Brew Shop - An Android Homebrew App

I noticed something strange while using the export import. I created a quick recipe on my Nexus 5 and exported it to Drive. I then imported it to my Galaxy Tab 3 and the grains were multiplied by a factor of approximately 2.205. The hops and yeast seem to be unaffected. Screenshots attached.

Hey, nice catch. We were mistakenly saving fermentables in lbs instead of kg. Fixed in v1.10.2. Thanks!

Also, the recipe looks a little squished on the right side of your galaxy tab. I'll look into giving that more real estate.

I know I can export to beersmith and then print a recipe but is there an easier way to print?

Not yet. I've been looking into 'sharing' options on android and Google's Cloud Print specifically. We could support this but it looks like a bit of a pain to setup for the end user. What do you think of just a simple 'save' or 'share' as PDF option? Cheers.

Any thoughts of making this available for iphones? I just switched from my android but still can use the android app on that phone.

chuckcomm said:

Any thoughts of making this available for iphones? I just switched from my android but still can use the android app on that phone.

Click to expand...

I'd love to see this working on iOS devices but I personally don't know the first thing about iOS development. If there are any iOS developers out there interested in porting Brew Shop please hit me up!

Any further update on when it's going metric..

Save as a pdf option sounds like it would work

DU99 said:

Any further update on when it's going metric..

Click to expand...

I want to work on full metric support and recipe sharing this weekend. If all goes as planned I should be able to push an update in the next week or so. I'll look to y'all in metric land for feedback on how it's working out.

DU99 said:

Any further update on when it's going metric..

Click to expand...

I just pushed a new version (v1.11) to Google Play that *should* add full metric support to the app. There's a new 'Settings' option in the navigation panel now. Just go in there and switch the 'Units' setting to 'Metric'. There are a couple of questions I still have about metric brewing though...

1) What's an average batch/boil size? Right now I have new recipes default to 5 gallon batches but is there a nice round number of litres that we should use instead?

2) When you buy malts how are the gravity points specified? The malt editor only supports points per lb. per gal. right now but I can add a more metric friendly unit if there's something more appropriate.

Cheers!

most brew 23 litres..
1.037 for americian two row if that helps..

edrews said:

Not yet. I've been looking into 'sharing' options on android and Google's Cloud Print specifically. We could support this but it looks like a bit of a pain to setup for the end user. What do you think of just a simple 'save' or 'share' as PDF option? Cheers.

Click to expand...

Or, just save/share as text would be very useful. Or, Copy recipe to clipboard as text.

..Todd

edrews said:

... I'll look to y'all in metric land for feedback on how it's working out.

Click to expand...

I'm in Canada, we use metric for most things, but for brewing I use a hybrid mash-up of units because recipes/software/articles are typically of American origin. For example, I use Celcius temperatures for fermenting, but not for mashing, because I mentally map the conversion at low temps, but up around 150F, I'd have to calculate, so I just use F instead. I buy malt in kilograms, hops in grams, but deal with it in lbs/oz on brew day, 'cause that's how recipes are easiest to deal with.

Where I'm going with this is it would eventually be cool to see the US/metric choice be selectable for each part of the process, or at least VERY convenient to switch everything back and forth.

But a word of warning, don't make the mistake Beersmith does. It converts the stored values when you change units (presumably). Rounding errors pile up if you switch back and forth, some unit labels don't get updated, it's a complete mess. So keep your stored values in a consistent unit in the background, and just convert them for display purposes as needed.

..Todd

Anything new or exciting here?

Not too much recently. Adding support for extract in degrees Plato, a few extra hop entries, and incorporating a cool new custom icon set. The next big feature I'm working on will be recipe sharing.

Also, I started using a new web app called Waffle.io for tracking the backlog of TODO items. GitHub lets us add TODO items but doesn't support prioritization very well.

https://waffle.io/edrews/BrewShopApp

I worked on a few recipes yesterday and found one thing regularly frustrated me. Thought I'd mention it...

The yeast names would be easier to work with if they had the manufacturer's name and product numbers included in the title. I've been working on Belgian recipes lately and found myself clicking on every Belgian strain listed, reading the description, trying to find the product number I was looking for. The strains are more often than not identified (in published recipes and elsewhere) by their product numbers.

Examples of what I'm looking for:
Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II
White Labs WLP500 Monastery Ale

The quantity of each ingredient used in a recipe appears twice on the recipe screen, once in front of the ingredient name, and once on the right side in red. So perhaps the quantity mentioned in the name line could be removed to make room for the vendors name and yeast strain number.

..Todd

The quantity in red is because you do not have that item in your inventory. Once it is in your inventory that will turn to a green check mark.

Just uploaded v1.12 which adds recipe sharing, a few new recipe and ingredient icons, and a setting to view extract in degrees plato. I'll probably be working on either a 'save to PDF' option or 'share inventory' next.

100amps said:

The yeast names would be easier to work with if they had the manufacturer's name and product numbers included in the title. I've been working on Belgian recipes lately and found myself clicking on every Belgian strain listed, reading the description, trying to find the product number I was looking for. The strains are more often than not identified (in published recipes and elsewhere) by their product numbers.

