Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator

Brewmaster: Beer Brewing Simulator

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HobbyPsykolog 22 Oct, 2022 @ 1:46pm
Termonology - simple guide for beginners
Okok, so, I made a list of different terms and ingredients used when brewing.
NOTE: This is not an in-depth tutorial, and everything is not included in this post, but just a simple beginners guide to brewing.

1. Beer has 4 components.
Water, malt (malted barley), hops and yeast.
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2. There are 2 "categories" of beer. Ale and Lager.
Ale:
Uses ale yeast - top fermenting (higher temperature when fermenting) / Shorter fermentation and more flavour.

Lager:
Uses lager yeast - bottom fermenting (Colder temperature when fermenting) / Takes longer and creates less flavour.

Yeast comes dry or in liquid form.
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3. Mash - To break down the starch in the malt grains into sugars.
This is done by crushing the malt before adding it to a specific temperature of water. After some time, you remove the grains from the water. Now, you have wort.
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4. Extract - mash process already done.
Extract comes dry or in liquid form.
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NOTE: (5, 6, 7 and 8 goes hand in hand)
Gravity - A gravity reading refers to the total amount of dissolved solids (sugars in this case) in water. (How dense your wort is compared to water). And following terms is used when calculating alcohol percent when done fermenting (ABV).
Hydrometer, refractometer etc. is used for gravity reading.

5. OG - Original Gravity
Before adding the yeast. This is the starting gravity of wort before fermentation. OG reading is very important for later calculation of alchohol present in your beer (along with FG).
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6. FG - Final Gravity
When the yeast has eaten all the sugars in the wort. Turned sugars into CO2 and Ethanol.
Now you have beer.
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7. SG - Specific Gravity
Referring to any gravity readings taken during fermentation. "Current" gravity.
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8. ABV - Alcohol by volume (%)
(OG - FG) x 131.25 = ABV
Example: (OG) 1.055 - (FG) 1.012 = 0,043
0,043 x 131.25 = 5,6%

ABV % is determined by the amount of sugars dissolved in the wort. The more sugars per L the higher %.
(Sugars extracted from malt. Grains or extract.)
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9. SRM - Color of the beer
Example:
Pale malt = Light beer
Roasted malt = Dark beer
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10. IBU - International Bitterness Units
Your beers bitterness.
Determined by the hops used.
The more AA (Alpha Acids) there is in the hops used, the more bitter the beer will turn out.
Bitterness comes from boiling hops early in the brew. (Hops adds flavours and aroma later in the boiling).
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I would HIGHLY suggest for beginners to read and watch a lot of videos on how to brew, cause there is a lot to get into and a lot of variables when it comes to brewing.

Happy brewing :meadowlovebadger: :witchcauldron:
Last edited by HobbyPsykolog; 25 Oct, 2022 @ 1:11pm
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Showing 1-4 of 4 comments
Mitsuki 24 Oct, 2022 @ 2:36am 
Nice!!!
Auroch Matty  [developer] 24 Oct, 2022 @ 5:00am 
amazing!
Duros001 24 Mar, 2023 @ 3:52am 
Where does the constant (131.25) for ABV come from? Just curious :)
eclectic99 22 Jun, 2023 @ 5:16pm 
Originally posted by Duros001:
Where does the constant (131.25) for ABV come from? Just curious :)

You got me curious - I suspect it is a semi-empirical constant of proportionality. I cannot find any website that shows the derivation. The best explanation/justification I could find is here:
https://help.grainfather.com/hc/en-us/articles/360014534317-Calculation-ABV
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