i agree, for example: i need 2.5 kg extract and i can ether grab one 3kg can and try to pour "carefully" or else get 3 separate cans (2 kg + 250 g + 250 g) as the only exact choice.

Just eyeball it, it's usually fine. Getting 100g more or less is usually not an issue, especially once you have the bigger pots.

I'm not sure it doesn't matter all that much. For some reason I find it hard to make the exact ale or beer I want, even when following the recipe as closely as possible. Surely some of that has to do with the amounts of ingredients placed in a mash tun.

Ingredients, temperature, pouring vs. pumping, air cooling vs. immersion cooling all have an impact on your final product. I've made Imperial stout at least five times yesterday and not gotten the same SRM, ABV and carbonisation twice.

I'm perfectly aware that it all counts, otherwise there would be no point in taking further steps in the process. And if we're going to talk about pouring, pumping and cooling, etc, let's be honest, it's not only measurements that are inaccurate. Using a mash tun and trying to keep it heated is also a pain and seems to have been made more difficult than is necessary. So many things in this game appear to have been missed or left out. I don't think I'm asking too much to have, at the very least, a way to ensure my measurements are correct. I really don't think, after following a recipe as accurately as I can as many times as I have, I should be getting a different type of beer than the one I'm going for. Sometimes it feels like a crap-shoot, and in a game that relies so much on accuracy, it really shouldn't.

Just to be a "devil's advocate" for the moment... The designed-in variability in measurements is likely what makes this a "simulator" of craft brewing. Everyone who "plays" with this Sim has differing goals/objectives. Homebrewers IRL likely toss in globs, and dashes of stuff in the ballpark. As @blindcoder says: "Just eyeball it." However, Commercial Craft Brewers (IRL) need to be more reproducible between batches or risk losing long term customers...

An example of one measurement system that could be vastly improved herein (IMO):

Water amount from Tap issue is a royal pain. In order to get water filled within a reasonable time you need to use the “time warp” feature or risk overfilling the pot while getting equipment and supplies out and in place (multitasking). I always seem to overfill the kettle (i hear the sound changes to overflowing) while multitasking and I have to pour some out and refill.

This is a “trick” I use to get nearly exact amounts of water every time:
1) Fill the kettle to get close to the desired amount by using the scrolling the "T" function to accelerate the time until getting to the last bit just short of the target.
2) When you get close to target volume - hit the "V" to pause (0x) the filling.
3) Hover the cursor over the faucet (nothing interacts while sim is paused) – just get the cursor on top of the faucet so it will instantly highlight when you turn off the time function “T”.
4) The instant you hit “T” the faucet will highlight and you can hit the “E” to turn it off. Voila this will get within a few mL… This takes a bit of practice to get the routine, but it works quite well.

Originally posted by eclectic99:

Just to be a "devil's advocate" for the moment... The designed-in variability in measurements is likely what makes this a "simulator" of craft brewing. Everyone who "plays" with this Sim has differing goals/objectives. Homebrewers IRL likely toss in globs, and dashes of stuff in the ballpark. As @blindcoder says: "Just eyeball it." However, Commercial Craft Brewers (IRL) need to be more reproducible between batches or risk losing long term customers...

I see what you mean, and I do enjoy throwing in whatever in a pot and seeing what ends up coming out. I am a complete novice in real life and drink the stuff seldom, so I am learning literally all of it from scratch.

My problem comes from having to complete enough tasks so that I can be paid enough so I can continue moving onwards. Sounds simple enough, but that's hard to do when the directions aren't exactly clear and following recipes often means what you come out with is so far away from what you're aiming for you may as well be making milkshakes for all it matters.

At the moment I am on what I think is called 'Strong as an Oak', and I am not getting what I need to fulfil the talk, which means I keep making more ale but still never getting there. It becomes frustrating. I have to get past it because the story objective is to purchase large sized everything, but given how relatively tight the game is in giving you money, I don't have enough despite only ever having bought equipment and ingredients with what I've made already. Just with that task alone comes questions that the game just doesn't answer. It tells me to fill the pot with 42L. Okay, done. But in order for what I make to be considered medium I have to end with 40L of ale. All good and well. The problem comes with the reality that I can burn off more than 2L just heating and reheating the thing. So I keep adding water to top it up, but what does that do to my ale? Not to mention the mash tun and keeping that at the correct temperature. But it's not just the mash tun that needs keeping at temperature, it's also the pot you are using to top it off with. I have been transferring the mash tun contents to the kettle as a way of keeping the temp correct, but surely that just adds contamination and I have no idea if it even transfers effectively.

There are variables involved and they are delicate in the game as they are in real life, I get that. My issue is that some of those variables seem to occur because the equipment we have access to isn't up to the job when the game asks for those variables to be squeezed down to as narrow a margin as possible. It feels to me as if the game was supposed to be developed further, but somewhere along the track it got left as is. It is asking for you to make a "commercial craft brewer" product from equipment that can probably be found in someone's shed.

The variability and randomness can be kept for those who want to keep it, including myself when I'm just messing around, but a more definite method may also be needed for those of us who also struggle just getting anything in the game right.

Originally posted by eclectic99:

This is a “trick” I use to get nearly exact amounts of water every time:
1) Fill the kettle to get close to the desired amount by using the scrolling the "T" function to accelerate the time until getting to the last bit just short of the target.
2) When you get close to target volume - hit the "V" to pause (0x) the filling.
3) Hover the cursor over the faucet (nothing interacts while sim is paused) – just get the cursor on top of the faucet so it will instantly highlight when you turn off the time function “T”.
4) The instant you hit “T” the faucet will highlight and you can hit the “E” to turn it off. Voila this will get within a few mL… This takes a bit of practice to get the routine, but it works quite well.

