Pick a style, get a proven recipe, scale it to your batch size — or build your own from scratch in Advanced mode.
Click any beer style card below. Each one has a proven, ready-made recipe — you don't need to know anything about malt or hops to start.
Type how many liters you're brewing (e.g. 20 L). Efficiency and grain temperature have sensible defaults — leave them as-is unless you know your own equipment's numbers.
You'll get an exact shopping list (kg of malt, grams of hops), a full step-by-step brew day (water amounts, mash temperature, hop timing), and the expected results (OG/FG/ABV/IBU/SRM — see what these mean below).
Don't have the exact hop listed? Use the dropdown next to it — the calculator picks a close substitute and adjusts the weight automatically to keep the same bitterness.
"Save recipe" keeps it in your browser (free plan: up to 3). "Download PDF" gives you a printable sheet to take with you on brew day.
OG — starting sugar density, measured before fermentation. FG — density after fermentation finishes; compare it to this number to know when your beer is done. ABV — final alcohol strength. IBU — bitterness level (higher = more bitter). SRM — color, from pale straw to near-black.
Advanced mode is for building a recipe completely from scratch — you'll need to know your own malt and hop numbers (°Lovibond, extract potential, AA%). Stick with Beginner mode if that sounds unfamiliar.
Enter your own water report (or pick a historical profile), choose a target, and get exact salt/acid additions plus a mash pH estimate.
Order a "brewing water" or "full mineral analysis" from an accredited water lab or your local health/water authority. Ask specifically for calcium, magnesium, sodium, chloride, sulfate, and alkalinity/bicarbonate — a basic "hardness" test alone isn't enough. Costs vary by country, but one test covers years of brewing.
Most municipal water suppliers publish an annual water quality report online (often called a "Consumer Confidence Report" or "drinking water quality report"). Look in the chemical/mineral composition section — not just "hardness" or "alkalinity" alone. If that's all they list, it's a rough start, not a full picture.
Cheap multi-parameter strips give a rough pH and hardness reading in seconds. They generally don't measure sulfate or chloride, but can be enough to sanity-check your mash pH prediction.
Aquarium liquid-drop kits (API, JBL, Tetra, etc.) measure hardness and alkalinity more precisely than strips, for a modest cost — a reasonable middle ground between strips and a lab.
New to this? Don't overthink it for your first few batches — a 1:1 blend of distilled water and a consistent bottled spring water gives a stable, repeatable profile while you're still dialing in your process. Save the full water report for once you're ready to fine-tune a specific style.
Want the deeper chemistry behind these numbers — hardness, pH, minerals, and mash buffering? See Chapter 4: Water in Home Brewing Science →
Enter ppm (mg/L) values from a lab report or your water utility's annual quality report. Missing a number? Leave it at 0 — better to under- than over-correct.
Dial in Ca, SO₄, and Cl to match your water to the style you're brewing. This is a Pro feature.
Unlock with Pro — $6/moFigure out whether you need a starter, and how big it should be — based on your target gravity, batch size, and yeast package.
Use the numbers from Recipe Builder — or type them in directly if you already have a recipe from elsewhere.
Lagers need roughly double the pitch rate of ales at the same gravity — the calculator uses the right cell-count target for each.
Liquid yeast loses viability over time (roughly 21% per month from the manufacture date) — the calculator adjusts the starting cell count down for older packages. Dry yeast doesn't need this — enter grams instead.
A stir plate roughly doubles the cell yield from the same starter size — the calculator sizes the starter accordingly either way.
You'll get the exact starter size needed (or confirmation that no starter is needed at all), plus a DME amount if a starter is called for.
Want the biology behind pitch rates and viability? See Chapter 5: Yeast in Home Brewing Science →
Figure out exactly how big a starter you need based on your target OG, batch size, and yeast cell count. This is a Pro feature.
Unlock with Pro — $6/moFigure out exactly how much priming sugar to add at bottling for the right fizz — based on your batch size, fermentation temperature, and target carbonation level.
How many liters you're bottling — after any losses to trub, racking, and sampling.
The warmest point your beer reached after active fermentation, not the room temperature right now — that's what set how much CO₂ is already dissolved in the beer.
Each style has a typical target carbonation range. If you know exactly what you want, choose "Custom" and type the CO₂ volumes directly.
You'll get the exact amount of priming sugar (corn sugar, table sugar, or DME) to dissolve and add at bottling time.
Want to understand CO₂ solubility and packaging in depth? See Chapter 10: Carbonation and Packaging in Home Brewing Science →