Measuring Methods

[jeffpn]

The easiest (and only) characteristic of homebrew that I can measure is gravity. Easily done with a hydrometer or a spectrometer. The other day, just for the sake of curiosity, I looked up how to measure bitterness units. The only hits that I got were about how to calculate it, not measure it. Does anyone know how a homebrewer can measure the IBU of a beer? And while we're on the subject, is it practible or possible for a homebrewer to measure color?

How's that for a topic, jmcnamara??

 

[bilhelm96]

It really isn't practical for a home brewer to measure bitterness. It requires specialized lab equipment. White labs sells a service that will test your beer for IBU and ABV. You send them a sample and they provide a report:

http://www.whitelabs.com/other-products ... sample-kit

Color testing usually requires a spectrometer (not a refractometer) for quantitative testing or you could use a color sheet like the one BJCP uses:

http://www.bjcp.org/colorguide.php

 

[jmcnamara]

I am pleased.

We could always get some colored glass like they used to use hundreds of years ago. Would really give that farmhouse saison a nice rustic touch.

I'm curious how the big guys do this. i'd assume for the abv, they'd need to be darn accurate. but for the other stats, would an estimate just work or do they formally test a batch? if you're printing it on label, you'd have to be pretty confident it's correct.