α-ACIDS

This EZBREW option is used to calculate the amount of
one or more varieties of hops to use in your brew to
achieve a desired level of bitterness, thus helping
you to brew more consistent batches, and to follow
published recipes more exactly.

Since you can use both the International (IBU) and 
Homebrew (HBU) bittering units methods to determine 
the amount of hops to use, you can brew to a known 
level of bitterness (your preference or in a recipe 
you are using), or you can use a given weight of 
each variety and compute the results.  You will need 
to know the α-acid levels for the hops you are using.
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REFERENCES

Browse through any of the home brewers supply house 
catalogs, and you will come across a listing of 
printed material available for your use.  The number 
of informational and educational books, periodicals, 
and newsletters is growing daily.

In the REFERENCES section you will find some of the 
sources that have been used as a basis for the 
various capabilities in EZBREW.  The material also 
represents a good initial list of references that 
beginning home brewers can study for more detailed 
and authoritative answers to home brewing questions.
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DEGREES OF EXTRACT

Everything you put into your brew will effect it's 
quality.  Like the α-ACIDS option, you will be able 
to get more consistent results if you plan all of 
your brews ahead, and make your errors on paper (in 
computer memory?) instead of in the fermenter.

Using this EZBREW option, you will be able to plan 
the use of malts, extracts, sugars, and a host of 
other fermentable adjuncts prior to the first boil.  
You will then have a pretty good feel as to the 
general makeup of the wort prior to the boil.  When
used with the α-ACIDS option, you will be well on 
the way to brewing award winning brews.
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GLOSSARY

Home brewing, like so many other hobbies, has it's 
lists of basic terms that we all use every day, but 
newcomers to the home brew field can get confused in 
a big hurry by all of the specialized "lingo", and 
often need to know what a term means "in english".

This is the place to go to look for the definitions 
for quite a few of the most common terms used by the 
home brewer - and in EZBREW, you simply point, 
click, and the definition will appear!  Couldn't be 
simpler.
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MATH

If you are interested in consistently high quality 
brews, math is involved.  But don't fret.  This 
segment of EZBREW helps to take the pain out of it!

Use MATH to:

    √ convert % alcohol between volume and weight,
    √ convert between ° Fahrenheit and ° Centigrade,
    √ estimate the brew's potential alcohol content,
    √ compute the peak flavor date for your batch,
    √ calculate temperature corrections to specific 
      gravity measurements.

And best of all, no more paper and pencil - just 
drink the "solution" to your math problems!
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TABLES

This EZBREW option gives you access to several 
tables sometimes useful to have when brewing at 
home, including:

    √ International Bittering Units by beer type,
    √ Temperature/pressure tables for obtaining your 
      own personnal levels of carbonation in the keg 
      for all of you keg enthusiasts out there,
    √ Detailed Specific Gravity/Brix conversions. 
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UTILITIES

As you become more experienced, you will probably 
want to change things around a bit to tailor EZBREW 
to your style of brewing.   These utilities give you 
such ability, by making it easy for you to alter:

    √ entries in the hops table, 
    √ alpha acid levels for hops varieties,
    √ degrees of extract for your ingredients,
    √ specific gravity correction table, and
    √ the efficiencies of your mashing & sparging.

The alterations you make to the program data files 
will then be available for immediate use in the 
current session of EZBREW.  So change away! 
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HELP!

You are using HELP! right now.  Finding out about 
the other options available to you in EZBREW is just 
as easy - a keystroke or click of the mouse button 
away!  And help is there at most major program 
"levels".
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EXIT

You leave EZBREW and return to DOS through this 
command.  You will first be asked if you are sure 
you want to exit.  Simply answer "Y"es to leave the 
program and return to DOS, "N"o to stay in EZBREW.
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α-Acids Option

The α-Acids Option in EZBREW is used to help you 
determine just how many ounces of Hops to put in 
your brew to get a desired level of bitterness.  Two 
of the most popular methods are available for making 
the calculations, namely the IBU and HBU approaches.

