Free beer software?

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MikeFallopian

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I've been using the trial version of Beer Smith, and think it's great. Is there any way that the full version can be downloaded for free?

Are there any other equally good (or better) programs that can be downloaded for free?
 
I've been using the trial version of Beer Smith, and think it's great. Is there any way that the full version can be downloaded for free?
Its $24 bucks, if you like it buy, its not expensive, dont be a cheap ass and try to pirate it.
Are there any other equally good (or better) programs that can be downloaded for free?

Hopville.com is good, not as in-depth as BeerSmith, but fairly good.
 
I use Brewtarget for free. But my next batch I think will try to trial version of Beersmith and give it a go. I would just buy it for $24 also not worth messing around.
 
i haven't used beersmith, so i can't comment on it, but i use beercalculus and it hasn't steered me wrong yet

Edit: beercalculus is free, btw
 
Its $24 bucks, if you like it buy, its not expensive, dont be a cheap ass and try to pirate it.
yeah, definitely do NOT go to google and search for like a beersmith rapidshare or something like that. That's totally not cool.
 
yeah, definitely do NOT go to google and search for like a beersmith rapidshare or something like that. That's totally not cool.

If you like beersmith, pay the coder for it. If you don't want to pay, use the free software (I rather like brewtarget, but I am admittedly biased) or use one of the several online packages.
 
I have used Beer-Smith and Brew-target, both worked very well and are well worth the money. Although Brew-target is free you should provide some recompense to the coder it is good software. Like I said I used both for a trial/test, although both are very good I went back to what I have developed on my own.
I have a spreadsheet that calculates out target OG and FG based on the malts used and the malt analysis sheets, and the yeast characteristics. Also calculates the IBU based on hop AA% also calculates the amount and temperature of strike water and the amount of sparge water. Adding the calculations for adjustments to my brewing water based on my water analysis report from Wards. Just now getting into those math equations and adding them to EXCEL.

Once I get the spreadsheet fine tuned going to build an access database to stare and report on my recipes. Of course this is just for my use and is highly personalized to what I want.

But if you like Beer-Smith buy it. You can try out Brew-Target and if you like it donate to the coder. Developing stuff like that is a lot of work, effort and thought. Plus the testing and updating and maintaining to run at current software levels is a lot of work. So pay the guy who does the work.
Good Luck
 
You could always try my Brew Chart/Workbook (below in my signature). Gives you pretty much what a program like Beersmith would give you, but it's free. It is setup for batch sparge all grain brewing and covers pretty much everything you'll need from recipe design to first taste.

Any questions just ask.

cp

Here is what the first tab looks like where you would design a beer or input a recipe to brew. As you scroll over each particular ingredient a description of it pops up with a profile and best use. There is no math for you to worry about, all of it is taken care of for you within the workbook. There are many other tabs dedicated to your brewday, water profile, yeast pitch, bottling/kegging, etc... as well.

CPBrewChart.jpg
 
Is it naive? I don't 'whine' unless I have too. :D

:D

Native, BUT it's labeled as Beta on the download page.

I have used it on both winders and Linuxmint and really I can't see that it is in any way lacking. It's stable and all the functionality is in there.

BeerSmithDL_zps23b9f10b.png
 
+1 for brew target, although I am finding that I really wish there was a way to keep receipes in folders (or something similar). For many beers I want to rebrew and slightly tweak the recipe. I pretty much end-up having to create a whole new recipe in BT. This results in a collection of "recipes" that is pretty large and unwieldy.
 
+1 for brew target, although I am finding that I really wish there was a way to keep receipes in folders (or something similar). For many beers I want to rebrew and slightly tweak the recipe. I pretty much end-up having to create a whole new recipe in BT. This results in a collection of "recipes" that is pretty large and unwieldy.
I pm'd rocketman a while ago about that. Haven't heard back. Not sure if he has been around on HBT lately. Haven't seen him.
 
I use BrewTarget on Linux. Specifically Fedora 18. It is great it does most everything the commercial programs do and is very easy to learn. I have become a 50/50 mead maker vs. all grain brewer these days. That said, it clearly has problems with mead calculations (and I can assume wine calcs too) but for beer it is awesome. Try it, you have nothing to lose.

Edit: I should mention It works on Macs and Windows too, perfectly. Most assume this ... but as a Linux user I like to specifically point this out as users search for this knowledge.
 
http://www.brewersfriend.com/

Been using this for a couple of years and have few complaints - especially since it's free.

Cheers!


I used to use tasty brew,found this site 2 years ago while it was in beta.
They continually upgrade the interface and I think it is fantastic.Recently
signed up for a year and get to use all the features.It is well worth the
20 bucks for a year.-Brewersfriend- gets my vote.

Cheers
 
I offer http://brewnot.es for free for those of us who just want a simple place to take notes on our brewing process without being tied to all the little fields, pulldowns, add buttons, and busy interfaces of the pro apps. It doesn't do any calculations or anything, but you can replace your paper notebook with the site and get emails when its time to rack to secondary, bottle, drink, etc. You can also make revisions to recipes and retain a history so you can see how your recipe changed over iterations.

Anywho, would love to get some feedback on it if anyone is looking to try something a little different from what's out there. Thanks for all the great talk on here - been enjoying reading for quite a while!

-Ryan
 
I want to buy a piece of software, but until I see a company updating their product at least 4 times per year I won't bother. So many of my friends bought Promash, never to see an update again.

Most of the interfaces remind me of mid 1990's software too. As soon as I see something modern that the designer takes seriously, I'll buy it. For now the above mentioned freewares work fine as does pencil and paper.

Just my opinion. Maybe I should make my own software after I have more free time later this year.
 
I want to buy a piece of software, but until I see a company updating their product at least 4 times per year I won't bother. So many of my friends bought Promash, never to see an update again.

Most of the interfaces remind me of mid 1990's software too. As soon as I see something modern that the designer takes seriously, I'll buy it. For now the above mentioned freewares work fine as does pencil and paper.

Just my opinion. Maybe I should make my own software after I have more free time later this year.

Brewer's friend does a great job of keeping their site updated. Plus it offers allot more than what can be done with pencil and paper, lol. Believe me, I've progressed from paper brew notes, to excel spreadsheet, to cloud software. Brewer's friend is one of the best available, I give it my recommendation...:rockin:
 
I want to buy a piece of software, but until I see a company updating their product at least 4 times per year I won't bother. So many of my friends bought Promash, never to see an update again.

Most of the interfaces remind me of mid 1990's software too. As soon as I see something modern that the designer takes seriously, I'll buy it. For now the above mentioned freewares work fine as does pencil and paper.

Just my opinion. Maybe I should make my own software after I have more free time later this year.
Brewtarget is under constant development and you are always free to contribute to spur more development.
 
Yes, exactly my point. Why would I spend money when Hopville, Brewers Friend, and Brew Target all work well and are designed better and updated more often.
 
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