Considering developing a homebrew recipe database...

[sixfignig]

I've only very recently dived into the world of homebrewing and am very much enjoying my new hobby. As per the title I'm considering making an Australian based homebrew recipe database as a bit of a side project to help hone my web development skills as well as learning more about brewing.

I guess I would aim to have functionality somewhat similar to the recipe database here on AHB, or possibly even Brewtoad. The focus would be on the creation, sharing and rating of recipes, whereas tools like BeerSmith are better suited for actual recipe formulation.

Thought I'd reach out to the community here to ask for feedback and input on what the minimum requirements would be to make this a useful resource.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

The trick will be how we upload the recipe and in what format. Lots of people with brew software would probably just upload the files, but there are several different formats.

Or we could just write them out on paper and post them to you

 

[sixfignig]

I'm more thinking along the line of a recipe builder, somewhat similar to BeerSmith but without all the crazy calculations (ie. you need to input your OG/FG as it won't calculate automatically).

 

[SBOB]

I guess I would aim to have functionality somewhat similar to the recipe database here on AHB

I think you should aim higher

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I'm more thinking along the line of a recipe builder, somewhat similar to BeerSmith but without all the crazy calculations (ie. you need to input your OG/FG as it won't calculate automatically).

Incorporate that into it

 

[Yob]

I guess I would aim to have functionality somewhat similar to the recipe database here on AHB,

Aim Higher :lol:

 

[Parks]

Surely it couldn't be too hard to parse some different format recipe files into a common format for your database.

 

[fraser_john]

Surely it couldn't be too hard to parse some different format recipe files into a common format for your database.

hehehe, as a IT business analyst, I would not touch the business rules behind parsing from one format to another with a barge pole. Might be OK for Beer XML where the format has clearly been disclosed, but anything else, pass.

To that point, I'd just say if it is not in Beer XML format, just don't accept it as a format for uploading recipes! It is a well defined standard, already adopted by at least one brewing program, BJCP competition software such as BCOEM uploads it etc.

 

[Parks]

Well bend me over and call me Shirley - BeerSmith can export to BeerXML format so I guess that's most of the decision made.

 

[fraser_john]

So there is two requirements already:

1) The user (probably any user) should be able to import to the recipe system a recipe in BeerXML format.
2) The user should be able to search for a recipe to their liking and download (probably a subscribed users only) the selected recipe in BeerXML format.

As for the AHB recipe DB, it is free, so we should not expect too much.

 

[jibba02]

Aim Higher :lol:

that's what she said