Beer color calculator (SRM and EBC)
Enter the batch size and, for each malt, its weight and color from the bag or the maltster's sheet. The calculator adds up the malt color units and turns them into SRM and EBC with Morey's formula, the method most brewing software uses, and names the color you can expect, from straw to black.
Runs in your browser: nothing you enter is sent anywhere.
How to use
- Choose kg, liters and EBC or pounds, gallons and °Lovibond.
- Enter the batch volume that goes into the fermenter.
- For each malt, enter its weight and color. Set unused malts to weight 0.
- Read the color in SRM and EBC and a plain description.
How it works
- Malt color units: MCU = Σ (weight in lb × color in °L) ÷ volume in US gallons.
- Morey: SRM = 1.4922 × MCU^0.6859, and EBC = SRM × 1.97.
- Metric input is converted first: kg ÷ 0.4536 to pounds, liters ÷ 3.785 to gallons, and malt EBC to °L by °L = (EBC ÷ 1.97 + 0.76) ÷ 1.3546.
The color names follow SRM bands: straw below 4, gold below 6, amber below 10, copper below 15, brown below 20, dark brown below 30 and black from 30.
Example
5 gallons with 10 lb of pale malt (3 °L), 0.75 lb of crystal malt (60 °L) and 0.25 lb of chocolate malt (350 °L):
- MCU = (10 × 3 + 0.75 × 60 + 0.25 × 350) ÷ 5 = (30 + 45 + 87.5) ÷ 5 = 32.5;
- SRM = 1.4922 × 32.5^0.6859 = 1.4922 × 10.889 = 16.2 SRM;
- EBC = 16.2 × 1.97 = 32 EBC, a brown beer.
Tips
- A small amount of very dark malt moves color a lot: 0.25 lb of chocolate malt adds more MCU here than 10 lb of pale malt.
- Dehusked (debittered) black malts add a lot of color with less roasted bitterness than other dark malts, which helps when you want to change the color alone.
- Above about 40 SRM beer looks black in the glass, so the exact number matters little there.
Frequently asked questions
What are SRM and EBC?
Two scales for beer color, both based on how much light a sample absorbs. SRM is used in the US, EBC in Europe; 1 SRM is about 1.97 EBC. A pale lager is around 2 to 4 SRM, an amber ale around 10 to 15, a stout above 30.
How does the Morey formula work?
First the malt color units: MCU = Σ (pounds × °Lovibond) ÷ US gallons. Then SRM = 1.4922 × MCU^0.6859. The power below 1 reflects that adding more dark malt darkens the beer less and less, which a simple sum would miss.
My malt color is in EBC. Is that a problem?
No. In the metric setting enter EBC; the calculator converts each malt to °Lovibond with SRM = 1.3546 °L − 0.76 and EBC = 1.97 SRM before the Morey formula, and weights and volume to pounds and gallons.
Why does my beer look different from the prediction?
The formula estimates color in a standard glass. Boil length, kettle caramelization, pH, yeast, filtering and the size of your glass all change how dark a beer looks, and malt color varies from lot to lot. Expect the right family of color rather than an exact match.