Does brewtoad make anyone else want to shoot themselves in the face?

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RachmaelBenApplebaum

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So I was whipping up a basic outline for a recipe on what is now brewtoad and when I went to add "fermentables" it kindly informed me that "I've used rahr 2-row pale" in TWO OTHER RECIPES. Why should I have to click through or be reminded of something I don't really care about, much less don't already know. Anyone else think the program and weird social aspects of the conversion from hopville is crap?
 
My IBUs all seem suspiciously different on Brewtoad. Hopville had its issues, some of which Brewtoad solved, but overall it's worse.
 
agreed brewtoad is slightly frustrating. Having to go to a separate brew log to input measured readings is annoying.
 
also had the rye malt in all my recipes changed to vienna for whatever reason. problems might have been fixed but a lot was lost in translation. Too cheap for beersmith for whatever X amt. of reasons.
 
agreed brewtoad is slightly frustrating. Having to go to a separate brew log to input measured readings is annoying.

Yes that's a pain too. I like the way Hopville calculated your efficiencies for you when you input the data.
 
I, too, miss hopville. Anyone know of another online tool? I like beersmith, but would really rather my recipes available online.
 
Doesn't Beersmith have a cloud option that allows you to keep recipes online, and to share them?

Kind of, except you're limited to 10 recipes unless you pay a monthly fee, and it doesn't work well at all. For instance, it keeps telling me my recipe "failed to transfer to cloud" but then there are three copies of the recipe on the cloud site.

I liked Hopville a lot. Brewtoad is... OK. I daren't change batch sizes, etc when I'm on my phone's browser (you know... like if I'm brewing or at the LHBS) or it will adjust some of the malts but not all of them, or sometimes just the hops, or sometimes it won't adjust any of them but when I set the batch size back it cuts all my ingredients in half besides water.

The main reason I don't use Beersmith is that it demands information I don't have about my water profile, and information I CAN'T have for my mash profile because I BIAB. I've heard you can create a profile to fix this but it looks complicated.
 
BeerSmith is possibly the most complete, flexible and individualize-able application out here. BeerSmith's calculations seem to be spot on. Although it has some issues as to its UI and an apparent counter-intuitiveness, IMO, after reading the manual a bit closer and playing around, it is probably all you need and want. And I'm still learning.

Alas it's not free or an online app, but there is an android version available. I transfer the .bsmx files and just take my laptop into the "brew room."
 
That doesn't happen with me, I just click "add" and it's added.

While that's helpful, I still don't find the recipe limit or the paid tier to be acceptable - needing to plan ahead and put the recipe I need into cloud storage beforehand is basically the opposite of what "cloud" should mean for the end-user. Additionally, syncing recipes directly with my mac or linux PC should be a feature.
 
While that's helpful, I still don't find the recipe limit or the paid tier to be acceptable - needing to plan ahead and put the recipe I need into cloud storage beforehand is basically the opposite of what "cloud" should mean for the end-user. Additionally, syncing recipes directly with my mac or linux PC should be a feature.

Not sure what you mean. I was just saying that Brewtoad works fine for me
 
Ah, I thought you meant that adding cloud recipes in Beersmith worked for you. My bad.

Brewtoad works for me too unless I edit recipes in Chrome for Android. Maybe I should try Firefox. Or maybe I should throw this awful android away and dust off my iPhone 4S.
 
I really like brewtoad, the things that bother me about it are:

1. if you don't uncheck the "auto-scale ingredients" button, it f#%@s s%$# up.

2. Some of my ingredients from old hopville recipes are different.

3. Lots of ingredients from hopville are gone
 
Brewtoad is definitely a step up in interface design, but a big step back in usability and functionality. I'm migrating to beersmith anyway, though, so I guess it won't make much difference to me. I've been making it work for a few months now, but will be glad to see the end of it.
 
I use Brewer's Friend (http://www.brewersfriend.com/) but it has a really annoying limit in the number of recipes before it wants you to pay (I think it is 5... which is really low). It seems to work and stays pretty much out of your way. It decent. Wish they would go ad supported and just allow folks to use it for free. I would be totally fine with that.

I dunno, other folks may hate Brewer's Friend. Just not sure. It popped up in a pinch and I have been using it since.
 
You should really try Brewers-assistant.com

Not many do, it is actually a copy of Beer Smith more or less, but all free and web based.

Some of the interface things are bit wonky, but overall it works pretty well.
The built in brew logs and timers are nice.

Its free, so why not give it a whirl.
 
