🎨 Beer Color Calculator (SRM & EBC)
Add your malts and batch volume to estimate the beer's colour in SRM and EBC, with a visual swatch.
Colour (SRM)
13.9
EBC
27.5
Beer colour uses the Morey equation: first the malt colour units MCU = Σ(malt °Lovibond × lb) ÷ volume in gallons, then SRM = 1.4922 × MCU^0.6859. EBC is the European scale (SRM × 1.97). The swatch is an approximation — actual colour also depends on boil, pH and oxidation. Add a row per malt in your grain bill. 🔒 In your browser.
How the beer color calculator (srm & ebc) works
Beer colour is estimated from the malts and how concentrated they are in the batch. For each grain you find its malt colour units — MCU = malt colour in °Lovibond × weight in pounds ÷ volume in gallons — and add them up. The total goes through the Morey equation, SRM = 1.4922 × MCU^0.6859, which flattens out at dark colours the way real beer does. EBC, the European scale, is simply SRM × 1.97. Add a row for each malt in your recipe.
This is an estimate: actual colour also shifts with boil length and intensity (Maillard browning), mash pH, water chemistry and oxidation, so the finished beer can differ from the number. The swatch is a visual approximation of the SRM value, not a precise colour match. Use °Lovibond (°L) for malt colour — it's close to SRM for the malts themselves.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate beer colour (SRM)?
Add each malt's colour units — MCU = °Lovibond × pounds ÷ gallons — then apply the Morey equation: SRM = 1.4922 × MCU^0.6859. For a 5-gallon batch with 9 lb of 10°L malt (MCU 18), that's about 10.6 SRM, a gold colour.
What is the difference between SRM and EBC?
They're two scales for the same thing — beer colour. SRM is used in the US, EBC in Europe, and they convert with EBC = SRM × 1.97. A pale lager is around 3–4 SRM; a stout is 40+.
What is the Morey equation?
A widely-used formula relating malt colour units to perceived beer colour: SRM = 1.4922 × MCU^0.6859. The exponent under 1 reflects that adding dark malt has diminishing returns on colour once beer is already dark — matching how real beer looks.
Why is my actual beer darker than the estimate?
Colour also comes from the boil (longer/harder boils darken wort through Maillard reactions), mash pH, water chemistry and oxidation over time. The grain-bill estimate is a good baseline, but expect the finished beer to run a little darker.
What is °Lovibond?
The traditional scale for the colour of a malt (or beer), close to SRM in value for the malts themselves. Malt suppliers list each grain's °L; enter those figures here. It's effectively interchangeable with SRM for individual malts in this calculation.