What research unlocks beer in RimWorld?

Brewing unlocks both the Brewery and the Fermenting barrel, and it costs 400 research.

What is the hops to wort to beer ratio in RimWorld?

Make_Wort converts 25 RawHops into 5 Wort. A full barrel holds 25 Wort and yields 25 Beer, so one full barrel equals 125 hops.

Why is my barrel not fermenting?

The common causes are missing Hauling jobs to fill or empty the barrel, temperature outside the practical 7-32C fermentation range, or wort sitting too long and rotting before it reaches the barrel.

How to Make Beer in RimWorld (1.6) | Brewery Planner

RimWorld 1.6 | Beer Planner

RimWorld Brewing Guide:
Fast Beer, Zero Waste (1.6)

If you only want the shortest path: research Brewing, plant hops, use a Brewery to convert 25 hops into 5 wort, fill Fermenting barrels with 25 wort each, and keep the room in the 7-32C band. The planner below helps you size fields, barrels, reserves, and trade batches without wasting harvests.

Jump to Quick Solution Checklist Open the Production Planner See Beer Math and Costs Read the Blockers and FAQ

400 research cost

25 hops -> 5 wort

125 hops -> 1 full barrel

12 silver per beer

0.3 mass per beer

Fermentation room visual for how to make beer rimworld

Keep barrels in a compact indoor room and hold the temperature steady. Most beer setups fail here, not at the hops field.

Quick Solution Checklist (TL;DR)

Research Brewing. It costs 400 research and unlocks both the Brewery and the Fermenting barrel.
Plant hops near your production hub. Hops have growDays 5, harvestYield 8, and sowMinSkill 3.
Build one Brewery and at least a few Fermenting barrels in the same room cluster.
Run Make_Wort. Every bill is 25 RawHops -> 5 Wort and uses the Cooking work type, not Crafting.
Fill each barrel to 25/25 wort. That means 5 wort bills per full barrel.
Keep the fermentation room in the practical 7-32C band. Rooms colder than that or hotter than 32C are where progress problems start.
Do not let wort sit far from the barrels. Wort starts rotting after 5 days.
Remember the labor split: making wort is Cooking, but filling and emptying barrels are separate Hauling jobs.

Exact Numbers That Matter

1 beer costs 5 hops in the full pipeline.
1 barrel = 25 wort = 25 beer = 125 hops.
Brewery build cost: 120 wood + 30 steel.
Barrel build cost: 30 wood + 10 steel.
Beer stack limit: 25.
Beer trade value: 12 each.
Beer mass: 0.3 each.
Beer addictiveness: 0.01.

Temperature Strip Card

Bad: below 0C Stall risk: 0-6C Good: 7-32C Bad: above 32C

Visual Workflow and Key Ratios

Workflow crop showing the hops field for how to make beer rimworld

1. The Hops Field

Every tile harvests 8 hops at base values.

55 tiles -> 440 hops -> 88 wort -> 3.52 barrels per harvest

Workflow crop showing the fermentation room for how to make beer rimworld

3. The Fermentation Room

This is the step that actually wastes harvests if hauling or temperature control is bad. Keep the room in the 7-32C band.

1 full barrel = 25 wort = 25 beer

Workflow crop showing the finished product for how to make beer rimworld

4. Finished Product

Beer is a compact trade good: stack limit 25, value 12, mass 0.3.

100 beer = 4 stacks = 1200 silver = 30 mass

Workflow crop showing the brewery bench for how to make beer rimworld

2. The Brewery Bench

Make_Wort is a Cooking job using DrugCookingSpeed, with workAmount 1000.

25 hops -> 5 wort each bill

Throughput math

Because 25 hops make 5 wort, the pipeline simplifies to 5 hops per beer.

Overflow check

Your field needs 125 hops worth of harvest per barrel you want to fill in one cycle.

Hauling check

Wort rots after 5 days, so the barrel room should be close enough that you do not build up queues.

Production Scaling Tool (Hops -> Barrels -> Beer)

Hops field tiles How many planted hop tiles you actually have.

Effective grow days per harvest Use 5 for base soil. Lower this only if your setup really grows hops faster.

Active growing days per year RimWorld years are 60 days. Use 60 for year-round indoor or permanent summer.

Fermentation days per barrel Use 6 as the default for a normal temperature-controlled room.

Total colony beer use per day Use 0 if this is purely for trade.

Reserve days to cover before selling Winter lockdown, toxic fallout, or anything else that blocks trade.

Trade batch size (beer) Used for stack, mass, and silver math in the shipping card.

Barrel room temperature Linked to the temperature checker on the right.