Kind of, except you're limited to 10 recipes unless you pay a monthly fee, and it doesn't work well at all. For instance, it keeps telling me my recipe "failed to transfer to cloud" but then there are three copies of the recipe on the cloud site.

I liked Hopville a lot. Brewtoad is... OK. I daren't change batch sizes, etc when I'm on my phone's browser (you know... like if I'm brewing or at the LHBS) or it will adjust some of the malts but not all of them, or sometimes just the hops, or sometimes it won't adjust any of them but when I set the batch size back it cuts all my ingredients in half besides water.

The main reason I don't use Beersmith is that it demands information I don't have about my water profile, and information I CAN'T have for my mash profile because I BIAB. I've heard you can create a profile to fix this but it looks complicated.

I've never used Brewtoad, but with the title of this thread I couldn't help but check it out! (thought Brewtoad might be a user name...)

As for BeerSmith, IMO it rocks! I just use the cloud for transferring recipe's between devices and I keep a couple "next to brew" recipe's in case my truck happens to auto pilot to my LHBS on the way home from work. As for BIB, it's as simple as about 3 clicks of the mouse. Takes a bit to figure out all the bells and whistles, but is usable even at it's most basic functions. Watch the videos on the BS site, and you're off.....
 
<Insert shameless plug for BrewTarget here>

I really like BrewTarget. It's also free.

</shameless plug>
 
roastquake said:
I really like brewtoad, the things that bother me about it are:

1. if you don't uncheck the "auto-scale ingredients" button, it f#%@s s%$# up.

2. Some of my ingredients from old hopville recipes are different.

3. Lots of ingredients from hopville are gone

+1

Brewtoad is ok, but it frustrates me sometimes with the above quirks. I've also saved draft recipes and had them disappear.
 
I used to use Hopville until they were bought out, can't say i'm a huge fan of BrewToad. I have been messing with BeerSmith for a while and I have to say I am hooked!
 
I used Hopville when I first started brewing and attempting to formulate recipes. But I haven't tried it since it switched over to brewtoad. I switched over to the BrewPal app instead. It only costs a couple bucks and it works really well for all of the recipes I've put into it. Super easy to adjust to different types of recipes (extract, steeping grains, all-grain), mash techniques (infusion, step, decoction), batch size, boil size, typical efficiency, or just about anything else. Every time I've thought, "hey I wish this app could do _blank_," I've been able to look through the options and find a way to do it.

Granted it isn't as detailed as Beersmith - no water chemistry stuff. But it is pretty darn good for the price, and it seems to get updated on a pretty regular basis.
 
I liked the old Beer Calculus.

I finally figured out BrewToad and it's okay. Also have seen some changes so I guess it's a work in progress.
 
I am undecided on brewtoad. I used to exclusively use beer calculus. However on some things I simply can't trust brewtoad - for instance, an english barleywine recipe shows as 12.7% ABV in beersmith, and ~8% ABV in brewtoad. Seems like a lot of the ingredients are missing too (no fault of the guys making it, I'm sure it takes forever to get all of that stuff in there).
 
Doesn't Beersmith have a cloud option that allows you to keep recipes online, and to share them?

Kind of, except you're limited to 10 recipes unless you pay a monthly fee, and it doesn't work well at all. For instance, it keeps telling me my recipe "failed to transfer to cloud" but then there are three copies of the recipe on the cloud site.

I liked Hopville a lot. Brewtoad is... OK. I daren't change batch sizes, etc when I'm on my phone's browser (you know... like if I'm brewing or at the LHBS) or it will adjust some of the malts but not all of them, or sometimes just the hops, or sometimes it won't adjust any of them but when I set the batch size back it cuts all my ingredients in half besides water.

The main reason I don't use Beersmith is that it demands information I don't have about my water profile, and information I CAN'T have for my mash profile because I BIAB. I've heard you can create a profile to fix this but it looks complicated.

I've never used Brewtoad, but with the title of this thread I couldn't help but check it out! (thought Brewtoad might be a user name...)

As for BeerSmith, IMO it rocks! I just use the cloud for transferring recipe's between devices and I keep a couple "next to brew" recipe's in case my truck happens to auto pilot to my LHBS on the way home from work. As for BIB, it's as simple as about 3 clicks of the mouse. Takes a bit to figure out all the bells and whistles, but is usable even at it's most basic functions. Watch the videos on the BS site, and you're off.....

