Brewing beverage concoctions in ARK: Survival Evolved provides survivors with unique tactical advantages and essential taming opportunities. Among these items, beer stands out as a valuable consumable required for passively taming the Chalicotherium while offering temporary combat buffs during player vs. player battles. Understanding the necessary structures, resource ratios, and processing times is essential for establishing an efficient brewing setup in your base.
Crafting and Setting Up the Beer Barrel
Before brewing can begin, survivors must unlock the Beer Barrel engram, which becomes available at level 36. Constructing the barrel requires specific building materials, including stone, wood, metal ingots, and crystal. Once crafted, the barrel needs a continuous water source, which is best supplied by connecting it directly to an irrigated pipe network.
Proper placement of the structure ensures that irrigation functions without interruption throughout the brewing cycle. If the barrel loses its water connection, the brewing process will pause until water access is restored. Maintaining a secure base location for your brewing barrels prevents raids from disrupting long production timelines.
Gathering the Core Brewing Ingredients
To produce a single batch of Beer Liquid, you must supply the irrigated Beer Barrel with 50 berries of any variety and 40 thatch. While any berry type works, using common berries like Tintoberries or Amarberries helps preserve rare species for kibble production. Thatch can be gathered easily in large quantities using a Megaloceros or a metal pickaxe.
Loading the barrel with multiple stacks of berries and thatch allows continuous batching over extended periods. Standard server settings require a fermenting period of six real-time hours for the ingredients to transform into Beer Liquid. Survivors often fill several barrels simultaneously to create a steady supply of liquid.
Extracting and Utilizing Beer Jars
Once the fermentation process is complete, the Beer Liquid remains stored inside the barrel until extracted. To collect the finished drink, place an empty Water Jar into the Beer Barrel inventory. The container automatically converts the stored liquid into a full Beer Jar, making it ready for immediate use.
Beer Jars serve as the primary food source for passively taming the Chalicotherium when placed in your last hotbar slot. When consumed by survivors, beer provides increased melee damage and damage resistance at the cost of rapid stamina depletion. Managing hangover debuffs after consumption is crucial for surviving combat encounters after the buff expires.
