QBrew - improvements?

[Kyral210]

Ok, download and install QBrew and then write your thoughts, feelings and feedback about the software. Also include any ideas as to how it might be improved to match your brewing habbits.

 

[hairybiker]

OK just installed it on this PC (Easy in Mint :thumb: Type qbrew in the menu search and choose install : )

1st thing.
UK measurements ? it has US/Metric
2nd.
Changed to Metric units but (default) open screen shows 5Gal not 23l - it should change with the units?
3rd
Single brewer version - only me will be using it so why do I need to enter the brewer?
4th
More Grain types
5th
More hop types
6th
More Yeast SO4 at least


Will have a look at the source later and see if I can grog it. :wha:

 

[hairybiker]

More:
On the recipe calc hops page:-
What is the time on the hops - time form start/end ?
e..g if I want to add 30g at 15 min from end is that 75 min or 15 min

In File/recipes option to IMPORT from other users - just the opposite of the Export one, to allow us to add brews without having to type them all in.
Batch and Single in-case we get a few from others.

 

[Aleman]

Here is a couple I like . . . Shamelessly nicked from BeerEngine (Which I asked to be added anyway).

The ability to specify fermentables by % of the weight of extract (Not Grist) rather than weight

The ability to specify bitterness by %

so 50% bitterness from hop x with 90 minute boil
25% Bitterness from Hop Y at 15 minute Boil
25% Bitterness from 5 minute boil

What Bitterness formulae does it use.

It needs at least Rager, Daniels and Tinseth . . with perhaps another option to actually enter a utilisation factor ala Wheeler.

 

[hairybiker]

OK what do we use to edit this. Is there a decent IDE for it under Linux?

 

[hairybiker]

Some kind of DB for the recipes rather than individual .qbrew files maybe? (I thought it had it but further investigation shows it saves individual files)

 

[TheMumbler]

I mainly use qbrew and would be very happy to contribute to a project aimed at improving it.

I'd like a feature that allows you to scale a recipe automatically. So for example if you design a 23l brew and later want to brew 40l you can just lock the ingredients, OG, IBU etc and change it to 40l length automatically adjusting all the ingredients. Beer Engine will do this, I think the commercial ones do too. As it stands you have to do that by hand, not a massive issue but still...

Ideally built in water treatment and sparge temp and volume calculators, temp adjustment for grain temp etc.

A display of colour rather than just a figure might be nice. Perhaps colour value in EBC as well as Lovibond

An entry for diastatic power in the ingredients database and some kind of display based upon it would be nice but not by any means essential.

Maybe some kind of export out to a logbook type application so that I can record which beers I've brewed, notes on what went wrong, variations from the recipe as entered and tasting notes. Again not a priority

Maybe a store house database that automatically updates (I think one of the commercial examples does this)

More ingredients is really just a case of updating the ingredients database file (xml i think). You can do this via the program or in a text editor. We could compile a list of ingredients with the appropriate parameters on the wiki and then make a modified file so that people can just replace the inredients database in the appropriate folder. There is one knocking around t'interwebs from an american shop but it is US centric and has a lot of non-useful stuff relating to the shop's products.

It needs at least Rager, Daniels and Tinseth . . with perhaps another option to actually enter a utilisation factor ala Wheeler.

It has tinseth as an option already in addition to its default (not sure what that is)

More:
On the recipe calc hops page:-
What is the time on the hops - time form start/end ?
e..g if I want to add 30g at 15 min from end is that 75 min or 15 min

In File/recipes option to IMPORT from other users - just the opposite of the Export one, to allow us to add brews without having to type them all in.
Batch and Single in-case we get a few from others.

Hop additions are time from flame out. So 15 mins in your example
you should be able to open recipes in the file format (i forget what it is) without re-typing. I've swapped recipes by email with BigStoo.

I don't qbrew at work but I'll try to have a look through at home to jog my memory of what annoys me about it

 

[Vindiv8]

A recipe "repositary" is a really good idea, perhaps integrated into the recipe section here. This software could be really good, a comunity of experienced brewers, driving it forward. It will be good for the forum, increasing traffic and good for us all, we get a kick ass piece of software. Now, the question is how far behind this does the forum want to get, I wonder if a separate forum for qbrew discussions might be a good idea. That way qbrew can drive visits here forward, and the frum can help qbrew grow?

 

[Aleman]

Now, the question is how far behind this does the forum want to get, I wonder if a separate forum for qbrew discussions might be a good idea. That way qbrew can drive visits here forward, and the frum can help qbrew grow?

Except that we have a great recipe designer here already that with a bit more work can be made much more user friendly (Like being able to adjust hop quantities) . . perhaps we could look at incorporating QBrew recipes (if they used a nice format like XML), but the developers here have enough work maintaining the site . . . spending more working on another product :hmm: :hmm:

 

[hairybiker]

It maybe worth creating a launchpad site for this project, then anybody who works on the s/w can do so via a git download and then we have version control etc.

 

[Vindiv8]

Now, the question is how far behind this does the forum want to get, I wonder if a separate forum for qbrew discussions might be a good idea. That way qbrew can drive visits here forward, and the frum can help qbrew grow?

Except that we have a great recipe designer here already that with a bit more work can be made much more user friendly (Like being able to adjust hop quantities) . . perhaps we could look at incorporating QBrew recipes (if they used a nice format like XML), but the developers here have enough work maintaining the site . . . spending more working on another product :hmm: :hmm:

That would be fine, and I agree the Recipe page is pretty good. Qbrew uses beerxml I belive. How feasable would it be to be able to u/l and d/l recipes from the site designer to qbrew (or any other app)?