Brewing Software

[AlanManley]

So I've seen a few people talking about BeerSmith. I currently use Brewers Friend.

I only use the recipe builder and a couple of the calculators currently having not ventured into the brewlogs sections yet.

I was wondering if anyone had experience with both? And if so what the advantages of one over the other and why did you choose your selected software in the end?

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[Leon103]

I choose beersmith because I thought it was easy to use

 

[chub1]

I use brewers friend,seems to do what it says on the tin:lol:

 

[peebee]

I've been using Beersmith for quite a while because its cheaper! A lot cheaper if you work it out.

But I'm supplementing it with "Bru'n Water" and my own volumes spreadsheet to make up for inadequacies in Beersmith.

And then I started using liquid yeast and actually use the Brewer's Friend calculator because it is hugely better then Beersmith's (I must use stepped starters because of the volumes used, 40-70L, and Beersmith doesn't support stepped starters, insisting I need to buy 2-3 packets of yeast).

So I'm giving Brewer's Friend a try, but I think the price will still put me off. I'll probably find some things I can't work with?

 

[foxbat]

Beersmith all the way. Does everything and, for me anyway, is spookily accurate with all the number predictions - volume, gravity, mash temperature etc. Not so accurate for me with the lactic acid addition calculations. Bru'n'water seems to nail that one better.

 

[nigelnorris]

The Brewer's Friend software, the PC app, is free. It's awesome too, completely self contained with all the water, yeast, etc, etc, etc, utilities integrated.

 

[peebee]

The Brewer's Friend software, the PC app, is free. It's awesome too, completely self contained with all the water, yeast, etc, etc, etc, utilities integrated.

Thanks "nigelnorris", the stand-alone version had passed me by. I'll be giving it a trial now, but I'm a bit worried that with it being in Beta it might come out with an "over-the-top" charge later.

 

[AlanManley]

May run them side by side for a bit. See which I prefer.

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[nigelnorris]

Thanks "nigelnorris", the stand-alone version had passed me by. I'll be giving it a trial now, but I'm a bit worried that with it being in Beta it might come out with an "over-the-top" charge later.

I don't think it really is in beta - it has a 1.41 version number and is most definitely fully functional and bug-free. In fact I think that development on it has probably stopped in favour of the website, there's been no updates for over a year. I've assumed that it's a loss leader, get people using that then hope that they see the value of the web based version with its cloud recipe bank and so-on.

Even if they decided to try and monetise it there's nothing that can be done with the version currently given out free, if you don't update it it will just keep working.

And even if that weren't true and they started asking for cash, all the recipes are saved in a bog standard xml format in your documents folder and are completely detached from the Brewers Friend software. The files can be imported into most other pieces of brewing software. I remember trying it on another piece of software I was looking at; it was useless and I abandoned it straight away, but the import/export facility work fine.

 

[peebee]

May run them side by side for a bit. See which I prefer.

Good policy. And what I'm doing, but I don't see it going on for long...

I don't think it really is in beta - it has a 1.41 version number and is most definitely fully functional and bug-free. In fact I think that development on it has probably stopped in favour of the website, there's been no updates for over a year. ...

I think you are probably right. What I've found so far:

Both products go about things slightly differently, so a direct comparison is difficult; especially trying not to favour the more familiar product (Beersmith for me).

Brewer's Friend does not estimate bittering from 0 minute/steep/whirlpool hops. It just allocates zero. Was an okay policy but in these days of high late hop additions it under-estimates bitterness by quite a margin. Beersmith is much better in this regard.

Brewer's Friend does include useful tools such as stepped yeast starter calculations (I currently use these - I actually use BF's Web based offering) and water treatment (I use Bru'n Water at present). But the BF's tools are stand-alone so I'm no better off than using 3rd party tools with Beersmith. BF's water treatment is an earlier version compared to BF's Web based one (e.g. no magnesium chloride - a very useful salt). Beersmith's offerings in these areas are dire, but they exist and are newish features that may get updated to something better (the program is under continued development). These are what I immediately jumped on because they give me problems in Beersmith. But Brewer's Friend will not make me better off.

I'll probably stop the comparison now and stick with Beersmith.