Introduction
If you’re a home beer brewer, then you’ll understand the importance of following up your work and keeping records of ingredients and methods of how you created your perfect brew. This is where the need for beer brewing software comes in.
It becomes a storage place for all your recipes and will help you out with calculations when you need it most. In short, brewing software is great for keeping track and organizing batches of your home brew and help you create great beers. Most of these software programs will help you with conversion, scaling, inventories and brews that you plan on making in the future.
Of course, you can make brews without software, but having brewing software to help you along and offer advice, pointing you in the right direction if you are unsure, can help a lot. Especially once you’re progressing from novice to intermediate level.
So, go out and buy yourself a brew kit, then check out our list of different brewing software’s and what they can offer you.
BeerSmith
Cost – $27.95
Platform – Windows, Mac, Linux, IOS, Android
Main Features
Used by the majority of beer brewers and has a large social media following. It’s an extremely durable system and you’ll find it being very accurate with calculations.
Beersmith also has a great interface and it’s easy to find what you’re looking for, which makes it easier to follow along any recipes or instructions. They also have an expansive range of features at their disposal.
Website Link – http://beersmith.com/
BeerTools Pro
Cost – Free Trial | $24.95 | Gold upgrade $16.95 per year
Platform – Windows, Mac, Linux,
Main Features
Most people that use Beer Tools Pro swear by it, which probably suggests it’s popularity. It’s great for importing and exporting xml & rec files so that you can store recipes and ingredients.
BeerTools Pro offers Recipe tools, such as their Recipe Generator, which will help you brew a beer in the style that suits your taste. You select a style and ingredients from a menu, the generator will do the rest. But their best Tool is the Recipe Calculator which assists brewers by calculating what is expected from their ingredients, so you can get exact measurements from your local brew store.
Website Link – https://www.beertools.com/
Brew Toad
Cost – Free | $2.49/mo | 19.90/yr
Platform – Web Browser only
Main Features
Similar to some of the other bigger programs, BeerToad offers members thousands of home brew recipes which you can modify to suit the ingredients you have available. This new recipe that you’ve created can be saved on the system for later reference.
Another cool feature of BrewToad is the ability to find other brewers in your area. They encourage starting a brewing club so that other local brewers can join your group, and you can collaborate together.
Brewtoad has recently bought out Hopville, which was also a popular software system.
Website Link – https://www.brewtoad.com/
BrewPal
Cost – $1.99 | in-app purchases
Platform – Android | IOS
Main Features
The main point of BrewPal, is to carry everything with you, where ever you go. This is the reason why the platforms are apps on the iTunes & Android stores.
Track and edit all your recipes and ingredients and make note of what you thought of your brew. How was the alcohol content, was it too bitter etc.? Share your recipes with others and import/export them to XML files.
Like most apps, set reminders on your brew date to boil or ferment your brew. Your results can all be tracked via the batch history. You’ll also have access to quick reference guides and unit converters.
Website Link – http://www.djpsoftware.com/brewpal/
BrewTarget
Cost – Free
Platform – Windows, Mac, Linux
Main Features
Yeah. It’s free! And it’s hard to fault. It’s certainly the go-to software program for brewing beginners. When you’re just starting out, you are never sure how much you will get out of a program, so why pay upfront when you can start for free and find out which extra tools can help you in the future.
BrewTarget is an open source software which means the public has access to helping create the program. I really like the drag and drop formula for adding ingredients to recipes, but there’s also many tools you can access. Multiple calculators, guides and import/export to XML are all at hand.
Website Link – http://www.brewtarget.org/
BeerAlchemy
Cost – $9.99 App | $29.99 Desktop
Platform – Mac, IOS
Main Features
Much like BrewPal, in that its purpose is to be kept on an app in your pocket. And it does a great job of doing so. The interface is clean and very easy to navigate. BeerAlchemy can do what most other software can do, but it’s the individual preference as to how you’d like it displayed that sets it apart.
Access a world of ingredient databases to design your perfect brew recipe. Import and export XML’s and keep on top of all your inventory supplies. This software will accommodate all your brewing needs all on your smartphone or tablet, which will also sync with your Mac if using IOS.
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Website Link – https://www.beeralchemyapp.com/
Brewers Friend
Cost – Free| 14.95/yr
Platform – Windows, Mac, Linux, IOS, Android
Main Features
Brewers Friend can not only help out novice brewers, but also offer more powerful features to the more advanced beer maker. New brewers will be guided by the step-by-step tutorials that advise you of the correct ingredients and key stats of your recipes.
More advanced brewers get to enjoy additional tools to take their brewing to another level. Along with inventory tracking, batch scaling and calculations, there’s a hydrometer correction and calibration tool to help with your relative density of the brew.
The discussion forum is also widely used and is a great place to find assistance.
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Website Link – http://www.brewersfriend.com/
Water Calculators
A lot of the brewing method comes down to perfecting the correct ingredient volumes. Calculations are in integral part of the home brewer’s arsenal, and to help you out, we’ve listed below some of the great water calculators for home brews.
Lastly
The brewing software we’ve mentioned here, are the more popular and reliable in the opinions of many beer forum users. The software with the most positive user reviews is BeerSmith. In saying that, BrewTarget is also hugely popular but it has the added advantage of being Free.
If you’re just starting out and want an opinion, I’d suggest starting with BeerTarget until you understand how different aspects of the software works. You’ll get to understand which calculators, tools, charts and other elements are important to you. If you decide that more advanced tools are required, then move onto a paid membership.
Oh, and if you require somewhere to store your beer to keep cool, check out these beer fridges, otherwise known as kegerators.
I hope you’ve found this useful. If you use a brewing software above or a different one that we haven’t mentioned, tell us about it in the comments section below.
Do you know of any home brew apps/software (prefer for Linux) that lets you start with K&K (Kit & Kilo) brewing – so far they all seem to been only grain based with maybe a field to add in malt extracts.
It would be an advantage to (say) Beertarget to encourage novice users starting out with say Coopers, Mangrove Jack or Brigalow cans by providing software they can use to add adjuncts, sugars and grains and so grow into full AG brewing
I don’t believe there would be many apps that accommodate K & K brewing Mark. Sorry I can’t be of more help.
Brewer’s Friend (https://www.brewersfriend.com) supports All Grain, Partial Mash and Extract brewing.