Promash

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gibfried

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I just downloaded the trial version a few days ago, and I must say, "I'm impressed".

I'm thinking of making it my little Christmas present. Do we have any positive or negative feedback out there? It's only about 25 dollars...but I haven't quite decided yet....
 
Only positive here. With All Grain brewing I find it invaluable but it has great features for DME/LME created recipes as well.
 
i just got it today and i love it already. i have the full copy and i think its just really great.
 
i can't wait to get more brewing stuff so that i can put it in my inventory!!!! lol i saw that and it was worth it to me!!! then i can just look in my inventory and see what i needed to order next/more of!
 
orfy said:
I'm just about to go AG so I'll take a look when I've not had 4 beers.

How long is the eval for?

I believe you can save a recipe 3 times, and a brew session...perhaps 5? More than enough leeway to play around with it and actually do a recipe and a brew session. The eval version is not time or feature limited.
 
Anyone ever use beer smith? Just wondering how it compares?
http://www.beersmith.com/

How up to date is Promash's database? I find the hop AAU's to be quite different than most other sources state them as.

And is there a way to get promash to calculate and estimated FG based on the Yeast you are using's apparent attenuation rate?

Over all though I like this program. [edit: man my typing is getting bad!]
 
with the full version, you can change the AAU's to what you have. i was playin with that today! you can change pretty much every thing!
 
My only complaint regarding ProMash is the interface not being all it could, but for functionality it's one of the best.

I've been playing with Beersmith, and I'd say it's comparable and has a nicer frontend.
 
My only complaint about it is that it doesn't seem to calculate color values very well when you specify dark candy sugar. the sugar darkens it but promash makes it seem like it can make a beer black!
 
I have the full version. I guess I'll have to find out the proper AAU's for the hops avialable around here, but for ball park the defalut values seem off compared to other references. Or do you find them to be more accurate than other sources??

Yeah, for some beers the color has been almost right on, but my barleywine comes out as coal black but it's actually a dark ruby color.

I've just started playing witht the demo of beersmith. One thing I like is that you can download ingredient updates off their website or from third parties. Also you can use the "convert" function to convert an extract recipe to AG, though I haven't been able to make any sence out of getting it to convert AG to Extract. But then I haven't spent enough time with it either.

What IBU formula is the best too follow? I've been using "Rager" but is that the standard?
 
I'll add to the "Buy It!" catagory. It's great. I agree on the interface being a little rough, but it does everything.
 
At this point I'm just a grain/extract brewer. I have promash because the recipies that my LHBS uses. I also use it for recipies that I have made up. The only prob I have had is that they didn't notify when the BJCP updated their catagories and the program was changed. I also haven't noticed an update for the program since March of this year.
 
I use promash and love it. My only complaint is that they don't update their grain database and hop selections. There are some new hops and promash doesn't list them . I just use one of the existing hops and change the AAU
values. I just make a note in the session that I did that and record the actual Hop variety.
 
you can add any type of grain, hop, yeast, etc. that you want with the full version. you just use the tabs at the bottom of the main screen and add what you want. its super easy to use. once you have an inventory built up, you can make it so that the only thing that shows up is what you have in stock.
 
I'm desigining a recipe on it for tomorow's brew day and found out something. :confused:

There is a drastic difference in IBU calculations between the different hop calculators. Which one is the standard.

When I was going through the tutorial it had me set system setting Hop calculations to Garetz. I worked up a recipe ballenced the hops to style guidelines. I noticed from another promash recipe that I was using as a guide that they had used Rager. I swithced it ot match and my IBU jumped from 23.8 to 36.4 just by changeing the calculator style.

Now, style guidelines are 20-30 IBU, Which calculator style do I use? :confused:
 
ScottT said:
I'm desigining a recipe on it for tomorow's brew day and found out something. :confused:

There is a drastic difference in IBU calculations between the different hop calculators. Which one is the standard.

When I was going through the tutorial it had me set system setting Hop calculations to Garetz. I worked up a recipe ballenced the hops to style guidelines. I noticed from another promash recipe that I was using as a guide that they had used Rager. I swithced it ot match and my IBU jumped from 23.8 to 36.4 just by changeing the calculator style.

