Final recipe site almost done....

[ScottM]

I can't believe how much effort it has taken me to get to this point. I'm a few checks and a registration page away from the site being complete. Not having used PHP or Javascript before has made it one hell of a steep learning curve but at the same time very rewarding, as I now both understand the basics of the languages and just how much work it takes to make a website with reasonable function.

I have made my own site in the past, but it was purely HTML and a PITA to put updates on. This entire site is database/php driven and thus updates and member input is an absolute doddle.

Anyway, the site and tools themselves are only really going to be of use to people into extract, kit, juice wine and turbo cider making. At the moment I don't really have the time or the drive to cater towards AG brewing, as I'm not an AG brewer, but that may come in the future. Most of the calculations I have tweaked to be as accurate as they possibly can be, including my theoretical FG calculation which seems to be hitting the mark with great accuracy (from my experience anyway).

Feel free to browse around the recipes and have a look around the logs etc. Some areas are going to be members only so those links on the homepage won't work until registered (which can't be done at the moment).

If you see any errors, mistakes, etc with the site then please let me know as it's a fairly big task trying to debug it on my own. Even if you end up being able to edit something that you don't think you should be able to then please also point this out as I no doubt have a load of gaping holes. No worries about the data, everything has been backed up as it currently stands, so if you break something don't worry about it.... it's all part of the process

Any comments, criticisms, etc gratefully received.

http://www.homebrewbuddy.co.uk/

 

[tbert33]

Congrats Scott. Ive just had a quick look and your website has been saved onto my favs. Meets my requirements (cant do AG yet). Thanks for sharing mate.

 

[alawlor66430]

That's brilliant since most sites are catered towards ag which I myself am not into yet ( working in it though )

 

[ScottM]

Cheers guys. Like all things it started with a small program for working out how much fermentables would equal how much ABV etc. Just grew arms and legs, then I wanted to create recipes with automatic figure generation (as well as costs), from there I wanted to have logs, then I wanted online calculators and then I decided a shopping cart with popular suppliers would be a good idea.

Not really sure where else I can take it but there isn't really anything else I need at the moment

A FAQ on how to use it all etc will be on the cards, with how-to's for working out the yield of specific ingredients etc (to help with accuracy).

All in good time though :)

 

[mcscruff]

I had a little look from my phone and it looks good. 1 thing i did notice is that the homebrew forum is in recipies, maybe it should be somewhere else

 

[ryanshelton]

Looking good. I noticed a slight typo on the front page under where it says shopping youve typed 'your' wrong :)

 

[ScottM]

Looking good. I noticed a slight typo on the front page under where it says shopping youve typed 'your' wrong :)

Good spot, cheers :)

 

[ScottM]

I had a little look from my phone and it looks good. 1 thing i did notice is that the homebrew forum is in recipies, maybe it should be somewhere else

In order to have a "brewlog" there needs to be a recipe created first. The forum is also in the brewlog with a link/logo etc :)

 

[abeyptfc]

when you go into your recipes, the top one is listed as light lager, but it's listed as a wine! DOH!

 

[ScottM]

when you go into your recipes, the top one is listed as light lager, but it's listed as a wine! DOH!

Ha ha, that was me just messing around

Forgot to put it back

 

[ScottM]

Registrations are open now. Still trying to sort out an admin panel so it's all very basic at the moment. If a password etc is forgotten then I can reset it, easily, but there is no way of contacting me other than through here

 

[ScottM]

Right I'm fairly confident that the registration part is working now.

When you join up I'll get a notification to activate your account. Once that's done you can add your own recipes, logs, ingredients, yeasts and build your own shopping carts etc. Everything will be stored under your account so only you (or myself) can actually edit any of the items/recipes etc that you create. Everyone will be able to view everyones recipes/logs so the more people that get involved the more everyone will get out of it so please join up and stick your recipes in :)

I've got a few plans for future updates such as recipe scaling, a tutorial section and most definitely a faq section to help out with using the site and how everything works etc.

To get you started, in order to make a recipe simply click "Add new recipe" in the recipes section. From there you simply fill in the details, click the add button and you will see your newly created recipe at the top of the list. Click on it then click "View recipe". Once in this area just fill in all the details that you wish to and then start adding ingredients to the list at the bottom. As you add the ingredients the OG, FG, ABV, Cost, etc etc are all automatically updated, same with when you choose a yeast. If you need an ingredient that isn't there simply add it in the ingredients section, in the same way as you did the recipe, and the same goes for the yeast etc.

Lets see what you have :)

 

[narmour]

I like how you have a 'recipe' for the homebrew forum!! nice little plug!!

Registered and waiting for confirmation. I'm not sure how active I will be on this as I'm not great at taking notes and photos but will give it a go!!

 

[ScottM]

You are now active, 3 members signed up already

 

[EskiBrew]

Nice looking site :thumb:

I can't believe how much effort it has taken me to get to this point.

I know what you mean there - when I wrote the AG recipe tool for this site it took a considerable amount of time

 

[ScottM]

Cheers Bob :)



I've started on the tutorial vids, there will eventually be a how-to section on the site itself. For now here is a tutorial on viewing, adding and editing recipes. Just FYI all quantities are in either grams or millilitres (hence why the water is 23000 for 23L). The only exception is when adding additives such as campden tablets, Irish Moss, pectolase etc. These are all added in multiples of 1, as in 1tsp or 1off. Adding new yeasts and ingredients is a piece of pie, just click on the relevant section to add any yeast or ingredients you want. They will then be instantly available in the recipes page. Adding is the same as shown in the video, just click the add button, fill in the details and hit enter. Job done :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0dL5otdF2A

 

[narmour]

Love the calculators, I can see them being very useful.

If I could make a suggestion, perhaps the choice of colour for the answers isn't the best. It is a little hard to see on the light blue background and I have found myself having to highlight the answer to see what it says. And my eyes are usually pretty good!!


Other than that, great site!!! :

 

[ScottM]

Love the calculators, I can see them being very useful.

If I could make a suggestion, perhaps the choice of colour for the answers isn't the best. It is a little hard to see on the light blue background and I have found myself having to highlight the answer to see what it says. And my eyes are usually pretty good!!


Other than that, great site!!! :

No worries at all, it will always display differently on different monitors etc so happy to change it.

Do you think the yellow used throughout the site would be suitable? I would rather stick to a colour scheme than go with white etc, but will change it to white if need be :)

Edit: I've changed it to yellow bold, let me know if that looks OK at your end. Keep the suggestions coming :)

Edit:edit: Scratch that, I've just changed it back. I'm guessing you're using IE? I didn't notice but I had the textboxes set to "disabled" instead of "read only". In disabled mode everything is greyed out. In read only the font styling stays the same. I use chrome which, for some reason, doesn't show disabled boxes as grey, it keeps the normal font style lol. All changed now so should be working fine now. Let me know :)

 

[narmour]

Ah. I'm looking at it in work on an ancient version of IE (skinflints) so it could be an issue with that. It plays merry havoc with some newer websites. I will have a look at home on my laptop.

 

[narmour]

Just had a wee go and it's perfect now. Answers coming out black which is easy to read.