I stopped using Hopville for BeerSmith a long time ago for recipe development. But I already paid for the BeerSmith software, so I refuse to pay again for worldwide access to all my recipes. So I still entered the recipe on Hopville for free web access and sharing and what not. Since the Brewtoad switch, I hate it so much that I refuse to use it, period. If I really think I'm going to need the recipe, I either just write it down, or transcribe and save it to Google Drive.
 
I stopped using Hopville for BeerSmith a long time ago for recipe development. But I already paid for the BeerSmith software, so I refuse to pay again for worldwide access to all my recipes. So I still entered the recipe on Hopville for free web access and sharing and what not. Since the Brewtoad switch, I hate it so much that I refuse to use it, period. If I really think I'm going to need the recipe, I either just write it down, or transcribe and save it to Google Drive.

I feel your pain. I actually started playing around with a DropBox-based ghetto sync for BeerSmith recipes today. What I'm doing probably won't work on a non-rooted phone, but I'll post steps once I get a reproducible, simple workflow put together.
 
+1

Brewtoad is ok, but it frustrates me sometimes with the above quirks. I've also saved draft recipes and had them disappear.

Yea that pizzed me off early on too, then I found that my drafts had not disappeared, I just had to use the search bar to find them. Something I don't think I should have to do. So now I just publish my recipes whether they are ready or not
 
I use Brewer's Friend (http://www.brewersfriend.com/) but it has a really annoying limit in the number of recipes before it wants you to pay (I think it is 5... which is really low). It seems to work and stays pretty much out of your way. It decent. Wish they would go ad supported and just allow folks to use it for free. I would be totally fine with that.

I dunno, other folks may hate Brewer's Friend. Just not sure. It popped up in a pinch and I have been using it since.

I really like it too - half tempted to stump up. It's only like $9.99 a year, seems cheap enough.
 
<Insert shameless plug for BrewTarget here>

I really like BrewTarget. It's also free.

</shameless plug>

I like, and use, Brewtarget as well. The problem is, no saving in the cloud. My hard drive went south recently. Luckily I had saved my recipes to Dropbox!
 
I really despise brewtoad. It seems like when they brought it out and replaced Hopville they felt like they were doing us a favor by giving us a slick graphical interface but at the same time reducing functionality. When I left comments on their blog thingamajig their responses were kind of condescending... even though I was in no way being confrontational or disrespectful. I noticed this with some other people's comments.

I switched to BeerSmith and couldn't be happier. Hopville had some flaws, but it did what you wanted it to do. Even if brewtoad has fixed all of their problems and has top-knotch functionality, I still won't go back as the whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth.
 
Yeah, I bought Beersmith a couple years ago but never switched over because I loved having my recipes online so much. That said, Brewtoad is really bad at calculating gravity, SRM, and IBUs... which are kind of important.

I've been using Beersmith instead for the last three batches. Marked improvement in batch consistency and precision thanks to the integrated calculations.
 
I feel your pain. I actually started playing around with a DropBox-based ghetto sync for BeerSmith recipes today. What I'm doing probably won't work on a non-rooted phone, but I'll post steps once I get a reproducible, simple workflow put together.

Here's what I do. I set up Brewaid, a free android app, on my phone. It has Dropbox functionality.

I export a .bsmx file from Beersmith every week or so. I save it into a Dropbox folder, where its automatically uploaded to the cloud.

Overall it works pretty well. Brewaid is a little wonky, but I does allow me to view all my recipes on my phone with minimal effort.

I bought the Beersmith android app using a $5 promotion from Amazon. Its a good app, I like the timers and the ability to enter brew day data, but moving recipes to and from the cloud is a pain. I end up using Brewaid more.
 
That said, Brewtoad is really bad at calculating gravity, SRM, and IBUs... which are kind of important.

I've noticed this lately too, especially when moving between a draft and a published recipe. It'll show one set of numbers (presumably rounded up) while you are formulating the recipe, then show the "real" numbers when you save it. While I like the online capability, it seems like some of their updates are not for the better.
 
Glad I'm not alone on the brewtoad thoughts. I have to use Brew Target in conjunction with brewtoad to get anywhere. Brewtoad is beautiful though...I think a monkey came up with their calculations though.

So you guys are saying there's a market for a "cloud based" brewing app? I was looking for a new HTML5 project to do, but I thought everybody and their mother loved brewtoad. But if you're telling me the developers are asshats and don't respond to feedback/support requests, then I might just go ahead and make something.

Edit: also, it absolutely SUCKS on mobile (adding ingredients and such).
 
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