Lovibond

Lovibond also known as degrees lovibond or abbreviated as L is a scale for measuring color originally introduced by Joseph Lovibond in the 1860's. The original lovibond scale was used to measure gas colors, but has since expanded to measure the colors of oils, chemicals, foods and beverages. For brewing, lovibond is used primarily to specify grain colors - for example a dark roast malt might be 400 L, while a pale malt might only 2 or 3 L. In older books, beer color may also be measured in lovibond.

Lovibond color is approximately equivalent to the newer Standard Reference Method or SRM. Degrees lovibond and SRM may be used interchangably by homebrewers.

See Also

• Standard Reference Method
• European Brewing Convention
• Estimating Color