Moving away from "kits".

Craig311 · 09-08-2008, 05:39 PM

The owners of my LHBS put together kits (extract, PM, or all grain) for their "Clonebrews" recipes. I have several extracts under my belt and just did my first PM yesterday.

I plan on continuing PMs but would like to use more grain than the PM recipes call for. I'm thinking the next logical step would be to get some brewing software. With something like Beersmith, would I have the ability to plug in the amount of grain I plan on mashing(along with other variables) and then have it tell me what amount of DME to add? If so, this opens up a whole new world of buying bulk DME, grain, etc. and then picking up hops/yeast as needed. Not to mention more control.

I realize that with a larger brewpot and an Immersion Chiller I'm well on my way to All Grain. But until then, would some brewing software be worth the investment for my PMs?

WBC · 09-08-2008, 05:48 PM

Beersmith is downloadable and is a free 21 day trial. You will really need this and so do it now and see how you like it. There is full instructions in the help drop down menu.

Ref: BeerSmith Brewing Software, Recipes, Blog, Wiki and Discussion Forum

FlyGuy · 09-08-2008, 07:04 PM

A good software package for creating brewing recipes is very helpful, and allows you to experiment a bit on the computer. It won't replace a solid knowledge of recipe formulation or brewing experience, but it is much easier to 'play around' with recipes using software.

Beersmith is an excellent package, and my first pick. I have tried all the big packages, and highly recommend Beersmith.

A reasonable (and free!) alternative is Strangebrew Java. It isn't as comprehensive as the commercial packages, but it does the basics very well. It can be downloaded for free here:
SourceForge.net: StrangeBrew Java Project

Padstack31 · 09-08-2008, 07:08 PM

brewing software is a great investment for any serious homebrewer...I think most offer free trial, I would just experiment with them all first and pick the one you like best...check out the message board for brewing software...

Craig311 · 09-08-2008, 07:20 PM

Thanks for the replies! My hope is to get my mashing process down and play around with the variables doing PMs until I'm comfortable with both the process and my equipment. During this time I'm going to get a larger brewpot, IC, and some brewing software. I'll be All Grain in no time!

Evan! · 09-08-2008, 07:28 PM

IIWY, if you want to get into designing your own recipes, there are two books that you must own. The first is Ray Daniels' Designing Great Beers. It goes through many (not all!) styles in an in-depth manner, the history, the style character, the ingredients, etc. Second, JZ & Palmer's recipe book, Brewing Classic Styles. It's got great recipes for each BJCP style. I know that having a recipe book seems like it'd kind of defeat the purpose of designing your own recipes, but I often use them as a jumping-off point and adjust from there. They're great to have as a guideline. My last 6 batches or so, since I got the book, were modeled after their recipes. I did this because they were styles that were new to me. By no means do I follow them religiously, it's just nice to have a starting point. And each batch, so far, has come out beautifully. My Wiezenbock, after failing on my first two attempts, is one of the very best beers I've made out of the 79 under my belt. Now, there's no shortage of JZ-haterz out there, but I'm impressed with the recipes so far, and highly recommend it if you're trying out a style you've never brewed before.

Craig311 · 09-08-2008, 07:46 PM

Thanks Evan. I definitely plan on picking both of those books up. Didn't realize there were JZ haters out there!