Brewer

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Skill: Brewer

Association
Profession	Farmer
Job Title	Brewer
Labor	Brewing
Tasks
Brew Drink from Plant Brew Drink from Fruit Make Mead
Workshop
Still
Attributes
Strength Agility Kinesthetic Sense

v50.14 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF. Note that some content may still need to be updated. More Info · V

Every dwarf's best friend, and indeed the equivalent of rock stars in the fortress! Brewers brew various plants and honey into alcoholic beverages, such as ale, beer and mead.

Brewers need a still, a brewable plant (or a jar of honey), and one empty barrel or water-tight pot per job in order to brew drinks.

Regardless of skill, a brewer produces five units of alcohol for each unit of brewable plant, as well as seeds of that plant. Because of crop stacking, this allows brewers to synergize well with highly talented herbalists and growers (who are more likely to produce larger plant stacks), and can quickly lead to cluttered stills. A brewer will turn "Plump helmet" into "Dwarven wine [5]", and will turn "Plump Helmet [5]" into "Dwarven Wine [25]". Both actions fill one empty barrel (despite their different quantities), and presumably take the same amount of time to brew.

Unlike many farming labors, brewing cannot be done without a barrel or pot. This can become an issue if your fortress has more food than barrels, as any spare barrels will be immediately filled with food. Limiting the number of barrels that your food stockpiles can store can help keep some barrels empty for brewing.

Brewing plants always produces seeds, so you won't have to worry about being unable to replant your crop next season.

Skill, Quality and Thoughts

Dwarves with a preference for a particular type of booze get a happy thought from drinking it. A dwarf whose preference can not be met will never have a happy thought from drinking. Booze has no quality level, but the varied happy thoughts from drinking (had a fine/pretty decent/wonderful/truly decadent/legendary drink lately) are derived from the value of the entire stack of alcohol^[1]. It has also been speculated that drinking home-brewed booze is preferred over imported booze of the same type, influencing the thought.^[Verify]

Dwarves like some variety - they will have unhappy thoughts from consuming the same old booze repeatedly (this will never happen with their favorite drink, however.) Fortunately, with the addition of fruit gathering, keeping a wide selection of drinks in stock is fairly easy.

Troubleshooting

If you are having difficulty brewing drinks, check your still. If the "brew drink" option is:

• Missing entirely

Your raws have been corrupted, probably by installing an outdated mod (including tilesets). Reinstall the game in a clean folder, and only use mods that are updated for your version.

• Red text

The game believes you do not have the proper resources to brew. Check that:

1. You have materials that are considered brewable. Type z (status), "kitchen" tab to check on this.
2. You have free barrels or glazed pots. Make some more if unsure.
3. If the still is linked to one or more stockpiles, make sure they contain all the needed components (including barrels). Add more links, remove the current links, or just rebuild the still.
4. If the still is inside a burrow with workshop restrictions enabled then the brewable plants must also be inside the burrow.
5. Your fortress's brewables aren't all being blocked by hauling jobs. Items in containers with active "store item" jobs are unavailable for any other use, including brewing.^Bug:9004
6. Embark bought fruits come in bags, and hence cannot be brewed as-is ^Bug:7423. To brew them, you must first dump them and then reclaim them.

• White text

The game thinks you should be able to brew. If your dwarves aren't brewing, check that:

1. You have at least one idle dwarf with the "Brewing" labor enabled.
2. Your brewers can path to the still.
3. If any of your brewers are assigned to a burrow, the burrow needs to include the still and brewable plants.^Bug:2262
4. Your fortress's brewables aren't all being blocked by hauling jobs. Items in containers with active "store item" jobs are unavailable for any other use, including brewing.^Bug:9004

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