Beersmith still Alive?

[Clint Yeastwood]

Are people still using Beersmith? I have all my stuff in Beersmith in an old XP computer I resurrected. If Beersmith is no longer favored, what is, and can I move my recipes to it from Beersmith without typing it all in?

 

[PCABrewing]

Are people still using Beersmith? I have all my stuff in Beersmith in an old XP computer I resurrected. If Beersmith is no longer favored, what is, and can I move my recipes to it from Beersmith without typing it all in?

I'm using Beersmith v.3 and I'm happy with it.

 

[bracconiere]

i still am using beersmith 2?

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Sounds like I can upgrade and put it on my current PC without problems. Thanks.

 

[bracconiere]

oh i run Win10, i should say also.....

 

[Bassman2003]

I have used it from the beginning. Still does everything I want it to.

 

[NSMikeD]

while it's alive, and I still have my BeerSmith account, I switched to BrewFather. The newer software are on more Internet friendly platforms which I prefer since I don't like having my laptop anywhere near my brew area and the app for my phone and iPad has all the features of the what I access using my laptop. Not so much with Beer Smith since the mobile app, while convenient, has its shortcomings. That's just a result of BeerSmith being developed before the other cloud based apps.
I can't speak for this site's software, but int looks pretty robust too.

I haven't done it yet, but according to Brewfathers documentation you can transfer from Beersmith in one shot by highlight the folders and exporting as BeerXML to a file and then using BeerFathers Import to load of the file with all the data.

 

[brewbama]

I use BeerSmith Mobile Version 3.1.9 on my iPad and iPhone

 

[passedpawn]

I have fond memories of Beersmith 1.7. 2.0, 3.0 are GUI abominations. Many improvements though, so I suffer through it.

Brad Smith has been a great supporter of the the brewing hobby, with both his software and podcasts. Glad he won over the moribund (dead?) Promash, the previous champ.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

GUI abominations

Quality calculations, modern UI, unlimited recipes at low (or no) price: pick two.

IIRC, there are some 'forward looking' statements regarding Beersmith in recent (fall 2022 / early winter 2022) podcasts.

 

[easttex]

I use BeerSmith. A lot of folks use Brewfather but I have no need to switch. Beersmith works.

 

[Brewsmith]

I was using Promash back in the day, but made the switch to Beersmith when it became pointless to try to Jurassic Park that dinosaur of a piece of software. I’ve been more than happy with Beersmith 3.0 on my phone. No need to try to learn anything else. As long as it’s supported I’ll keep using it.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

I managed to get my old recipes off my dead computer and put them on Beersmith 3.something on the PC I'm using now. Looks like all systems are go.

 

[matt_m]

After using Brewfather for well over a year, no idea, don't care.

 

[NSMikeD]

I forgot tp mention, in addition to the entire platform for brewfather being cloud-base, they do separate your recipes from batches. This way you can make changes to a single batch while still keeping your original recipe. This was an annoyance for me with BeerSmith that I hadn't realized how much of an annoyance until I played with BrewFather.

I wasn't planing on switching. I was reading a thread that was discussion various software, I already had my BeerSmith subscription and paid for the mobile app (another annoyance as cloud based software mobile is included). But since Brewfather is free for a limited number of brews, I gave it a test drive so I could compare it to what I was using.

Two more points, BF is much better and moving your calculations right into the batch file seamlessly and saving the original brix number (if you use a refractometer) for the FG calculation. In BeerSmith I would have to save that in the notes so I could plug it back into the calcauator.

Secondly, BF also integrates with Tilt and iSpindel for those users for users of those devices which can be very useful for advanced fermentation and dry hopping techniques. While BF sees my iSpindel, it cant get it to get reading after the first day. But I suspect that my error and doing something wrong with the set up with ISpindle. But some folks swear by that feature.

I am glad the OP was able to load up his old files. This isn't meant to disparage BeerSmith. For me BrewFather was easier to use and it had a few features that BS did not that were important to me.

 

[Clint Yeastwood]

Now that I have my recipes back, I can fiddle around with other software later, so I will consider what you have said.

 

[rallenhall]

Still using Beersmith 2 on my old Vista laptop. Sort of like a marriage, I've been with it long enough to know when the output is reasonable or ignorable.

 

[Beer-lord]

I switched to Brewfather over a year ago and moved all my recipes there. I think both are good (as are another 1 or 2) but this just works best for me.

 

[jdauria]

Still on BeerSmith for me, Version 3. They do have a web version now also. I also have dabbled with Brewfather over the last year, but keep going back to the OG.

 

[NSMikeD]

Still on BeerSmith for me, Version 3. They do have a web version now also. I also have dabbled with Brewfather over the last year, but keep going back to the OG.

that's good news. My licensed finally expired otherwise I'd take it for a spin. The overview video looks good. Still uses a work around to separate the recipe from the batches to keep the original recipe when you tweak a batch. Otherwise I'm glad he's been able to keep up with the change in technology. Having the largest group of users is a big advantage.

 

[AZ Maverick]

I'm using BeerSmith version 3.2.7 on my Windows 11 desktop.
It works fine for me, but I do use Brewers Friend for the Starter calculator and Refractometer calculator.

 

[BeerSmith]

BeerSmith is still alive - I launched the web based version (which you can use from any device, even mobile) well over a year ago, and I'm working on continued desktop improvements.

Also regarding the "session" issue: What I do is brew a recipe, keep track of it in the recipe notes and "actuals" fields, then use the Copy to Brew Log button to save a copy of the recipe to my brew log. Next time I brew I will bump the version number and brew date to match the new date and record again, then copy to brew log.

