BeerSmith? Other Programs?

[Banjo-guy]

I really like Beersmith. It might take a few brews to dial in you equipment profile. Once you get your equipment profile setup it’s very reliable in predicting water volume for mashing, bottling, strike temperature,pitching rates carbonation and more. It’s great.

[mashani]

I just wish Beersmith didn't have a user interface from the dark ages.

I haven't tried the mobile version, maybe I would like it, but there doesn't appear to be a free trial for it.

[bpgreen]

I just wish Beersmith didn't have a user interface from the dark ages.

I haven't tried the mobile version, maybe I would like it, but there doesn't appear to be a free trial for it.

I've used the app. I'm not a fan. It's missing features. I think it's meant to be used with the desktop. Create the recipe on the desktop and upload it, then use the phone on brew day. I just print out the instructions.

[mashani]

I've used the app. I'm not a fan. It's missing features. I think it's meant to be used with the desktop. Create the recipe on the desktop and upload it, then use the phone on brew day. I just print out the instructions.

I've heard they added in most of the stuff that was missing in the last few updates, but I've not tried it.

FWIW, meanwhile, I've been playing with Beersmith side by side with the Brewers Friend windows app.

I have found that I can dial in to match the online full volume BIAB calculator I've been usings numbers in the Brewers Friend windows app, which is free. I am pretty sure the Brewers Friend mobile app is the same as far as functionality, but I'd have to buy it to find out for sure. The windows one looks to be a good option for someone who wants something a bit less complicated then Beersmith because they don't need everything it does. It's more of a simple design more like QBrew except it actually works for full volume BIAB once you set it up (iE it figures out the right amount of water, strike temps, etc, just like Beersmith, once I plug in the right numbers that match my Mash & Boil). You can add/edit/adjust ingredients. You can design recipes by % or weight. You can scale a recipe from/to any size in 1 second. It has all the calculators from Brewers friend that I use all the time built in (IE the yeast pitch calculator I use). It works with Beer Xml and Promash recipes.

It doesn't have the inventory features, which I could care less about, nor can you set up multiple equipment profiles, but I'm just using it for the Mash & Boil, so I could care less if I have multiple profiles, and the many built in calculators easily let me figure misc. adjustments if I need them.

So it seem to do everything I want.

I haven't tried the mobile version, maybe I would like it too but there doesn't appear to be a free trial for it.

[BlackDuck]

I use the Lite version, I think that's what you guys are referring to as the mobile version, during the brew session only. It's much easier to write the recipe on a PC, then cloud it over to my iPad. The main page on the PC version has everything you need to see as your creating the recipe, the Lite version just seem cumbersome to me. But during the actual brew session though, the Lite is great. It's easy to use and it keeps your timing of everything right there in front of you.

[FedoraDave]

Just to be a contrarian, I use BrewToad. I like it. It helps me formulate recipes, automatically gives me OG, FG, SRM, IBU, ABV, and lets me know if these numbers are in the range for that style. It also has a mash water calculator that can be adjusted for different mash techniques. The mash water calculator will automatically put the numbers in for a specific recipe, but it can also be modified for different volumes. For instance, if I enter a recipe for a 5-gallon batch, it'll give me the numbers for a fiver. But if, on brew day, I'm making that recipe in a 2.5 gallon batch, I only have to change the grain weight, and it figures it all out for 2.5g.

Recipe formulation is very easy, too, and editing/revising recipes is a snap.

[MrBandGuy]

I also use Brewtoad. I really like the log, and being online. And free. It does what I need.


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[mashani]

So I said I liked the Brewers Friend windows app. And I do mostly.

But after doing a couple of M&B batches with it, I've found issues.

It doesn't do mash ph calculation based on the grain bill, so I was having to go somewhere else to figure that out.

And it has some really wonky bug with figuring out strike temperatures when you set it up as full volume "BIAB". As in it was telling me I needed 200 degree strike water. I could only work around it by telling it that my grain temps were 80 degrees more then they actually are, but that's sort of silly and I'm not sure what the bug is, so I don't know what happens in the summer when my grain temps temps are 10 more... do I still set it 80 higher then that or not? Only way to know is to keep fiddling around with other calculators until I find a match. Waste of time...

Also it thinks my pre-boil gravity should be higher then my post boil gravity in BIAB mode, some other weird bug. So I had to do reverse math to figure the pre-boil gravity in my head to test my mashes.

Both of those thing work fine in regular mash/sparge mode, it's a BIAB mode issue.

But BeerSmith doesn't have these problems in BIAB mode.

So I now vote for Beersmith.

[John Sand]

That's interesting Mash. I haven't had a problem with mash temps. I don't calculate ph. It is a little annoying that the default efficiency is 35% for steeping, which doesn't change when you switch to BIAB. Easy enough to change if I don't forget.
My Brewer's Friend subscription expired. If they offer me a discount, I'll renew. I still plan to try the free trial of Beersmith. If that works for me, I'll let my Brewer's Friend expire next time.

[mashani]

@John, I was using their windows desktop app which is experimentalish still, not their web app. So it's probably just it that is buggy. The brewers friend mobile app is very limited compared to either, it has nice calculators, but to use it for BiAB type recipe building wasn't going to work.

The current BeerSmith Mobile app is quite advanced, it does pretty much everything that desktop BeerSmith does except maybe inventory management. I could use the mobile BeerSmith as my only brewing software if I wanted to use my phone for everything.

[John Sand]

I downloaded the trial of BeerSmith, and in spite of not renewing, I can still see all of my recipes on BrewersFriend.
I'm not yet crazy about BeerSmith. Choosing a mash from their list doesn't fit my methods, and unlike BF, I can't make the mash extract a late addition, which then means I'm guesstimating the IBUs, boil gravity, etc.

[BlackDuck]

I was not sold on BeerSmith originally either. I had to enter my own mash profile to get it right for me. But once I set up my mash profile, figured my boil off and a few other customized tweaks, it was good to go.

I would say that it does take some work to get it right though. Don’t be discouraged by that.


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[bpgreen]

I downloaded the trial of BeerSmith, and in spite of not renewing, I can still see all of my recipes on BrewersFriend.
I'm not yet crazy about BeerSmith. Choosing a mash from their list doesn't fit my methods, and unlike BF, I can't make the mash extract a late addition, which then means I'm guesstimating the IBUs, boil gravity, etc.

There's a check box for a late addition. I always use that for my extract additions in a partial mash.

[mashani]

Yes, there is a checkbox, and you can also tell it how long your late addition stays above 85C. You can build your own mash profile or tweak an existing one to fit your methods. I made my own 3 gallon versions of the BIAB ones. I made my own equipment profile for the Mash & Boil.

This let me dial it in for the no-chill pretty easily once I figured it out.

It does know how to handle late extract additions too.

The UI is not my favorite, I find it confusing and hard to use. I liked the Brewers Friend desktop apps UI a lot more.

But I haven't found something that I can't do in BeerSmith once I figured it out.

[John Sand]

Thanks guys. My problem is not with late extract, it is that when I partial mash I add the mashed wort late. I don't see any option for that. I admit that computers frustrate me, but Beersmith is not easy to use. On BF, you can edit the whole recipe at once, on BS each ingredient must be highlighted and edited separately. I'm not giving up on it yet, but I am thinking of just using BF calculators. I don't really need to save recipes online, I keep a log.