BJCP guidelines vital stats a bit off?

[homebrewhaha]

I've been trying to understand this for a while now, and I still don't get it.

Why does the BJCP guideline for Belgian Dubbel (18B) list the SRM as 10-17?

In practice, it seems to me that most Dubbels I've tasted appear to have an SRM that's easily in the 20's, often closer to 30 or darker.

Not only that, most recipes I see for homebrew Dubbels fall into about that same (higher) range.

In a 5-gallon batch, many recipes call for 1 lb. of dark candi sugar, which on its own gets you to about 23 SRM.

Basically the style guidelines are saying that an American Amber has the same color range as a Belgian Dubbel and I just haven't found this to be true in practice.

I understand that not everyone brews exactly according to style, but does anyone have some insight on this subject? What am I missing?

 

[Brewmech]

Are you using a good source for figuring the SRM? Sometimes beers will appear darker than they are due to the depth of the vessel. I'm not sure if there is a standard vessel to use to determine SRM of a beer or not, but you would think there would be.

 

[Brewmech]

http://www.bjcp.org/colorguide.php

Use the color chart in the website and the a 5cm wide glass. If you don't have a 5cm glass, pour the beer to 5cm and look through it. My guess is that those dubbels are probably lighter than you think.

 

[homebrewhaha]

My guess is that those dubbels are probably lighter than you think.

You have a point there. I'm not, however, relying strictly on my experience perceiving color, but more from looking at homebrew recipes.

There is a discrepancy that exists between the majority of dubbel recipes I've come upon and the guidelines (with a high % of recipes having higher SRM's).

Thanks for your response and link to the color guide.