                                ABC Brew

Welcome to ABC Brew - the brewing spreadsheet that was designed for advanced
brewers, but easy enough to use by a beginner.

Yes, ABC Brew a spreadsheet, however it really is a program.  Complex
formulas, program macros and templates are used in a way seldom seen in most
spreadsheets.

Some of the features that you will find include:

 o  Automated beer style, malt and hops selection. You have full control
    of editing these parameters.
 o  Water treatment profile including many water styles from around the
    world.
 o  Template architecture (one sheet stores all your recipes)
 o  Complex mash schedules including up to 3 temperature steps, combination
    of external and infusion step calculations, and late adjunct additions.
 o  Brew instructions that are automatically produced based on your input.
 o  Calculator for volumes, mass wort sugar content and carbonation rates.
 o  Sugar extraction and attenuation calculations.
 o  Temperature compensation for gravity measurements.
 o  Quantity selection based on percentage to allow easy scaling to
    different size recipes.

To load ABC Brew, you will need Windows 3.1x, Windows 95 or OS/2 operation
system, and Lotus 123 for Windows Version 5 or higher.  Sorry, this
spreadsheet is too complex to be converted to Excel at this time.  This
document assumes that you have some basic experience with spreadsheets.  If
not, Lotus 123 has a great help facility.

There are so many features, the best way to learn about ABC Brew is to dive
in and do a recipe.  Here is a step-by-step demo that you can do that will
describe most everything you need to get brewing.

1.  Start Lotus 123 version 5, or 123 SmartSuite 96.  Load the ABC Brew
    spreadsheet (ABC.WK4).  If you do not have one of these Lotus products,
    get a demo copy from the Internet, http://www.lotus.com.

2.  The first time you start ABC, you will be in the "Contents" sheet.
    If you look at the top of the spreadsheet, you will see several tabs.
    These are all the sheets that you can work with.  Try clicking on "Brew
    Recipe".  This is the main recipe sheet that you will do most of your
    work it.  It is also a template which will hold all your recipes ...  no
    need for separate spreadsheet for each recipe.  More on this later.  Try
    some other tabs, and then come back to the "Contents" tab.  Notice that
    from this sheet, you can click on the hot buttons to go to the sheets
    listed across the top.  You can also go to the registration area where
    you may have an opportunity to support my efforts, and to release the
    full power of ABC.

3.  Now go to the "Information" sheet by one of the 2 methods mentioned
    above.  This is a single sheet that gives you most of the information
    that you need to run ABC.  Try selecting a few of the hot buttons.
    Everywhere that you go within the Information Sheet you have hot
    buttons to print the instructions, go to the Brew Recipe sheet or go
    back to the Information Index.

4.  Have a quick look at the "Styles", "Malts", "Hops" and "Water" sheets.
    This is information that is automatically pulled into your recipe as you
    work in the Brew Recipe sheet.  If you want to add or change
    information, do it in these sheets.  For example, if you know the
    chemical analysis of your water (obtained in cities by calling your
    water supplier), enter it in the "Your Local Water" line in the "Water"
    sheet.  You will see later how this will help.

5.  Have a look at the "Calculator" sheet and try entering some numbers in
    the yellow (unprotected) cells.  You can calculate volume, mass,
    extracted sugars from wort, temperature conversions for specific gravity
    readings, forced CO2 values, priming sugar and kraeusening calculations.
    These can be done any time.  When you change the units of measure (US
    Gallons/Litres) or change between Celsius and Fahrenheit on the Brew
    Sheet, values in the Calculator Sheet are scaled automatically.  You can
    try these now by using the Ctrl-U and Ctrl-T keys.

6.  Now we are ready to got to the "Brew Recipe" sheet.  At the top of the
    sheet are 10 different hot buttons that you may select with your mouse,
    however they will not be seen on your recipe printouts.  One to note
    right away is the "Print" button.  Although you may find other ways of
    printing this sheet, you will get a better formatted printout if you use
    this button.

7.  You may only enter information in the yellow (unprotected) cells.  Enter
    anything you like in a few cells now.  Now press the "Sample Recipe"
    button one time, and you will see a sample recipe replace the
    information you had typed in.  After you are done looking at the sample
    recipe, press "Sample Recipe" again, and the data you entered will be
    restored.

    You may now realize that this sheet is working as a template.  You enter
    the recipe that you want, and then you use the "Keep Recipe" button to
    save the information.  If you want to look a recipe that you had
    previously entered, or if you would like to blank our the sheet, press
    the "Swap Recipe" button.  Press "Swap Recipe" again to restore the
    recipe that you where working on.

    It is important to note that, just because you pressed the "Keep Recipe"
    button, your recipe is not saved to the hard drive.  You must select
    "File" and then "Save" on the Lotus 123 menus to do this.

8.  Clear the Brew Recipe sheet by selecting pressing "Swap Recipe" and pick
    the blank sheet.  Enter a unique name for your recipe and press "Keep
    Recipe" button.  You have just saved your first recipe.  As you fill in
    the blanks, press the "Keep Recipe" button or the "Swap Recipe" button,
    and your work will be saved.  Periodically select the "File-Save" menus
    on the Lotus 123 menus to save to the hard drive.

9.  Select the style of beer by pressing Ctrl-S, or pressing the "Pick Beer
    Style" button.  You will see a list of styles to select.  This list
    comes from the "Styles" sheet that you saw earlier.

10. After observing some of the style parameters, fill in your desired
    Target Starting Gravity, IBU and Batch Size.  If you prefer to used
    Litres, press the "Pick Units of Measure".  All calculations throughout
    ABC are rescaled to Litres.  You can rescale back and forth between
    gallons and litres at any time.

