Homemade Brewing Spread Sheet

RobInOre said:

Well Done!

I can appreciate the satisfaction you get from building a tool (in this case a spreadsheet), to help make a job easier.

Over the past couple of weeks, I built my own spreadsheet to help with my brews because I can't find downloads that do what I want. I also use How to Brew as a reference for some formulas.

What you've built is pretty cool. Since you asked for feedback, I humbly make these suggestions;

1. Use drop down menus. Excel has a feature called "data validation". I like to make a separate sheet with data lists. Then I use the data validation function to reference these lists for things that are repeated. Example: When I click in a cell for hops, a drop down menu appears and I need only select my hop from the list to have it shown in that cell. I don't need to type Willamette every time.

2. Use VLOOKUP. I just learned about this during my own spreadsheet project so I'm by no means an expert on it. The idea is that since a word always has certain numerical values, just enter the word and have Excel look up the relevant numbers and do the calculations in the background. For instance, Willamette hops are always 5% AAU. When I select Willamette from my drop down menu, Excel can use the word to find a number to calculate IBU's. I'm sure that I over simplified this but I can try to explain more if you like.

Overall, great job. I see that you have included things in your spreadsheet that I never consider, (I do strictly extracts). I wish more of us would develop and share our own software solutions. The popular programs just don't quite fit every situation, but math is math and numbers don't lie.



(Batchlog cell i32, there's only 1 I in airlock. Interface cell j2, 2 E's in toffee.)



I hoped I have helped and encouraged you. It seems we share hobbies of beer and spreadsheets. There ain't no support group for that, we need each other.

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