Do we have yet another juicy post to keep your eyes glued!?
We seem to be getting closer to the end of the year and this week still shows no signs of the team slowing down. Not one bit! So keep reading to get your quick weekly fix on all things Ale Abbey, the one (and only) Monastery Brewery tycoon you didn't know you'll need in your life!
A gentle reminder that IndieDB is running its Indie of the Year Awards right now and we would be extremely thankful if you could cast your vote for Ale Abbey by clicking on the banner below! Make sure you check the rest of the contestants as you can vote for as many of them as you like ;)
On with the actual news!
-- Building around the Cellars
Ah yes. The issue of tying everything together... without it being a sterile or unmemorable attempt. What do the outside walls need to look like? Will the attached rooms make a difference? What do we do with the cavities between walls, floors, and ceilings?
We do go about all of these, almost constantly. But that last one... we did have some fun joking around it with the team this week. Eventually, we ended up finding ways to fill dead space/void making it both creative and still free of distraction gameplay-wise!
Although these first attempts really look good with the Cellars, we do expect that the process will be as creative (and fun!) when we do get to the other rooms.
And that small detail in the cavity...
We are thinking of adding variations to these details - some suggestions about easter eggs already made it to the discussion - but we would definitely need to revisit this subject at a later stage. So, keep your eyes peeled!
-- Fermenters, bigger, gorgeous, and alive!
It has been an absolute blast working on the upgrades of the fermenters these last couple of weeks and we couldn't be happier with how obvious the level of detail we managed to achieve is. The team agrees that - especially after adding lighting to a scene - their design really pops; almost as if they are already hard at work fermenting some amazing beer.
From adding the hatches to accompanying them with structural and textural detail, we are very proud of the end result!
And a quick extra for you, the fruit presses that will be used to give extra flavor to your Monastery's brews, specifically those inspired by krieks, lambics, Italian grape ales, etc!
-- New character portraits
We also decided to give more personality to the already high-spirited Monks and Nuns of the Abbey! This time not with animations, but by giving them more elaborate character portraits.
Their in-game looks are already solidified with their animations and design. But Ale Abbey is a tycoon game and tycoons have menus. So we decided to go a step further and ensure that their depiction in those Menus (when assigning them to tasks like writing recipes and brewing) is also extraordinary!
Although already amazing, we have a few more surprises in store for you... be ready next week!
-- Stuck fermentation in homebrewing
Everything looked good, your yeast picked up and your gravity measurements showed some activity. And then it happened. It's been 48-72 hours and your yeast just stalls. That gravity measurement won't budge. Your yeast has decided to stop fermenting altogether.
Your fermentation just got stuck. And that could be attributed to many reasons.. Maybe the temperature in your storage/cellar is too low or too high. Maybe the yeast you pitched was too little or too much. Maybe your wort was not nutrient enough to sustain its development. Or maybe, your yeast was already not viable. Unless you did something terribly wrong preparing your wort, you can't call it quits!
Here are a few things you can try that will most probably save your beer:
- make EXTRA sure the temperature around your fermentation container is the right one for the yeast you use, and if needed adjust it
- pitch extra yeast, especially if you can determine this would fix the problem using a hemocytometer
- krausen adding 10%-20% of your wort's total volume of vigorously fermenting wort to jumpstart the original
"Know the yeast and know your wort, in a hundred brews you will never be in peril!"
- some brewlosopher somewhere
That is all for this week! Thank you for your time and enjoy your weekend responsibly ;)
-- Hammer & Ravens
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