The national beverage of Egypt. Beer is brewed in Beer Kettles using various combinations of malt and honey, stored in small barrels, and served at Ceremonial Tasting Tables. Aside from being drunk to increase Beer Tasting skill, beer may be made into ambrosia for festivals, or distilled into spirits using an Alembic.
Individual beers can vary across many characteristics, depending on the ingredients and yeasts used in their brewing:
Beer is stored in small barrels. A barrel of beer is very heavy, with weight 100 and bulk 1. There is no way to empty a full barrel of beer other than by using it (by unkegging it at a tasting table, or by distilling it or making it into ambrosia).
Spoilage: Unlike wine, beer will spoil over time, rendering it unfit for drinking. (Beer will only begin to go bad once it has been kegged; until then, you can leave it in the kettle indefinitely.) The more potent a beer, the longer it will last in the keg. A Very Potent beer will last over a week, a Potent beer seems to last one Teppy day, while a non-potent beer lasts only one Teppy hour. You will not be told whether a beer has gone bad until you attempt to drink it. Beer will also spoil on the tasting table if left out long enough. Although spoiled beer may not be drunk, it may still be used to make ambrosia or distilled spirits, and may be used to donate for tech research.
Beer is made from malted barley and honey brewed in a Beer Kettle. You must have the Beer Brewing skill (available at a University of the Human Body) to make beer.
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. (See below, How to Find and Isolate Yeast.)
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.)
We should be grateful to our grandparents, who initially labored for 3 hours to make beer. Today, it takes but 20 minutes of brewing, and 40 of fermenting.
Figuring out what will result in good beer takes three steps:
However, almost nothing seems to have changed from T1, so you can probably just look your yeast up in the old tables and then use the calculator if it's a good yeast.
The brewing phase lasts for 1200 seconds, or 20 minutes. At any time during this phase, you may add ingredients (honey and malt) to the kettle. The type and amount of these ingredients will determine some of the attributes of your beer. These attributes are further modified by the time at which the ingredient is added.
Note that Banana, Cherry, Date, Orange, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Nasty flavors are determined entirely by the yeast being used. They are not created by the ingredients.
I have verified all of the numbers in the table below (see my data here: Ingredient Tests), using 100 of each ingredient for the Malt/Wheat tests and 200 for the Honey tests. The T2 Spreadsheet did not have the correct formulas to accurately predict these numbers (partly because the calculations were based on adding ingredients at 1180 and 20, when the actual ticks are at 1176 and 24). My T3 Spreadsheet has the corrected formulas that accurately predict the effects based on the data I have entered into the table below. ~Calen
| Added at 1176 | Added at 24 | |||||||||||||||
| Ingredient | Amount | Color | Vitamins | Glucose | Maltose | Barley | Tannin | Honey | Color | Vitamins | Glucose | Maltose | Barley | Tannin | Honey | |
| Honey | 1 | --- | 0.845 | 10.000 | --- | --- | --- | 0.970 | --- | 4.545 | 10.000 | --- | --- | --- | 14.285 | |
| Raw Malt | 1 | 0.980 | 11.020 | 1.000 | 5.000 | 11.800 | 5.900 | 11.800 | 0.180 | 59.090 | 1.000 | 5.000 | 2.200 | 1.100 | 2.200 | |
| Light Malt | 1 | 1.480 | 8.470 | 2.000 | 10.000 | 5.900 | 2.950 | 1.480 | 0.280 | 45.450 | 2.000 | 10.000 | 1.100 | 0.550 | 0.280 | |
| Medium Malt | 1 | 2.950 | 5.930 | 2.000 | 10.000 | 5.900 | 1.970 | --- | 0.550 | 31.820 | 2.000 | 10.000 | 1.100 | 0.370 | --- | |
| Dark Malt | 1 | 5.900 | 4.240 | 2.000 | 10.000 | 5.900 | 1.480 | --- | 1.100 | 22.730 | 2.000 | 10.000 | 1.100 | 0.280 | --- | |
