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Haggus75

Haggus75

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Hi,

New to the beer brewing community... Have bought a Brewzilla not long ago. Now wondering what is the best application to look into to keep track of recipes and find new one?

Thank you,
Martin
 
You really need more than just something to keep track of recipes, IMO.

For various reasons, you might not achieve the same OG with the same amount of ingredients that is called for in the recipe. So you need a app that will let you adjust it for the efficiencies you get and then you can adjust the amounts so your results will better match the results of the beer you want to copy.

At the top of this forum on a tab there is a link to Brewing Software . You might have to widen your browser. It takes you to Brewer's friend which is decent enough for making those adjustments as well as tracking all that you brew and the results.

I use some software on my computer, BrewTarget. It's not maintained anymore AFAIK, but it works though there are some quirks. You can search on it's name and find the download.

There are also some other really good sites you can go to or apps you can download for a small fee or subscription. Many give you a free trial. I'll let others tell you about them. They all do pretty much the same stuff, but might go about it differently. So one may seem easier for you to use or might give you information in a way that you prefer it's presentation.


Now wondering what is the best application to look into
Click to expand...
Best is relative to a lot of things. Particularly your own personal preferences.
 
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Hate to even bring it up because it's long gone, but I still depend religiously on the dinosaur Promash. Does everything I want, long history with it, but I know at some point I may lose everything so poking around myself. Following with interest.
 
I personally made the switch to Brewers Friend from BeerSmith about two years ago and haven’t looked back.

Easy to use, web and app based and they have a nice community of dedicated brewers over there as well.
 
I don't like subscription systems.
Even if one brews twice a month, it's not really worth the expense, IMO.

And... who really needs access to their (cloud stored) recipes, on the fly 24/365?
To show off to your friends?
I'm old fashioned. I print mine out, and make notes on it, front and back. ;)

So I stick with my purchased version of (an older) BeerSmith 2. No automatic updates or stored recipes.
Spent $20, once, 10 years ago.

AFAIK, you can still buy the latest version of BeerSmith 3, without a subscription, "updates," or cloud storage.
 
I made a simple excel spreadsheet to keep track of my recipes. There's lots of free ones out there. It's nice to have the same look and feel when you start accumulating a few recipes.

I switched to Pro mash and now I use Beersmith. The cost of having one is just rolled in as a hobby expense like everything else.
 
I'm with others - sooo sick of subscriptions for everything.
I use Larry's spreadsheet. It's free. You can tell he's an engineer. It's very detailed. He's been maintaining it for years. He's even got a (nearly 2 hour) video showing how everything's calculated.
 
Yup, engineers like to make things overly complicated. I worked with a guy who knew excel really well. Kind of jealous to some degree but his spreadsheets were so detailed a regular person couldn't use them. Pivot tables, macros, formulas and all sorts of pretty colors.
 
Broken Crow said:
Maybe this is a good place to ask: Is there any real benefit to using software, other than organization?
Click to expand...
For me, I like the software part of it, using Beersmith that is, because I can develop a recipe using the database of ingredients. I routinely check the standard specs against the recent purchase of ingredients to see if they jive. Probably doesn't make a huge difference but I sometimes think it does.
 
Haggus75 said:
Hi,

New to the beer brewing community... Have bought a Brewzilla not long ago. Now wondering what is the best application to look into to keep track of recipes and find new one?

Thank you,
Martin
Click to expand...
I am going to show my age here, but I use a simple device called a pen and log it on this really cool new invention called paper. LOL. Sorry, I am just trying to be funny, but I do use pencil and paper, then transfer all my notes to a cool beer binder my wife got me two years ago. It has spots to put all your number, IE, OG, FG, ABV and such. Also has a spot for all your ingredients, yeast and then a note spot to put any brew notes. It is cool, simply because it cost me nothing and I can just pick it up, pull the recipe I need and bring it out with me while I am doing all the stuff I need to do.