This way my brew log folder contains a list of all recipes "as brewed" and has dates and version numbers.

 

[Yesfan]

I have Beersmith 2.0, but use Brewfather. I think Brewfather is a bit easier to use, but two things I don't like about it vs Beersmith are:

1) Web based. Sucks when I lose my internet in the middle of a brew day.

2) Brewfather's timers are lost if my phone times out. I have a freebie timer app that combats this, but is cumbersome to setup, especially for a hoppy beer.

If Beersmith could link my phone and laptop when formulating a recipe, that would be golden. I like be able to setup up a recipe on my laptop, and be able to see it on my phone when I'm downstairs about to start the brew day.

 

[BeerSmith]

If Beersmith could link my phone and laptop when formulating a recipe, that would be golden. I like be able to setup up a recipe on my laptop, and be able to see it on my phone when I'm downstairs about to start the brew day.

You can use the desktop to create a cloud recipe (or the web version) and access that from either the BeerSmith Web version on your phone (just log into BeerSmithRecipes.com to run BeerSmith from your phone browser) or you can open it in the BeerSmith app.

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I use my desktop BS3 to create recipes, manage my recipe portfolio, and manage inventory. On brew days I push the desktop recipe to the BS cloud then pull it to my tablet running BS3 mobile. At the end of the day I push the updated recipe with session data back through the cloud to my PC.



Cheers!

 

[Yesfan]

I'll give that a try. I tried getting my password reset on BSR, but to no avail since I haven't used it in a while. I'll try it again at a later date.

 

[dwightr8]

I have fond memories of Beersmith 1.7. 2.0, 3.0 are GUI abominations. Many improvements though, so I suffer through it.

Brad Smith has been a great supporter of the the brewing hobby, with both his software and podcasts. Glad he won over the moribund (dead?) Promash, the previous champ.

I still use Promash! I haven't gone to win 11 yet but I expect Promash to continue to work with it too.

 

[passedpawn]

I still use Promash! I haven't gone to win 11 yet but I expect Promash to continue to work with it too.

What version is that? How did you choose it? Have you tried beersmith or others?

 

[Misplaced_Canuck]

I still use BeerSmith 2.0, on Windows 11. No issues. I design my recipe, print it to paper. I do any on-the-fly mods by hand using pen and paper

 

[Bobby_M]

I used Beer Tools Pro back in the day and the GUI was really good but it just wasn't being as actively supported as it should have been and the general populous was favoring Beersmith, especially when version 2 came out. Just as I was fully understanding BS3, everyone started jumping on Brewfather so I gave that a go for a full year. I'm at a crossroads between the two right now.

While BrewFather has a lot of good features there are four things it doesn't do better than BS3.

1. Doesn't support recipe folders. The very hip youngers will argue that the TAG system is really all you need. I would agree with that if it had a robust tag filtering system so I can hide recipes I'm not looking for.

2. Recipe printout is ugly and not customizable. Sure, you can use an API and design your own but I want a printout out of the box that looks good.

3. The "Recipe" as a separate entity from "Batch" construct is poorly implemented. While the idea of using a single "anchor" recipe file as the basis for several derivative batches is cool on paper, the software doesn't do anything clever to keep track of the relationship. If you open a recipe, you don't see a list of the batches with links. There's no way to compare actual brew-day measured data between the batches in one view, etc. In other words, there may as well just be one file called "recipe" and every time you brew it you identify it differently in the title. Beersmith does this better.

4. BF doesn't support mead, wine, or cider (or fruit puree/juice added to beer) in the way the BS3 does. Moot point if you only brew beer.

For a while, BrewFather had an upper hand in that the interface was ubiquitous across all devices, but Beersmith does have a cloud view that is close enough to this functionality. I also believed BF's mash pH calculation to be more accurate than BS3, and maybe it is, but lately it has consistently suggested more lactic acid than necessary (or conversely if I use as much lactic as it suggests, my actual pH is about .1 lower than predicted).

 

[Yesfan]

@Bobby_M

Do you like BS3 over 2 or is there not much difference?

 

[dwightr8]

What version is that? How did you choose it? Have you tried beersmith or others?

Here's what I have used for the past 20 some years. I have looked at some of the newer programs but since all my recipes are in PM and it still works just fine for me I haven't seen any compelling reason to change.

 

[Brooothru]

I'm using Beersmith v.3 and I'm happy with it.

^^^this

I used ProMash for quite a while until they pulled the plug. Switched to BS ver1 and haven’t turned back. Like the interface, and Brad Smith actively supports and improves the program. Sometimes the code seems a little bloated (runs slow on my MacAIR, though less so on my desktop Mac)

 

[alestateyall]

BeerSmith is still alive - I launched the web based version (which you can use from any device, even mobile) well over a year ago, and I'm working on continued desktop improvements.

Also regarding the "session" issue: What I do is brew a recipe, keep track of it in the recipe notes and "actuals" fields, then use the Copy to Brew Log button to save a copy of the recipe to my brew log. Next time I brew I will bump the version number and brew date to match the new date and record again, then copy to brew log.

This way my brew log folder contains a list of all recipes "as brewed" and has dates and version numbers.

Is the copy to brew log button available on BeerSmithRecipes.com? I don’t see it.

I do something like you are saying. I have manually created a brew log folder and I move brewed recipes there. When I want to rebrew a recipe I go to the log and make a copy.

 

[BeerSmith]

Is the copy to brew log button available on BeerSmithRecipes.com? I don’t see it.

That is at the very top of my "to do" list for the web version so I expect to add it soon.