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User:Hekatef/Beer Guide
NEW! File:Beer Calculator.zip - Hekatef's beer calculator for Microsoft Excel. Select your microbe from the drop-down box, enter ingredients and time, and get your results! Contains detailed information on over a dozen microbes.
Brewing Phase: adding ingredients
A batch of beer starts with the brewing phase. This phase lasts roughly 20 minutes, with a timer starting at 1200 seconds and counting down to zero. During this time you add ingredients -- malt, wheat, and honey -- to create a brew on which the microbes will work during fermentation. If you selected "Yeast Test" from the kettle, the brewing phase is skipped.
Characteristics
Color: This is a measure of how dark the beer is. If color is high enough, you will have Brown or even Black beer. Color is added by malt and wheat -- the darker the roast, the more color is added, with burnt having the greatest effect. Color is also affected by when the ingredient is added to the brew -- the earlier in the brewing phase you add it, the more effect on color.
Vitamins: Microbes such as yeast consume the vitamins in a brew as they work on converting sugar. If vitamins run out, the microbes will stop doing their job. Malt, wheat, and honey all add vitamins to the brew. Honey adds very little. Malt and wheat add vitamins depending on how well-roasted they are: raw provides a great deal of vitamins, dark roasted very little, burnt none at all. Add time is also important -- adding the ingredient later in the brewing phase retains more vitamins.
Glucose and Maltose: These are the sugars in a brew. During fermentation, the microbes in the kettle will convert the sugars into their product (alcohol, in the case of yeasts). Any sugar that does not get converted remains in the brew to add sweetness; drinkable beer needs to have some sweetness but not too much. All ingredients add sugar: honey provides glucose, while malt and wheat provide maltose plus a small amount of glucose.
Lactose does not exist in the game. It is a third variety of sugar which is not created by any ingredient. It is probably a remnant of an early brewing mechanic that the developers decided not to implement in the final game.
Barley flavor is added by malt. The earlier in the brewing phase the malt is added, the greater the effect on Barley flavor.
Bread flavor is created by wheat. The earlier in the brewing phase the wheat is added, the greater the effect on Bread flavor.
- Yeasts also produce Bread flavor during the fermentation phase, if there is wheat in the brew; this adds to whatever was already created by the ingredients.
Honey flavor is added by honey. The greatest effect comes from honey that is added late in the brewing phase.
- Yeasts also produce Honey flavor during the fermentation phase, if there is malt in the brew; this adds to whatever was already created by the ingredients.
Tannin flavor is a bitter flavor produced by malt and wheat. In most beers, tannin is the main source of overall bitterness. A drinkable beer needs to contain a proper balance of sweetness (from leftover sugar) and bitterness. The tannin produced by malt and wheat depends on how well-roasted they are: raw provides the most tannin, burnt none at all. Adding the ingredient earlier in the brewing phase increases the tannin produced.
Grassy flavor is an undesirable flavor. It's fine in low quantities, but too much of it will render a beer undrinkable. Grassy flavor is produced by raw and light-roasted malt (raw producing significantly more). Adding the ingredient earlier in the brewing phase will produce more grassiness.
- Yeasts also produce Grassy flavor during the fermentation phase, if there is malt in the brew; this adds to whatever was already created by the ingredients.
Herbal flavor is an undesirable flavor. Herbal flavor is produced by raw and light-roasted wheat (raw producing significantly more). Adding the ingredient earlier in the brewing phase will produce more flavor.
- Yeasts also produce Herbal flavor during the fermentation phase, if there is wheat in the brew; this adds to whatever was already created by the ingredients.