Now, style guidelines are 20-30 IBU, Which calculator style do I use? :confused:

This is from the Promash website:

"Many brewers ask us for our recommendation as to which Hop Formula is best for them, here is our opinion (please note this is an opinion only):

Brewers performing Full Wort Boils: Tinseth
Brewers performing Concentrated Boils: Rager"

I don't know what Garetz would be, but this might be helpful. I know I'll be checking mine.

GOOD question bro.
 
I've been wondering the same thing. I did a little research online and what I have seen listed a few times is:

(1) Concentrated Wort Boil (boil is smaller than your batch size): use Rager.

(2) Full boil: use Tinseth. With Tinseth the conentration factor is determined by:
Concentration Factor = (preboil volume / postboil volume)

Do NOT use Tinseth for Concentrated wort boil.

I believe they state the same thing on Promash's FAQ.


This sound about right?
 
Hop IBU Formula By:

A number of different IBU calculation formulas have been incorporated into ProMash. You can select the default method you wish ProMash to utilize here.


Rager:

IBU formula published by Zymurgy Magazine. Vol. 13, No. 4. Special Hops Issue 1990.

Garetz:

Author of 'Using Hops'. Published 1994 by 'Hop Tech'.

Tinseth:

IBU formula published at http://realbeer.com

Note: If you change to Tinseth's formula, a small dialog will immediately pop up asking you for the concentration factor. Tinseth's formula works of the Average volume of the wort, and this concentration factor will allow ProMash to determine that for you automatically. The basic formula for the concentration factor is ( preboil volume / postboil volume ). So, if you normally start out with 8 gallons of wort, and boil that down to 6, the concentration factor would be 8 / 6, or 1.30. Once this factor is set ProMash will then automatically calculate the Average Wort gravity to determine IBU's.

Generic:

Based on the Basic Whole Hop Utilization Table (table 9-3) from 'Designing Great Beers', by Ray Daniels, published in 1996 by Brewers Publications. Note that for pellet hops, Daniels presents a separate utilization table. However, ProMash uses a default scalar for increased utilization in pellet hops, and differences may arise (when using pellet hops) because of this. If you choose to use the Generic equation for hop IBU calculation's and also use pellet hops, we recommend setting the default increase in utilization for pellet hops to 8%.

Help generated by SOS Help! Info-Author
 
tasty stuff! thanks Scott. i need to get into my ProMash and fart around more. you guy's have made me wonder??????
 
Denny's Brew said:
Anyone ever use beer smith? Just wondering how it compares?
http://www.beersmith.com/
I've used Beersmith, and for extract or steeped grain I like it much better than Promash. As far as a comparison, they both have a lot of the same features, but their UI's are so much different that it's tough to compare the two...BeerSmith is a lot closer to Beer Recipator, and I think they're both a lot easier to use for beginning brewers.
 
it's just cool we have these different tools to choose from now. sure makes brewing fun and as technical as you want to get. i still don't use all the features of my Pro Mash.
El P, how was the fishing?
 
DeRoux's Broux said:
El P, how was the fishing?
The fishing was great :) but the catching was a little spotty. :( The weather was wonderful, not too many people on the water, but we stumbled into a bunch of sand trout and couldn't get away from them. They were huge sandies (18 - 20"), and they'll make for a nice fish fry today, but we just couldn't find the real fish. Still, it was a wonderful day. :cool:
 
Denny's Brew said:
And is there a way to get promash to calculate and estimated FG based on the Yeast you are using's apparent attenuation rate?

Over all though I like this program. [edit: man my typing is getting bad!]

Denny, when you brew, do a brewing session for the recipe your doing. enter in your OG, and put at what temp the wort was checked. it will make the correction for you and give you an estimated FG.
 
No gulls working at all...the warm weather is keeping the shrimp from moving much right now. There were lots of liars out, but it was the sitting pelicans that always seemed to be right on top of the sandie schools...almost every fish we caught had a big pelican bite in it's back.
 
we're seeing more and more brown pelicans. 3-4 years ago, you'd hardly ever see one.

i'm sure you caught a buzz ????
 
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