| Burnt Malt | 1 | 11.800 | --- | --- | 2.000 | --- | --- | --- | 2.200 | --- | --- | 2.000 | --- | --- | --- | |
| Raw Wheat | 1 | 0.980 | 8.470 | 1.200 | 2.500 | 11.800 | 5.900 | 11.800 | 0.180 | 45.450 | 1.200 | 2.500 | 2.200 | 1.100 | 2.200 | |
| Light Wheat | 1 | 1.480 | 7.630 | 2.400 | 5.000 | 5.900 | 2.950 | 1.480 | 0.280 | 40.910 | 2.400 | 5.000 | 1.100 | 0.550 | 0.280 | |
| Medium Wheat | 1 | 2.950 | 6.780 | 2.400 | 5.000 | 5.900 | 1.970 | --- | 0.550 | 36.360 | 2.400 | 5.000 | 1.100 | 0.370 | --- | |
| Dark Wheat | 1 | 5.900 | 5.930 | 2.400 | 5.000 | 5.900 | 1.480 | --- | 1.100 | 31.820 | 2.400 | 5.000 | 1.100 | 0.280 | --- | |
| Burnt Wheat | 1 | 11.800 | --- | --- | 1.000 | --- | --- | --- | 2.200 | --- | --- | 1.000 | --- | --- | --- | |
General Notes:
The equation for honey flavour and vitamins are both t^-1 curves, with honey flavour = honey * 1200 / (60 + t), and vitamins proportional to 1200 / (240 + t). Note that ingredients added in the last 18 seconds are all treated as t=12. -- Tamutnefret
The brew phase is divided into 100 "ticks", each 12 seconds long. The ingredient formulas are based on the nearest tick. In other words, you will get identical results from adding an ingredient with 1 second remaining as you will from adding with 5 remaining.
My experiments suggest that the first and last ticks are only half as long, since "nearest tick" is taken literally. The first tick is at 1200 and the second at 1188, so 1193 is already nearer the second tick. This makes it pretty hard to get predictable results from beers where everything goes in at the start. -- Amtep
My results confirm this. In addition, there seem to be 101 ticks, since 0 (the zero tick: in other words, time 1200-1194) counts as a tick as well. Tick #1 is actually from 1193 to 1182 seconds. ~Calen
Notice that when ingredients are added right at the start, honey flavor and vitamins will actually be slightly under their base values.
This is because (as noted above) the testing data is derived from adding ingredients at 1176 (previously 1180), which is actually the third tick. I assume the original intent of this was to give everyone a little time to start adding ingredients after they click the "Brew" button. ~Calen
It is essential to have an appropriate amount of sugars, or once the yeast converts some of them to alcohol, you will get undrinkable beer. Glucose is sweeter than maltose, and converted to alcohol first by the yeast. Each yeast will have a maximum amount of alcohol and minimum amount of each sugar at which it stops working; a yeast may not be able to create beer at all, or may be able to create various strengths of beer. If a yeast makes a good flavor but not enough alcohol, it may still be useful in combination with a high-alcohol yeast. A yeast also needs vitamins, which it consumes as it converts sugar, and will stop working if it runs out; each yeast has its own minimum vitamin level.
Generally, a small amount of raw or light malt added at the end is a good way to ensure enough vitamins; a small amount of burnt malt added at the beginning is a good way to add color. To add barley flavor, add medium or dark malt at the beginning. To add honey flavor, add honey at the end. Adding raw malt or lots of light malt at the beginning will almost certainly result in undrinkable grassy beer, so don't!
Yeasts also produce various flavors, at various rates; honey and barley are the only flavors can be obtained with any yeast, since they can come from the ingredients, though honey can come from the yeast as well. Enough fruit and honey flavors will result in Fruity beer. Cinnamon and nutmeg flavors can produce Spicy beer, but too much of these flavors can make your beer bitter, so be very careful with your tannin levels when working with cinnamon or nutmeg yeasts. If a yeast produces lots of Nasty or Grassy flavors, it is unusable.
