What do all these abbreviations and technical words mean?

The specific gravity (SG) of a liquid tells you how much more or less dense the liquid is than water.

Water has a specific gravity of 1 000. You can convert SG to Brix or Plato with this calculator.

The original gravity or density is a measure of the fermentable and unfermentable substances in the beer before fermentation.

OG gives the brewer an idea of the potential alcoholic strength of the final product.

The final gravity (FG)is a measure of the unfermantable substances remaining in beer after fermentation.

When FG is mathematically compared to OG, the exact alcoholic strength can be determined.

The higher the FG, the sweeter the beer.

IBU: International Bitterness Units. This is a measure of the actual bitterness of a beer as contributed by the alpha acid from hops. I measure the bitterness with the Tinseth estimation method.

EBC: The color of malt and beer is expressed in EBC (European Brewery Convention) color units.

You can easily convert this to SRM using this color converter.