Beersmith - Use different colour unit for grain and beer colour?

[mattsearle]

Hi,

I've been trying to do this for some time and it's really bugging me now.

I want the colour indicator of the beer I am making to be in SRM (as this it seems would be the standard), however in my recipe I want to be able to put my grains in lovibond or EBC (as again, this is how all the grain I've ever bought is described on the packet, never in SRM).

Does anyone know if I can do this please? If I go into the units section of options/ preferences I just have one option for 'colour'.

Cheers

 

[Double_D]

I'm pretty sure the grain in mine is lovibond and the beer color scale is in srm. I haven't changed anything.

 

[day_trippr]

There are only two options for Tools - Options - Units - Color Units: SRM and EBC.
Any time you are displaying Grain, it's going to be qualified as one or the other.
There's no notion of Lovibond.

For grains that list Lovibond in their specs you can use one of the color scale convertors available on the Intertube to get to SRM, including this user-friendly one

Cheers!

 

[Oginme]

BeerSmith uses the Morey equation for calculating the color of the beer. This equation uses the grain color as Lovibond and converts that to MCU (malt color units). It takes the MCU and applies it to the non-linear relationship to wort color in SRM. The grain color in BeerSmith is labeled as 'SRM' but it more appropriately shoudl be entered as Lovibond.

SRM is a test based upon the transmittance of light, which cannot be run on solids (i.e. grain). Lovibond is based upon a reflectance of light from the grain (originally as a color comparison to known standards).

From BrewGR:

Based on the Lovibond number of your malt you are able to estimate the color of your homebrew. Because homebrew systems are different this is just an estimate. Boil time, kettle caramelization, and different procedures can all have an effect on the color. Remember Lovibond is used to measure the malt and SRM is used for the final color for the beer. At Brewgr we use the Dan Morey method for estimating homebrew SRM. First we determine the Malt Color Units (MCU). A Malt Color Units (MCU) is the color of each grain times the grain weight in pounds divided by the batch volume in gallons. When more than one fermentable is used, the MCU color is calculated for each fermentable and then added together.

MCU = (Grain Color * Grain Weight lbs.)/Volume in Gallons

This works great for beers that are light in color but due to the fact that light absorbance is logarithmic and not linear we need to use the Morey equation:

SRM Color = 1.49 * (MCU * 0.69)