BeerSmith2 users

Hello,

I’m thinging of switching to beersmith2 for my brewing needs. If you use it please advise…

I have an Imac, Ipad and Iphone, so I was hoping it would work with all three through the “cloud”. Is this the case? What are the pro’s and con’s? I’ve been using a simple android app called brewdroid but it has no support, and is quite limited in functions.

I’m not super Apple literate; all the computers are my wife’s. I figure I paid for them so I might as well find a way to use them!!

Thanks for the advice…

Go to the web site they let you try the full version for 21 days free

I just bought it a few day ago. Its awesome for designing recipes, you pick a comparison style and it lets you know where what your adding fits in the ranges of that style ibus, gravity, color etc. Scaling recipes is one click. covertign all grain to extract one click. you can adjust hydrometer readings one click. you can figure out priming sugar needs for the carb you want one click. you can figure out your yeast needs based on recipe.

you can map out your equipment set up with your specs, boil off rate etc. to be defualt for all your recipes, it can figure out water needs based on your equipment profile, among other things plus probably a ton more i dont know about yet.

its pretty awesome and easy to use i’d say try it.

I love it personally. Its a great tool for designing recipes, making minor adjustments to other peoples recipes, and simplifying a lot of common calculations. Its also great as a recipe log, I have a record of every beer I brewed for the past 5 years. So, I highly recommend it.

That said, the cloud features are new, I don’t use them. Can’t vouch for how well it plays with apple. Give the trial a shot, you got nothing to lose.

You only get 10 recipes in the cloud unless you pay to upgrade. I haven’t looked, but I don’t think there’s an easy way to share with an iOS device.

I don’t know what software you’re switching from, but if you’re on MacOS you really should test drive BeerAlchemy. I resisted the software route for a LONG time, and then tried them all (including ProMash, which by the way can run on Mac without Windoze installed).

I have no association with the publisher, Kent Place Software.

BeerAlchemy is written specifically for Macintosh and has the best, most sensible, and most efficiently navigable interface of all the programs out there… as well as being customizable with regard to ingredients, and being very accurate in its various calculator functions. It is a very well thought out piece of software.

You’ll have to check on the ‘cloud’ capabilities; if not integrated now, I expect you might see that in the new version that I’ve read is in the works since the developers of this software are very Mac-centric and uninterested in writing or maintaining a Windoze port.

In any case, check it out. They have a free trial.
As far as I’m concerned, they’re selling it too cheap.

[quote=“The Professor”]I don’t know what software you’re switching from, but if you’re on MacOS you really should test drive BeerAlchemy. I resisted the software route for a LONG time, and then tried them all (including ProMash, which by the way can run on Mac without Windoze installed).

I have no association with the publisher, Kent Place Software.

BeerAlchemy is written specifically for Macintosh and has the best, most sensible, and most efficiently navigable interface of all the programs out there… as well as being customizable with regard to ingredients, and being very accurate in its various calculator functions. It is a very well thought out piece of software.

You’ll have to check on the ‘cloud’ capabilities; if not integrated now, I expect you might see that in the new version that I’ve read is in the works since the developers of this software are very Mac-centric and uninterested in writing or maintaining a Windoze port.

In any case, check it out. They have a free trial.
As far as I’m concerned, they’re selling it too cheap.[/quote]

Sounds promising. My thought is I can chill and work recipies in the office on the Imac, and have the Iphone with me out in the garage on brewday and have it all synched up. I assume it also keeps record of all your brews, has space for tasting notes, and does all necessary calculations right?

I use BeerAlchemy, but have thought about BeerSmith2… as for the cloud, would BeerSmith2 maybe work with DropBox? just a thought

I use dropbox as my default file directory for Beersmith 2. That way between my work and home pc’s I’ve got an identical equipment and recipe database. I know its not related to I-things, but works fine for my uses.