Click to expand...

We might be able to handle this with a 'sort by' option for yeasts. If 'sort by name' is selected then the product id's will be located where they are currently. If 'sort by product id' is selected then we replace the name with the vendor/product ids and put the names in the description. I think having both appear in the drop down might make it too crowded. Most of the names would be cut off on smaller phones.

sandyeggoxj said:

The quantity in red is because you do not have that item in your inventory. Once it is in your inventory that will turn to a green check mark.

Click to expand...

Ahh... thanks. Not a feature I'd use. I just buy what I need when I need it, 'cept for a few leftovers here and there.

..Todd

New version looks great. Icons are excellent. Love the different glasses.

(Okay, maybe the yeast icon looks a bit like the pigs from Angry Birds, but other than that one...)

Couple thoughts based on only a few minutes use. When adding/editing an ingredient a cancel button to go back to the recipe without making the addition/change. And searching for an ingredient. I'll spend some more time with it later and see what else I can come up with.

Used it for a little while and so far so good. I like the UI. I think it's less cluttered than Beer Smith.

Three suggestions for inventory:
1. Add Done and Cancel buttons to the entry screen. The left arrow says Cancel to me, but it saves the record.
2. Add a description/notes field to the entry screen. Hop Union puts helpful notes on their labels and it'd be nice to be able to enter those.
3. Add an adjuncts section.

alexnova said:

Used it for a little while and so far so good. I like the UI. I think it's less cluttered than Beer Smith.

Three suggestions for inventory:
1. Add Done and Cancel buttons to the entry screen. The left arrow says Cancel to me, but it saves the record.
2. Add a description/notes field to the entry screen. Hop Union puts helpful notes on their labels and it'd be nice to be able to enter those.
3. Add an adjuncts section.

Click to expand...

Hey, thanks for your suggestions. I've been thinking of making a 'cancel' button in the action bar somewhere. I personally like how it always defaults to saving changes because it makes it fast for me to create/edit a recipe. I don't want to cancel very often but the UI is currently a little annoying when I do.

Making the notes editable is a great idea. It should be simple to do and default with the text that currently shows up. I'll add it to our TODO list.

An 'Add Adjuncts' option has been on the TODO list for a little while but I just haven't gotten to it yet. Stay tuned. That should be done in the next couple of months or so.

Cheers!

Is there any way to print from the app?

Beersnob16 said:

Is there any way to print from the app?

Click to expand...

Not yet but I have a 'Save to PDF' feature on the TODO list so you could put it on Google Drive or email it to yourself.

That would be great.

Basic Brewing Radio is getting ready to do a show on software. OP, maybe you'd like to send them a quick summary of what you've developed?

Hi again everyone. Long time no see! I had some time this weekend to work on the app and added a 'Save to PDF' feature. I've had a few members ask me about a way to print from the app for brew day and I think having a PDF version should fit the bill. I also updated the launcher icon to a cooler new version courtesy of our art department. Brew Shop v1.13 is available now for update on Google Play.

Here's a sample of what the PDF looks like...

Cheers!

Anything new on the way? I really like this app.

Wow, I wish I would have known about this app earlier.

Only thing that I driving me crazy right now is that I'm constantly looking for a save button when adding ingredients, recipes, etc. It was intuitive to just click the back arrow. Also:

1) Being able to search the ingredient list rather than scroll
2) Adding ingredients. Custom is nice, but it doesn't appear to save them for future use.

LabRatBrewer said:

Anything new on the way? I really like this app.

Click to expand...

Not much new lately. It's hard for me to focus on app development in the summer when it's so nice outside. One of my good friends is working on a port of the Brew Shop app to iOS devices though. It's coming along really well so far.

Vamptrump said:

Wow, I wish I would have known about this app earlier.

Only thing that I driving me crazy right now is that I'm constantly looking for a save button when adding ingredients, recipes, etc. It was intuitive to just click the back arrow. Also:

1) Being able to search the ingredient list rather than scroll
2) Adding ingredients. Custom is nice, but it doesn't appear to save them for future use.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I've gone back and forth on having a 'Save' or 'Cancel' button. Right now I just like how fast it is to create/tweak a recipe when everything auto-saves.

1) Good call on the search option. As we've been adding ingredients the list has gotten pretty long. I added a 'search' function to our list of TODO items.

https://github.com/edrews/BrewShopApp/issues/48

2) For custom ingredients have you tried adding them to your 'inventory?' I've done that in the past for specific stuff (back yard hops, etc.) and it seemed to work pretty well.

I'll probably ramp up development on the app later this year and start knocking out some of the items on our backlog. Cheers!

Just downloaded the app...very cool!

Nice app!

I know it hasn't been updated in a while but, mash options would be awesome. I mostly use this to keep track of my inventory. The ability to specify leaf or pellet hops would be nice. Also a adjuncts section. Thanks

Great app, I've been using it for a couple years.
I took a break from brewing and re-opened the app recently only to find all of my recipes gone!

Any idea what might have happened?
Might an update have erased them all.
Any backup folder/directory where they're stored?

Thanks!