I've put together a few recipes using hopville and i'm wondering about the accuracy of the calculations. I was thinking about running the recipe numbers by hand and have used some other calculators with slightly varied results(brewmasterswarehouse, recipator, tried using beersmith can't figure out how to do full boil extract with steeping grains)but would like some input from folks who have used it and how they feel about what kind of results they got. Thanks all for your feedback. I've got 4 recipes I've put together and want to start cracking but would like to know if the calculations from said calculator are fairly accurate. Like I said I will probably run the numbers on paper but would like to know what the community thinks.
How do you feel about Hopville?
- Thread starter Rohlk
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If you'd like to see the recipes let me know and i'll post some links. I'm still working on the stout. I've never put together my own recipes and i've been working on them for the past two weeks or so. I brewed a bit over 100 gallons last year using kits and want to start my own recipes. I'm a year into brewing so I consider myself new to the craft. Thanks for any help!
I'll just throw the link up anyway. http://hopville.com/brewer/recipes/Rohlk
I've tried Hopville recipes before - I made a porter and a wheat beer from a couple recipes and they turned out fine. However, I did get the distinct impression that a lot of recipes there were not tried and true, tested recipes. Seemed like some of the contributors just threw out an idea without actually brewing it. (I didn't really analyze anything, it was just a hunch based on comments on some of the recipes.)
Rockape66
Well-Known Member
Best stout I've made so far is Palmer's from "How to Brew." All grain option with both the chocolate malt and oatmeal additions. Absolutely delicious.
I'd be careful with Hopville recipes. They aren't screened or anything. If you have a style in mind and want to get a solid recipe, just for an idea of how some really good brewers handle it, you'd do well to check out Charlie Papazian's and Jamil Zainasheff's books. You can trust those recipes and they provide a good jumping off point for any variations.
thepartsmancometh
Well-Known Member
When it comes to other people's recipes, they are definitely not screened. I have several recipes on there that are just ideas, although I try to note that in the description. In terms of calculations, I have not compared with other software but I have used several of my own recipes calculated with hopville and the numbers are always spot on. For me, its accurate enough and is better than doing it by hand. I am not a semi-pro brewer or anything and hopville is well suited to my level of knowledge and equipment.
YMMV.
YMMV.
If you're talking about comparing the numbers between software, this comes up alot, when folks compare programs head to head.
There's a thread a week on this.
A couple of the biggest issues that cause consternation to folks, especially if they compare programs, or if they take for example a recipe from byo or someplace and input it, and find differences have to do with batch size settings and which IBU formula the software is defaulting to.
The final volume of a lot of Palmer and Jamil's recipes, and some of them in magazines are usually 5.5 or 6 gallons whereas most of the time we write recipes for the standard 5 gallon recipes. That often accounts for differences between what we might input in software. Make sure the final volume is matching.
The other thing is, that there's several different calculations used to figure out IBU. And they give different numbers. Somewhere in either a book or on the software it should tell you what the default setting is, and even give you the option to change it to match. But often they don't make it obvious.
Here's an explanation of how Beercalculus calculates it from their Hopville Blog for example;
IIRC beersmith is defalted to tinseth (maybe). So comparing the two in terms of IBUS is going to show up differently.
One of the most recent thread discussing this is here. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f84/different-ibus-provided-different-software-218066/
The other thing has to do with the efficience a given recipe was created with and the efficiency setting in the particular software. 75% is usually the default in the software, but a lot of folks, especially people who have their systems dialed in may have a higher or lower efficiency setting in their native software, so the anticipated og and fg may be different.
None of these are the software, or mean that one software is better than the other. Often it's the user's own settings that are off.
But in terms of accuracy, they're all accurate, you might think of it simply being that they're in different languages....as long as you stay consistant in using one over any other it will be right.
But in reality it's all arbitrary anyway...they're just numbers. I think a better analogy than what I posted above would be instead of languages think about Fahrenheit vs Celcius or Brix vs specific gravity, they're valid and accurate scales. Just present the same "data" differently.
