 22.2 %
1 lbs Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 3 11.1 %
1.50 oz Cluster [7.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 37.7 IBUs
1.0 pkg Irish Ale (Wyeast Labs #1084) [124.21 ml Yeast 5 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 9 lbs
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 11.25 qt of water at 159.1 F 148.0 F 75 min
Mash Out Add 7.20 qt of water at 203.8 F 168.0 F 10 min

If I bump the roasted barley up to 1.5 pound in BeerSmith it says the SRM should be around 30. I don't really want to put more fermentables in than than that because I'd like to keep this beer in the 4.4% ABV range (my effeciency isn't as good as BS predicts). How will this affect the flavor? I love the roasted coffee and bittersweet chocolate that's in it right now. Will this amplify those flavors positively? How much is too much?

 

[yeahfairly]

Where are you getting the 24 SRM from... is it a brewing calculator or are you guessing. I have a Guinness Clone that I really enjoy. I hit around 34-36 SRM and from looking at your recipe my beer should have a lower SRM than the recipe you posted. I use 2 lbs more MO and 1 lb more flaked barley and the same amount of roasted barley (different hops and yeast) and shoot for a preboil volume of 7.5 gallons. How long do you maintain a vigorous boil and how much liquid volume do you loose during your boil?

 

[Transamguy77]

You could sub an oz or two of black patent for roasted barley, that will add 6 to 12 SRM to your color. That should darken it up.

 

[JKaranka]

I think you are calculating something wrong. I've made beers in the high 20s before with half a pound of black patent, so a pound of roast barley should go past that.

 

[chickypad]

Looks like you've got that light roasted barley by Briess at 300 L giving you 24 SRM. If you sub in their black barley at 500 L (or an English roasted barley like Hugh Baird or Crisp which should be more like 550L) it should bump you up more like 34-36 SRM.

 

[Gavin C]

That's it for sure. Change to the black barley (roasted unmalted barley)

~35 SRM

 

[hifidelity]

Looks like you've got that light roasted barley by Briess at 300 L giving you 24 SRM. If you sub in their black barley at 500 L (or an English roasted barley like Hugh Baird or Crisp which should be more like 550L) it should bump you up more like 34-36 SRM.

Thanks for the tip! What would the English roasted barley or black barley do to the flavor compared to the light roasted barley?

 

[chickypad]

I've never actually used the lighter roasted barley as I tend to go with UK dark roasted malts, but I assume it gives a milder, less sharply roasted flavor. Similar to the difference for example between light and dark chocolate malt. In a classic dry Irish stout I would think you would want the more traditional darker roast.