════════════════════════ IBU ════════════════════════

Use the IBU approach to calculate bitterness based on
International Bittering Units (see Jackie Rager's
article in the special 1990 issue of zymurgy 
magazene for a description - use EZBREW's reference 
option).  This approach takes into account:

    √ the Alpha Acid Unit (A.A.U.) level for each 
      addition of hops you plan to use,
    √ the time you will be boiling each addition,
    √ the specific gravity of the wort at boil, and
    √ the final length (in gallons) of the batch.

Of the two methods used by home brewers, IBU is the 
more involved but yet more precise way to get at 
bitterness, and EZBREW takes all of the fuss out of 
it for you.

════════════════════════ HBU ════════════════════════

Use HBU if you wish to use Homebrew Bittering Units.
(Dave Line's Book, "The Big Book of Brewing" is a
good place to go to have this approach explained -
see the references in EZBREW!)

This method looks only at the A.A.U. level for each 
variety of hops, and assumes that boiling times have 
no impact on the amount of α-acids extracted from 
the hops. Although simpler than the IBU method, 
results may show greater variability.

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Math Option

EZBREW's Math Option gives you access to some of the 
most widely used mathematical functions that you 
might need in your brewing activities.

════════════════════ %Wt <-> %Vol ═══════════════════

Use this option to convert between alcohol given as a
percentage by weight to-or-from alcohol expressed as
a percentage by volume.

═════════════════════ °C <-> °F ═════════════════════

Convert temperatures between the centigrade (°C) and 
farenheit (°F) systems of measure using this utility.

═════════════════ Potential Alcohol ═════════════════

This option uses specific gravity measurements taken
at the beginning and end of fermentation (having good 
records is a must) to compute the potential alcohol 
level of the finished brew.  % by volume and weight 
are both calculated.

══════════════════ S.G. Corrections ═════════════════

If you measure the specific gravity of a solution at
a temperature other than the one at which your own
hydrometer was calibrated (usually 60° F), the values 
will be slightly in error.  This option gives you the 
ability to make corrections to readings taken in 
worts between 50 and 105° F (10 and 40° C).

════════════════════ Flavor Peak ════════════════════

Provides an estimate of the maturation time of your
brew based on the initial specific gravity reading, 
so you can plan your home brew party for that perfect 
taste!

══════════════════ Keg Carbonation ══════════════════

Use this option if you are using a Cornelius keg (a
stainless steel soda syrup container) in stead of 
bottles.  You can calculate the appropriate pressure 
of CO2 to use in order to get the desired level of 
carbonation in your brew.  All you need to know is 
the temperature of the batch (°F) and you're off!

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Utilities Option

Use the Utilities Option to modify most of the 
basic information used by EZBREW.  This allows you 
to more closely match the program to your own home 
brewing needs.

═════════════════════ Hops Table ════════════════════

Use this option to modify the hops table, adjusting 
it's contents to just those varieties you normally 
use.  Most importantly, you might need to alter the 
A.A.U. level for a variety, as this value changes 
with season, supplier, etc.

═══════════════════ Extract Table ═══════════════════

Entries in the degree of extract table can be 
revised by using this option.  Thus, you can add 
those things that you use in making your brews, and 
not have to be bothered with all those other 
ingredients that you never use anyway!  You can also 
modify the contribution of the fermentables you use 
to values that you actually measure, taking into 
account the water that you have access to.

══════════════════ S.G./Temperature ═════════════════

If you are using a hydrometer that has been 
calibrated at say 55° F, the corrections in EZBREW 
as distributed will not be appropriate.  Thus, you 
need to have the ability to modify the values used 
by EZBREW to make the corrections.

This option is used to modify the table of 
corrections to specific gravity readings of worts 
that are at temperatures other than 60° F, which is 
the nominal hydrometer calibration temperature used 
by EZBREW.

═══════════════ Mash/Sparge Efficiency ══════════════

The efficiency of both the mash and sparge influence 
the amount of grain derived fermentables that you 
have in your wort. This option permits you to alter 
these values as you gain experience in mashing and 
sparging, or make measurements to determine just how 
good you really are!

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