And Now, For the Math
Timing and "Ticks"
As explained above, you can add ingredients any time during the brewing phase, and the time affects certain things like color and vitamins. The formulas for these things are given below. But for the purpose of these formulas, it's important to note briefly that the game views the brewing phase not as 1200 seconds, but as a series of "ticks" spaced 12 seconds apart. Ticks occur on every second evenly divisible by 12 (except for 0): 1200, 1188, 1176, etc. When making calculations, the game will round off to the nearest tick. If the add time is exactly halfway between ticks (e.g. 1194 is halfway between the ticks at 1200 and 1188), it will round downward to the lower tick. The only exception is the final six seconds of the brewing phase (between 1 and 6 seconds remaining): this range is not rounded down to zero, but rounded up to 12.
In other words, adding an ingredient with anywhere from 1200 and 1195 seconds remaining will be calculated by the game as an add time of 1200. Adding between 1194 and 1183 will be treated as 1188, and so on. At the end of the brewing phase, anything between 1 and 18 is counted as 12. To put it graphically:
| Actual Add Time | Effective Add Time |
|---|---|
| 1200 - 1195 | 1200 |
| 1194 - 1183 | 1188 |
| 1182 - 1171 | 1176 |
| (...) | (...) |
| 42 - 31 | 36 |
| 30 - 19 | 24 |
| 18 - 1 | 12 |
Ingredient Characteristics
| Ingredient | Glucose | Maltose | Color | Vitamins | Barley Flavor | Bread Flavor | Honey Flavor | Tannin Flavor | Grassy Flavor | Herbal Flavor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malt (Burnt) | -- | 2 | 12 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Malt (Dark Roasted) | 2 | 10 | 6 * (T + 240) / 1440 | 6000 / (T + 240) | 6 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | -- | 1.5 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | -- |
| Malt (Medium Roasted) | 2 | 10 | 3 * (T + 240) / 1440 | 8400 / (T + 240) | 6 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | -- | 2 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | -- |
| Malt (Light Roasted) | 2 | 10 | 1.5 * (T + 240) / 1440 | 12000 / (T + 240) | 6 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | -- | 3 * (T + 240) / 1440 | 1.5 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- |
| Malt (Raw) | 1 | 5 | 1 * (T + 240) / 1440 | 15600 / (T + 240) | 12 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | -- | 6 * (T + 240) / 1440 | 12 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- |
| Wheat (Burnt) | -- | 1 | 12 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
| Wheat (Dark Roasted) | 2.4 | 5 | 6 * (T + 240) / 1440 | 8400 / (T + 240) | -- | 6 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | 1.5 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | -- |
| Wheat (Medium Roasted) | 2.4 | 5 | 3 * (T + 240) / 1440 | 9600 / (T + 240) | -- | 6 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | 2 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | -- |
| Wheat (Light Roasted) | 2.4 | 5 | 1.5 * (T + 240) / 1440 | 10800 / (T + 240) | -- | 6 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | 3 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | 1.5 * (T + 240) / 1440 |
| Wheat (Dried, Raw) | 1.2 | 2.5 | 1 * (T + 240) / 1440 | 12000 / (T + 240) | -- | 12 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | 6 * (T + 240) / 1440 | -- | 12 * (T + 240) / 1440 |
| Honey | 10 | -- | -- | 1200 / (T + 240) | -- | -- | 1200 / (T + 60) | -- | -- | -- |
T = Time remaining (based on nearest tick)
Formula is for 1 deben of ingredient -- multiply result by # of ingredient.
Each calculation is rounded off to the nearest whole number.
Example #1: Adding 30 Malt (Light Roasted) with 300 seconds remaining creates 60 glucose, 300 maltose, 17 color, 667 vitamins, 68 Barley flavor, 34 Tannin flavor, and 17 Grassy flavor.
Example #2: Adding 30 Wheat (Medium Roasted) with 900 seconds remaining creates 72 glucose, 150 maltose, 71 color, 253 vitamins, 143 Bread flavor, and 48 Tannin flavor.
Example #3: Adding 60 honey with 600 seconds remaining creates 600 glucose, 86 vitamins, and 109 Honey flavor.
