What program to use?

Am finishing building my MLT this week and am looking to get my first AG recipe going. I was wondering what program is the best and where I should get it from. Also, is there a price range on them? Thanks for the help.

The only two major current ones for PC are BeerSmith and BeerTools Pro. I have used BeerSmith for years, and while there are some frustrating parts to it (incomplete ingredient data, doesn't handle lactose correctly), I have been pretty happy with it overall. I haven't personally used BeerTools Pro.

I also have BrewPal and iBrewMaster on my iPod. BrewPal is cheap, but crashes constantly. iBrewMaster is very good, but I have had problems importing BeerSmith recipes into it. Neither is, in my opinion, a replacement for a good PC brewing app.

Any thoughts on BrewCalculus via Hopville?

BeerSmith all the way for me. I've tried other apps but none are as complete a solution for me. It was easy to learn to use BeerSmith too. I have it on my home workstation as well as my Windows [8] tablet. You can easily add ingredients to the database it uses too. Ive done it with grains, hops and yeast. It's also easy to either add new hardware or tweak the entry to match your configuration. It doesn't cost that much especially when you consider how you can install it onto two systems (legally).

medusa1066 said:

Any thoughts on BrewCalculus via Hopville?

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Not ideal for all-grain brewers. It's more friendly for extract brewers IMO. Loading takes awhile as well.

I'd go with Promash or Beersmith for all-grain.

ArcaneXor said:

The only two major current ones for PC are BeerSmith and BeerTools Pro.

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I don't use it but don't forget about Promash.

BootstrapBill said:

Am finishing building my MLT this week and am looking to get my first AG recipe going. I was wondering what program is the best and where I should get it from. Also, is there a price range on them? Thanks for the help.

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You just missed the sale on BeerSmith 2.1

I have Beersmith. I run it in a small VM on my desktop at home. I RDP into it remotely from anyway, anytime. Works well through an iPad that way also.

I gotta say Brewtarget. It's cross-platform and open source. I'm getting ready to do my first all grain batch, and Brewtarget did all the calculations I needed. Maybe as I do more all grain batches I'll have additional requirements, but I do love me some open source software

I bought BeerTools Pro and I'm currently trialing Beersmith. Overall, I like the tools Beersmith has better than BTP. I like the mashing schedules and the ability to create my own mash schedules (extended double decoction). Once I work out the Starter settings, I expect that will be cool as well. I'm sure BTP will come out, at some point, with a new version that catches up or surpasses Beersmith, but for now, Beersmith gets the nod from me.

Someone mentioned ProMash, but from everything I've heard, it's not being developed anymore. To me, that's a red flag.

AJBrew710 said:

I gotta say Brewtarget. It's cross-platform and open source. I'm getting ready to do my first all grain batch, and Brewtarget did all the calculations I needed. Maybe as I do more all grain batches I'll have additional requirements, but I do love me some open source software

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+1. BrewTarget does everything I need it to an it's free.

If you're using an Ipad or Iphone Brewpal is pretty nice and easy to use. I just plug in my ingredients and take it with me to the homebrew shop. Not as comprehensive as the previous programs but overall a great program.

BrewSmith has many extra features and is very user friendly.

I vote for BeerSmith... and a decent amount of time to sit down and figure out how to use it. Or set it up correctly, rather.
It does just about everything you'd need, but I was having a hard time trying to get my equipment profile set up in it so it would give me the outputs that I was expecting.

The one thing about Beersmith that drives me nuts, is how it sorts your hop additions. It will list a 5 minute addition above a 10 minute if the 5 minute calculates as more IBUs. But I'm using version 1.3 so maybe that's changed... I tend to use Promash more, but it drives me crazy that I can't set Tinseth as the default IBU calculation method for recipes.

Robin0782 said:

The one thing about Beersmith that drives me nuts, is how it sorts your hop additions. It will list a 5 minute addition above a 10 minute if the 5 minute calculates as more IBUs. But I'm using version 1.3 so maybe that's changed... I tend to use Promash more, but it drives me crazy that I can't set Tinseth as the default IBU calculation method for recipes.

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Not the case with 2.x (including 2.1)... I also have it sort by order number. Since the base malt is 1, additional malts fall after, then the hop additions are listed, with the longer ones being higher on the list (lower numbered). So my 20 minute hop addition (hop bursting recipe) is number 4, where the 1 minute addition is 10. Included in there are additions for nutrient and Irish Moss...

I would suggest giving the current version a try. I think you'll find a lot of changes and more than a few improvements.

heckels said:

+1. BrewTarget does everything I need it to an it's free.

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I use brewtarget as well and find it adequate.

It has some limitations. For example you can add your own ingredients but if you are cereal mashing adjuncts, you discover that it ignores the % water column in the database, so the water calculations are wrong.

The user interface is a little clunky and behaves strangely in several situations (I work in software quality control so that sort of thing gets noticed).

The mash tab and it's various editing and selecting functions are a user experience train wreck. I'm not saying it's beyond figuring out, I'm saying the user interface design on that tab is very, very poor. The sort of thing I'd block a release over, and i have scuttled entire products over that sort of thing.

But it's not like I'm asking for my money back. It does work and i appreciate it greatly. If anyone feels like I've been harsh, it's only because this is how i help make software better. I've built a career on breaking software so that you don't have to.

Just curious... Why is beer calculus by hopville not for all grain brewers?

Hopville can be used for all-grain brewers, but it's not designed for them. Beersmith is much more scientific when it comes to hitting the mark at brewing all-grain.

Hopville's Beercalculus is designed for extract brewers, especially those who are topping off with plain water. See the boil / batch volume defaults. 4 gal boiled down to 3, topped off with 2 = 5 gal batch size. Page 2 does contain mash temp/volume adjustments, but it's not very thorough. This is a very basic calculator.

OK. Is there more science to a recipe calculator than the ppg of grain and an ibu calculator? I'm struggling to find a reason to go back to brewsmith, but I have yet to try version 2.