The truth of the matter is the beer is going to taste the same regardless of what the numbers may read.
As to the quality of the recipes, it's like any site, even here, you have some great recipes and some dogs. I have some of mine on hopville. I use it if I can't access beersmith and want to work on a recipe.
There's a thread a week on this.
A couple of the biggest issues that cause consternation to folks, especially if they compare programs, or if they take for example a recipe from byo or someplace and input it, and find differences have to do with batch size settings and which IBU formula the software is defaulting to.
The final volume of a lot of Palmer and Jamil's recipes, and some of them in magazines are usually 5.5 or 6 gallons whereas most of the time we write recipes for the standard 5 gallon recipes. That often accounts for differences between what we might input in software. Make sure the final volume is matching.
The other thing is, that there's several different calculations used to figure out IBU. And they give different numbers. Somewhere in either a book or on the software it should tell you what the default setting is, and even give you the option to change it to match. But often they don't make it obvious.
Here's an explanation of how Beercalculus calculates it from their Hopville Blog for example;
IIRC beersmith is defalted to tinseth (maybe). So comparing the two in terms of IBUS is going to show up differently.
One of the most recent thread discussing this is here. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f84/different-ibus-provided-different-software-218066/
The other thing has to do with the efficience a given recipe was created with and the efficiency setting in the particular software. 75% is usually the default in the software, but a lot of folks, especially people who have their systems dialed in may have a higher or lower efficiency setting in their native software, so the anticipated og and fg may be different.
None of these are the software, or mean that one software is better than the other. Often it's the user's own settings that are off.
But in terms of accuracy, they're all accurate, you might think of it simply being that they're in different languages....as long as you stay consistant in using one over any other it will be right.
But in reality it's all arbitrary anyway...they're just numbers. I think a better analogy than what I posted above would be instead of languages think about Fahrenheit vs Celcius or Brix vs specific gravity, they're valid and accurate scales. Just present the same "data" differently.
The truth of the matter is the beer is going to taste the same regardless of what the numbers may read.
As to the quality of the recipes, it's like any site, even here, you have some great recipes and some dogs. I have some of mine on hopville. I use it if I can't access beersmith and want to work on a recipe.
ArcaneXor
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Papazian is iffy for recipes. He doesn't often specify the color of crystal malt (though I asked him, and he used a crystal in the 10-20 L range) or the yeast to use (beyond "ale yeast"). Keep in mind that these are mostly from the 1970s and haven't really been updated.
Wow! Thanks for the quick responses! I really appreciate it guys! I feel more confident about putting recipes together now. Like I said, I'm new to making recipes and I will have to just start brewing and see where I get, probably doing some formulation by hand just to be sure, dial it in as batches get brewed.
I was just nervous about starting brewing with a recipe I put together. If you feel like looking at the recipes and letting me know what you think, give her hell. Perhaps thats better suited for the recipe exchange section of this wonderful site. Thanks again everybody, especially Revvy for taking the time to put that much info/wisdom into this. THANK YOU! Time to start trying em out!
I was just nervous about starting brewing with a recipe I put together. If you feel like looking at the recipes and letting me know what you think, give her hell. Perhaps thats better suited for the recipe exchange section of this wonderful site. Thanks again everybody, especially Revvy for taking the time to put that much info/wisdom into this. THANK YOU! Time to start trying em out!I've looked at a lot of recipes on Hopville and some are good and others are just somebody's idea without the actual brewing of them. One batch of them that I can vouch for as being tested and approved, mostly complete with brewing and tasting notes are here:
http://hopville.com/brewer/recipes/RM7MN
The top one is not tested as it is still in the fermenter and the second is bottled but not sampled but I approve of the rest of them. Some I like better than others but I think that is true of any group of beers.
http://hopville.com/brewer/recipes/RM7MN
The top one is not tested as it is still in the fermenter and the second is bottled but not sampled but I approve of the rest of them. Some I like better than others but I think that is true of any group of beers.
dabeers
Well-Known Member
ive definitely been using hopville as i transition from using pre-made recipes to formulating my own. Great website for those of us too poor/cheap for beersmith and other pay for programs.
thepartsmancometh
Well-Known Member
Plus I can work in recipes at home or work or on my phone
I dont think it will be free for long...
