Evaluation of Rapid Wort Color Method for Dark Malts, Temperature and pH

The rapid wort color method is an American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) method used to evaluate the color contribution of malts to beer color measured as the Standard Reference Method (SRM). SRM is important to brewers as it helps them predict the relative color of beer that they manufacture and evaluate how close the final product color is to the style of beer being produced. This method involves the heating of a solution of malt and deionized water followed by filtration and analysis of the resulting solution using a spectrophotometer. This study evaluated the effect of water pH and initial water temperature on color extraction in malts using this method. Use of an inclusion method based on the Hot Steep Sensory method is also evaluated. Results and recommendations for method modification will be presented.