[gmac]

I'm trying out the 21 day trial of BeerSmith 2 and I tried to remember my Irish Ale recipe from before.  Last time I used 4 oz of roasted barley but this time I used 6 based on Brewing Classic Styles and also based on the colour projection in BeerSmith. 
Well, let me tell you.  It's pretty darn black.  I'm sure that there are "ruby highlights" in the right light but I don't think it's anything close to the 19.9 SRM that's predicted (and that's over the 18 upper limit for the BJCP).  So, is it even possible to get 18 SRM or less with 6 oz of roasted barley?  If you make an Irish Red, what colour is it when you make it?  How much roast would you suggest for next time?
Thanks
 

[dak0415]

What size batches are you brewing?  I'm pretty sure that Jamil's recipes are based on 300L roasted barley, so if yours is 500L well...  I use 5oz of Carafa II special (430L) in a 12 gallon batch and that gets me to 15 SRM.

[saintpierre]

That sounds about right.  I use about 4 oz of 300L roasted barley in a 5 gallon batch for my IRA. 

Did you mash them the whole time?

I typically don't add the roasted grain to the mash tun until about 5 minutes before I sparge and I just sprinkle the roasted grains on top.

How does it taste? Possibly Irish Brown...

[gmac]

That sounds about right.  I use about 4 oz of 300L roasted barley in a 5 gallon batch for my IRA. 

Did you mash them the whole time?

I typically don't add the roasted grain to the mash tun until about 5 minutes before I sparge and I just sprinkle the roasted grains on top.

How does it taste? Possibly Irish Brown...

Or Irish Black...
5 gal batch.  Probably 500L but there's nothing on the re-bagged grain and my supplier has a lousy site for that sort of info (it just says roasted barley).  I often do the late addition for colour but I wanted a slight roast character which I think an Irish Red is sort of supposed to have.  I guess this will be a big starter for a 10 gal batch in a few weeks with a whole lot less roast barley. 
The pre-boil sample doesn't taste bad at all, not overpoweringly roasty (not a stout), it's just a lot darker than I was shooting for.  It's gonna probably make a passable porter instead of an Irish Red.  Maybe I'll dose it with coffee or something and call it an experiment.

[dannyjed]

I think 4 oz would be the limit for a red colour.

[brewmasternpb]

My last IRA got a little darker than I had hoped.  I only used 3 oz of Roasted Barley, but I used 6 oz of Crystal 120, 8 oz of Cara-red, 3# of Munich and 7# Marris Otter.  I put it into the club competition, and they didn't knock it for color, but they did say it needed more roast.