Fermentation Phase: microbes at work and play
Once the brewing phase ends (or, if you're doing a Yeast Test on your kettle, right away), the fermentation phase begins. This phase lasts about 40 minutes with a timer counting down from 2400 seconds to zero. The only action you may take during fermentation is to seal the kettle.
Microbe Conversion of Sugar
During fermentation, microbes work on the sugar (glucose and maltose) in a brew, converting it on a 1:1 basis into that microbe's product (alcohol, in the case of yeasts). They consume vitamins as "fuel" to do this. Microbes will convert the glucose in a brew first; when they can no longer consume glucose, they go to work on the maltose. A microbe will continue to convert sugar as long as three conditions are in effect:
- The alcohol level in the brew doesn't exceed the microbe's alcohol ceiling.
- The glucose and maltose are above the microbe's glucose floor and maltose floor, respectively.
- There are still vitamins available.
Alcohol Ceiling: Alcohol kills microorganisms, so once the alcohol level in a brew gets high enough, the microbes stop working. Different microbes have different tolerances. In the game, each microbe has its own "alcohol cap", an alcohol level at which the microbe stops converting sugar. (Molds, lactobacilii and acetobacteria do not produce alcohol, but they do have alcohol caps: this comes into play when these microbes share a kettle with alcohol-producing yeasts.)
Glucose and Maltose Floors: Microbes will never eat all the sugar in a brew; a certain minimum level of glucose and maltose will always be left untouched. These amounts vary per microbe and are known as the microbe's "glucose floor" and "maltose floor".
Vitamin Floor: Vitamins are a complex topic to be fully explained in the next section, but for now, it's enough to note that microbes must eat vitamins in order to be able to convert sugars. Each microbe has its own "vitamin floor", and when the vitamins in a brew drop below this number, the microbe will stop eating vitamins, and therefore will stop converting sugar.
Freaking Vitamins, How Do They Work?
Microbes produce alcohol (or mold, or whatever) by consuming sugar and vitamins. They don't do this all at once, though. You can think of fermentation as a series of "bites" taken by the microbes, with each "bite" consuming an increasingly larger quantity of vitamins and sugar. This process continues until the brew runs out of available sugar, or until vitamins drop below a certain threshold, or until the microbe's alcohol cap is reached. (Bites get successively larger to represent that the microbes are multiplying in the brew.)
Every microbe has its own vitamin threshold, and its own rates at how quickly sugar and vitamin consumption increase with each successive bite. Fortunately, these appear to be mathematically predictable with patient testing. I've worked out the process with Mold-63, so we'll use that as an example in the following sections.
Mold-63: A Dissection
Assume a brew contains no microbes but Mold-63. During fermentation it goes to work on the sugar and vitamins, converting sugar to mold on a 1:1 basis. It takes a series of "bites" out of the available supply of vitamins and sugar, as shown in the following table:
| Sugar Eaten | Cumulative Sugar Eaten | Vitamins Eaten | Cumulative Vitamins Eaten | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bite #1 | 10 | 10 | 3 | 3 |
| Bite #2 | 13 | 23 | 4 | 7 |
| Bite #3 | 17 | 40 | 5 | 12 |
| Bite #4 | 22 | 62 | 7 | 19 |
| Bite #5 | 29 | 91 | 9 | 28 |
| Bite #6 | 38 | 129 | 12 | 40 |
| Bite #7 | 49 | 178 | 16 | 56 |
| Bite #8 | 64 | 242 | 21 | 77 |
| Bite #9 | 83 | 325 | 27 | 104 |
| Bite #10 | 108 | 433 | 36 | 140 |
| Bite #11 | 140 | 573 | 46 | 186 |
| Bite #12 | 182 | 755 | 60 | 246 |
| (...) | (...) | (...) | (...) | (...) |
(It's also worth noting that M-63 has a production rate of 30%, a vitamin ratio of 3 and a vitamin threshold of 157. These will come into play shortly.)
How are the numbers in this chart derived? Here's how it appears to work:
- The first bite always consumes 10 sugar.
