European Brewery Convention Tests of the E.B.C. Colour Discs for Wort and Beer

The introduction of the E.B.C. Colour Scale in 1951 considerably reduced the wide discrepancies in beer colour measurement given by the earlier Brand and Iodine Scales. The present situation is reviewed here with the object of further improvement. Reasons are given for preferring eye to instrumental measurement of wort and beer colour. In a collaborative study of the E.B.C. glasses, Hartong solution has been used as a standard, reproducible colour solution with an absorption curve similar to that of beer. These tests have given similar average results for the solution in all laboratories and values have not been significantly affected by surrounding lighting conditions or by the use of any one of the three varieties of E.B.C. glasses which exist. Differences in readings between observers have been shown to exist and methods are given for reducing personal variation. Methods for the routine control and maintenance of the E.B.C. glasses and comparators are given. A definition of the E.B.C. Scale is given in chromaticity co-ordinates.