I’m looking to get a brewing program. What do you use/recommend?
I have beeralchemy on my computer and cell phone. I really like this one because I can sync them together. ibrewmaster is pretty good but I wish I could use it on a bigger screen than my cell. it is available for an ipad but I don’t really have a need for one.
both are pretty useful and easy to use.
I’m happy with both and would recommend either one.
I did a free trial for beer smith but never really played with it as much and ended up letting the trial lapse without purchasing.
try some out and see what you like using.
I use Beersmith 2 and highly recommend it. I have been using it for 5 years with great success. If you do a search you’ll find a few other threads on this subject. But, I think it’s also good to start a fresh thread on this subject as well.
+1 to Beersmith
If your on MacOS, it’s BeerAlchemy, hands down.
I’ve tried 'em all (including the various Windoze programs, since they will run on a Mac). No doubt in my mind that BeerAlchemy has the best interface, is customizable, and is very intuitive.
If you run Windows, then probably Beersmith is currently your best option.
I’m on a PC, and my phone is a droid so no joy there. I’ve heard good things about Promash, but also that it hasn’t been updated in ages and the support is less than fantastic.
Yeah, the guy who wrote spent a lot of time a few years back dealing with some health issues with his wife (as I heard it anyways) and it seems he just never got back to working on the program.
I have been having good luck with brewtarget. And it runs on my linux machine as well as my windows machine.
I’ve used Promash going on 14 years and I’ve never found anything I like better. The “no updates” thing is kinda a canard, because it really doesn’t need to be updated. It does everything I need, and does it easily.
They all do a fairly good job, but there’s not one that clearly blows the rest of the competition away.
Play around with a few and pick one you think feels right.
However, most brewing software focus on calculating SG and SRM’s from various grists, and IBU’s from various hops. They are rather weak on recommending proper pitch rates (for yeast), and proper water profile calculators (for water and brew salt additions–using BeerSmith2 is not recommended, I’d use Bru’nwater, then plug the results into BrewSmith2).
Good luck.
I agree with Denny.
I run it for a couple of years and so far so good.
Does not look that sexy but I do not consider any computer program sexy.
The feature that I like is the session data.
I did not find this in any other program.
They are just recipe formulators.
I’m very happy with Beersmith 2. Great support and lots of free add ons for different and new grains and hops.
+1 Beersmith2 It has a lot of great features and is quite easy to use.
I can’t say I’ve played around with a bunch of them, but I do like BrewSmith’s shopping list and brew day checklist functions. They seem clear and easy to use (after playing with it for a bit).
I’ve always used Promash and am quite happy with it. I do have a copy of BeerSmith, but haven’t had the time to play with it.
I have BeerSmith for my macbook and it it works great. So I will hop on the BeerSmith train.
I’ve used BeerTools, Beer Alchemy and BeerSmith 2. I’ve made the switch to BS2 recently despite my love for BeerTools on my Mac. I am REALLY happy with BeerSmith now that Brad has worked some of the small functional bugs out of the software. BeerTools was excellent on my Mac. BeerAlchemy was almost perfect but I did not like how it locked down a recipe once you checked it brewed. I did LOVE that it sync’d with my iPhone. BeerSmith is REALLY nice with all the options…you can dig in as deep as you want and it does a nice job differentiating mash efficiency and overall efficiency.
Good luck…I think all three are good products.
Put me down as HATING BeerTools It is clunky and poorly designed. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone.
Jeff Donovan is working on a new update: http://promash.com/proboard/index.html
Personally, I’ve been VERY frustrated with basically all of the apps available and find myself using multiple apps for different things.
I love having my iPhone with me on brew day and it’s much less clunky than lugging around a laptop, particularly if there’s any risk of it getting splashed on — MacBook Pro’s don’t care much for splashing wort. So on the iPhone I’ve really enjoyed BrewPal for recipe creation — it is a nice interface, helps me get in the ballpark of various beer styles, and can export the recipes via e-mail. BUT it doesn’t manage inventory and the brew timers are highly flawed. If you press the top button on the iPhone to put the display to sleep, the timer essentially stops.
I’ve also been using iBrewMaster, mostly to manage actual brew sessions and toyed around a bit with trying its new inventory management feature. I liked it for brew sessions and its reliable timers, but the app is really buggy and the inventory manager doesn’t work reliably enough. BUT it’s off to a good start. I can look at my recipes and at a glance see if I’ve got what I need to brew that batch (green = enough of that item in stock, orange = some of it in stock but have to order, red = not in stock). If they could just work out all the bugs, I may go back to using it.
In my quest for the perfect brewing app, I also tried Beer Alchemy’s iPhone app and basically had to write off the $4.99 I spent for it. It’s way too “click” heavy to do things. Though it does manage inventory nicely, you have to click through like two or three times from a recipe just to see if you’ve got enough in your inventory to brew that beer. Not cool. I want to see IN my recipe view whether or not I have what I need to make a batch of that recipe. It’s Mac desktop counterpart isn’t too bad and it is nice how the two apps sync together, but it honestly reminds me too much of working in a spreadsheet that’s been converted into an app. It doesn’t have a slick layout or interface, and there are facets of using it that make pen and paper more appealing. (Is that even possible when I’m a web developer/Mac geek?)
I tried BrewTarget, an open source app for the desktop …and closed it after looking it over. Yeah, it looks, feels and operates like open source. Onto the next app.
I briefly tried BeerSmith2 and it reminded me too much of Microsoft Office. I hate Microsoft…and hate their Office products. So yeah, onto the next app. Oh wait, that’s it?
I’ve been seriously contemplating writing my own web application to specifically handle inventory (well) and work closely with recipes and batches from those recipes, making it easy to see at a glance whether or not you have the stuff to brew a batch up, along with a few of the calculators to help measure out your assets that you need for brewing. But it’s a lot of work and I’d need some help to ensure all the calculations work right and whatnot. I’ve got the UI design and development experience and think I could come up with something nice and sexy — but I’m a lazy home brewer and would rather just sit at home and drink my home brew, hoping someone else would just make their app work right AND look awesome.