It does all the calculations I think most brewers will need and you can easily sync the iMac with you iPhone though I’ll add the caveat that the syncing requires you’re on the same network and you manually have to tell it to sync, it doesn’t ‘cloud’ sync. That said I think it works quite well. I do all my recipe formulation on my MacBook and then sync to my iPad which I use do during the brew day to enter actual volumes, gravities and notes. I also heavily use the inventory functions as it makes it easy to keep track of what I’ve got in stock and make up shopping lists for a given recipe as the program notes which items I’m short on.

I’ve played with BeerSmith and it does a ton of stuff well but I really like being able to easily sync the program on my laptop and iPad so I’ve stuck with BeerAlchemy. I should note than BeerAlchemy 2 seems like it’ll be ready before too much longer, not sure if there will be an upgrade deal or what but just something to be aware of.

While it’s not as complete as Beersmith or Promash, there’s a great brewing app I use on my iPad called BrewBot.

So far BeerSmith doesn’t have anything for Ipad and Iphone. I spoke to Brad (from Beersmith) at AHA and the Ipad app is in the works. He wanted to get the cloud done first. He couldn’t nail down a timeframe but it sound like the app may be done towards the end of the year.

Edit:

I should say that I love Beersmith (I use it on mac). Beer Alchemy is a great program too. The interface on mac for Beer Alchemy is certainly better than Beersmith. They generally do most of the same stuff though. I stuck with Beersmith because I have the thing down and it works.

[quote=“Cheshire_Cat”]So far BeerSmith doesn’t have anything for Ipad and Iphone. I spoke to Brad (from Beersmith) at AHA and the Ipad app is in the works. He wanted to get the cloud done first. He couldn’t nail down a timeframe but it sound like the app may be done towards the end of the year.

Edit:

I should say that I love Beersmith (I use it on mac). Beer Alchemy is a great program too. The interface on mac for Beer Alchemy is certainly better than Beersmith. They generally do most of the same stuff though. I stuck with Beersmith because I have the thing down and it works.[/quote]
It sounds like you wouldn’t have had a reason to ask, but any chance he mentioned timing for an Android app release?

I know he told me, but honestly can’t remember. There are plans for an Android app though.

[quote=“The Professor”] (including ProMash, which by the way can run on Mac without Windoze installed).

[/quote]

So how does this work? I moved ProMash onto my Mac, but I don’t think it will work. I tried installing it, but the mac told me no go, basically.

Alchemy does look cool. I may download that when I get home.

[quote=“jezmez68”][quote=“The Professor”] (including ProMash, which by the way can run on Mac without Windoze installed).
[/quote]
So how does this work? I moved ProMash onto my Mac, but I don’t think it will work. I tried installing it, but the mac told me no go, basically.
Alchemy does look cool. I may download that when I get home.[/quote]

I’d just go with Alchemy (the trial is free, so you have nothing to lose in the unlikely event you hate it). BeerAlchemy is great because it’s Mac native, Mac only, and can import & export to and from other recipe formats.
Personally, I liked it much better than Promash. It has a much better UI, and is updated fairly regularly.

If you’re bent on trying ProMash, you only need to install a WINE implementation on your Mac. There are some free versions of WINE, or there is an easy to set up commercial one available called CROSSOVER. Useful if you have to run other Windows software on your Mac (without taking up drive space or polluting your computer with MS Windows).
Google “Wine for Mac” and “Crossover Mac”…all the info is out there.

Thanks, Professor!

Just downloaded Alchemy. I think it looks more “juicy”. I like cool graphics.

Update… I just received an e-mail from Beersmith announcing the release of the Beersmith app for Ipad, Iphone, and Android. Brad is sending them to be approved in the next few days, so they should hopefully be available in the coming weeks.

:cheers:

cool!

I do this as well, it’s AWESOME!

I do this as well, it’s AWESOME![/quote]

I do the same thing. It’s awesome. Unfortunately, I’m guessing his new mobile app will attempt to force me to setup and use his cloud. I’m not sure that it’ll be worth doing that since dropbox works so well with the full application.