I do use Brewfather to plug in the recipe just to get what is expected, but refuse to pay for it. Once the recipe is in and I tweak some of the amounts to get what I am looking for I print it and then move to my book. There are any number of web sites to do this so find one you like and is easy for you to use. But, don't be afraid of the pen and paper method, it can't get wiped out or deleted and is always there when you need it. Just my two cents worth, and I am sure that is about all it is worth.
 
Broken Crow said:
Maybe this is a good place to ask: Is there any real benefit to using software, other than organization?
Click to expand...
For me, it is more used to tweak a recipe with the AA numbers of the hops and the L number of the grain I am using. Most recipes account for whatever the AA of the hop the builder was using. I have found that most of the hops I have bought seem to be a bit different when I put the AA in and compare it to the recipe. So, for me, the software sites are more for just tweaking using the numbers I have. Once I have it, I print it and it goes with a sheet of paper I keep all my notes on from the brew day.
 
I'm entirely pen and paper and doing my own calculations, but then I'm doing it mostly to try and get some neuroplasticity happening on the parts of my brain that deal in math and memory. (I went from using multiple seperate purpose-based worksations full of expensive hi-end software in my multi-networked studio and workshops, to trying to relearn to use a browser :p )
...my organization sucks!:bigmug:
 
I used BeerSmith for years, then switched to Brewfather. I hate the subscription model generally, but not with Brewfather. They continually update and add new features, and the software serves so many needs, I also feel it's just part of the cost of the hobby.

Beyond recipe generation, I love how it's a historical record of every brew day or every recipe I think up. Recipes and Brew Batches are logged separately. So if I get a different mash efficiency on a brew day, I don't change my recipe, it's just recorded in that Batch. Hop substituting one time, or different AA- captured in that Batch record.

Lora of bells and whistles on how to scale recipes if brewing a different size batch, or on different equipment.

Water salt adjustments are easy and easily added to brew day recipe.

Inventory is great for keeping track of hops, grain, yeast (plus anything else if you want). Build recipes specifically picking just from your inventory. Click of a button to decrement your inventory when you brew.

The fact that each brew session is it's own log is fantastic. I input data (volumes, gravity, pH) and it's there, easy for me to go back and look. I use Tilt to track fermentation, and that is part of the Batch record. Whatever notes I have get date & time stamped. If I adjust power settings, which fermentor I used, sparge times, if I forgot to add oxygen, what my sounding pressure is, endless...

And then all of this stuff is searchable. I want to know which beers I brewed with A38, I just tore "A38" in the text box, and all of my recipes brewed with that cone up.

I'll stop
 
I used to use pen and paper and a brewing notebook, but I'm forever wanting to look back on something. And it's so nice to have it digitized and text searchable.

What temperature did I ferment this yeast at last time?

Is this yeast historically a slow starter for me?

Do I always get lower efficiency when brewing with wheat?

My previous batch turned out better, what is different between this batch and the last time I did it 2 years ago?

(All real questions from a Brewfather customer.)
 
I'd say the benefits of using brewing software are what the user wants to make out of the software's abilities. I have an engineer's desire for quality and consistency, and when I come up with something good I want to be able to repeat it. So I appreciate the ability to create recipes, fill them with brew day and fermentation data as each batch progresses, evaluate the results and save them for re-use with whatever adjustments prior batches might indicate, if any, for the next batch.

But there's more - like inventory management, which may be unique to Beersmith (which I've used since version 1.4) and I totally rely upon to avoid being caught short on brew day. And of course the usual collection of brewing-related tools are included for easy access without needing a network connection.

And then there's a feature I didn't know about until a few years ago that lets one search their recipe archive using ingredients - including combinations of ingredients - to find matches. That can be enhanced by installing favorites from the multitude of recipes kept on Brad Smith's web site into the local archive. If nothing else, hits on recipes there can provide ideas on what to do with "left overs" :)

Cheers!
 
