650L Roast Barley?

[Sardoman]

I raced to the LHBS yesterday just in time to grab some ingredients like Supermarket Sweep before the place closed for the long Labor Day weekend. I need to make a stout this weekend. So I got home and noticed that my pound of roast barley is listed as 650L! I thought that roast barley was usually around 300L, and that much more than that was black patent territory. Did I just get hosed? I'd like to use a pound of roast barley in my 5.5 gallon brew, but with this Lovibond, I only need 0.5 pound to get the SRM I'm looking for. I don't want an impossibly burnt-tasting stout. Any thoughts?

 

[Ki-ri-n]

Be thankful you caught that now. I didn't and now I have a REALLY dark Bass clone beer. I too assumed it was around 300. Are there 2 types around?

I'd say cut it down to get the SRM you want. If you can't get the Levibond your looking for before you brew.

 

[JLem]

I've noticed the stuff at my LHBS is 500+L. The default listing in BeerSmith is 300L. I wonder if there has been a switch to a higher Lovibond in recent years. I haven't found any 300L (though I am sure you can get it online).

 

[Sardoman]

I've noticed the stuff at my LHBS is 500+L. The default listing in BeerSmith is 300L. I wonder if there has been a switch to a higher Lovibond in recent years. I haven't found any 300L (though I am sure you can get it online).

Interesting. This will be the first stout I have brewed, so I don't have experience with using either roast barley or black patent. I would much rather have a too-pale stout that tastes good than get the right color and have a burnt ale. I'm thinking I will probably cut back to 0.5lbs at the most.

Thank you for your comments.

 

[KYB]

There is regular Roasted Barley (300L) and Black Barley (650L). Black Barley (as packaged) is un-malted, where Black Patent is malted. In BeerSmith it is also called Black Barley. I use 3/4lb of Black Barley and 1/4lb Choc Malt in my Extra Stout. Great flavor.

 

[Sardoman]

Update:
In case anyone was interested, the 1/2lb roasted barley was far too little and the resulting beer was so weak-tasting that it is not very enjoyable. I might end up dumping a lot of it just so I can use the bottles for a good beer. Next time I will use the full pound.