Homebrewing in 2015

The Pub
1

I am curious if there is anyone here who does not use a computer in their homebrewing process?

I was trying to convert Denny’s Noti Brown recipe in the Wiki the other day and was pulling my hair out…I think I need to update my brewing program… :-[

Could you brew beer WITHOUT a computer?
  • Yes, I regularly brew without a computer
  • No way
  • Maybe, but the beer would stink.
  • Yes, but why would I?
  • Only if I can also brew without pants
  • Yes, if I had to.
0 voters
2

I started brewing before I ever owned a computer. (Hell, almost nobody owned a computer when I started brewing.) Now that I think of it, I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a homebrewing program, even now.

3

I started brewing pre-brewing software.  I remember thinking it was a step up to get the calculations from Ray Daniels’ DGB to do by hand. But I’m a sucker for the good software. A lot less time and grief involved.

4

I brew without a computer all the time, making the following allowances:

  1. My recipes are generally stored in Word docs.
  2. I do “on the fly” calculations on an electronic calculator
    3)  I do refractometer conversions to FG using a spreadsheet.

I made the assumption that you were talking about software packages like Beersmith or Promash.  I own a copy of Beersmith 2.0 and play with it now and then but have not ever really gotten into a habit of using it all the time.

Paul

5

I use Beersmith.  It just makes life easy.

6

Interesting stuff.  I added another option that I neglected initially. ???

Allowances are appropriate.  :slight_smile: Thanks

7

I started to write this in my initial response, but yeah, I have all my recipes saved as well, in Evernote. I have around 30 recipes, but I tend to repeat my favorite 6 or 8 of them over and over. So, really, I don’t very often do anything that software would be useful for.

8

I started brewing before there was brewing software (1988). But, I use Beersmith now and I enjoying using it. I like to tinker with recipes.

9

I think this is where I would like to be. 8)

Computers allow us to feel like we are being so precise.
Maybe we are.
Some day when I am old I hope I can just brew with gestalt and not worry too much about it.

In the meantime…I will look into beersmith.

10

Sorry, I work with a group of people that require precision that’s a bit over board.  It’s hard to shift out of that some days.  ???

Paul

11

I’m sure I could, but I’d need a crash course in brewery math.

12

I’m disappointed that more are not admitting to wanting to brew without pants. No pants are the best pants.

13

I have only been brewing for about 18 months and I use beersmith,  I would like to get to a point where I have the time to do all the numbers work myself, but for now it helps me see theoretical changes in my finished product as I make data input changes in the program. It’s not an exact science, but with about 15 all grain batches under my belt, I feel I would only have time to buy and make kits. And then normally not be happy with variations in results based on system differences. Basically it gives my untrained brewing mind a good road map

14

I typically formulate the recipe on the computer and then use a calculator as I brew.

15

I started brewing about a year or two ago. WAY into the computer support day for brewing. I can’t imagine using a computer. Other than just the timer on my phone.

I like to keep it simple. Not worried about making a repeat brew EXACTLY the same. I take notes (on paper) and keep them in a binder.

I figure if Egyptians didn’t have computers, I don’t need them. then again, I’m not planning to ferment in clay pots either.

I also brew by the motto, Worst case, I end up with Beer, and that’s better than anything I produce at the office. (And we produce some cool s*** too)

16

I typically sketch out my recipes on scratch paper with general calculations and ingredients and then input into BS to Refine and tweak. On brew day I just use my phone as a timer and paper to make any notes I need. Once evrythingnis done I’ll log everything in when I get the chance

17

That’s pretty much what I do. I’ll come up with grist percentages and IBUs , enter it in BS and tweak if need be. Then it’s the cell phone to time additions and I still like to write out notes as well.

18

I have never used full-fledged brewing software, which is kind of weird given that my undergraduate and graduate (post-graduate in Brit terms) degrees are actually in the computer engineering side of computer science (let’s say that I have slung my fair share of code during my career).  I find brewing software to be limiting, and the math encountered in brewing helps to keep my mind sharp.  Plus, I can start with my first brewing log from over twenty years ago, and see how I have progressed over the years.  From beer recipes to media recipes to fermentation observations,  dates, times, problems encountered, solutions to said problems, everything is my brewing logs.  I took Charlie P.'s recommendation to keep a brewing log to heart.

19

I wrote my own brewing spreadsheet. I have been updating it for several years. I think my spreadsheet compares favorably to many brew software programs.

I also own 3 brewing apps and Beersmith.

I am also a computer engineer. So I guess I go the other way from S. Cerevisiae.

I have spent lots of time puzzling out how the different programs make certain calculations in an effort to explain why the various software give different results for the same recipes. Dorky. But fun for me.

20

The problem you are experiencing is definitely not between the keyboard and the chair.  If the most popular brewing software package on the market does not compute apparent attenuation correctly, then there’s little doubt in my mind that one or more of the remaining calculations leave something to be desired.

The calculation that bothers me the most is extraction efficiency.  There’s no way to know how efficient one’s brew house actually is without knowing the exact dry basis, fine grind (DBFG) or hot water extract (HWE) values for every malt used in one’s grist.  One cannot use a static table of theoretical maximums and expect the result to be more than a ballpark figure.  Furthermore, extraction efficiency as a percentage is of little practical use in a home brewing environment.  The only advantage that an extraction efficiency percentage offers over batch extraction rate in points per pound per gallon (PPG) is that an extraction efficiency percentage is a little more fine grained.  However, one pays a price for this increase in granularity; namely, extraction efficiency percentages are not directly useable when formulating recipes.  The only reason why they have become popular is because brewing software makes it easy to computes this value.

Let me give you an example.  If, over time, I determine that my average batch extraction rate is for the sake of simplicity 30 PPG, then all I need to do to determine how much grist I need per gallon of wort is to take the target gravity in points and divide by 30.  It’s that simple.  If I want to make a 1.060 beer, I know that I need to use two pounds of grist per gallon of finished wort (i.e., 60 / 30 = 2).  One does not even need to resort to using paper and pencil for that calculation.

Another area where extraction rates in PPG blow efficiency percentages out of the water is adapting a recipe to one’s brew house.  For example, SNPA has an O.G. of 1.053.  If we keep the brew house extraction rate of 30 PPG, we need to use 53 / 30 = 1.77lbs of grist per gallon of finished wort.  If we want to produce 6-gallons of finished wort, then our total grist weight will be 6 * 1.77 = ~10.6lbs.  Professional brewers like to quote recipes as percentages; hence, we simply need to apply the percentages to the total grist.  Let’s say that SNPA is 95% 2-Row/5% C60.

pounds_of_2row = 10.6 * 0.95 = ~10.1lbs
pounds_of_C60 = 10.6 * 0.05 =  ~0.5lbs

I hope that forum members noticed that I never actually worked with a grist bill to derive this recipe.  I merely started with an O.G., a brew house extraction rate, a desired post-boil volume, and the percentage breakdown of the grist.  It’s all simple arithmetic.

Granted, there are more difficult calculations than the one I demonstrated above. However, there are rules of thumb that make determining these values fairly easy.  For example, one rule of thumb is that if one is mashing in a non-preheated typical cooler setup with a hot liquor to grist ratio of 1.25:1 (1.25 quarts per pound), then a good strike temperature is 19 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the desired rest temperature.  For those who are curious about how to calculate this value, I wrote a comprehensive post on how to calculate infusions in this thread: Raising gravity in all-grain batches - #11 by system - General Homebrew Discussion - American Homebrewers Association® Forum