- Each bite increases from the one before it by the production rate of the microbe (30%, in M-63's case), rounded off to the nearest whole number. Thus, bite #8 consumes 64 sugar. Bite #9 consumes (64 * 130%) = 83 sugar. Bite #10 consumes (83 * 130%) = 108 sugar. And so on.
- The amount of vitamins eaten in each bite is the amount of sugar eaten, divided by the vitamin ratio (3, in M-63's case), rounded down. Thus, bite #8 consumes (64 / 3 ) = 21 vitamins. Bite #9 consumes (83 / 3) = 27 vitamins. Bite #10 consumes (108 / 3) = 36 vitamins. Et cetera.
So that's where the numbers come from.
Before taking each bite, the microbe will check the number of vitamins remaining. If it is less than the vitamin threshold (157, in M-63's case), the microbe will stop working and no more sugar will be eaten. If the vitamins remaining are equal to or greater than the vitamin threshold, then it will take the next bite. And so on, until vitamins drop below the threshold, or the alcohol limit is reached, or the sugar floors are reached.
Note that the vitamin threshold is not the same as a vitamin floor. There isn't a vitamin floor per se. Vitamins can and do drop below the threshold during fermentation -- that's what makes the microbe stop working.
Frequently Asked Questions
I got Cloying Beer. What went wrong?
That's a tricky one. Cloying Beer means that the brew had a too-high ratio of sweet (leftover glucose & maltose) to bitter (Tannin and to a lesser extent Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Clove). Usually the problem is too much sugar, but there are several different ways that can happen. Here are some common problems:
- Ran out of vitamins. If a yeast doesn't have enough vitamins, it'll stop producing alcohol early. All that unconverted sugar gets left in the brew, often resulting in Cloying Beer. Check your alcohol yield, and compare it to the alcohol ceiling of your yeast (listed on the Yeast page). If your brew didn't hit its alcohol ceiling, it's probably because there weren't enough vitamins to keep your yeast going. Try adding 5 raw malt/wheat at the end of the brewing phase for an easy vitamin boost.
- Too many ingredients. Maybe you just overloaded your brew with more stuff than your yeast could reasonably use. This is likely the case if your brew made the alcohol ceiling, but still ended up Cloying. Try cutting back on the ingredients next time.
- Too little tannin. Then again, maybe the problem isn't too much sweetness, but the other side of the equation -- not enough bitterness. Unless you're working with a very spicy yeast, most of the bitterness in a beer comes from Tannin, which is produced by the malt/wheat. You may not be using enough malt/wheat in your brew, or you may be adding it too late (the later you add malt/wheat, the less tannin is produced). Also remember that the darker the roast, the less the tannin. Try modifying how much grain you add and when.
