Beer measurement
Methods of measurement of beer
The principal factors that characterize beer are bitterness, the variety of flavours present and their intensity, alcohol content, and colour. Standards for those characteristics allow a more objective and uniform determination to be made on the overall qualities of any beer.
Colour
The "degrees Lovibond" or "°L" scale is a measure of the colour of a substance, usually beer, whiskey, or sugar solutions. The determination of the degrees Lovibond takes place by comparing the colour of the substance to a series of amber to brown glass slides, usually by a colorimeter. The scale was devised by Joseph Williams Lovibond. The Standard Reference Method (SRM) and European Brewery Convention (EBC) methods have largely replaced it, with the SRM giving results approximately equal to the °L.
The Standard Reference Method or SRM is a system modern brewers use to measure colour intensity, roughly darkness, of a beer or wort. The method involves the use of a spectrophotometer or photometer to measure the attenuation of light of a particular wavelength, 430 nanometrenm (blue), as it passes through a sample contained in a cuvette of standardised dimensions located in the light path of the instrument.
The EBC also measures beer and wort colour, as well as quantifying turbidity (also known as haze) in beer.
Strength
The strength of beer is measured by its alcohol content by volume expressed as a percentage, that is to say, the number of millilitres of absolute alcohol (ethanol) in 100 mL of beer.
The most accurate method of determining the strength of a beer would be to take a quantity of beer and distill off a spirit that contains all of the alcohol that was in the beer.
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