Hops per Harvest 0 Field tiles x harvestYield 8

Barrels per Harvest 0 How many barrels one harvest can fill

Steady Barrel Count 0 How many barrels keep the line moving instead of idling

Beer per Year 0 Based on field size, grow days, and active season length

Winter Reserve 0 Beer to keep back before you sell anything

Sellable Surplus 0 Annual beer left after reserve

Planner Output	Value	Why It Matters
Wort per harvest	0	One barrel needs 25 wort. If this number exceeds your open barrel capacity, the harvest will jam.
Harvests per year	0	Shows how much your biome or greenhouse actually changes output.
Beer per day while active	0	Useful for deciding if your current hauling team can keep up.
Barrel room build cost	0	Based on the suggested steady barrel count plus one Brewery.
Trade batch shipping	0	Shows stack count, mass, and silver for the batch size you picked.

Temperature Checker

Set your barrel room temperature here. The target is simple: keep it in the 7-32C range and avoid swings.

Good fermentation range

7-32C is the target. Hold the room steady and keep the barrels supplied.

Troubleshooting and Common Blockers

Barrels stuck at 0%

Check room temperature first. If the room is under 7C or over 32C, fix that before you touch anything else.

Pawns are not brewing wort

The Brewery uses the Cooking work type. If your pawn only has Crafting enabled, they will ignore it.

Barrels never fill or never empty

Filling and emptying barrels are separate Hauling jobs. Low hauling priority is enough to jam the whole chain.

Wort keeps disappearing

Wort starts rotting after 5 days. If it sits too long, the batch is gone.

Brewery or barrel does not show in build menu

Both the Brewery and the Fermenting barrel need the Brewing research project. Check that first.

Beer Math, Costs, and Work Priorities

Unlock and build

Brewing costs 400 research.
Brewery: 120 wood + 30 steel.
Fermenting barrel: 30 wood + 10 steel each.

Core recipe math

25 hops -> 5 wort per brewery bill.
25 wort -> 25 beer per full barrel.
125 hops -> 1 full barrel.
5 hops -> 1 beer across the full chain.

Hop field planning

Hops grow in 5 days at base speed.
Each tile yields 8 hops.
Each full barrel needs the output of 15.625 hop tiles per harvest.

Barrel room targets

Keep the room in the 7-32C band.
Rooms colder than that slow or stall progress.
Rooms hotter than 32C are trouble.

Storage and trade

Beer: stack 25, value 12, mass 0.3.
Wort: stack 25, starts rotting after 5 days.
100 beer: 4 stacks, 30 mass, 1200 silver.

Work priorities

Making wort is Cooking.
Filling barrels is Hauling.
Taking beer out is Hauling.
If Hauling is weak, the whole chain backs up.

Beer Wort Brewery Fermenting barrel Make Wort Hop plant

Storage, Trade, and Modded Horizons

Storage and Trade Prep

Beer is the easy part of the chain to store. Wort is the part that punishes sloppy layout.

25 Beer 300 1 stack, 7.5 mass, 300 silver

100 Beer 1200 4 stacks, 30 mass, 1200 silver

200 Beer 2400 8 stacks, 60 mass, 2400 silver

Keep wort stockpiles right beside the barrel room because the rot timer starts at 5 days.
Use shelves or a tight indoor stockpile for finished beer near your trade beacon or caravan pack point.
Beer is manageable as a social drink, but it is still addictive enough that it should not be your free-for-all rec room snack pile.

Modded Horizons (Vanilla Expanded / PRF)

Workflow crop showing modded automation for how to make beer rimworld

Mods help most once your vanilla barrel room already works. Use them to cut hauling and scale output, not to patch a broken basic setup.

Vanilla Expanded brewing adds more drinks and stations. Treat it as content expansion, not a replacement for vanilla barrel math.
Project RimFactory changes the hauling side of the chain more than the recipe side. Conveyors help because vanilla jams are often hauling jams.
If you want predictable ratios, keep the last step tied to the vanilla barrel numbers: 25 wort in, 25 beer out.

VE 1.6 status Vanilla Expanded Framework PRF beer factory video

FAQ and Practical Notes

How many barrels do I really need for a 50-60 tile field?

A 55-tile hop field makes 440 hops per harvest at base values. That becomes 88 wort, or 3.52 barrels per harvest, so the usual 3-5 barrel starter setup still holds up well.

Why does the planner ask for grow days instead of only field size?

Because field size tells you harvest size, but not how often harvests happen. Soil, temperature, light, and season length all change how fast those hops come back.

Is beer actually safe for routine use?

Safer than the hard drugs, yes, but not free. It is still addictive enough that a controlled social policy is better than leaving open stacks in dining rooms.

What is the most common beginner mistake?

Treating beer as one job instead of three. The real chain is growing, brewing, and hauling. If your cook is strong but the haulers are weak, the whole setup still falls apart.

RimWorld Wiki: Beer RimWorld Wiki: Fermenting barrel RimWorld Wiki: Wort RimWorld Wiki: Brewery RimWorld Wiki: Hop plant Ludeon 1.6 release note

Use the planner inputs to match your map. Field size controls how much hops you get, while grow speed and season length control how often the barrels can stay full.