Built Your Own 430nm Portable Spectrophotometer for SRM Demonstration

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Built Your Own 430nm Portable Spectrophotometer for SRM Demonstration

(part list and instructions coming soon)

Using easy to find parts you can build a portable SRM demonstrator!


6 x 430nm high intensity diode array illuminator - parts from Radio Shack $15	2 photovoltaic collectors "solar cells - from MCI $17


Solar cell light collection chamber lined with foil	Interior view with light chamber finished, batteries, switches, dig. meter and pots. wired


Sample compartment illuminated with ultra-blue light	Switches, zero, and calibration controls, digital meter.


Correlating output with calibration samples	In use testing - (sample tube not covered for stay light to show sample placement )

This device has been useful in demonstrating the SRM and the darkness/lightness of beer samples. It can be useful to show that beers of different colors will have the same or similar SRM-EBC values. When using the laboratory spectrometer for SRM determination you are using a monochromatic radiant source at, or close to, 430nm. As shown in the figured above, the spectral distribution of these diodes are broad and a precise 430nm light is not available. However the majority of the light transmitted through glass and an aqueous sample is a narrow band of 418-441nm, with a peak wavelength at 430nm, which works well for SRM determination.