Guides
Fermentation Guides
Every calculator has a full guide behind it: the formula, the units, the sources and the mistakes people make. Start with the topic you are brewing or baking this week.
The Basics
- Fermentation Brine Percentage: The Complete Guide What brine percentage means, water-weight vs total-weight bases, salt types by weight, and recommended concentrations for common ferments.
- Salt by Volume vs Weight: The Complete Guide Why a tablespoon of salt is unreliable, brand densities for table and kosher salts, and how to convert grams, spoons and brine percentages.
- Fermentation Temperature Guide: Every Ferment at Every Temperature How temperature shapes kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, sourdough and beer - with reference tables, the doubling rule, and practical temperature control.
- Fermenting in a Cold Kitchen: Winter Timings Why every ferment slows down when the room does, the 6-degree rule for lacto ferments and the 5-degree rule for yogurt, and warm spots that fix winter.
Homebrewing Beer
- Beer Gravity and ABV: The Complete Guide Original and final gravity, gravity points, the ABV formula, apparent vs real attenuation, hydrometer temperature correction, and where a beer's calories come from.
- Brewing Water Chemistry: The Complete Guide Gypsum and calcium chloride additions, the sulfate-to-chloride ratio by style, calcium targets, and how to treat mash and sparge water.
- Stuck Beer Fermentation: Diagnosis and Fixes When final gravity stops moving above target: temperature, yeast health, nutrients and fermentability, with safe ways to restart.
- Priming Sugar and Carbonation: The Complete Guide How much priming sugar to use, target CO2 volumes by beer style, residual CO2 math and sugar choices.
Kombucha
- Kombucha Sugar: Ratios, Second Fermentation and What's Left in the Bottle How much sugar kombucha needs at first and second fermentation, where it goes during the ferment, and how to estimate what you actually drink.
- Kombucha Won't Fizz? Fix the Second Fermentation Why second-fermentation bottles stay flat: sugar, culture, temperature and time - the four dials to check, in order.
- Continuous Brew Kombucha: The Complete Guide How a continuous brew vessel differs from batch brewing, draw-off and refill ratios, and keeping the culture balanced long-term.
Sourdough Baking
- Sourdough Hydration and Dough Temperature: The Complete Guide Baker's percentages with starter included, desired dough temperature (DDT), and how temperature reshapes bulk fermentation time.
- Sourdough Starter Not Rising? A Repair Guide The five reasons a starter stalls - temperature, feeding ratio, flour, water and time - and how to bring a sluggish jar back to doubling.
- Baker's Percentage: The Complete Guide Why flour is always 100%, how percentages describe any dough at any size, and how to read and scale recipes with baker's math.
- Levain Builds: Timing the Relay Why bakers build a levain instead of using starter straight, how to size it, and how to count backwards from baking time.
Pickles & Brine
- Salting Vegetables for Fermentation: The Complete Guide Dry salt vs brine, salt percentages for sauerkraut, kimchi and pickled vegetables, salt types, and troubleshooting soft or moldy batches.
- White Film on Your Ferment: Kahm Yeast or Mold? How to tell the harmless white pellicle from mold, what causes it, and how to keep the rest of the jar safe.
- Vinegar Pickles: Ratios and Safety The classic 50/50 vinegar-water brine, why 5% acidity matters, salt and sugar levels, and refrigerator versus shelf-stable pickles.
Yogurt & Dairy
- Yogurt and Kefir Incubation: The Complete Guide Yogurt starter ratios and incubation temperature, milk and water kefir grain ratios, and how cold straining turns yogurt into Greek style.
- Yogurt Not Setting? Time, Temperature and Starter Fixes Runny homemade yogurt almost always traces to incubation temperature, weak starter or disturbed milk - here is how to find which.
- Milk Kefir: Grains, Ratios and Timing Grain-to-milk ratios by weight, what 1:10, 1:15 and 1:20 change, and how to keep a kefir rotation sustainable.
Mead & Cider
- Mead Gravity and Fruit: The Complete Guide Honey-to-gravity math for a target ABV, backsweetening a stabilized batch, yeast nutrients, and how fruit additions shift a melomel.
- Mead Nutrients: Staggered Additions Explained Why honey needs feeding, how staggered nutrient additions work, and the timing windows that keep mead fermentation healthy.
Fermented Condiments
- Koji and Soy Sauce: The Complete Guide Growing koji rice with the spore dose and turn schedule, keeping the pile cool, and building a moromi brine from Baumé to salt percentage.
- Fermented Hot Sauce: The Complete Guide Brine versus mash for fermented peppers, the 3-5% salt band, fermentation timing and turning peppers into a pourable sauce.
Guides and tools work together
Every guide is paired with the calculators it explains: the brine percentage guide behind the brine calculator, the kombucha sugar guide behind the batch and bottling tools, and so on. If you came here for a quick number, the tool matrix on the home page is the faster route.