Is Beer Smith worth it?

[phyllobeddo]

Definitely worth it! A very good program. I use it almost daily to tinker with new recipes. I use brewday to record each batch. Lots of tools in it as well. Worth it.

 

[MaxStout]

I like it. $20 is a small, one-time investment, and it does a lot. Would like a feature that accounts for expansion-contraction based on temp, but I can manually factor in the 3 or 4% volume change. Minor gripe for an otherwise excellent program.

 

[Redpappy]

I am also looking into Beer Smith. How good is it with converting extract receipes to AG. I ask because right now that is all i have is extract, and would like to brew them as AG. With the receipes, can you store them on your hard drive, or do the need to be on the cloud?

 

[Oginme]

I am also looking into Beer Smith. How good is it with converting extract receipes to AG. I ask because right now that is all i have is extract, and would like to brew them as AG. With the receipes, can you store them on your hard drive, or do the need to be on the cloud?

It does an OK job of converting recipes from extract to all-grain. You need to look at the specific extracts you are using and decide what malts best represent them -- easy for light extracts, more difficult if you are using amber or dark extracts. When I made the move from my first few extract based recipes, some of them translated very well and others I had to go back and start over from scratch. I believe that those recipes ended up coming out better, mostly because I had learned so much more about recipe design by then.

BeerSmith is intended to be used on a computer with local (computer) storage of recipes. Personally, I prefer this to being in the cloud. There is a cloud storage option with a limit on how many recipes can be stored and shared on the cloud that comes with the free version and paid options for additional storage.

 

[cubalz]

I love it. It is worth it for the recipes alone and makes changing batch sizes a breeze.

 

[kh54s10]

I️ am a beginner and find I️ have made some delicious brews on a single setup for free in Brewtoad online. May invest in something like beersmith in the future, but very happy with my results thus far with around 8 all grain batches under my belt

I used this program before Brewtoad bought it and made a few fine beers. I looked at it after, and Brewtoad had changed things. I didn't like the new as much as the old, but I think they have continued to work on it. I haven't seen it recently but it gave far less control of your recipe than Beersmith does.

 

[balrog]

I like it, it is reasonable.
But I also use BrewToad.com, although IBU calc is diff
But I also like Priceless's calc for BIAB water
But I also like Homebrewdad's yeast calc

Yeah. It's a disease. I mean hobby. Whatevs.

 

[Desert_Sky]

Thanks guys. I've been stubbornly holding on to and using ProMasg since it came out. Downloaded Beersmith and I must say it's going to be nice using updated software going foward

 

[newtobrew1981]

Beersmith is worth the money in fact I would probably pay a 100 if they were asking for it.

 

[kh54s10]

Beersmith is worth the money in fact I would probably pay a 100 if they were asking for it.

Now that would make me dumb down and use a simple online tool with a fraction of the capability of Beersmith.

 

[newtobrew1981]

All the money we spend on this hobby it's a small amount imo

 

[govner1]

Considering the cost of the ingredients & time involved in brewing a batch of beer investing $20or less on BeerSmith is a no brainer!

 

[Kent88]

Here are a few tools that don't cost anything that I think brewers looking for brewing software should check out before spending money:

BrewersFriend
GBR Calcs
BrewTarget

The first two are browser-based, the last one is installable.

I figure that the tools I need most are for OG (and for adjusting based on efficiency) and IBU calculations, and then mash capacity and temperature planning.

I attempted to use the free trial of BeerSmith, just seemed like too many features for someone who was, at the time, a newbie.

 

[newtobrew1981]

I am a newbie did my first all grain batch a month ago and had no problems with it whatsoever

 

[newtobrew1981]

In fact last month was my first batch ever. I've never done partial mash or extract just jumped right in . The software comes with a tutorial that's easy to follow not to mention there is tons of info on the internet and YouTube. There is a reason it's the number one choice for professionals as well as newbies like myself. As I write this I can't believe the debate that's going on on this thread over a program that's 20 a batch of beer cost more than that

 

[Desert_Sky]

there isnt any software written to convert my many ProMash recipes to beersmith is there? Im thinking I may have to spend some hours hand jamming them over

 

[passedpawn]

Thanks guys. I've been stubbornly holding on to and using ProMasg since it came out. Downloaded Beersmith and I must say it's going to be nice using updated software going foward

If you mean ProMash, yea I remember that. When I got started that was the de facto software and Beersmith was the new guy on the block.

