Brewmate?

[eezybrewer]

I have downloaded Brewmate today but I can not find any tutorials on how to set it up or use it and for myself they are an absolute necessity. Can anyone point me in the right direction please.

 

[clibit]

Have a go at entering a recipe. Find a recipe on the web. Change the batch size to the batch size in the recipe. Enter your malts and their weights, choose your hops and their weights and times. Select a yeast. You will see things automatically entered, like the OG, the FG, the ABV, the colour etc. When you get stuck, come back and ask.

 

[eezybrewer]

I will have a go clibit when I start my first AG brew very soon. It looks to be a popular choice with brewers and being free I thought I would have a look. I prefer to follow instructions or tutorials when first attempting anything but, as you say, I can always come back here if I need help with any part of it.

 

[Grumpydev]

Open up one of the sample recipes and muck around with it - the interface does leave a bit to be desired in places though. It also doesn't seem to be in active development any more (they aren't even accepting donations now) - I've found a few bugs with it so I've got a custom version I run at home.

Still can't complain for free though :)

 

[Fil]

just play with it.. its Very Intuitive, bang some info in and see what it does with it.. it doesn't need the huge manual that is necessary with other more premium brew s/w

whats your goal in using it? i find it a useful tool for fine tuning a recipe on the fly, being on a bit of a smash kick i will decide the grain and hops and then use brewmate to balance the strength and bitterness for the grain and full boil hop bills. generally when ive sat down with a cuppa and a smoke when the hlt is warming up

 

[eezybrewer]

Thanks for the advice. I will have a play around over the next couple of days.

 

[ManseMasher]

Is there an android version? Looked but as SWMBO says, 'did you look properly!'

 

[Twostage]

Is there an android version? Looked but as SWMBO says, 'did you look properly!'

Yes, but she will have tidied it away

 

[ManseMasher]

Ain't that the truth!!

 

[eezybrewer]

Playing around with Brewmate for a while today and I am starting to get to grips with it. I have been entering the info for an AG recipe I am going to do. When I come to enter the amount of Challenger Hops that are put in the boil at the start it gives the IBU reading as stated for the recipe. This is based on the hops having an AA of 6.1 The challenger Hops I have give an AA of 8.3 and upon entering this the IBU goes up a lot higher. So based on this I reduced the amount of Challenger Hops to be used at 8.3 and the IBU came back down to the level stated in the recipe. Is this the right thing to do?

 

[clibit]

If you click the Edit menu and then Hops, and scroll down to Challenger, you can change the AA% to that of your Challenger hops, and save it. Then re-enter Challenger into your recipe.

 

[Toffee]

yes! yes it is.

*edit* clibit I think he was asking if he should be adjusting the amount of hops used based on recipe AA amounts to give the same IBUs with less hops of a higher %. so Yes, that's right.

 

[eezybrewer]

Thanks for the quick replies. I did alter the AA value as you say clibit and that raised the IBU value but by reducing the amount of grams used I got it back to the level stated in the recipe. I just wanted to make sure that was how to do it. :)

 

[clibit]

Ok misunderstood. You done good.

 

[eezybrewer]

The only thing I have not matched to the recipe is the is colour or EBC of the brew. It should be 35 but I have it showing 23.4. I think it has to do with the Marris Otter Pale Malt and Crystal Malt I am using having a lower EBC than is used in the recipe.

 

[Twostage]

Sounds like you are getting the hang of it :

 

[eezybrewer]

OK....so I have played about some more and by changing the malt amounts a little and reducing the sugar I now have the bitterness (IBU), the colour (EBC) and the Alcohol (ABV) all matching those in the recipe. Fingers crossed for the right result on brew day. :pray:

 

[clibit]

Could check your recipe out.

 

[eezybrewer]

Thanks for the offer clibit but it is 7.00am here and I am just going to start brewing. I am going with how I have adjusted the recipe in Brewmate to get everything as it should be in the recipe I am following. I will be posting updates on this brew in the appropriate forum. Here goes and fingers crossed. :pray:

 

[clibit]

It's 7.23 here, down the road in Manchester.