I’ve been using ProMash for a number of years, and have been pleased with it. However, it hasn’t been updated in several years. I understand that the developer is not actively engaged in maintaining the program. I’ve heard good things about Beer Smith, which I understand is being maintained by the developer on a current basis.
Any thoughts about making the switch?
Thanks. Brew On!
I loved ProMash… It was the staple on my PC… Later I found Beer Smith. The user interface was great! It was, (is) regularly updated as far as I know and a very solid program…
Then comes my iMac… So while I love ProMash and Beer Smith on my pc’s, Beer Tools Pro is just unreal on my iMac’s. A bit of a learning curve for sure, but a great program.
If you are interested in Beer Smith, I could not give it enough kudos! I believe that they have a trial package, I may be wrong…
Here’s a recent discussion of beersmith:
http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=236.0
I love Beersmith, I miss Beersmith as I am now on Mac as well. I tried the different suggestions to get it to work on a Mac but have had issues with each event. Mainly I can never use the Brew Sheet preview or print. It is a great program though that I was comfortably breezing through in about an hour. I have been hearing forever that a Mac version is coming but I got tired of waiting. If and when it does get here, I will buy it.
I bought a copy of Beer Tools Pro and BeerAlchemy yesterday. I have to say they are not nearly as easy to use. Actually making a recipe is easy although a bit more clumsy than in Beer Smith. My issue so far is getting the software setup with my equipment. Each program seems to ask a different spec of a piece of equipment. Of the two I bought, I kind of lean toward Beeralchemy. That does you no good though if you are on a PC as it is Mac only. I way prefer Beersmith over Beer Tools Pro though. Pro Mash never interested me at all. I tried demo and ditched it the minute I tried BeerSmith.
i use beersmith on the pc and my favorite for my iphone is brew pal (.99). brew pal has some very cool features and is updated often. one of my favorite features is a program that matches your ingredients to beer styles per the bjcp list of styles and you can set the “sensitivity” for it. i realize that doesn’t probably make sense until you do it.
+1
Beersmith is great!
I also have Brewpal on my iphone…I should use it more often.
i actually get my beer programmed into brew pal and make adjustments there before i enter it into beersmith. the numbers are also very close between the two programs.
Alright! Where is the “Android” version! I am ready to try it!
Just downloaded the trial version of beersmith and input the ESB recipe I’m planning on brewing. Everything looks good. I’ve got the strike water quantity calculated but I don’t see an option to calculate the sparge water volume and temp. I’m batch sparging btw.
Look in the mash profiles. There, you need to add information for each of your mash steps.
I set up three different mash profiles all based on my equipment. A light, medium and full body mash.
Yes BrewPal is indeed very nice program.
I used to use Beersmith a lot. But then I started to miss a number of features and found that I rarely had a pc with me when I needed to take notes. So I developed my log book pages and have stopped using Beersmith.
Now that I have discovered the usefulness and constant availability of mobile devices like the iPod, I’d love to see an app that allows me to take notes very quickly and associate them with a given batch. I have brewpal, but don’t find it very useful for my brewing. But I have a spreadsheet app that I use for efficiency analysis and water design.
Kai
I’m assuming that Beer Smith calculates hop utilization based on the pre-boil volume and SG as opposed to the batch size OG. Is that right?
The place to ask that question would be on the BeerSmith board. I’m sure the author, Brad, will get back to you.
Fred
I have excel '97 and this doesn’t work for me but has anyone tried this:
http://dieseldrafts.com/spreadsheet/
It looks extremely comprehensive if you have excel 2007.
+1
In the meantime, download Brewzor to it. It does a little bit.
Hi, I prefer beersmith. cheers, form Argentina.
Gustavo.
I have used Promash for 7-8 years now. No reason to switch. I don’t need updates. I put my own styles in as well as hops, yeast, grains etc. I brew the same beer now as I have done the last 10 years. Why switch? I don’t understand the negative reviews Promash gets. It must be " NEW " brewers. I am an old guy…
Swampale
I have nothing negative to say about Promash, but I prefer Beersmith better. What I haven’t done is enter the same recipe into each and see how they compare ( IBU Calc, gravity, etc. ).
I’ve used Promash for a few years and just started using Beersmith this year. Both are equally useful for documenting brew sessions and tracking inventory, but Beersmith’s output is a bit nicer for sharing with others.