Regarding Beersmith, I never liked verison 2.x. There were definately updates, some of the bugs that got fixed. But there's a soft place in my heart for v1.4. It was much more intuitive, and the UI wasn't borked.

Oh, the topic... it's worth it. For me, with 3 kids all just getting out of college, the cost isn't even recognizable on the radar.

 

[passedpawn]

there isnt any software written to convert my many ProMash recipes to beersmith is there? Im thinking I may have to spend some hours hand jamming them over

Probably easier to do by hand. There's a process to save ProMash to text, then convert to BeerXML, then import into BeerSmith. I've not done it. If I were in that sitch, I'd pick my favorite 10 and just reenter. Once you get the hang of BS, recipe creation can be pretty quick.

 

[BLL]

Beersmith is worth the money in fact I would probably pay a 100 if they were asking for it.

Beer smith does't do anything you can't scratch out on a piece of paper. All the formulas are easily accessible and you can spend a few minutes making your own brewlog spreadsheet that does exactly the same things that beersmith does for free. Give me your 100 dollars and I'll give my sheet. it does a lot more than beersmith.

 

[EcuPirate07]

If you do some digging on the google. You can find a hard copy of the cd shipped to you for like $10-15 I believe. Worth every penny. It’s all in one place, saved recipes, starter calculator, you can scale the recipe based off of gallon of water, Color, or even Gravity. I like having all the features in one place and it gets updated by Brad with new styles and products that come to market.

 

[day_trippr]

Beersmith is worth the money in fact I would probably pay a 100 if they were asking for it.

No. Bad post. Bad bad post.

 

[JDXX1971]

No. Bad post. Bad bad post.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[SEndorf]

Lots of outliers, always adverse to the status quo.
If you're serious about brewing, beersmith and bru'n water.
I've tested the others.... They suck.

 

[SoCal-Doug]

$100? No way. It's not that good. $25 sure. Use it in the beginning, then over time, create your own spreadsheets or forms.

It is pretty handy having such a large database of grains and ingredients, but you have to accept that there are errors in the data and you may need to edit some things to get more accuracy. You also need to be fairly accurate with your equipment profiles and processes, otherwise its data is simply garbage-in-garbage-out. It's efficiency estimations and calculations are pretty wonky also.

I found it humorous that BS thinks that WY3711 only attenuates to 83%

 

[STMF]

77-83% is Wyeast own number.
And it is not a "maximum".

 

[newtobrew1981]

Beer smith does't do anything you can't scratch out on a piece of paper. All the formulas are easily accessible and you can spend a few minutes making your own brewlog spreadsheet that does exactly the same things that beersmith does for free. Give me your 100 dollars and I'll give my sheet. it does a lot more than beersmith.

Lol yes we all know their are formulas but it's a convenience.

 

[newtobrew1981]

No. Bad post. Bad bad post.

I wouldn't really pay a hundred I was just trying to express how much I liked it

 

[ancientmariner52]

$20? My spoon cost more than $20.

 

[eric19312]

I switched from beer alchemy to BS2 about a year ago. Neither were perfect but I’m happy with the change overall. Neither were very good at water ... use Bru’n water for that but at least BS2 provides fields for recording pH measurements. My main gripe is the iOS app seems pretty buggy for pay-ware. It frequently crashes on me when using the timer. I’d rather have an interactive brew day checklist/data recording sheet and use my watch/phone for timers.

 

[govner1]

I switched from beer alchemy to BS2 about a year ago. Neither were perfect but I’m happy with the change overall. Neither were very good at water ... use Bru’n water for that but at least BS2 provides fields for recording pH measurements. My main gripe is the iOS app seems pretty buggy for pay-ware. It frequently crashes on me when using the timer. I’d rather have an interactive brew day checklist/data recording sheet and use my watch/phone for timers.

I use the iOS version on my iPad when I’m brewing and have never had a crash in over 2 years of use & approximately 50 brews.
The boil timer is handy and the ability to record session data is also very handy.