Looking for feeback

[Greg Campion]

Hi Everyone,

I've been working on some brewing software with a few friends of mine the past few years and we have a version that's working for building recipes and getting brew day directions. It's totally free and is currently in beta at the moment. We'd really appreciate any feedback people can give, either in this post or directly on the site. We hope you'll take a look at it and try it out, we've put a decent amount of time into it

https://www.brew-wizard.com

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Skewed perspective as I have my own software, and I also work for brewersfriend.

Personally, I hate sliders aka range input type for any sort of numeric input. For a subjective input it's fine, but for a detail like batch size or boil time, or efficiency, that should just be a simple numerical input.

Your use of "efficiency" change is not consistent with the industry standard.

The static pre-defined options for fermentation stages is lacking versatility. It should be a step based system that the user can control.

The calculated only approach to mash and volumes would be a deal breaker for me.

 

[balrog]

would love to switch liters to quarts or gallons.

 

[bracconiere]

i ain't clicking the link after the recent hijack problem......1 post, born yesterday? lol

 

[Greg Campion]

i ain't clicking the link after the recent hijack problem......1 post, born yesterday? lol

I promise you that it's nothing suspicious, I just never used forums before for anything really, I was always kind of lone wolf with brewing. I really am just looking to get some feedback from other brewers as I've built this software for myself by myself basically, the other 3 people working with me on the project have no brewing experience to speak of other than what we've brewed together to test the software.

 

[Greg Campion]

would love to switch liters to quarts or gallons.

That is something I've been meaning to add. Since I moved to Germany I've been on the metric system but I'll try and get that in ASAP

 

[Greg Campion]

Skewed perspective as I have my own software, and I also work for brewersfriend.

Personally, I hate sliders aka range input type for any sort of numeric input. For a subjective input it's fine, but for a detail like batch size or boil time, or efficiency, that should just be a simple numerical input.

Your use of "efficiency" change is not consistent with the industry standard.

The static pre-defined options for fermentation stages is lacking versatility. It should be a step based system that the user can control.

The calculated only approach to mash and volumes would be a deal breaker for me.

I get the sliders thing, I just thought it would make it a bit easier and would lessen the amount of validations that needed to be done on the form.

Can you explain what you mean about the calculated approach being a deal breaker?

I'll look into the efficiency change right away, I must have always misunderstood it

 

[davidabcd]

1 post

I use the same criteria. Apparently, it is safe and on the up and up. Generally, I would click on a link that's in a new post.
Edit: ...would not click...

 

[pricelessbrewing]

I get the sliders thing, I just thought it would make it a bit easier and would lessen the amount of validations that needed to be done on the form.

Can you explain what you mean about the calculated approach being a deal breaker?

I'll look into the efficiency change right away, I must have always misunderstood it

I don't see a way to create or change the equipment profile in the demo at least, and not really interested in signing up. The inability to change the equipment, and the inability to change the boil volume, means I would never be able to use this.

I didn't validate the calculations, but the efficiency change thing is just really weird. The "recipe efficiency" should be changed to "brewhouse efficiency" for clarity, assuming you're using brewhouse efficiency which is the standard. Then remove the efficiency change slider, and replace it with 0-100 brewhouse efficiency instead of 0 efficiency change meaning 75% efficiency and the delta being the variable. It's just unnecessary.

 

[bracconiere]

I was always kind of lone wolf with brewing.

me too, i drink to much to hang out with people that drink......i guess.....(but they come in handy, lol)

 

[Greg Campion]

I don't see a way to create or change the equipment profile in the demo at least, and not really interested in signing up. The inability to change the equipment, and the inability to change the boil volume, means I would never be able to use this.

I didn't validate the calculations, but the efficiency change thing is just really weird. The "recipe efficiency" should be changed to "brewhouse efficiency" for clarity, assuming you're using brewhouse efficiency which is the standard. Then remove the efficiency change slider, and replace it with 0-100 brewhouse efficiency instead of 0 efficiency change meaning 75% efficiency and the delta being the variable. It's just unnecessary.

What I was trying to do with that was that when you create a profile for yourself, you can set a standard efficiency and with specific recipes I wanted to be able to easily change it instead of changing the whole equip profile since i've done that on a few brews that I knew would be less efficient. I'll have to rethink it though, thanks again for the feedback.

The signup is really easy to do, we don't even validate the login, so you don't have to give us a real email or anything if you'd be so kind as to check out the other parts of the site.

 

[Greg Campion]

me too, i drink to much to hang out with people that drink......i guess.....(but they come in handy, lol)

lol, I know what you mean, I just learned how to brew from a friend and from books and never really got involved with the community. I've been in Germany now for over 7 years and really should sign up for the local home brew chapter but never seem to get around to it.

 

[bracconiere]

. I've been in Germany now for over 7 years and really should sign up for the local home brew chapter but never seem to get around to it.

i know the feeling, i've been meaning to join the AHA for over 10 years....