New iPhone Brewing App

[tomsawyer]

Used it to determine my strike temp today, on the money.  I’m doing a no-sparge mash at 3.2qt/lb so the strike temp wasn’t immediately obvious.

I just saw the SRM example function, that’ll be nice for judging.  I was thinking it was a function for estimating the SRM of a beer based on ingredients.  Is that even possible?  That’d be mildly interesting to me, I don’t usually worry about that much.

[denny]

@sfletty

Denny-

I’ve tested it on my iPad, which is a 1st gen running iOS 5, and it works just fine.

Not sure what to say.

Thanks, Steve.  It was a report, not a complaint!  I’m on an iPad2 running iOS 5.1.1

[kaiser]

would you be interested in adding “conversion efficiency” (Understanding Efficiency - German brewing and more).

I have been pushing this idea of efficiency, which reflects the amount of starch converted in the mash, for a few years now.

The inputs for the calculation would be:

grist weight
amount of water in the mash
average extract potential of grain (should default to 82%)
grain moisture content (should default to 4%)
mash gravity reading (Plato, sg or Brix. The latter should do an automatic refractometer conversion and would be the most practical one)

the result would be
conversion efficiency (percentage of starch converted in the mash).

This is one of the calculations that I do most often when I brew since I’m interested in getting to 100%.

Kai

[tomsawyer]

I’d use that, with values I already have it’d be nice to know if I was waiting long enough to convert.  I typically do it with the preboil volume but the volume isn’t exact.

[a10t2]

@tomsawyer

I was thinking it was a function for estimating the SRM of a beer based on ingredients.  Is that even possible?

Definitely. There are a number of formulas out there (Daniels, Morey, Mosher, Noonan, etc.) and a good chapter on it in Designing Great Beers. Here’s Morey’s paper: http://www.babblehomebrewers.com/attachments/article/61/BeerColor.pdf

[kaiser]

The problem with calculating SRM in a basic brewing calculator is that you are headed to the features of a recipe calculator. This is because you now also want a library for the color ratings of various grains.

[denny]

DOH!  Steve, I dickchimped it!  I had the display in landscape so I couldn’t see the results box.  It works fine and I’m an idiot!

[tomsawyer]

@kaiser

The problem with calculating SRM in a basic brewing calculator is that you are headed to the features of a recipe calculator. This is because you now also want a library for the color ratings of various grains.

I’d be willing to enter my malt’s Lovibond number.

[sfletty]

@kaiser

would you be interested in adding “conversion efficiency” (Understanding Efficiency - German brewing and more).

This is one of the calculations that I do most often when I brew since I’m interested in getting to 100%.

Kai

Thanks for the suggestion.

I’ll add this to my to do list.

[sfletty]

@kgs

I threw caution to the wind and spent 99 cents on the app. Looks like it would be handy. I recommend correcting the typos that crop up throughout the app (such as “Volumue” … “Refractomemter” … “Original Gavity” … “Fahrenhiet”) – it will improve the credibility of your product.

Typos have been noted and corrected. A new release is pending and in the review process, which takes about 2 weeks.

[sfletty]

@denny

DOH!  Steve, I dickchimped it!  I had the display in landscape so I couldn’t see the results box.  It works fine and I’m an idiot!

Whew!  ;D

[denny]

@sfletty

@denny

DOH!  Steve, I dickchimped it!  I had the display in landscape so I couldn’t see the results box.  It works fine and I’m an idiot!

Whew!  ;D

So, now that it’s working I went back and entered the parameters for my last mash…13.75 lb., 71F grain temp, 1.6 ratio, and 148 target temp.  BrewBot said strike at 157.2.  Promash told me 161.  161 was what I used when I brewed and it was right on.  I’m guessing it’s because Promash takes into account the thermal mass of my cooler.

Lennie, you said that when you used it it was right on for strike temp.  What kind of mash tun do you use?

[tomsawyer]

I was using a 60qt Coleman Xtreme and it was filled halfway.  I didn’t preheat but I brewed in the midday sun on a 100F day so maybe that is preheating enough.  I checked the temp with a fairly inexpensive bimetal thermometer, can’t say it is right on but I’ve been using it.

[denny]

@tomsawyer

I was using a 60qt Coleman Xtreme and it was filled halfway.  I didn’t preheat but I brewed in the midday sun on a 100F day so maybe that is preheating enough.  I checked the temp with a fairly inexpensive bimetal thermometer, can’t say it is right on but I’ve been using it.

I don’t preheat either.  Some years back I decided that was a step I could skip so I figured out how I could adjust the thermal mass variable in Promash to account for it.  I calibrated my brewing thermonmeter against a certified lab thermo the day before I brewed so I’m pretty sure it was right on.