whats the best available software? Beer Smith?

[NewB2Brewing]

I'm new to all grain brewing and looking to purchase software to develop recipes, etc. Is Beer Smith the best available? Can it be shared? or is it a licensed program that is only available for one PC?

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

A BeerSmith license is good for 2 installations, although I'm not sure how much/if they from on two people sharing it.

 

[cyanmonkey]

+1 for Beersmith

Although Brewtarget is free. The interface isn't quite as good and it doesn't have quite as many features, but it'll get you there.

 

[peterj]

You should look into Brewer's Friend. It's web based so you can access it on any computer and smartphones. The paid version is like $10/year so it's very affordable. It has tons of calculators and support as well.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/

 

[Rockn_M]

You should look into Brewer's Friend. It's web based so you can access it on any computer and smartphones. The paid version is like $10/year so it's very affordable. It has tons of calculators and support as well.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/

I'm a big fan of Brewers Friend. I like how I can access it from any computer, smartphone, tablet etc with one yearly cost. It is also user friendly and has lots of calculators and other tools.

 

[NewB2Brewing]

The brewers friend is $10/year, is there a yearly fee for BeerSmith? Being web based is pretty attractive idea.

 

[NewB2Brewing]

You should look into Brewer's Friend. It's web based so you can access it on any computer and smartphones. The paid version is like $10/year so it's very affordable. It has tons of calculators and support as well.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/

The brewers friend is $10/year, is there a yearly fee for BeerSmith? Being web based is pretty attractive idea.

 

[cyanmonkey]

The brewers friend is $10/year, is there a yearly fee for BeerSmith? Being web based is pretty attractive idea.

No, one time payment. They're always doing deals, as well.

There's also the ability to upload your recipes to a cloud server to access anywhere. I have it on my computer and home and work and play with it, upload it and then pick up where I left off.

The Brewer's Friend software IS pretty good and a lot of what Beersmith does can be found elsewhere for free. You're paying to have everything concisely in a nice GUI.

My favorite feature is the automatic salt addition calculation. I haven't found that anywhere else, though.

 

[mikfire]

Try several of them. Use beersmith's trial license. Use brewersfriend for a bit. Use brewtoad. Use brewtarget.

Brewing software is really a work flow engine. There are some other bells and whistles like writing recipes, but it really comes down to the work flow. All the brewing software makes some assumptions about your brewing process.

Look for the one that makes the best assumptions about your process, with the least amount of pain. And the best way to do that is to brew with each of them.

 

[Oginme]

Try several of them. Use beersmith's trial license. Use brewersfriend for a bit. Use brewtoad. Use brewtarget.

Brewing software is really a work flow engine. There are some other bells and whistles like writing recipes, but it really comes down to the work flow. All the brewing software makes some assumptions about your brewing process.

Look for the one that makes the best assumptions about your process, with the least amount of pain. And the best way to do that is to brew with each of them.

Very good advice. 'Best' is relative when it comes to software. Really it will boil down to which software package works for you and meets your needs. Some are more intuitive to use than others, and some more adaptable.

I tried several before purchasing BeerSmith. My reasons -- It was very adaptable to my brewing styles, it resided on my computer and I can work recipes while off the internet, and it was very well supported.

In the end, no matter what anyone else says about a particular software package, it is your priorities and requirements that must drive the best decision.

 

[NervousDad]

I like beersmith only because im use to it. It's starting to look dated at this point and there are a lot of online sites now that are starting to look better. beersmith charges for cloud storage which is a major negative.

Brewtoad is a ver nice online site.

 

[shanebrewsbeer]

I'm preferential to beer smith. Especially speaking that for another 8 bucks you can get the app on iOS and it syncs recipes. No more laptop at my brews station.

Also, I like brad's emails. Good info and discussion.

 

[MX1]

There are lots of new and developing online brewing apps.

MyBrewCo
Lubberwortbrewing

also

Squareyourbrew is an excl sheet that is kinda new to the market

Look around, play with as many as you can, find the one that works best for you

Also, if your on a Mac/Apple Beer Alchemy is pretty nice as well.

T

 

[NewB2Brewing]

Great advice...will take advantage of the free trials.

 

[Hacky2447]

Ive been using beersmith for a while. I really like that you have many optons , many features, coupled with a nice looking GUI.

I have been hoping that they will be updating it for a while, as it does look a bit dated. Still works well though.

I am finding one issue with Beersmith. The software does not math very well. Of course it could also be me and the way I enter information on it. Still leaning how to fully use it.

 

[Brewsncrabs]

Beersmith only charges for cloud service if you store more than 15 recipes. Just move them back and forth from cloud to PC and stay below 15 and pay nothing. It's only a couple clicks and your done.

 

[BrewerinBR]

I have tried Beersmith, BrewTarget Brewers Friend and many others, some free, some were subscription some were licensed. None of them matched my process or equipment or the way I brew exactly. So I wrote my own.
For me it is the best, as it is fully customized to my process and my equipment and how I work also I can change it with my process and my equipment. So try all of them until you find one that matches what your doing or as close as you can find. Normally you can get about 80% to 90% the rest you change the software or what your doing to match it.

 

[Natdavis777]

For PC Id say Beersmith is the best, but I have Mac, and having both, I love BeerAlchemy... I dont find Beersmith as user friendly as BA....

 

[petevanbrewski]

I have BeerSmith and Brew Pal apps on my IPad. I've found Brew Pal to be much more user friendly for someone just getting started with all grain brewing. I'm now eight (very tasty) batches in and still find I like using it better than BeerSmith. It has its weaknesses but none of the apps I've tried are perfect.

 

[brewmesomewater]

For all you who use Beersmith, do the recipes formulate to only 5 gallon batches? I only brew 1 gallon batches as I am new and want to have 10 different varieties of.beer in my fridge at a time. I no inclination of the amounts of what to use and need sometbing very user friendly.

 

[Derp]

For all you who use Beersmith, do the recipes formulate to only 5 gallon batches?

You can scale them to any size you'd like.

 

[DU99]

I use brewmate on my pc,also has a database of recipes,and it's free (donation's accepted).also have brew Shop on my Tablet.

 

[Owly055]

I have both Beer Smith and Brewer's Friend............ For my way of operating, Brewer's Friend is a far better fit......... I've done 60 brews, most original recipes done on Brewer's Friend. I've never found Beer Smith friendly to my way of creating recipes for some reason.

H.W.

 

[brewmesomewater]

You can scale them to any size you'd like.

Worddddddddd