11. You could enter all the malt information manually, but the automated
    way is simpler.  Click a cell in the first available row in the malt
    section.  Press the "Pick Malt" button and pick your main malt (eg.
    Pale Malt).  The line that your cursor was in will be updated with malt
    specifics retrieved from the Malt Sheet.  Remember, if you need to add
    or alter malts or adjuncts, enter them in the Malt Sheet.

    Put your cursor into the next row and select your next malt.  To select
    the quantity of malt that you want, enter a percentage in the "% Total
    Xtrt" column.

    There are 2 reasons for using percentages rather than absolute weights.
    First, most documentation and discussions on malts are discuss
    percentages (eg.  don't use more than 10% CaraPils).  Secondly, if you
    change your batch size, ABC automatically rescales everything.  Once you
    make the switch, you won't go back.

    Note that the percentages represent the amount of total sugar
    contributed by the selected malt, not the weight of the malt.

12. Selecting Hops are much the same as selecting malts, except that
    percentages are used based on total IBU contribution.  Of course, IBU
    contribution is based on the amount of time the selected hops are
    boiled.  Be sure to enter this value.

    You may select the method for calculation of IBUs.  The original method
    is the Rager method, as originally documented in Zymurgy.  This method
    is most widely used, and therefore is the default calculation method.

    The Garetz method is not accurately calculated in ABC.  Garetz uses many
    variables including ones like altitude and amount of boiled wort.
    Although Garetz method is calculated more accurately in ABC than seen in
    other brew programs, it is NOT recommended that you use this method.

    The Tinseth method is more scientific than Rager, and is becoming more
    widely used.  Tinseth is often incorrectly calculated within recipe
    programs, however I am very certain that ABC does give accurate
    calculations.

    To select the IBU method, press the "Pick IBU Calculation Method"
    button.  As usual, everything is dynamically recalculated based on your
    selection.

13. The Notes section does not need to be entered, however entering the
    Starting Gravity and Finishing Gravity will calculate interesting
    statistics at the end of the sheet.

14. The "Mash Environmental Variables for Your Equipment" is unique for your
    equipment, and experience will allow you to adjust these to ensure that
    you results are accurate.  I know that the numbers for my equipment work
    very well for me, and I have had perfect batches were all my calculated
    temperatures and gravities have been exactly on.

    Most of the values are self explanatory.  Mash tun thermal loss is a
    number that represents how much of a temperature rise is absorbed by
    your equipment.  Picnic coolers are around 15%, and metal tuns are
    around 21%.  This number is used to calculate strike temperatures of
    water, and the amount of boiling water to add to get a temperature rise.

    Mash efficiency is a calculation of how much of the available sugars are
    extracted from your mashed malts.  Non-mashed additives such as honey or
    sugar are calculated at 100%

    If you change your units of measure or between Celsius and Fahrenheit,
    these numbers are rescaled.  You have an opportunity to change your
    temperature units by selecting the "Pick Celsius or Fahrenheit" button.

15. In the "Mash/Lauter/Sparge/Boil Schedules" section, you have a chance to
    choose simple or elaborate temperatures.  As you enter the temperatures
    and variables, directions magically appear the "Mash Directions" section
    below.  If you leave the 2nd or 3rd Mash Temperature sections empty, the
    directions will reflect the fact that you do not want to use these
    temperature steps.

    Remember that at any time you can call up the Sample Recipe to see how
    to fill this section in.  Pressing it again will swap back the sheet you
    were working with.  Yes, the sample uses the famous George Fix 40/60/70
    temperature program.  It also calculates the effects of holding back a
    portion of the malts to add at a later step.

    You must choose whether or not to use external heat.  You do this by
    either entering Yes or No in the appropriate field.  Just the first
    letter is looked at, therefore just y or n works just as well.

16. When you are done entering your temperature program information, look at
    the "Mash Directions" section to ensure that the directions and
    quantities make sense.  If not, you may have forgotten to fill in a
    critical field.

    The "Mash Directions" section is referred to while you brew.  If you
    find that the directions do not work exactly, alter the "Mash
    Environmental Variables for Your Equipment" section.  As mentioned
    before, my numbers work out almost exactly.  Yours should work out just
    as well.

17. Check out the "Water Treatment" sheet.  If you would like to adjust your
    water to match that of famous brewing locations, this is where you do
    it.  Remember that when you save a recipe, the water treatment is also
    saved.

    You probably will not used this feature on your first ABC Brew recipe.
    First, you must know the water profile for your area.  You may either
    enter your water profile directly in this sheet, or add your profile to
    those listed in the "Water" sheet.

    As soon as you change the amount of additives, your "Mash Directions"
    are updated.  To reset, ensure that the quality of all additives are set
    to 0.

18. Now you are ready to save an print.  Go to the "Brew Recipe" sheet, and
    press the Home key.  Press "Keep Recipe" and save the recipe.  Press the
    "Print" button to print the recipe.  Now, save to the hard drive by
    selecting the "File" and "Save" Lotus 123 menu options.

19. By now, you should be thoroughly impressed and will want to register to
    ensure that you have all the features of ABC Brew available to you.  Go
    to the Information Index and select Registration.  Fill in the fields
    and select "Register Now".

    When registered, the restriction of only 8 recipes per sheet will be
    removed.  Yes, I understand that you could make several sheets, each
    with 8 recipes.  Also, some hackers will be able to break the protection
    code.  However, registrations will motivate me to support and further
    develop ABC brew.  Also, at $15US, this program is extremely
    inexpensive.  Please do your part.

This concludes the ABC Brew walkthrough.  You will find many other features,
and development will continue to bring more features.  Good luck, and happy
brewing.


Fred Klassen   fredk@ibm.net
2690 Hawser Ave.
Coquitlam, BC, V3C 4A4
Canada
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