Only the two strongest flavors will be noticable in the beer, and only one if the second is too much weaker than the first, so be careful not to overwhelm any fruit or spice flavors with barley and honey flavor from ingredients. If you have three flavors which are all close in strength, you will get Muddled beer; this *is* drinkable, but will likely not be useful for anything but drinking when more uses become available.
Yeast converts sugar into alcohol on a 1:1 basis. Yeast always converts the glucose first, then the maltose. A yeast will always leave a minimum amount of glucose and maltose unconverted; these amounts are called the "glucose floor" and "maltose floor" and are different for each yeast.
In addition, each yeast has a different "alcohol ceiling" -- a maximum # of sugar which it can convert into alcohol.
Example: Yeast-17 has a glucose floor of 13, maltose floor of 37, and alcohol ceiling of 992. A brewer is using Y-17 to make a beer, using 50 honey and 50 medium malt. Total sugars in the brew: 600 glucose, 500 maltose. During fermentation, Y-17 will first convert 587 glucose into 587 alcohol (leaving 13 glucose). It will then work on the maltose, converting 405 maltose into 405 alcohol (leaving 95 maltose), where it stops because it has now created 992 alcohol.
Finally, a yeast consumes vitamins as it works. If the vitamin level reaches a certain floor (which, again, varies by yeast), the yeast will stop converting sugar into alcohol, no matter how much sugar it has to work with.
To summarize, each yeast has the following attributes:
A sealed kettle which contains a single yeast may be modelled as follows:
In other words, the yeast will produce alcohol until one of three things happens: It runs out of sugars, it runs out of vitamins, or it produces as much alcohol as its alcohol ceiling. Yeasts will always convert glucose in preference to maltose.
You can collect your finished brew anytime after the end of the fermentation phase. You must be carrying a small barrel to do this. When you keg your brew, you will receive data on its attributes -- you will never know for sure how your brew turned out until you try to keg it. If your brew is undrinkable for some reason, it will automatically be thrown out. If your beer was successful, it will be stored in the barrel and you will have the option to name your beer.
When you keg a beer, you will be shown the levels of the various attributes as well as the final flavor. The attributes are:
A beer may have the following qualities:
| Property name | Condition to be met |
| Very Potent | Alcohol >= 1200 |
| Potent | Alcohol >= 800 |
| (no name) | Alcohol < 800 |
| Dry | (Glucose * 2) + Maltose < 150 |
| Sweet | (Glucose * 2) + Maltose > 300 |
| (no name) | 150 < (Glucose * 2) + Maltose < 300 |
| Black | Color > 500 |
| Brown | Color > 200 |
| (no name) | Color < 200 |
| Fruity | Orange + Banana + Cherry + Date + Honey > 500 |
| Spicy | Cinnamon + Nutmeg > 300 |
| Bold flavor | Flavor > 1000 |
| Noticeable flavor | Flavor > 400 |
| Hint of flavor | Flavor > 200 |
| (no description) | Flavor < 200 |
Each flavor in the beer (cherry, nutmeg, etc.) may be "bold", "noticeable", or just a "hint". A flavor that is very strong can drown out a weaker flavor; if you have 1000 honey flavor and 200 barley flavor, the barley will not appear. A flavor is drowned out if it is less than 50% of the most powerful flavor in the beer.
If two or more other flavors are greater than 50% of the strongest flavour it will have "muddled flavor", and none of the flavors will apply.
The exact effect of Lactic is still uncertain, but I have had several beers that should have been Cloying, but were drinkable, and had some lactic acid. Simply adding lactic to tannin in that formula fits all my results. -- Amtep
Beers can have as many microbes in them as you care to let get in. Mold, Acetobacterium, and Lactobacillus may be hard to work around, because they add factors both harmful and little-studied.
Generally, you see the largest effects on the resulting beer from the first few yeasts in the kettle. While computing each yeast independently may get you a rough approximation of the flavors and alcohol resulting, the results are not really cumulative or averaged.
