Beersmith Lovibond to SRM?

[XXXBrewDude]

1) Its odd that beersmith doent have a conversion calculator for Lovibond to SRM. Am I missing this? Cant seem to find one.

2) I also noticed the preloaded grains in beersmith, specifically the caramel malts have the same Lovibond / SRM. Example; A Caramel Malt titled "caramel 120 L" has 120 SRM loaded in the specs. They obviously cant be the same so I've had to change the SRM values to get them correct. Am I missing something here as well?

 

[brewfun]

Although labeled SRM, the color field in grains is expected to be in Lovibond. Obviously, the wrong name was used.

Your simple check of this is 1# in 1 gallon of any specialty malt follows Morey's formula for conversion in beer.

 

[XXXBrewDude]

Thanks, I'll do the check and see what happens. Figure a 1 gal yield per pound after the boil? Or does that even matter? As far as beersmith grain is actually lovibond, seems like a very basic error to still have in the software after so many copies sold


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[kh54s10]

I've been using Beersmith for about 2 years and I never even noticed that. I just used the grain I wanted and checked the color slider to see that it stayed within range for what I was looking for.

My final color has always been acceptable. Not that I really care that much, as long as the beer tastes good.

 

[XXXBrewDude]

Would be nice to have Brad Smith chime in on this and enlighten us why it's titled SRM. I don't have time today to run the software and validate the error , but assuming I do, I will get on Beersmith site and follow up with Brad as to why.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[brewfun]

Figure a 1 gal yield per pound after the boil? Or does that even matter? As far as beersmith grain is actually lovibond, seems like a very basic error to still have in the software after so many copies sold

1 gallon yield, no losses. It's a dilution equation.

SRM isn't as absolute as you're making it out to be. It's measured at one single wavelength, through 1 cm of depth. We brewers already bastardize that scale by applying it to a wider range of color, with varying light sources and at greater depths.

Above 25 SRM, it's all pretty inky and nearly impossible to distinguish. Even 15SRM can look orange, red or brown and have very different levels of light transmission outside of the SRM wavelength.

Functionally, there is no difference between SRM and lovibond. The latter is a reflective standard and the former is transmissive.

 

[XXXBrewDude]

I received an answer back from beersmith on this question. The answer was short and sweet. " with regards to grain color, lovibond and SRM are the same". Soooo, while still confused, I will just enter the lovibond in the SRM field and move on.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[XXXBrewDude]

I have an additional question in with beersmith to concur, but what I believe is occurring here is that since the 1950 s the SRM method ( using light to measure instead of visual) has been used and the maltsters are still recording as lovibond. So, they are the same.



Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[XXXBrewDude]

Brad did verify they are the same. Ok, now to go back into beersmith and re enter again


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Calichusetts]

lovibond and SRM, even when converted, are very close until you get to darker colors.

I still convert them for my water profile calculator...my pH still gets very close

 

[bondra76]

As long as the beer isn't green I'm drinking it

 

[RonHoglund]

Brad is correct that SRM and L are the close to the same for lighter color levels. Example a 2-Row Malt that is 2 SRM is also approx 2 L. However the darker the color the more the two measures separate. For instance a 20 SRM Crystal 20 is actually 15.3 L and a 460 SRM Perla Negra is actually 340 L. This probably won't matter if you are brewing a porter or a stout but can get tricky if you are adding small amounts of dark malts to achieve a color for say in a Belgian style beer.

BrewToad has a good calculator that is online. You can use the following formula to convert L to SRM and then update the recipe items in BeerSmith to appropriate numbers.

°L → SRM
SRM = (1.3546 × °L) - 0.76