Much simpler method:
Fill the kettle close to what you need with time warp, then get back down to 1x, stash the watch with "T" and hover over the kettle. Once it reaches the desired amount, pick it up with LMB. Don't bother with the tap, you can pick the kettle up with the faucet running and even hose attached. It'll all turn off / detach when you pick up the kettle.

Originally posted by author:

Much simpler method:

yes!!! i had not thought of that. It makes sense as well.

@chinosbeltbuckle: I see what you mean. I'm not that far into the game yet, just at medium gear right now and the second brewery unlocked.
I had issues there with too high SRM and too little carbonation in the Stout beer and resorted to brewing Moonshine (https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2990249448) and adding it to my Stout as a means to achieve the desired result.

Once I get to where you are, I'll see if I can whip up a recipe, but I'm on a business trip next week, so it may be a bit.

You are both beyond me in the “correct” use of this simulator. I am “studying” the science behind the sim using “cheat mode” with all the “toys” at my disposal. Currently, I am studying the impact of the heating rate (4 different-sized burners) on boiling extract effects (x-ray data capture vs. time)…

Meanwhile, apropos this thread, I have seen other comments people make regarding the making of a batch “on spec” by adding water. “Dilution is the solution to pollution.” The problem with doing this is that the Tap water has 1% contamination in it and adding more than a small amount of this water to a product can have a big impact on the batch quality. A study was thus done to learn more about this “contamination” of the Tap water and the key take-home idea was that open vessel heating of the water to near boiling will reduce this contamination to 0%. Beginning at 95 C the x-ray shows a contamination reduction begins. It will reduce to 0% once the heat reaches 97 C. At this point, the heat source can be turned off at this point and the lid can be replaced and the container stored for future use. (Kinda like the Moonshine Recipe does for carbonation and color etc.)

Unfortunately, I do not see any way to apply a temporary “label” to this “kettle” (Purified Water) so I place it in the kitchen at a location out of the way - but still conveniently at hand. It remains pure as long as the lid is kept closed. I see no reason to transfer it to a “conditioning container” -- I have not tried submitting pure water to the Tap/Tasting room or possibly storing a keg there.

WISH LIST: Maybe the game developer could add an “Activated Charcoal Polishing Filter” to the Equipment Catalog for “purchase” and use with the Tap in the sink.

Originally posted by blindcoder:

@chinosbeltbuckle: I see what you mean. I'm not that far into the game yet, just at medium gear right now and the second brewery unlocked.
I had issues there with too high SRM and too little carbonation in the Stout beer and resorted to brewing Moonshine (https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2990249448) and adding it to my Stout as a means to achieve the desired result.

Once I get to where you are, I'll see if I can whip up a recipe, but I'm on a business trip next week, so it may be a bit.

Thank you, I'd be very interested to see what you come up with! I've been using the game provided recipe for the Strong as an Oak task, and in theory it should work but the end result is always far more random than expected. In some of the other tasks I've had to resort to using other people's recipes. It's all a bit magical and jiggery-pokery for me at the moment as I'm still at a stage where I'm learning what everything means. I have the some of basics down, but even that took a bit of getting used to.

Originally posted by eclectic99:

Meanwhile, apropos this thread, I have seen other comments people make regarding the making of a batch “on spec” by adding water. “Dilution is the solution to pollution.” The problem with doing this is that the Tap water has 1% contamination in it and adding more than a small amount of this water to a product can have a big impact on the batch quality. A study was thus done to learn more about this “contamination” of the Tap water and the key take-home idea was that open vessel heating of the water to near boiling will reduce this contamination to 0%. Beginning at 95 C the x-ray shows a contamination reduction begins. It will reduce to 0% once the heat reaches 97 C. At this point, the heat source can be turned off at this point and the lid can be replaced and the container stored for future use. (Kinda like the Moonshine Recipe does for carbonation and color etc.)

As a way of getting around the 1% contamination in the water I ended up with two pots and two burners. That may have gone some way to explaining why I never have enough money in the game. Anyway, I keep two pots and two burners so I can cook from one and top up from another that's continuously boiling (boiled at first with lid off, then replaced when it hits 100). It's the only way to ensure not adding further contamination if I need more water. Contamination is more likely to occur in my game when I transfer water from the mash tun to the kettle and sadly I have no way of avoiding that. If I transfer by running it through pipes I still get contamination from the process as far as I can tell, and the full contents of the mash tun doesn't transfer over, presumably massively weakening the end product. Why the mash tun isn't self-heating I have no idea. We have seemingly endless types of pots, some with bells and whistles that simply aren't needed when all the info needed can be seen just by placing the cursor over the object. And yet we have one type of mash tun that just sits there demanding constant attention. This issue could also be dealt with by allowing the heating pad to go further than 30c. That way I could just plonk my mash tun on the pad and have done with it for the hour rather than messing around with kettles and risking contamination problems.

I do like the idea that the equipment starts off simple and is relatively difficult to use in the sense that you have to play with it more to get a decent result, but the further into the game you get the more ridiculous the requirements get and better gear is sorely needed to bridge that gap. I do wonder if that was the intent, but the devs just never got there. I've seen threads on here from people discussing whether certain tasks are literally impossible. I have no problem with a bit of challenge, but I shouldn't have to be rocket scientist to complete a game. Luck also shouldn't play as large a part as it appears to.