Brewing Apps

[Sprocker]

As an all grain virgin I'm looking at planning/recipe/notes apps. Ideally something that is as easy to use as possible. I'll be using Brewzilla Gen 4.
The two main ones seem to be Brewfather and Beersmith.
Is there anything else worth considering?

 

[RichardM]

I use Beersmith, it works and I have no reason to change to anything else.
Brewers Friend is worth looking at.

 

[Sprocker]

I use Beersmith, it works and I have no reason to change to anything else.
Brewers Friend is worth looking at.

Thankyou, I'll take a look at Brewers friend also.

 

[dlowe1992]

I’m also a relative newbie..
I have used Brewfather and found I needed to adjust a little as I went. You need to know (or estimate) such things as boil off volume and fermentor trub loss.. I found I could only really estimate these once I’d done a couple of brews.

It meant that my gravity readings seemed off to start with. Having adjusted once I made estimates of the above they’re now broadly in line.

From my wxperience it means you might need to do a few brews before you can use the app to build a recipe and accurately predict your outcomes…

Be interested to hear how you get on and if I’m over- complicating!!

 

[RichardM]

I’m also a relative newbie..
I have used Brewfather and found I needed to adjust a little as I went. You need to know (or estimate) such things as boil off volume and fermentor trub loss.. I found I could only really estimate these once I’d done a couple of brews.

It meant that my gravity readings seemed off to start with. Having adjusted once I made estimates of the above they’re now broadly in line.

From my wxperience it means you might need to do a few brews before you can use the app to build a recipe and accurately predict your outcomes…

Be interested to hear how you get on and if I’m over- complicating!!

This is true for Beersmith, and I expect, most other apps.
In Beersmith as well as configuring your equipment profile to account for losses you can set your efficiency.
Beersmith has some equipment profiles already built in and you can download more, or start your own from scratch.

It does take a few brews to tune it. Yesterday my OG was one point away from what Beersmith predicted, I was happy with that.

 

[Rwilts]

Brewfather for me, there are some profiles available for different AIO's on internet

 

[marshbrewer]

I used to use Brewers Friend but switched to Brew father which I find better and grows with you as you tailor your process to suit.

 

[Brew_DD2]

Brewfather. Lots of useful features, good developer support and the UI is miles ahead of Beersmith.

 

[Mayor of Simpleton]

I use BeerSmith. I just tried Brewfather but I didn't like it. I suspect that is more down to 8 years familiarity with BeerSmith rather than any shortcomings in Brewfather.

 

[RichardM]

Brewfather. Lots of useful features, good developer support and the UI is miles ahead of Beersmith.

I've been using Beersmith for years. The UI doesn't bother me.
Do you know of a comparison between the features of the two?

 

[Sadfield]

Beersmith for me, I love that I can customise anything, equipment profiles, ingredients, style profiles, etc. There's loads of app options out there, but they are only as good as the data you put into them.

 

[Rwilts]

I am sure all of us will agree with @Sadfield ,they all very much do the same thing, you just pick a horse and stick to it

 

[Brew_DD2]

I've been using Beersmith for years. The UI doesn't bother me.
Do you know of a comparison between the features of the two?

I've not come across one. FWIW I think Beersmith is excellent. I just found using it on the phone a chore, and the UI is outdated. I used it for quite a few years before Brewfather came along.

 

[RichardM]

I've not come across one. FWIW I think Beersmith is excellent. I just found using it on the phone a chore, and the UI is outdated. I used it for quite a few years before Brewfsther came along.

I certainly agree with you about using it on the phone. The only time I use it on the phone is when showing recipes to people at homebrew club.

I design the recipes on a PC and then print them for brew day, writing notes in pencil, then updating Beersmith on the PC later.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Brewfather for me i tried BF but could not get along with it,

 

[Mayor of Simpleton]

I also tend to only use Beersmith on my laptop to create recipes and fiddle with water adjustment etc on brewdayd. I pdf the brewsteps and attach it to my brew day notes that I take on my e-ink notebook. My main wish is that I can import data from iSpindel into BeerSmith

 

[dad_of_jon]

As an all grain virgin I'm looking at planning/recipe/notes apps. Ideally something that is as easy to use as possible. I'll be using Brewzilla Gen 4.
The two main ones seem to be Brewfather and Beersmith.
Is there anything else worth considering?

beerriff brewer uses beersmith - super beers

I use the free version of brewtarget. - very agreeable beers

I will admit I don't use it much thesedays only to try out theoretical recipes. I pretty much know what I'm going to get based on my ingredients thesedays, I don't brew to style so software is a bit less needed for me as I can work my recipes out in my head.

 

[Wigglebutts Brewery]

Beersmith. Brad is very responsive to questions and the forum is very helpful. I use it on an old laptop though several fellow club members use web version on tablets or phones.

there’s definitely a “warm up” period to dial in equipment, even minor changes..

 

[RichardM]

Beersmith. Brad is very responsive to questions and the forum is very helpful. I use it on an old laptop though several fellow club members use web version on tablets or phones.

there’s definitely a “warm up” period to dial in equipment, even minor changes..

As well as the forum Brad has done a lot of videos showing how to use it

 

[YeastFace]

Moved to Brewfather this year after using Beersmith for many years. Happy with the change.