Which is more accurate brewtoad or brewers friend?

[Pelican521]

I've used brewtoad for several brews but came across brewers friend which seemed a little more detailed with being able to input water additions/etc

Anyway, my next brew is going to be an imperial IPA and decided to input them in both programs and noticed they had calculated some slightly different numbers for IBUs, abv, and OG/FG with exactly the same ingredients.

Just wondering what other peoples experiences were with these 2 programs, and which is more accurate?

Thx

 

[capt82]

I've been using brew toad and like the simplicity. I also just started to checkout brewers friend. I like the app as well with the brew day timer, calculators, etc... I have not yet compared side by side calculations but I will have to check that out. I don't want to jip myself out of any ABV.


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[sandyeggoxj]

When calculating IBUs make sure that you are using the same formula. Also, check the yeast data for attenuation. That might make the differences in abv.

 

[Pelican521]

One issue I've noticed it that Brewtoad doesn't take in account the bump in OG due to using Lactose. But the issue here with my IIPA recipe is the opposite where OG is higher on Brewtoad (even though I'm not using Lactose, that was just an example).

Here's the grain/malt bill I have for my partial mash imperial IPA:

5lb...............2-Row
8 oz.............Carapils (Dextrine Malt)
5 oz.............Caramel / Crystal 40L
1 lb..............Corn Sugar
6 lb..............Dry Malt Extract - Extra Light

Brewtoad gives it an OG of 1.084 and Brewers friend has it at 1.081. For alc % BT has it at 8.3% and BF at 7.99%.

The FG for both is just 1 point apart with BT at 1.021 and BF at 10.20.

I may be splitting hairs here but just wondering which would be more accurate so I would only need to use one program moving forward. I don't have beersmith but here that's the best program, would anyone be able to plug my grain bill in to see how it comes out?

Thanks in advance!

 

[dk21]

I can't speak to Brewtoad, but I've been using Brewer's Friend for about a year with great results. I find it intuitive and really like the checklists and timers. It works great on my tablet which is an ideal device to have by my side on brew days.

 

[capt82]

"I may be splitting hairs here".

I think so if your on this beginner forum. I could see value to a professional brewer to have these numbers perfect but...I would think professionals aren't looking for projected outcomes either. Those values that brew toad and brewers friend give you are all projections based off of the values of all the variables they input to the calculation. Any one difference in a variable will give a different outcome.

I think you should pick the recipe with the projected outcome you are looking for (regardless of program) and try your hardest to get that same outcome.


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[dstranger99]

I like Beersmith, never used Brewtoad, but I've seen the other one, doesn't do BIAB last time I checked.

 

[JimRausch]

No experience with Brewers friend, but I've used brewtoad since it bought out hopville,(and hopville before it). It's a little less intuitive to learn than hopville was, but once I got used to it, it's fine. Also seems to freeze up more than hopville, but that might be my computer.
I have over 30 recipes on it, and all of the predicted values have been pretty darn close to actual values. Of course there are variations, but I'd imagine that from batch to batch everyone has minor variations in OG,FG,ABV,SRM,IBU. I'm happy enough with the program to stick with it.

 

[Ayuir]

Just a real quick plug into BrewSmith gives me the following:

Amt Name
5 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
5.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)
6 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM)
1 lbs Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM)

OG 1.092
FG 1.020 est
ABV 9.5%

This at an estimated 72% efficiency.

 

[Pelican521]

Wow Ayuir, 9.5 % is way off from both brewtoad and brewers friend's abv, and my efficiency is set at 75%.

Now I'm more confused than ever, I don't want my IIPA coming in that high of alc%...

 

[Ayuir]

It looked high even before I put it into BeerSmith (I brew a lot of IIPAs and stouts). It doesn't answer the original question but take a look at the two images. Your first recipe put the OG just outside the top of the style for an IIPA, and the ABV near the upper limit. A small modification and the OG and ABV drop to the middle of the range. None of that, of course, takes into account what you may have been trying for with the recipe, other than your statement that you didn;t want the ABV coming in at 9.5% (this is 8.1%).

Threw this up to see hoe BeerSmith compared to what you were looking at and may have just confused the whole issue. Sorry.

 

[Pelican521]

No problems, thanks for checking into it in the first place. I ended up tweaking my recipe a bit since I decided I'd like to possibly have more than one in a night

I brewed it on Sunday, here's my final grain bill:
5 lbs - 2 row
8 oz - Carapils
5 oz - Crystal 40
1 lb - Corn Sugar
4.5 lbs - DME -extra light (it was originally 6 lbs)

This brought the alc% down from about 8% to 7%. The FG was spot on at 1.075.

It's still chugging away and smells great.