Making my own brewing software

Hey guys and gals,
So, I've decided to make some brewing software in what little free time I have and would like your opinions on what should it should do. Right now I only have it barely designed (nothing works yet, but it sure looks pretty!) in Mac OS X. I plan on making it available on most operating systems in the future (Windows, Mac, Linux), it's just that I own a Mac and that's what's readily available to me at the moment.

Anyway, here is a picture of what I have so far.

What you see is what I have right now. A list of the brews you've entered in will be populated in the table on the left, and when you click on a brew in that table, the details will appear on the right side.

I really haven't worked out how it will work, but all I need from you guys is help on what it should do. Thanks a bunch!

Edit: I realize I left off the final gravity in that window

Looks like it'll work, but the GUI alone isn't enough to sway me from BeerSmith.

Calculate an estimated OG and FG. Then allow the user to input actual OG and FG. Also calculate IBUs and SRM. Don't forget to include several IBU algorithms (Tinseth, Rager, etc).

Include a carbonation calculator for volumes of CO2 based on the carbonation method (force, sugar, DME, etc).

Add a water approximation tool. BeerSmith's water tool is good, but it won't automatically calculate the optimum salts to use in order to approximate a particular water profile.

Add an easy to use inventory feature.

That's probably enough to keep you busy for a while...

Well I am a fellow Mac user, so I would be pumped to have this software. Let me know if you need me to test it for you or maybe some help.

Thanks for that list of requirements Yuri, that's exactly what I am looking for. I might have to ask you some questions about some of them later, but for now - when you say inventory feature, are you talking about something to keep track of your brewing supplies?

ryan_boc said:

when you say inventory feature, are you talking about something to keep track of your brewing supplies?

Click to expand...

Yup!

I really like BeerSmith

If you plan on making this multi-platform, make sure you start with a multi-platform windowing tool like QT. Honestly, instead of starting from scratch, I would take a good look at QBrew and go form there.

http://www.usermode.org/code.html

The toughest part to get right is the bittering curves. I haven't seen a software package yet that handles high IBU levels correctly.

david_42 said:

The toughest part to get right is the bittering curves. I haven't seen a software package yet that handles high IBU levels correctly.

Click to expand...

Attenuation, as well. From what I've seen, none of the existing software packages can factor in that an addition of a simple sugar will effectively ferment 100%. I don't think any of them will make adjustments for the attenuation of various yeast strains, either; they'll just make a basic assumption, something like 75% attenuation, and apply that regardless of recipe, mash temp, and yeast.

Now, it could well be that there are simply too many moving parts to do an accurate number - but it sure would be nice to see improvement here, as well.

I like BeerSmith, too.

JimC said:

If you plan on making this multi-platform, make sure you start with a multi-platform windowing tool like QT. Honestly, instead of starting from scratch, I would take a good look at QBrew and go form there.

http://www.usermode.org/code.html

Click to expand...

I started this off in xcode, but I have recently decided to use Java to write this software, so that I'll only have to write it once. Also, for an application this simple, I think Java would be the best choice for doing it rather quickly.

Are you planning on providing source code and the freedom to utilize it?

Kevin Dean said:

Are you planning on providing source code and the freedom to utilize it?

Click to expand...

I am, and donations will be welcome

the_bird said:

I don't think any of them will make adjustments for the attenuation of various yeast strains, either; they'll just make a basic assumption, something like 75% attenuation, and apply that regardless of recipe, mash temp, and yeast.

Click to expand...

BTP lets you set attenuation. I believe default is 75%, but you can adjust.

rdwj said:

BTP lets you set attenuation. I believe default is 75%, but you can adjust.

Click to expand...

I know, but that's what I don't want. What I really want, in my ideal world, for the program to be able to estimate what the attenuation SHOULD BE, based on the variables of yeast strain, mash temperature, fermentability of recipe adjuncts, and possibly fermentation temperature. I know, I know, too much to ask - but it'd be real nice!

Couldn't it at least tell me, when I was doing my Belgian, that the yeast should have 80% attenuation on the sugars I got from the malt, but 100% on the candi sugar, so that actual attenuation for the whole thing ought to be around 83% or so?

the_bird said:

I know, but that's what I don't want. What I really want, in my ideal world, for the program to be able to estimate what the attenuation SHOULD BE, based on the variables of yeast strain, mash temperature, fermentability of recipe adjuncts, and possibly fermentation temperature. I know, I know, too much to ask - but it'd be real nice!

Couldn't it at least tell me, when I was doing my Belgian, that the yeast should have 80% attenuation on the sugars I got from the malt, but 100% on the candi sugar, so that actual attenuation for the whole thing ought to be around 83% or so?

Click to expand...

Wow, so I just realized I know next to nothing about the intricacies of brewing (i'm still a noob). Hope you guys don't mind if you get drafted to share with me some of your knowledge on the subject

ryan_boc said:

Wow, so I just realized I know next to nothing about the intricacies of brewing (i'm still a noob). Hope you guys don't mind if you get drafted to share with me some of your knowledge on the subject

Click to expand...

Have you studied the formulas in books like Designing Great Beers and How To Brew? There are all kinds of formulas to estimate bitterness and color and gravity - but unless you have a real handle on those formulas and get them right, your software is going to be next to useless. I'm not going to even bother downloading a free piece of software if it doesn't at least calculate those things (none of which I see in your screen shot).

I know you're shooting for the Mac market, but be aware that ProMash and BeerSmith (and I'm assuming BeerTools Pro) have all kinds of neat little calculators for things like alcohol percentage, attenuation, even making adjustments for a refractometer. If you're ultimately competing with those guys (if this isn't limited to Mac users only), they pack a lot of information in a piece of software that's pretty damn cheap.

Don't want to discourage you - but to make this useful, you're got some studying to do, methinks!