When I started brewing I used hopville as a resource. As mentioned before, it seems a lot of people upload recipes more as a test than anything else. It took me a while to realize this, and I almost cloned some never-before-brewed recipes by other people.
I havn't gotten too much into the calculations by hand yet, but I was frustrated by how much it differed from other brewing software, so I purchased BeerSmith.
My main problem with hopville is it's lack of customization (adjusting for misc ingredients and late boil additions.) However, the site is a great resource for all sorts of brewers, and perfect for on-the-fly recipe checks.
I havn't gotten too much into the calculations by hand yet, but I was frustrated by how much it differed from other brewing software, so I purchased BeerSmith.
My main problem with hopville is it's lack of customization (adjusting for misc ingredients and late boil additions.) However, the site is a great resource for all sorts of brewers, and perfect for on-the-fly recipe checks.
MrOH
Well-Known Member
So far as making up your own recipes, I think it's great and have used it for 36 of my 42 batches that are my recipe (the first six were before I knew that it existed). I won BeerSmith in a raffle, but still use hopville. It's free, and if you mess around with the settings and know the actual numbers on your ingredients to adjust as needed, you'll be happy.
If you're looking for recipes, I suggest Brewing Classic Styles.
If you're looking for recipes, I suggest Brewing Classic Styles.
ICWiener
Well-Known Member
I've been using Hopville for my last few batches. Pretty much since I switched over to PM. I like the fact that you can toy around with a lot of the settings and ingredients. Although, according to the beer calculus my efficiency is a little below 40%. I haven't done the math to double check, but if it's true...holy crap I need to change my method or something.
Hockeyhunter99
Well-Known Member
i have been finding that Hopville is really slow in the start up and when you make changes. sometimes it will freeze IE and will need to do a force stop. anybody else having that problem?
ICWiener
Well-Known Member
It does that to me too. But my computer is a little slow anyway, so I don't tend to notice.
It seems to calm down after you've made a few changes. Maybe it catches up after a bit.
It seems to calm down after you've made a few changes. Maybe it catches up after a bit.
Get rid of IE. Go Chrome.
I haven't used a recipe I found on Hopville. I just use it as a repository for recipes I find around the web and to keep track of the beers I actually brew. I think it's a great program. It has all the 'must-have' calculations without the learning curve that more complicated programs require. Throw in that it's web-based and has a clean UI -- it's my brew tool of choice so far.
I'm actually building a Hopville-like cloud application that does everything Hopville does plus more advanced features like inventory tracking, brew process tracking, and other more personalized features.
Most of the recipes in my Hopville account are actually from HBT. Feel free to add me or browse.
I've used Hopville to build my own recipes. I've cloned 1 recipe I found on there were the user actually had a lot of information on how the batch turned out and answered some of the questions I had on his process. I found out that I get right at 80% mash efficiency so I just change the efficiency in the calculator to 80% before I input ingredients and I hit my OG perfectly every time.
Only true home brew snobs "need" a tool as refined as Beersmith. One day I'll probably get Beersmith but for now I don't need any more functionality than Beercalculus.
Only true home brew snobs "need" a tool as refined as Beersmith. One day I'll probably get Beersmith but for now I don't need any more functionality than Beercalculus.
thetragichero
Well-Known Member
yeah i use it a lot, and i like that it's web-based so i can screw around with it at home and then write down the ingredients i need to while at work (because i always forget to do it at home)
I've used a couple different programs, and keep coming back to hopville just cause it's so easy to use. I like that you can share and browse recipes, but like others have said, most aren't vouched for. I haven't had a problem with the calculation numbers. I did try Beersmith on a free trial, but couldn't afford to buy it at the time and didn't get enough time to really see how useful it could be. I'll have to revisit it eventually.
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