I like Brewer's Friend, because I tinker with recipes, sometimes for months, before I have a chance to brew them. I keep copious notes, so my favorite recipes end up being 4 or more pages as I document what I changed and when. I pay for it, but I definitely feel I get my money's worth out of it.
 
Gadjobrinus said:
Hate to even bring it up because it's long gone, but I still depend religiously on the dinosaur Promash. Does everything I want, long history with it, but I know at some point I may lose everything so poking around myself. Following with interest.
Click to expand...
What do you have, an old ms-dos machine to run it on? Boy memories there, had that for a few years.
 
I use BeerTools and if you have a mac like I do its one of the few that are even available. I do really like it. Its not subscription, and not real expensive at $24.95. Recipe formulation and you can keep inventory of your grains and hops. Set your batch size, efficiency settings, different hop utilization models, etc. Keep your recipes on your computer. Export your recipes to text to share. Has the last 2 BJCP style guidelines to pick for each style.

They have a free online version you can try out or use, but the free version is limited as to the number of grains and hops you can use in a recipe. There is also a recipe database on their site.

Considering other things I’ve spent money on, this is well worth it. They advertise it as software by brewers for brewers.

https://www.beertools.com/
 
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The Calculate Beer app is a really cool Italian brewing app, better than Brewtarget imo, and can be used on phone, can export recipes or save to pdfs etc. Was originally called Calcoliama Birra, but has English option
 
greghardie2 said:
The Calculate Beer app is a really cool Italian brewing app, better than Brewtarget imo, and can be used on phone, can export recipes or save to pdfs etc. Was originally called Calcoliama Birra, but has English option
Click to expand...
Freeware, and metric/US options, has a ton of functions and is pretty basic to use, has the Bjcp style guideline limits adjacent to your recipe gravities etc, if you trying to be in style. Its seriously worth a look, just make sure your efficiencies are set correct.
 
Gadjobrinus said:
Hate to even bring it up because it's long gone, but I still depend religiously on the dinosaur Promash. Does everything I want, long history with it, but I know at some point I may lose everything so poking around myself. Following with interest.
Click to expand...
I used to have another one called BrewWizard that came on a single floppy disk.
 
bwible said:
What do you have, an old ms-dos machine to run it on? Boy memories there, had that for a few years.
Click to expand...
I still have a copy on my Windows 11 laptop and it works fine. It just seems so archaic and clunky to me these days that I only open on rare occasions to browse some of my old recipes.
 
kevin58 said:
I still have a copy on my Windows 11 laptop and it works fine. It just seems so archaic and clunky to me these days that I only open on rare occasions to browse some of my old recipes.
Click to expand...
Yep, it's survived multiple moves from computer to computer, currently lives on my laptop. Works fine. I find it pretty effortless, but then I don't know any better. Makes me want to know what's out there. What do you use?
 
Posted about this SW awhile back. I use QBREW. Old out of maintenance, but it works great. The DB file is quite old. I have edited the DB to remove the old ingredients I dont use. Added the newer items to bring it up to date. The program works fine. The computed data points are really close to the actual. The SW lets you edit the data within the recipe builder phase.
I have tried some of the online and free applications , but all are based on the all grain process. I found them difficult to develop extract recipes. Just to complex for me. Qbrew is easy/simple.
I also keep a basic txt file with the Qbrew data and "due" dates (CC) , Bottle/keg date, ready date, etc. Plus all the comments about how I brewed it and how the beer turned out. Have files /data of every recipe since 2011, over 340 batches ( 2-3g)
I only do extract with a few mini mashes.
 
I keep QBrew with Screwy Brewer's database running here when folks come up with simple recipe questions as it's super easy to bang out a recipe to get to "the answer". Much quicker than doing the same thing on my Beersmith3 kit. I used to use it for my own brewing somewhere around 16 years ago, before I got into Beersmith (1.4 back then)...

Cheers!
 

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