Beersmith?

[smilinggilroy]

Hi All,
After seeing BeerSmith mentioned in several posts I decided to investigate it.
Viewed the "how to" and "benefits of" videos on the site and was impressed, so downloaded the free trial.
The free trial package doesn't seem to measure up to the blurb of the videos. :unsure:
Is it that you have to buy the program to get all the bells and whistles and benefits of this tool?
Can someone enlighten me please.
TIA
Cheers

 

[Florian]

What you see is what you get!
The trial is the same as the full version, but you won't be able to create new recipes after the trial period ends.
It's not meant to be a program with flash animations and what not, but a helpful tool to create recipes and help with general brewing calculations and conversions.
If you don't like Beersmith, Try pro mash, brew mate or any other free or paid program.

Florian

 

[randyrob]

Florian - Thanks for the plug

Link to the BrewMate website and program download is in my sig

Cheers Rob.

 

[Aus_Rider_22]

I was the same. Had read about it but thought it was too advanced without being very pretty/graphical.

Since learning more about brewing and turning to extract and now AG, it is the best $25 I've spent. I used and really liked ianh's spreadsheet for formulating recipes for K&K/Extract but once you want more control over your brews and go AG you really start to understand how helpful beersmith is.

Do some more reading and give it time to learn the ins and outs and I am sure you will love it!

 

[Screwtop]

If you're finding Beersmith tough going and don't plan on doing step mashes just yet then Download Brew Mate, fantastic brewing software, and very user friendly. If you plan on step mashing later on then stick with Beersmith you'll find your way around it soon enough.

Screwy

 

[Bizier]

The interface has a few more modern features to be desired, features such as scaling and changing the sorting parameters of ingrediends.

ED: but it was the best of the lot when I paid the princely sum, so I have stuck with it.

 

[bcp]

I had a similar reaction to beersmith, but wouldn't do without it or an equivalent now. Some of the things i like are:

* Keeps a clean record of all my brews or planned brews.
* Can print off a brew sheet for the day.
* Easy to play around with things in a recipe and align it with styles or colours or alcohol levels.
* Can put in a 5 gallon recipe and turn it into a 23 litre recipe with two clicks.
* All the hops/grains etc are all there, don't have to work out the bittering levels,etc.
* Can use my local water profile

Yes i could do it myself with a pen and paper or spreadsheet. But why?

 

[haysie]

It costs about $10 no subscription doesnt it? Hardly going to break the bank.
Had mine a few years and its ok, but knowing what i know now I would probably buy another pack of hops and stick with the web based stuff available.
Its ok if you like being a textbook brewer but I much prefer crunching my numbers elsewhere and only using it is an audit tool/ 2nd opinion.

 

[grod5]

Have a go at BeerSmith, for $20 odd its worth the investment. I scratched my head whe I first went AG with this software but now, after fiddling with it (and BeerSmith), I happy and recommend it to others.

daniel

 

[bignath]

I had a similar reaction to beersmith, but wouldn't do without it or an equivalent now. Some of the things i like are:

* Keeps a clean record of all my brews or planned brews.
* Can print off a brew sheet for the day.
* Easy to play around with things in a recipe and align it with styles or colours or alcohol levels.
* Can put in a 5 gallon recipe and turn it into a 23 litre recipe with two clicks.
* All the hops/grains etc are all there, don't have to work out the bittering levels,etc.
* Can use my local water profile

Yes i could do it myself with a pen and paper or spreadsheet. But why?

ABSOLUTELY!

When i first downloaded it i thought i had some old throwback to some early 90's program because it's power doesn't lie in the "i have a very pretty and flashy interface". It's powerful with what it does and how easily it does those things.
I think it's amazing value for money.
I print off the brewing sheet, and tick each process off as i do them, and record all details, so if the recipe turns out great, then i know exactly how to do it again.

Give it a bit of time and you won't be dissappointed.