Which online brew site is best?

[SnailAle]

I'm looking at getting a bit more particular with my brewing and think one of the online sites would be beneficial for that.

The main two I hear about are beersmith and brewers friend.

What are the pros and cons of these in people's experience?

Are there any others worth checking out?

Cheers

 

[warra48]

I've used BeerSmith for the last 10 years. Works for me, does everything I need (and lots more which I don't use but others may) and all for a once off only small payment.
No affiliation etc yada yada, just a happy customer.

 

[mtb]

+1 for Beersmith. No affiliation. Designing recipes on the desktop software and having it sync with the app on my phone is super useful since my PC isn't near my brew gear. Mash and boil timers with alerts to tell you when to add what.. difficult to beat.

 

[captain crumpet]

Pro: beersmith is beersmith
Con: everything else isn't beersmith.

 

[Hermies]

I'm looking at getting a bit more particular with my brewing and think one of the online sites would be beneficial for that.

The main two I hear about are beersmith and brewers friend.

What are the pros and cons of these in people's experience?

Are there any others worth checking out?

Cheers

I had Beersmith first and did look at brewers friend when it first came both are good but I find Beersmith is a lot easier to navigate

 

[BrockHops]

I have beersmith on my android phone, I like it, but can't seem to find a "no chill" option.

 

[rude]

Brewers friend which used to be Brew Mate
I have old version of Beersmith but find Brew Mate a lot more simpler to use
Another bonus is that it is free

 

[Brewnicorn]

I downloaded the trial version of beersmith on the weekend & holy shit I found it confusing. I use a windows computer all day at work & Mac at home so literacy I think is ok. I might see if I can find a YouTube tutorial. Setting up equipment & so on didn’t seem to want to let me change pot sizes & so on. Maybe that’s just a trial thing? I’ll be glad to get back to it for another play on the weekend.

 

[mtb]

Not a trial thing, it takes some getting used to. The built-in equipment profiles are a good starting point, record your actual volumes etc and you can adjust the profile afterwards

 

[manticle]

The best one is the one that makes the most sense to you. All the good ones should provide you with the same basic information, which you can use, provided the data you enter is correct and real and you can distinguish between predictions and actual results.

They can't brew for you- use the tool correctly.

 

[SnailAle]

The best one is the one that makes the most sense to you. All the good ones should provide you with the same basic information, which you can use, provided the data you enter is correct and real and you can distinguish between predictions and actual results.

They can't brew for you- use the tool correctly.

I get what you're saying but that's why I'm asking. I don't know what's going to make sense because I haven't used them so I figured I'd ask people's opinions before spending money on one or the other.

I obviously don't expect it to brew for me, I've been happy with what I've produced so far following other people's recipes. I'm just interested in learning the chemistry, bittering, colour etc side of things so I can play around a bit with my own recipes. And figured this might help there a bit. Short of that I don't know how else to feasibly get the knowledge.

 

[Brewnicorn]

Agree with that Manticle. They shouldn’t obstruct your objective of getting a good brew going is the main point. I downloaded an app on the weekend called brew pal. Pretty easy to use. If it works I’ll stick with it. If I need to adapt to other platforms to use recipes etc others have I will.
It really is a lifelong pursuit this one. There’s a lot to learn. So folks will ever continue some will stay in their lane too I guess.

 

[laxation]

I downloaded the trial version of beersmith on the weekend & holy shit I found it confusing. I use a windows computer all day at work & Mac at home so literacy I think is ok. I might see if I can find a YouTube tutorial. Setting up equipment & so on didn’t seem to want to let me change pot sizes & so on. Maybe that’s just a trial thing? I’ll be glad to get back to it for another play on the weekend.

there are some tutorials on the beersmith website - they helped me a lot. I remember having the same initial overload of information and being super confused.

Now after using it 10 or so times, i'm only like 50% confused... (there is a shit load of configuration possible)

 

[warra48]

I use BeerSmith2 mainly for recipe design. I work out my recipe in the brewery based on what I have available in grains, then enter that into BS2.
The main use for me is the water tool, which works out the salts for me to add for the style I'm brewing, and to calculate hop additions to get me to the IBU I'm after.
Then, I use it to keep a record of all my brews, about 140 so far.
I don't use it for anything much else, as I have my system dialed in pretty well after 10+ years of brewing on it, and I have my volumes, temperatures, and efficiency down pat.

 

[SnailAle]

I use BeerSmith2 mainly for recipe design. I work out my recipe in the brewery based on what I have available in grains, then enter that into BS2.
The main use for me is the water tool, which works out the salts for me to add for the style I'm brewing, and to calculate hop additions to get me to the IBU I'm after.
Then, I use it to keep a record of all my brews, about 140 so far.
I don't use it for anything much else, as I have my system dialed in pretty well after 10+ years of brewing on it, and I have my volumes, temperatures, and efficiency down pat.

Thats pretty much exactly what I'm hoping to get out of it. I expect down the track I'll upgrade from my guten (maybe a 50 litre brau [emoji16]) but in the meantime I feel like I've got a reasonable grasp on my setup and it's those finer details I want to tidy up.

 

[Cocko]

I downloaded the trial version of beersmith on the weekend & holy shit I found it confusing. I use a windows computer all day at work & Mac at home so literacy I think is ok. I might see if I can find a YouTube tutorial. Setting up equipment & so on didn’t seem to want to let me change pot sizes & so on. Maybe that’s just a trial thing? I’ll be glad to get back to it for another play on the weekend.

If you want it on ya Mac, have a look at BeerAlchemy - very intuitive for a Mac user. Can be as complex or simple as you choose.... as they all are I guess..

 

[Mardoo]

Yeah I used to use BeerAlchemy. Good software.

 

[mtb]

Yeah I used to use BeerAlchemy. Good software.

What do you use now?

 

[Mardoo]

I switched to BeerSmith because, at the time I switched, BeerSmith offered more granular detail. I believe BeerAlchemy has caught up in that regard, but haven’t used version 2. I particularly liked their mobile/desktop integration, where recipe changes made on the mobile version could automatically migrate back to the desktop version, and vice versa. I don’t like the saving and deleting you have to do with BeerSmith.

 

[manticle]

I get what you're saying but that's why I'm asking. I don't know what's going to make sense because I haven't used them so I figured I'd ask people's opinions before spending money on one or the other.

I obviously don't expect it to brew for me, I've been happy with what I've produced so far following other people's recipes. I'm just interested in learning the chemistry, bittering, colour etc side of things so I can play around a bit with my own recipes. And figured this might help there a bit. Short of that I don't know how else to feasibly get the knowledge.

I wrote that post on a phone in between doing other things so some parts may come across much more curtly than intentioned.
Apologies.

I’ll clarify.

First - there’s nothing wrong at all with your question. I get why you’re asking, no problem.

Second - there are a few different spreadsheets, calculators, apps, etc out there. I used to use recipator.org but I don’t know if that’s still around. When I first started extract brewing, recipator made sense, beer Smith (trial version, several years ago) was confusing but I know many swear by it. Would likely be less confusing now but I don’t use calculators or spreadsheets anymore.

Thirdly - not meaning you expect it to brew - just forewarning that it’s a predictive tool and to make accurate predictions, it needs accurate data from you. Not a critique of you specifically, more based on the trap many new software users fall into. Finishing gravity and volume/losses are two major areas in which this occurs.

Most apps should have a reasonable trial version before you drop coin.

There’s also brewtoolz which is open source. Not used it, can’t vouch but heard good things.