User:Hekatef/Beer Guide

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 added by wheat. The earlier in the brewing phase the wheat is added, the greater the effect on Bread flavor.

Honey flavor is added by honey. The greatest effect comes from honey that is added late in the brewing phase.

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 and wheat (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; this adds to whatever grassiness was already created by the ingredients.