Mac software help...

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dcbrewmeister

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OK - my laptop (PC) died a horrible death. I had a friend of mine trying to retrieve data but to no avail. PC + liquid = very bad. It burnt the hard drive electronics and other than buying a new drive, and destroying it to use the electronics... I just don't feel up to it because I can't use the software anyway.

Anyway - here we are and I got out of the PC world and went into the Mac world. Beer tools pro is the only one I have found/heard of that works on a Mac.

I've been using an excell speadsheet, and don't mind it. But I was just wondering if any other software was out there... or a better sreadsheet.
 
Beer Alchemy. It's a really great program, free demo, intuitive to use, customizable ingredients, keeps track of inventory, great updates/support from the developer. Just google for it and you should find it. I use it and like it a lot.
 
Have you tried Open Office? In case you don't know, it is a rip off of the Microsoft suite (and it's free). Not a bad little program (once you get used to it). Goto www.openoffice.org. You do have to Install X11 (if you havn't already) from this site: http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/x11, or Open Office won't work. Oh, btw I am also new to the Mac world. Well, have fun!
I would also recommend installing Windows, if you have a newer mac system (goto the mac website for more info). I've found out that certain software (printer drivers and such) suck on Mac.
 
I have a new Mac and have been checking out the software options- there are a few. As stated above, if you have an intel mac you can run Parallels or Boot Camp and run Windows and use any of the standard software (Promash, Beersmith, etc). I have no urge to run Windows- much less pay for it on my Mac so here are some Mac options (in no particular order):

Qbrew- limited, but does reasonable recipe formulation
http://www.usermode.org/code.html

Beer Alchemy- excellent program, nice features and extensive database that can be edited, batch sparge options- I'm still playing with the demo as the calculations of OG seem off to me- probably can be fixed by editing the fermentables category.
http://www.kentplacesoftware.com/products/BeerAlchemy.html

Homebrew Formulator- I've been using this one a lot lately. I like it, calculations a bit off for me but works well and is free.
http://brew.reboritull.com/

Strangebrew Java- cross platform, open source- I can't get it to work on my mac, but I'm sure someone could- if they do let me know! I used to use the shareware version on the PC and liked it pretty well as I remember.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/strangebrew

Beer Tools Pro- looking at the forum there and the screen shots it looks pretty good. Limited Batch sparge options and no demo- so I haven't tested it. It looks promising though
http://www.beertools.com/

That's all I'm aware of- there are online options as well (Beer Tools, Recipator etc).

A Jones
 
dcbrewmeister said:
OK - my laptop (PC) died a horrible death. I had a friend of mine trying to retrieve data but to no avail. PC + liquid = very bad.

Ha! I spilled a beer into a laptop too. It belonged to SWMBO and she wasn't happy about it ;)
 
Brewman, (edit, I made the assumption you wrote it.)

That's a superb and simple recipe calculator?
Are you going to support and develop it.

I know it's probably for your own needs but could I suggest a couple of things that would make it really useful.

i) increments of items smaller than .25 (I some times add say 0.030 grams of speciality grain)

icing on the cake.

ii) Addition of an inventory.
iii) Water usage calculation.
iv) Attenuation of yeasts.

Well done. It's good software.
 
orfy said:
increments of items smaller than .25 (I some times add say 0.030 grams of speciality grain)
orfy, you mean 0.030 kg? I bet 0.030 grams of grain is about 1 kernel, and I doubt you're THAT exacting on your recipes... ;)
 
orfy: I didn't write that. It sure wouldn't take long to write something like that. I agree with the things you want though and I'm kind of tired of seeing Windows only software. If this stuff was written in Java, it would run on everything.

I'm a Java nut in case you didn't notice.
 
brewman ! said:
I'm a Java nut in case you didn't notice.

I don't know what OS you're running- but have you tried getting the Strangebrew Java running? I'm using a mac, and I get an error when I try to launch it. I have the latest Java install and have succesfully run Azureus (Java based bit-torrent client). But I'm not sure if I need to "compile" this stuff or if I'm missing a step. Any thoughts?
http://sourceforge.net/projects/strangebrew
 
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