2 replies to this topic

[ChefLamont]

So I brewed a belgian dark strong yesterday. I started with the recipe and adjusted from there. The adjustment came mostly from my not having an ingredient and also maybe the persistent belgian brewer attitude of "brewing my own beer my way".....but mostly it was having a ton of specialty malts laying around but not a kernel of aromatic.Anyhow, so I was flipping through the resources to get into the BDS groove, and I was reading their stats in brew like a monk. What I noticed was that the BJCP guidelines for BDS color are 12-22 SRM. While many of the beers that most of us would consider the quintessential BDS examples are or seem much darker than 22SRM.I am definitely not one of those style/BJCP/competition judge/competition haters or even critics. I am also by no means an expert on color. However, I have to wonder if the BJCP range is not a little low considering the color of the essential commercial examples.

[Thirsty]

I would agree, westy 12 and rochefort 10 are a dark chocolate probably 28-32 SRM. They do have ruby/mahogany highlights though. I brew my BDSAs and dubbels to an almost dark brown mahogany level, and have only been dinged a couple times. It seems like if I enter a sweeter version that scores lower, they pick on me for color, if it is drier and really nails it, it gets rants and raves and they dont mention the color being inappropriate.

[Stout_fan]

21A's Monk's Blood is easily 30 SRM by guessing. I haven't measured it.And as far as SRM levels are concerned look at English Milds 11AThen go look at the FIRST reference beer. That one is just a tad darker than 25 SRM. My rather exact clone was called not to style.So there's some discrepancy in the guidelines.