Is Beer Smith worth it?

Williams 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Here are a few tools that don't cost anything that I think brewers looking for brewing software should check out before spending money:

BrewersFriend
GBR Calcs
BrewTarget

The first two are browser-based, the last one is installable.

I figure that the tools I need most are for OG (and for adjusting based on efficiency) and IBU calculations, and then mash capacity and temperature planning.

I attempted to use the free trial of BeerSmith, just seemed like too many features for someone who was, at the time, a newbie.
 
Last edited:
I am a newbie did my first all grain batch a month ago and had no problems with it whatsoever
 
In fact last month was my first batch ever. I've never done partial mash or extract just jumped right in . The software comes with a tutorial that's easy to follow not to mention there is tons of info on the internet and YouTube. There is a reason it's the number one choice for professionals as well as newbies like myself. As I write this I can't believe the debate that's going on on this thread over a program that's 20 a batch of beer cost more than that
 
there isnt any software written to convert my many ProMash recipes to beersmith is there? Im thinking I may have to spend some hours hand jamming them over
 
Desert_Sky said:
Thanks guys. I've been stubbornly holding on to and using ProMasg since it came out. Downloaded Beersmith and I must say it's going to be nice using updated software going foward
Click to expand...

If you mean ProMash, yea I remember that. When I got started that was the de facto software and Beersmith was the new guy on the block.

Regarding Beersmith, I never liked verison 2.x. There were definately updates, some of the bugs that got fixed. But there's a soft place in my heart for v1.4. It was much more intuitive, and the UI wasn't borked.

Oh, the topic... it's worth it. For me, with 3 kids all just getting out of college, the cost isn't even recognizable on the radar.
 
Desert_Sky said:
there isnt any software written to convert my many ProMash recipes to beersmith is there? Im thinking I may have to spend some hours hand jamming them over
Click to expand...

Probably easier to do by hand. There's a process to save ProMash to text, then convert to BeerXML, then import into BeerSmith. I've not done it. If I were in that sitch, I'd pick my favorite 10 and just reenter. Once you get the hang of BS, recipe creation can be pretty quick.
 
newtobrew1981 said:
Beersmith is worth the money in fact I would probably pay a 100 if they were asking for it.
Click to expand...

Beer smith does't do anything you can't scratch out on a piece of paper. All the formulas are easily accessible and you can spend a few minutes making your own brewlog spreadsheet that does exactly the same things that beersmith does for free. Give me your 100 dollars and I'll give my sheet. it does a lot more than beersmith.
 
If you do some digging on the google. You can find a hard copy of the cd shipped to you for like $10-15 I believe. Worth every penny. It’s all in one place, saved recipes, starter calculator, you can scale the recipe based off of gallon of water, Color, or even Gravity. I like having all the features in one place and it gets updated by Brad with new styles and products that come to market.
 
Lots of outliers, always adverse to the status quo.
If you're serious about brewing, beersmith and bru'n water.
I've tested the others.... They suck.
 
$100? No way. It's not that good. $25 sure. Use it in the beginning, then over time, create your own spreadsheets or forms.

It is pretty handy having such a large database of grains and ingredients, but you have to accept that there are errors in the data and you may need to edit some things to get more accuracy. You also need to be fairly accurate with your equipment profiles and processes, otherwise its data is simply garbage-in-garbage-out. It's efficiency estimations and calculations are pretty wonky also.

I found it humorous that BS thinks that WY3711 only attenuates to 83% :)
 
Last edited:
77-83% is Wyeast own number.
And it is not a "maximum".
 
BLL said:
Beer smith does't do anything you can't scratch out on a piece of paper. All the formulas are easily accessible and you can spend a few minutes making your own brewlog spreadsheet that does exactly the same things that beersmith does for free. Give me your 100 dollars and I'll give my sheet. it does a lot more than beersmith.
Click to expand...

Lol yes we all know their are formulas but it's a convenience.
 
