Beer Colour Calculator (SRM & EBC)
Beer colour in SRM and EBC from the grain bill by the Morey equation, with malt colour units and each grain’s share of the colour.
Estimated colour in SRM and EBC, the malt colour units behind it, and how much of the colour each grain gives — from weights and °Lovibond, in pounds and gallons or kilograms and litres.
Example: 5.5 gal with 9 lb at 2 °L, 1 lb at 60 °L and 0.25 lb at 500 °L: 36.9 MCU, about 17.7 SRM (34.9 EBC), an amber beer.
Colour adds up,
not in a line.
What malt colour units are, why the Morey equation curves them, and how SRM and EBC relate.
Malt colour units
Each grain’s colour in degrees Lovibond, times its weight in pounds, divided by the batch in gallons, gives its malt colour units; the grain bill’s MCU is the sum. Metric weights and volumes are converted first.
The Morey equation
Colour does not build linearly — light absorption is logarithmic — so MCU overstates dark beers. Dan Morey fitted SRM = 1.4922 × MCU^0.6859 to beers of measured colour; it holds for beers up to about 50 SRM, which covers every common style.
SRM and EBC
SRM (US) and EBC (Europe) measure the same absorbance with different conventions; for beer, EBC ≈ 1.97 × SRM. Malt colour on a European spec sheet is also often in EBC, which is not the same scale as °Lovibond for malt, so use the maltster’s °L figure.
What the estimate does not settle
Boil length, caramelization and oxidation darken beer, and fining or filtering lightens it; the equation predicts from the grain alone. Inputs stay in your browser; the same anonymous usage counts as the rest of the site apply.
SOURCES
- Dan Morey, beer colour equation SRM = 1.4922 × MCU^0.6859
Last reviewed 24 September 2026. How results are checked: How we verify.