Microbe List
| Alcohol Cap | Growth Rate | Glucose Floor | Maltose Floor | Vitamin Ratio | Vitamin Threshold | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yeast-1 | 1198 | 10% | 8 | 136 | 8 | |
| Yeast-2 | 1241 | 20% | 3 | 243 | 2 | |
| Yeast-3 | 1079 | 10% | 8 | 216 | 8 | |
| Lactobacillus-4 | n/a | 10% | 15 | 240 | 8 | |
| Lactobacillus-5 | ||||||
| Acetobacter-6 | ||||||
| Mold-7 | ||||||
| Yeast-8 | ||||||
| Yeast-9 | 807 | 10% | 4 | 3 | 180 | |
| Yeast-10 | ||||||
| Yeast-11 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-12 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-13 | ||||||
| Acetobacter-14 | ||||||
| Mold-15 | ||||||
| Yeast-16 | 698 | 20% | 8 | 118 | 5 | |
| Yeast-17 | 239 | 10% | 5 | 135 | 6 | 80 |
| Yeast-18 | 446 | 10% | 8 | 146 | 3 | |
| Yeast-19 | 351 | 40% | 15 | 249 | 6 | |
| Lactobacillus-20 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-21 | n/a | 10% | 3 | 108 | ||
| Acetobacter-22 | ||||||
| Mold-23 | ||||||
| Yeast-24 | 1026 | 20% | 5 | 55 | 2 | |
| Yeast-25 | 971 | 10% | 9 | 25 | 8 | |
| Yeast-26 | 1421 | 40% | 11 | 159 | 8 | |
| Yeast-27 | 573 | 30% | 7 | 203 | 8 | 13 |
| Lactobacillus-28 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-29 | ||||||
| Acetobacter-30 | ||||||
| Mold-31 | ||||||
| Yeast-32 | 1198 | 10% | 8 | 27 | 6 | |
| Yeast-33 | 992 | 30% | 6 | 199 | 4 | |
| Yeast-34 | ||||||
| Yeast-35 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-36 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-37 | ||||||
| Acetobacter-38 | ||||||
| Mold-39 | ||||||
| Yeast-40 | 396 | 10% | 13 | 205 | 8 | |
| Yeast-41 | 351 | 40% | 1 | 49 | 8 | |
| Yeast-42 | ||||||
| Yeast-43 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-44 | n/a | 30% | 4 | |||
| Lactobacillus-45 | ||||||
| Acetobacter-46 | ||||||
| Mold-47 | ||||||
| Yeast-48 | 1079 | 10% | 15 | 205 | 2 | |
| Yeast-49 | 385 | 20% | 15 | 104 | 3 | |
| Yeast-50 | ||||||
| Yeast-51 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-52 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-53 | ||||||
| Acetobacter-54 | ||||||
| Mold-55 | n/a | 20% | 8 | |||
| Yeast-56 | 992 | 30% | 9 | 171 | 4 | |
| Yeast-57 | 713 | 40% | 2 | 54 | 6 | |
| Yeast-58 | 396 | 10% | 6 | |||
| Yeast-59 | 433 | 30% | 4 | |||
| Lactobacillus-60 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-61 | ||||||
| Acetobacter-62 | n/a | 20% | 11 | 240 | 6 | 44 |
| Mold-63 | n/a | 30% | 7 | 217 | 3 | 157 |
| Yeast-64 | ||||||
| Yeast-65 | 713 | 40% | 13 | 159 | 2 | |
| Yeast-66 | 1008 | 40% | 10 | 57 | 2 | |
| Yeast-67 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-68 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-69 | ||||||
| Acetobacter-70 | ||||||
| Mold-71 | ||||||
| Yeast-72 | 713 | 40% | 6 | 164 | 6 | |
| Yeast-73 | 502 | 40% | 4 | 10 | 1 | |
| Yeast-74 | 573 | 30% | 3 | 91 | 1 | |
| Yeast-75 | 784 | 10% | 12 | 56 | 6 | |
| Lactobacillus-76 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-77 | ||||||
| Acetobacter-78 | ||||||
| Mold-79 | ||||||
| Yeast-80 | ||||||
| Yeast-81 | ||||||
| Yeast-82 | 1008 | 40% | 11 | 212 | 8 | 214 |
| Yeast-83 | 955 | 30% | 0 | 96 | 4 | 30 |
| Lactobacillus-84 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-85 | ||||||
| Acetobacter-86 | ||||||
| Mold-87 | ||||||
| Yeast-88 | ||||||
| Yeast-89 | ||||||
| Yeast-90 | ||||||
| Yeast-91 | 1008 | 40% | 1 | 173 | 3 | |
| Lactobacillus-92 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-93 | ||||||
| Acetobacter-94 | ||||||
| Mold-95 | ||||||
| Yeast-96 | ||||||
| Yeast-97 | 971 | 10% | 15 | 35 | 6 | |
| Yeast-98 | ||||||
| Yeast-99 | ||||||
| Lactobacillus-100 | n/a | 20% | 1 | 2 | 6 |
