Answers?

[curtisj]

When looking at recipes and it says 45L or 80L or SRM after the ingredient
What does this mean? If my store does not carry that number how can I tweak the recipe to get it right?

cheeers

 

[mikebowman]

SRM refers to the colour of the grains. The higher the number, the darker it is. I
Know my lhbs carries crystal 30 60 and 120. If you're making a recipe that calls for something your store doesn't have, use a smaller amount of a higher number. I'm sure there's a proper formula to convert them, but I don't know ut

 

[BendBrewer]

That represent the color which is measured in lovibonds in regards to indivdual grains. The L

SRM is the standard in which the final product is measured in terms of color. It means Standard Reference Method.

 

[Yooper]

They aren't really good subs for each other- they definitely have a different taste. For instance, 1/2 pound of 120L does NOT equal 1 pound of 60L!

But closer subs work ok. It won't be exact, but crystal 20L makes a decent sub for 15L, and an English caramel 90L is pretty good for Crystal 80L.

 

[Chris1272]

Simple answer:
degrees Lovibond (L) generally describe how dark a grain is.
SRM Is basically a corollary scale to Lovibond but is generally applied to the finished beer rather than the grain.

here are some links that explain it better than I ever could
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Reference_Method
http://www.brewwiki.com/index.php/Lovibond
http://www.brewwiki.com/index.php/Standard_Reference_Method