Vigorous yeasts (with high alco max or low floor values) can have a big effect even if they enter late. One example from the last Telling was of a particular yeast added at the very end of the list of microbes. Its presence or absence made a 300 alcohol difference in the maximum alcohol generated.
Another example:
I tested two spots:
1) Y3 Y59 A6 M63 Y24 M87 L61 Y65 A62 Y49 L44 M47 Y67 L52 Y64 Y90 Y2 M71 M55 Y82
2) Y3 Y59 A6 L61 L52 M63 Y24 M71 L44 M47 Y65 Y67 Y90 Y49 M31 L85 Y64 M87 L69 Y91 A22 A62 Y2
1 gave 1421 alc and 20 cinnamon, 2 gave 1250 alc and 379 cinnamon. In 1 nearly all of the effect was done by Y3 but in 2 Y59 was able to act more, perhaps something to do with entry times? -- Beren
T3 Multiple Yeast test with Y16+Y67 -- Didero
More research in this field needs to be done.
I have had great success with predicting multi yeast recipes. Stats seem to be location/seal time dependent. Exact seal times are important. Just run your yeast tests using teh exact seal time and this will give stats that can be plugged into beercalc to predict recipes. This strategy has worked very well for me for several locations. -Aberdon
There are 100 possible microbes, some of which are yeasts and some of which are Lactobacilii, Molds, and Acetobacteria. There is no guarantee that all of the yeasts will make drinkable beer, or that we will be able to find a spot where each one is available. Things that aren't yeasts will make beer undrinkable if they are high enough on the microbe list. Thus, it is necessary in many spots, and useful in others, to isolate a yeast before you try to make beer.
Very little detailed study has been done on molds, acetobacteria, and lactobacteria. These microbes all produce undesirable flavors which will ruin the beer if too strong. It is never desirable to have anything except yeasts in your kettle. In the fermentation phase, your job is to seal your kettle at the proper time to keep out the "bad" microbes and allow only the yeasts.
You isolate a yeast by running a Yeast Test. This kettle option is a shortcut that eliminates the brewing phase, thus taking only 40 minutes to complete. At the end of the test, you take the 'beer' (you need your small barrel!) and get a display of the results. At the bottom is a list of the microbes that are in the kettle, in the order they entered (first to last).
Microbe Map - please report the locations of the microbes you find! [Microbe List]? - a list of all microbes seen so far, so we know which yeasts are out there
Hellinar - Inspired by Jaby's work on large scale microbe distribution, I've been testing the changes in microbe distribution on small scales. These tests demonstrate that the microbe population shifts as your kettle crosses coordinate lines. The degree of shift is dependent on the degree to which the coordinate is divisible by two. Thus if the coordinate you cross is divisible by 128, most of the upper microbes will change. On the other hand if the coordinate can only be divided by 8, or 4 or 2, the shift in order is likely to be small. This shift occurs very sharply within a small fraction of a coordinate. So avoid placing kettles on such a high power of two coordinate. On the other hand, if you are searching for new microbes, place four kettles on odd numbered coordinates around the point where two lines divisible by 128 cross. This will give you four sets of well shuffled microbes.
Making beer is just like doing a yeast test, except that a brewing period, 1200 Teppy seconds long, is added BEFORE the fermentation period. During brewing you can add honey and the various malts at any time, though it calculates results in 12-second "ticks". Once you've finished brewing, it immediately goes into fermentation, and you should close the lid at a time that will catch the yeast(s) you want but no other microbes.
You should try:
Don't expect these beers to be drinkable! These are just to get the yeast values which will allow you to make good beers.
For more detailed instructions on deriving the stats for the yeast(s) you have found, see the Calculating Yeast Stats page.
Yeast table: See the Microbe stats page - this table shows the results for known yeasts and other microbes -- please add data for any yeasts you analyze.
You can also use The T3 Beer Spreadsheet to predict a recipe for a known yeast without having to do lots of experimenting with real ingredients but be sure to update your copy with the latest data from the Yeast Table first.