Brewing software

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Wild Duk

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When switching to all grain, which brewing software is the best out there. I think there are a few to choose from

thanks
 
i have a mac so use beer tools pro, since ive never used any other programs i have no basis for comparison, but i like it and cant think of anything that i could want it to do that it doesnt do.
 
+1 on Beersmith. Download the trial and play around with it. It's pretty easy to use.
 
I have Pro-Mash and it seems to work fine (no trial though). Honestly, I'd recommend BeerSmith because the guy who developed the software is active on HBT and quick to help out.
 
...the guy who developed the software is active on HBT and quick to help out.
The level of information here is unbelievable. What a place.

I didn't know that Beer Smith was that closely related to HBT....I will for sure be purchasing that one. I've been using beertools, and it's ok, but not really spectacular.
 
As a dedicated Machead, I use Beer Alchemy.

+1, Beer Alchemy has been great. The authors actually respond when there's issues as well, which wasn't the case for me with BTP. BTP's website is flashy and all, but take the time to read through the forums to see all the unresolved issues and user requests. Are they still advertising the "new version" from 2006? They have cheerleaders here, but I can't recommend it myself. PC or Mac.

Give Beersmith a try if you're on a PC, I've heard really positive feedback about it and there's a trial version, so you can give it a spin first. BTP doesn't do that either.
 
Pro mash does in fact have a 'trail' actually its the whole program but you only get to save your work a certain number of times. The guys over there were also very quick to respond with any questions that I had. But the program is really pretty self explanatory. I actually prefer Pro Mash over Beer Smith. But that is just my $0.02
 
Here's a question for the crowd: Why use beer software at all? What does it get me or how does it make my beer better?

Right now, my all-grain brewing is pretty mechanical: 1.5-2 qts of mash water to each pound of grain (enough to cover the grain + about 2cm in the mash tun), 170 or 176 strike water temp to get either a 152 or 158 mash temp, mash for an hour, raise the mash to 170F for 15 min, lauter, boil for an hour adding hops as appropriate for the style. Any math that is done is done on my fingers and I don't worry so much about mash efficiency or my water Ph...it all just seems to work out. I write down what worked and what didn't in a note-book to remember for later .

Do software users do this, or obey whatever the computer gonks out?
 
Here's a question for the crowd: Why use beer software at all? What does it get me or how does it make my beer better?

Right now, my all-grain brewing is pretty mechanical: 1.5-2 qts of mash water to each pound of grain (enough to cover the grain + about 2cm in the mash tun), 170 or 176 strike water temp to get either a 152 or 158 mash temp, mash for an hour, raise the mash to 170F for 15 min, lauter, boil for an hour adding hops as appropriate for the style. Any math that is done is done on my fingers and I don't worry so much about mash efficiency or my water Ph...it all just seems to work out. I write down what worked and what didn't in a note-book to remember for later .

Do software users do this, or obey whatever the computer gonks out?

I don't have enough fingers to track 4 different hop additions of two different types of hop, SRM, estimated OG, IBUs, and fit all those into style guidelines. Plus, inventory features are nice, calenders with alarms for different additions in secondary are handy, and the recipe feature based off of inventory is fun to play with during a slow day at work.

It's another tool. I don't need many of the items I brew with, but it's handy.
 
I don't think you need brewing software, but it takes some of the drudgery out of calculations and it lets you quickly and easily see what changes when you substitute various grains or quantities in a recipe you are designing.

I don't use any specialized software right now though. I work out all the details I need for brewing on paper, starting with the recipe to calculate how much of each grain I need. Desired OG is an input to that process. I don't care much about precise SRM. IBUs are the hardest calculation. I have no problem tracking hop additions of any number of hops because I pre-measure them and put them in little cups with a label on them to indicate what they are, how much, and when to add. Pretty simple.
 
Brewing software just makes it easier to set up a recipe and I input all of my information such as gravities into the program, then I a record for each of my beers.
 
I don't think you need brewing software, but it takes some of the drudgery out of calculations and it lets you quickly and easily see what changes when you substitute various grains or quantities in a recipe you are designing.

I don't use any specialized software right now though. I work out all the details I need for brewing on paper, starting with the recipe to calculate how much of each grain I need. Desired OG is an input to that process. I don't care much about precise SRM. IBUs are the hardest calculation. I have no problem tracking hop additions of any number of hops because I pre-measure them and put them in little cups with a label on them to indicate what they are, how much, and when to add. Pretty simple.


While I still believe it is true that you don't need brewing software, I do want to encourage people to give it a try. I dl'd it yesterday, and I'm amazed at what Beersmith lets me do. I am now completely sold on Beersmith. It is so incredibly easy to design a new recipe or play around with an existing one, and see how this or that small change affects the outcome. There is a ton of information about the various malts, adjuncts, styles, water quality for major cities, along with convenience factors such as being able to build a database of recipes and track your actual results to calculated, and so forth.

And, Beersmith runs perfectly fine under Wine on my Slackware Linux system!

I'm buying this program.
 
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