I switched from beer alchemy to BS2 about a year ago. Neither were perfect but I’m happy with the change overall. Neither were very good at water ... use Bru’n water for that but at least BS2 provides fields for recording pH measurements. My main gripe is the iOS app seems pretty buggy for pay-ware. It frequently crashes on me when using the timer. I’d rather have an interactive brew day checklist/data recording sheet and use my watch/phone for timers.
 
eric19312 said:
I switched from beer alchemy to BS2 about a year ago. Neither were perfect but I’m happy with the change overall. Neither were very good at water ... use Bru’n water for that but at least BS2 provides fields for recording pH measurements. My main gripe is the iOS app seems pretty buggy for pay-ware. It frequently crashes on me when using the timer. I’d rather have an interactive brew day checklist/data recording sheet and use my watch/phone for timers.
Click to expand...

I use the iOS version on my iPad when I’m brewing and have never had a crash in over 2 years of use & approximately 50 brews.
The boil timer is handy and the ability to record session data is also very handy.
 
BLL said:
Beer smith does't do anything you can't scratch out on a piece of paper. All the formulas are easily accessible and you can spend a few minutes making your own brewlog spreadsheet that does exactly the same things that beersmith does for free. Give me your 100 dollars and I'll give my sheet. it does a lot more than beersmith.
Click to expand...
I have brewed for 27 years and in the first 23 of them I used paper then spreadsheets before I finally bought Beersmith which IMO is some of the best money I've ever spent on brewing.

However, I am curious to know what are the many more things your spreadsheet does that Beersmith doesn't.
 
Last edited:
Some could easily write a spreadsheet. I am not one of them. And it wouldn't be worth it to me to try just to save $20 - $28. And it would take days or weeks not minutes.....

And for things like grain potential you would have to look that up and update for each grain that you use. BS has that in the add-ons. Not to mention that with a spreadsheet you would have to input all that information, as well as hop and yeasts yourself.

BLL said:
Beer smith does't do anything you can't scratch out on a piece of paper. All the formulas are easily accessible and you can spend a few minutes making your own brewlog spreadsheet that does exactly the same things that beersmith does for free. Give me your 100 dollars and I'll give my sheet. it does a lot more than beersmith.
Click to expand...

Put it up for sale and I will pay you the same $28 that Beersmith charges. That is, if I think I would like it.
 
Yup, worth it. This is just one of the smallest amounts you are going to end up spending on this hobby, so you might as well do it now.
 
beernutz said:
I have brewed for 27 years and in the first 23 of them I used paper then spreadsheets before I finally bought Beersmith which IMO is some of the best money I've ever spent on brewing.

However, I am curious to know what are the many more things your spreadsheet does that Beersmith doesn't.
Click to expand...

To be honest I'm not terribly familiar with BeerSmith because I've never paid for it so I should've chosen my words more carefully. I've used the interface once or twice while looking at a buddy's recipes and I know it competes with Brewer's Friend. My sheet solves for top up volume (when necessary to hit target gravity and final volume and adjusts hop additions accordingly) extract potential and extract efficiency in addition to brewhouse efficiency which I don't know either of those products to do. It also databases information from each brew day and updates my formulas with trends in variables like boil off, expansion/contraction, and timing. It logs the amount of time I spend at various steps and it calculates oxygenation rate in Lpm. Out of habit I use degrees Plato and I set it up to convert everything to SG for practicality's sake.

kh54s10 said:
Some could easily write a spreadsheet. I am not one of them. And it wouldn't be worth it to me to try just to save $20 - $28. And it would take days or weeks not minutes.....

And for things like grain potential you would have to look that up and update for each grain that you use. BS has that in the add-ons. Not to mention that with a spreadsheet you would have to input all that information, as well as hop and yeasts yourself.



Put it up for sale and I will pay you the same $28 that Beersmith charges. That is, if I think I would like it.
Click to expand...

If a product works well for someone that's all that matters. You speak as if it's necessary to spend something on brewing software. All I'm pointing out is that it isn't.

