How do I calculate ABV from gravity?

ABV is roughly (OG - FG) × 131.25, where OG is original gravity and FG is final gravity. The recipe builder runs this for you on every edit. See the ABV calculator for the full breakdown.

What is IBU and how is it calculated?

IBU is International Bittering Units. The recipe builder uses the Tinseth model: alpha acid × utilization × hop weight, divided by batch volume. Utilization depends on boil gravity and boil time.

What is mash pH and why does it matter?

Mash pH is the pH of your wort during the mash. The sweet spot is 5.2 to 5.6. Outside that, enzyme efficiency drops and tannin extraction can spike. The builder calculates expected mash pH from your grain bill and water profile, and suggests acid additions when needed.

What are BJCP styles?

The Beer Judge Certification Program publishes a style guide with target ranges for every beer category. The builder loads BJCP ranges per style and shows in-range gauges for OG, FG, ABV, IBU, and SRM.

How much priming sugar do I need?

It depends on batch volume, beer temperature when bottling, and target carbonation level. The priming sugar calculator handles all three. Most beers land around 4g per liter of corn sugar.

What PSI should I carbonate my keg at?

It depends on temperature and target CO2 volumes. The keg PSI calculator covers it. For most pale ales served at fridge temp, around 12 PSI hits 2.4 volumes.

How much yeast do I need to pitch?

Pitch rate scales with original gravity and batch volume. The starter calculator runs the math for liquid yeast packs and suggests a starter size when one pack isn't enough.

My pre-boil gravity is low. What do I do?

The brew sheet handles it. Record your pre-boil reading and it suggests recovery options side by side: add DME at flameout, or boil longer. If late hops are in the kettle, it warns you before you boil them further.

The beer's already in your head. This gets it in the glass.

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Wort's boiling. The starter isn't going. I can't remember the keg PSI for the bitter I'm kegging next week. One tab's on priming sugar, one's on a spreadsheet, the notebook's somewhere on the floor.

That's the brew day I built this to never have again. One place. Every number wired to the next. Nothing guessed.

Watch one change ripple out.

A grain drops into the bill and the OG climbs, the color deepens, the gauges slide toward the style you picked, right inside the BJCP range for it. This is the builder itself, live on the page. Not a screenshot, and the same one you'll design in. Every number is already watching every other number.

Hop flavor

Now shape how it tastes.

Numbers are half of it. Here's the other half. Pick your hops and watch the flavor land: citrus, tropical, pine, dank.

And it's drawn from when they go in, not just what you add. The same hops bittering at 60 minutes versus dropped in a whirlpool land in completely different places, and the picture moves as you shuffle the timing.

I haven't found another builder that estimates flavor like this. I built it because I got tired of opening a tab to remember what Mosaic tastes like.

Water chemistry and mash pH

Change the grain bill, and the water keeps up.

This is the part nobody else really does. Most software hands you three salt sliders to nudge by hand, or a serious water engine buried in a screen from 2009.

Mine's a real optimizer. One click dials your salts to the chloride-to-sulfate balance you're after, and it's fed by your grain bill and your mash pH, feeding everything downstream.

Not a separate calculator you copy numbers out of. Part of the same recipe.

And the hard numbers aren't guessed.

Most calculators score dry hops at zero IBU. That's just wrong, so this one counts the bitterness they actually add.

Your final gravity comes from what your mash temp does to the enzymes, the real gap between 148 and 156, not a fixed number you type in and hope.

I'm not promising my numbers are perfect. I'm promising none of them are made up, and the Learn page shows exactly how I got each one.

Brew-day adjustments

Then brew day happens. It keeps you on the beer you set out to make.

Pre-boil gravity in at 1.040 instead of 1.044? It lays both fixes side by side. About 60g of DME at flameout, or eight more minutes of boil. And it warns you if your whirlpool hops will over-extract on the longer one, so you pull them first.

Log your real OG and FG and it works out your actual efficiency for next time.

The plan doesn't break the second reality shows up. It bends, and stays pointed at the beer you imagined.

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Citra Mosaic IPA

STYLEAmerican IPA · 21A ▾BATCH5 gal · 60 min ▾Profile · BIAB ▾Advanced

1.062

1.012

ABV

6.6%

IBU

CAL

198

Style guidelinesAmerican IPA · 21A ⇄

OG1.062

1.0561.070

FG1.012

1.0081.014

ABV6.6%

5.5%7.5%

IBU52

4070

Color

6.2

614

12 EBCgold

Hops.

3 in the bill

Flavor

Hop

Use

Weight

IBU

Citra

Aroma · 13.2% AA

boil 60

0.5oz

14

Mosaic

Aroma · 13.2% AA

boil 60

1.5oz

28

Citra

Aroma · 13.2% AA

whirlpool

1.0oz

10

Grain.

3 in the bill · 10.3 lb

2-row Pale

Base malt

9.0 lb87%

Munich

Base · kilned

1.0 lb10%

Crystal 40

Caramel

0.3 lb3%

Water.

target · American IPA

SourceRO→BJCP · Hoppy ▾

CaSO₄

Gypsum

5.2

CaCl₂

Calcium Chloride

1.8

MgSO₄

Epsom

0.4

NaCl

Salt

0.3

Profile · ppm

336

SO₄

614

217

HCO₃

Brew sheet

brew day —

Brew sheet.

Brewing

Brew Data

Batch	5 gal
Boil	60 min
Setup	BIAB
Eff	75%

Targets

OG	1.062
FG	1.012
ABV	6.6%
IBU	52
SRM	6.2

Yeast

Strain	US-05
Packs	1.0
Pitch	68°F

01Ingredients

Grains

2-row Pale9.0 lb

Munich1.0 lb

Crystal 400.3 lb

Hops

Citra0.5ozboil 60

Mosaic1.5ozboil 60

Citra1.0ozwhirlpool

02Water

SaltsGyp 5.2 · CaCl 1.8 · Eps 0.4 · NaCl 0.3

ProfileCa 130 · Mg 8 · Na 24 · SO₄ 614 · Cl 209

VolumesMash 4.0 gal · Sparge 3.5 gal

03Mash

152°F for 60 min

04Boil

Pre-boil OG1.040→1.044predicted / target

Post-boil OG predicted to misspre-boil gravity ran low

CleanestAdd ~60g DME at flameoutBrings predicted OG up to target without changing volume or kettle time.

OrBoil ~8 min longerConcentrates the wort the same amount. Affects hop timing.your whirlpool hops will over-extract. pull them with a filter first.

Compare

Put two beers side by side.

Last batch next to this one. Vitals, water, hops, even the flavor maps, so you can see what changed and why the last one drank better.

And because none of it's intimidating, you can hand it to a friend who doesn't brew, let them find a beer they'd actually want, and make it together.

side by side —

Compare recipes.

2 recipes — vitals, grains, hops, mash, water side-by-side.

Backyard IPA

Sunday Pale

section

Vitals

Recipe	ABV	OG	FG	IBU	SRM
Backyard IPA American IPA	6.4%	1.062	1.013	44	5
Sunday Pale American Pale	5.2%	1.050	1.011	32	7
Average	5.8%	1.056	1.012	38	6

section

Grain bill.

Backyard IPA4.85 kg · 3 grains

78%2-row

12%

10%

Sunday Pale4.20 kg · 3 grains

82%Maris Otter

10%

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