Beersmith or Promash

[Jensen]

Hi Guys, going be getting either one of these when my free trial runs out.
I like both applications and their features, but was wondering, which one you'd recommend, as i've heard people say that Beersmith for example isn't very accurate with its OG and ABV predictions, has anyone had problems with either app or would recommend one over the other? - or any other bewing app :)

Cheers

 

[Wez]

I believe that Steve Flack may point you at some software that he has developed if you are a mac user, it gets very good reports.

I use Beersmith but having never used Promash I can't offer a comparison, I think that BS is a good product for the money and i've been happy with the recipes that I have produced with it.

 

[Jensen]

Cheers Wez - no longer a mac user unfortunately use a PC (piece of ****) now.
Think i'll go with Beersmith, seems more popular than Promash.

 

[EskiBrew]

I like Beersmith and feel that my money has been well spent. I did look at Promash before hand but to my mind it was more clunky. Other people would no doubt say the same about BS - you pay your money and make your choice I guess

 

[Vossy1]

I've got BS and PM, but I just can't get into PM....so it's beersmith all the way for me.

 

[Parva]

And I agree with Vossy. :)

 

[Aleman]

Promash for me . . . Never used Beer smith so can't really compare.

I use a spreadsheet of my own devising for hop calculations as the Tinseth method underbitters my beers in Promash . . . my spreadsheet takes account of that . . . I then just plug the hop amounts back into PM . . . I use PM as a glorified Notebook really and for that I guess that any of the software would work

I'm trying to get work to part with a Mac G5 (Power PC) that they bought in 2003 and no one has ever used . . . Make another PC in the brewery

 

[MEB]

I use BS. Not because i think it's great-it isn't. But it's simple to use. I'm not that bothered about it's predictions of OG and ABV. They don't determine whether i would go for a recipe or not. Or the taste of the beer, so i see no problem for me there.
My biggest issue with it is it doesn't even nearly work with costings of beer. Which i think is utter ****. Why have costings in there if they are unusable? :evil: I have to work out the costings of my beer by using math. Not good for me as i hated math at school and therefore just sat there staring out the window learning nothing. I'd love it if it worked out the costings correctly. As i'm going for my sanitary certificate so we can sell my brews at our guesthouse it would be nice not to have to spend half a day working out how much i need to sell the stuff for.

But that's probably not important to most people.

Pound for pound though BS is very good value for money i reckon. :thumb:

 

[EskiBrew]

I use a spreadsheet of my own devising for hop calculations as the Tinseth method underbitters my beers in Promash . . . my spreadsheet takes account of that . . . I then just plug the hop amounts back into PM . . .

Is it not possible to select the calculation that Promash uses for this? - In Beersmith, you can choose from Tinseth, Garetz and Rager :hmm:

 

[jamesb]

I use QBrew. It's free and can be run on Windoze or Linux. It's fairly basic, but it does the job for me. When I get some time I might even give them a hand adding some new features.

I just hate the interface of Beersmith and Promash.

Wheeler's Beer Engine is also free but is suffering from some serious bugs - serious enough that I can't even run it without it crashing.

 

[MEB]

Wheeler's Beer Engine is also free but is suffering from some serious bugs - serious enough that I can't even run it without it crashing.

That's prolly because it comes from a serious bug. :twisted:

 

[jamesb]

Oooo you bitch :nono:

 

[Kingfisher]

Just started using Promash and agree with Aleman that the hop calculations don't tie in with other caculators. :wha: You can opt for Tinseth, Garetz or Rager.

 

[MEB]

Oooo you bitch :nono:

No, i just find him a jumped up obnoxious pratt. In my opinion.

 

[Aleman]

I use a spreadsheet of my own devising for hop calculations as the Tinseth method underbitters my beers in Promash . . . my spreadsheet takes account of that . . . I then just plug the hop amounts back into PM . . .

Is it not possible to select the calculation that Promash uses for this? - In Beersmith, you can choose from Tinseth, Garetz and Rager :hmm:

You can, and you have the same three options . . . . . Tinseth agrees with my manual calculation of the bitterness so it is not a problem with PM but the fact that the tinseth formula does not tie in with the extraction I get in the copper . . . . . I had the copper 'profiled' and adjusted the Tinseth fudge factors to produce an extraction curve that is more appropriate to my brewery . . . unfortunately you don't have access to the fudge factors in any of the brewing software . . . hint hint Steve

Just started using Promash and agree with Aleman that the hop calculations don't tie in with other caculators. :wha: You can opt for Tinseth, Garetz or Rager.

I've run the Tinseth calculator in Promash Manually and produced the same results so I'm happy that the Tinseth Calculation is correct in PM . . . . Just that the standard Tinseth curve over estimates bitterness in my brewery . . . Rager and Garetz are even more way off :evil:

 

[Jensen]

I'm trying to get work to part with a Mac G5 (Power PC) that they bought in 2003 and no one has ever used . . . Make another PC in the brewery

Fantastic bit of kit - I used to use one when I was a Graphic Designer - now a gardener, so not much use for me now

Going to go with Beersmith - i actually prefered it slightly anyway - so going to order tonight.

Thanks for all your input guys - much appreciated

 

[BrewStew]

i've given both a go but get on with beersmith better. it's layout is easier to navigate, which comes in handy if your mid brew and need to quickly check or tweak something.

I also had an idea for the calendar part and sent it to the developer, to which he liked and i think it might get added at some point in the future :thumb:

its always good when the devs are responsive to their customers i think :thumb: