Beer alchemy 2

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Demus

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I'm about to purchase beer alchemy 2 since my wife finally converted me to Apple. I have an Iphone 5 and an Imac with Mountain Lion (I know, it cost a fortune!). I'm excited about the ability to work recipes on the phone (goofing off at work) and have them synch up through "the cloud'. Also I'll be using the phone on brew day out in the garage. Anyone out there using this in a similar way? How do you like it on the phone? Does it have helpful brew day tools? Any other tips or advice?

Thanks!
 
I use beer alchemy and have it installed on 2 of my iPads and of course on my iMac. I always keep an iPad on the counter on brew day for strike water temp calcs, hop additions, etc. Works well for me, but as always YMMV.
 
I use beer alchemy and have it installed on 2 of my iPads and of course on my iMac. I always keep an iPad on the counter on brew day for strike water temp calcs, hop additions, etc. Works well for me, but as always YMMV.

Cool, any issues with "the cloud" as far as synching up properly? Is it easy to see different gravities for different boil volumes? I generally mash an extra pound or two and just stop when I get enough sugars and just add some water if I'm under the boil volume. A program that makes the calculation fast and easy would be a plus.. Thanks!
 
I'm a big Alchemy fan and recently (last 3 days) received a great deal of tech support for something stupid I did...great program, buy it, use it, and if you muck it up Steve will fix it for you!

All that said, I don think he sync works over the cloud. I sync mine over wifi, using beer alchemy on Mac, iPad and iPhone.
Love it!
 
Awesome, as long as it syncs at home on my wifi that'll work!
Thanks for the quick replies...

By the way, is there a space for notes? Tasting, process issues etc. ...
 
HawksBrewer said:
This. Only syncs via wi-fi, but what else do you need.

Exactly. I only need it to sync when I'm home so all good. Generally, was it pretty user friendly/easy to learn?
 
Demus said:
Exactly. I only need it to sync when I'm home so all good. Generally, was it pretty user friendly/easy to learn?

Yes but that is really important as documentation really doesn't exist. Figured most of it by trial and error but still have some questions.
 
I've been using Beer Alchemy since Steve started with the first version. Very happy with it. Use the iOS version, as well. I've used BeerSmith2 & like that, as well. Both have their strengths. When the day is finished, I notice myself using Beer Alchemy more.
 
I currently use both BeerAlchemy 2 and iBrewMaster. Here's my opinion, for what it's worth, BeerAlchemy would be my perfect iPad brewing app if it wasn't for one exclusion, Timers/Alarms for mash and boil/hop additions. This exclusion is the only reason I currently use iBrewMaster as my main brewing app. However, I mirror everything I do in iBrewMaster to BeerAlchemy in hopes that someday soon it will include the timer/alarm function. iBrewMaster is very hard to master, the UI is fragmented and not well thought out in my opinion and you'll definitely need to spend a few days with the app and also refer to the manual many times. Looks like a hard-core windows or linux user designed this app. On the other hand, BeerAlchemy is very much Mac like, the workflow is easy to understand and use and not fragmented at all and the layout logical. So, to the authors of BeerAlchemy, please add timers and alarms from the mashing schedule and hop additions to your wonderful app.

Jim
 
Sorry for the lack of computer knowledge, but if anyone could help me sync this up between my Iphone and iMac I'd be very appreciative. I've got the program installed on both devices, and was under the impression that they'd just sync up automatically whenever the were both on the same wifi connection. That didn't happen...
 
Ok, so I now have BA2 on my iMac and iPhone 5. I wish there was a manual at least on line as most of the functions need some explanation.

-The water for example, is there a way to make it estimate mash PH based on grain bill and water parameters? Seems like it stays at 5.2 no matter what you input.

-Also, for salt additions it seems to calculate based on initial boil volume of the batch, not infusion/sparge water. Is there a way to make it calculate based on how much water you are actually preparing?

-Is there any instructions anywhere on line? It seems like a great program but without knowing how to use it I'm not sure how much it will actually help me...

Thanks Beer Alchemy users!!
 
Demus said:
Ok, so I now have BA2 on my iMac and iPhone 5. I wish there was a manual at least on line as most of the functions need some explanation.

-The water for example, is there a way to make it estimate mash PH based on grain bill and water parameters? Seems like it stays at 5.2 no matter what you input.

-Also, for salt additions it seems to calculate based on initial boil volume of the batch, not infusion/sparge water. Is there a way to make it calculate based on how much water you are actually preparing?

-Is there any instructions anywhere on line? It seems like a great program but without knowing how to use it I'm not sure how much it will actually help me...

Thanks Beer Alchemy users!!

No instructions
I don't believe it estimates pH - you can measure pH and record adjustments, but it doesn't tell you what to do
I am curious about the salt additions too. It has you put all the addition into the strike water, is that what most people do?
 
eric19312 said:
No instructions
I don't believe it estimates pH - you can measure pH and record adjustments, but it doesn't tell you what to do
I am curious about the salt additions too. It has you put all the addition into the strike water, is that what most people do?

Any water that goes into the system should be your chosen water profile. This much more than the preboil amount due to grain absorption and any extra you make for fudge factor. The program doesn't give mash in water though. I guess there's no harm on me bumping up the preboil value to my total water made for the batch....
 
Demus said:
Any water that goes into the system should be your chosen water profile. This much more than the preboil amount due to grain absorption and any extra you make for fudge factor. The program doesn't give mash in water though. I guess there's no harm on me bumping up the preboil value to my total water made for the batch....

Can you explain what you are going to do? I've just been following the brew day instructions which have me adding my full salt addition to strike water. For example my recipe calls for 4.5 gal strike water out of 8.5 gal total water for the batch. I'm adding 7 grams gypsum which according to BA will increase my calcium from 20 ppm to 80 ppm.

According to BA I just add all 7 grams to strike water and am then done with my salts...
 
Can you explain what you are going to do? I've just been following the brew day instructions which have me adding my full salt addition to strike water. For example my recipe calls for 4.5 gal strike water out of 8.5 gal total water for the batch. I'm adding 7 grams gypsum which according to BA will increase my calcium from 20 ppm to 80 ppm.

According to BA I just add all 7 grams to strike water and am then done with my salts...

Well, if you do it this way your strike water will have too much salts, and your sparge water won't have enough. I generally make about 10 gallons of water to my chosen profile, and mash in at about 1.5 quarts per pound of grain. I gauge my sparge addition (batch sparge) based on the volume and gravity of the initial runnoff. I typically don't use the entire 10 gallons, but only waste a gallon or two depending on the grain bill. Just putting all the salts in with the initial infusion could potentially put that water way outside your parameters and effect mash PH and efficiency, as well as flavor...
 
If you buy it on the Mac does it come with the iPad/iPhone version? or do you need to buy those separate?
 
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