Beer is made from malted barley and honey brewed in a Beer Kettle. You must have the Beer Brewing skill available at the Ubody.
It takes 60 wood and 25 water to start a kettle of beer. Once started, the beer making process goes through two phases:
Brewing takes 20 minutes (1200 seconds). Any time during the brewing stage, you may add malt and/or honey. The time you add it makes a big difference in the effects it has.
Fermenting takes 40 minutes (2400 seconds). Any time during the fermenting stage, you may seal the kettle. Sealing the kettle prevents any (more) microbes from entering. While you can get drinkable beers from an unsealed kettle, most of the time you will want to seal the kettle after the yeast microbe has entered, and before bad microbes enter.
Once the fermenting is done, you may leave the beer in the kettle indefinitely. With an empty small barrel in your inventory, you may take the beer (kegging it). You are given a display showing the statistics of your beer. If the beer is undrinkable, it will automatically be thrown out, and your barrel is left empty. If it is drinkable, you are given an opportunity to name the barrel (naming the contents), for later use. (Once you use the beer, your barrel is returned.)
Figuring out what will result in good beer takes three steps:
There are 100 different microbes that affect the brewing of beer. Some are useful, the yeasts, others are not. We track the yeasts and how they perform in brewing in the table at the link below.