BrewWizard -- Frequently Asked Questions

The full BrewWizard system includes a comprehensive homebrewing encyclopedia that can be read like a book (by using the mini-books feature), or it can be searched to answer specific homebrewing questions. It includes a Beginners, Intermediate and Advanced homebrewing guide.

BrewWizard is updated every few months. The latest version of the Shareware BrewWizard Recipe Calculator is 1.70. The latest version of the Full BrewWizard system is 1.80.

No, BrewWizard is only available for machines capable of running Microsoft Windows 9x/NT/2000/Me/XP.

The Full BrewWizard System is distributed on two 3.5" diskettes. When initally installed, BrewWizard takes up less than 3 MB of diskspace. As you add more recipes, it will take up more diskspace.

Yes, BrewWizard now supports water treatment calculations. You can enter your local water's chemical makeup and then make adjustments to your brewing water by using 6 commonly used water treatment chemicals.

All the costs associated with buying, ordering or upgrading BrewWizard are contained on the Ordering Information Page.

Yes, there is a special Starter/Kreausening calculator that will compute the amount of wort that should be set aside for kreausening. It will also compute the amount of yeast starter that should be used.

Yes, BrewWizard allows you to pick one of the three commonly used hops utilization curves, or to define your own custom utilization equations.

No, but ANTROM Associates has a new Beer and Wine Label product: LabelWizard. You can use this software to quickly create and print your own custom designed labels for your beers.

Yes, you can scale any recipe, up or down, with just a few keystrokes. This is done by using the Scale Quantities Feature of the Recipe Calculator. Select the desired recipe, click on Tools | Scale Quantities, enter the new fermentation volume, click on Accept... and Bingo! You have just converted the recipe to your new target volume. All the ingredients will be scaled proportionally.

You can adjust the Final Gravity of a recipe by changing the attenutation percentage of the yeast that is used. If you got a higher F.G. than predicted, adjust the attenuation percentage down (less of the available sugars were converted). If you got a lower F.G. than predicted, adjust the attenuation value up (more of the available sugars were converted).

This depends on the type of malt, whether it is an extract or a grain and how you use it in your recipe. In general, the malt extracts have a higher extraction rating than grains. The darker malts will have a slightly lower rating than the lighter colored malts. The full BrewWizard system has a pre-loaded database of commonly used malts and adjuncts along with values for their extraction and color. You can use the following as a rule-of-thumb:

Malt/Grain/Sugar	Extraction Range
---------------------------	------------------
2-Row Lager	1.030 - 1.034
6-Row Lager	1.031 - 1.035
Amber Malt	1.028 - 1.032
Black Patent Malt	1.017 - 1.021
Brown Sugar	1.033 - 1.038
Caramel Malt	1.029 - 1.033
Chocolate Malt	1.024 - 1.028
Clover Honey	1.040 - 1.044
Corn Sugar	1.033 - 1.038
Crystal Malt	1.029 - 1.033
Dried Malt Extract	1.030 - 1.036
Extract Syrup	1.029 - 1.034
Flaked Barley	1.021 - 1.026
Flaked Corn	1.034 - 1.038
Molasses	1.035 - 1.040
Munich Malt	1.030 - 1.034
Pale Malt	1.030 - 1.034
Rice	1.034 - 1.038
Roasted Barley	1.021 - 1.026
Rye	1.029 - 1.034
Vienna Malt	1.030 - 1.034
Wheat Malt	1.035 - 1.040

Yes, BrewWizard supports user specified Mash Efficiency values which can be different for each recipe.

You can use the following list as a rule-of-thumb for commonly used malt grains and extracts:

Malt/Grain/Sugar	Color Range
---------------------------	---------------
2-Row Lager	1.5 - 2.0
6-Row Lager	1.5 - 2.0
Amber Malt	20.0 - 30.0
Black Patent Malt	500.0
Caramel Malt	20.0 - 120.0
Chocolate Malt	300.0 - 400.0
Crystal Malt	20.0 - 80.0
Flaked Barley	1.5 - 2.0
Flaked Corn	1.0 - 1.5
Munich Malt	12.0 - 14.0
Pale Malt	1.5 - 2.5
Rice	1.0
Roasted Barley	500.0
Rye	1.0 - 3.0
Vienna Malt	6.0 - 9.0
Wheat Malt	2.0 - 3.0
Very Light Extract	1.5 - 2.0
Light Extract	2.0 - 4.0
Amber Extract	8.0 - 12.0
Dark Extract	40.0 - 80.0
Corn Sugar	1.0
Clover Honey	1.5 - 2.0
Light Molasses	8.0 - 12.0
Dark Molasses	40.0 - 60.0
Light Brown Sugar	10.0 - 25.0
Dark Brown Sugar	25.0 - 80.0

The short answer is to add more fermentable sugars. This can be in the form of either malts (extracts) or sugars. Be careful, if you use too much sugar (more than about 20% of the total fermentables) your beer may have a cider-like taste to it. You can use the BrewWizard Recipe Calculator to help you figure out how much malt/sugar to add in order to reach your desired alcohol strength.

Yes, BrewWizard provides the option of saving any of its reports to a disk file instead of printing.

Yes, the full BrewWizard System provides Batch Logging. This allows you to save actual brewing and fermenting measurements for individual batches of the same recipe.

No, at this time there is no newsletter or mailing list for BrewWizard. The best thing to do is to check the home page periodically for the latest information on BrewWizard.

Yes, BrewWizard supports the standard Windows keystrokes for Cut (^X), Paste (^V), and Copy (^C) as well as having those commands available from a pulldown menu.

Suggestions and problems can be reported by sending E-Mail to: BrewWizard, by phone to (301) 924-1147 or by sending old-fashioned postal mail to the following address:

ANTROM Associates
20044 Hob Hill Way
Montgomery Village, MD 20886-1307