I orginally built the sheet when I was brewing professionally so there is more time in it than a few minutes, but in a production setting brewers are often looking for more than Brewer's Friend or BeerSmith offer. That's not say you can't set up a simple sheet pretty quickly and easily with a basic understanding Microsoft Excel.

You're right, it's not for everyone and 30 bucks isn't much money.

Cheers
 
Everyone has their favorites. I however really like BeerSmith. I can convert any recipe and scale it for my rig with ease. I used it to dial in my system and I can confidently make a recipe and know pretty much how it will turn out and how much alcohol I will make. Hops are easily balanced as well and it helps if you want to make the same recipe again. You can make it exactly the same for repeatability once you dial in your system. You can also tweak it and make it stronger or more sessionable and know where you are at since you have a strong starting base to work with. I really like it but I have not used the other software that is out there that is new. I used to use Pro Mash for a long time and then switched to BeerSmith and it does everything I want it to do. Except I wish I could download my saved recipes to a thumb drive or other device. That's the only thing it's lacking for me.....

John
 
I started brewing in Nov. '17. I've brewed about 8 batches since (all-grain). I tried all of the free products including the Beersmith trial version.

I got fed up with the free products' lack of ingredients and consistency in design last week and so I bucked up for Beersmith 2. Best (hobby) investment I've ever made. What an amazing product. I've had so much much fun in the last week entering and redesigning the recipes I've used as well as designing an IPA that I am brewing this Thursday. I thought brew day was the most fun ever but Beersmith has made recipe design almost as much fun for me.
 
Sorry to piggy back on this thread, but does anyone have any opinion of beersmith mobile for Android? People seem to really like beer Smith but There are so many negative reviews it is hard to trust
 
BLL said:
not worth it. brewers friend is free. Also all of the formulas for process calculations are available free all over the interwebs and with a very basic knowledge of how to operate microsoft excel you can easily put together your own recipe building utilities
Click to expand...
Brewers Friend subscription is even better. I can keep all my recipes, brew sessions, and inventory in the cloud. I can get to it through any web browser.
 
r4dyce said:
Sorry to piggy back on this thread, but does anyone have any opinion of beersmith mobile for Android? People seem to really like beer Smith but There are so many negative reviews it is hard to trust
Click to expand...

I use BeerSmith and really like it. I bought the android app and tried it a few times, but didn't like it. It may well be better now.
 
I run the Android app on brew days on a 10" tablet, after pulling the recipe (created on my peecee) from the BS cloud. I use it to calculate strike temperature given the day's conditions and run the timers, enter a bunch of notes as the brew process progresses, then when the brew is done I push it back to the cloud and pull it to my peecee to update the recipe there.

I've used the app for a couple of years and am happy to have it, as a tablet is much easier to deal with than a notebook imo (smaller, and much less likely to have something get stuck from random wort drips). But I'm clearly using a subset of the overall BS2 app functionality, so if there are problems outside of my usage scope I wouldn't know about them...

Cheers!
 
I agree the combo of app and desktop is great for data collection, did not realize how easy to adjust for grain temp / equip temp till I read @day_trippr s post. I’ll try those timers again this weekend and see if the crash bug is still there.

What I like best about beersmith is Brad Smith’s ongoing commitment to the platform. Heard him mention on his podcast recently that he is working on hop utilization in whirlpool as part of upcoming upgrade. I’m interested to see what he comes up with but good or not I’m pleased to hear there is support for continued improvement.
 
It’s a good investment. You can easily scale and tweak recipe designs. The timer and cloud functions are very useful on brew day.
 
r4dyce said:
Sorry to piggy back on this thread, but does anyone have any opinion of beersmith mobile for Android? People seem to really like beer Smith but There are so many negative reviews it is hard to trust
Click to expand...

I only have the android app. Used brewtoad before... Loved brewtoad until the ability to add own ingredients was removed.
Pros for the app, can add own ingredients like hops and grains, can have multiple equipment profiles and scale different mash processes. Can download recepices and tweak recipeces.

Only negative for me is you cannot import a bmxl file, you can only download from the cloud. It would also be nice to export/import own equipment profiles between devices. Others will add that the app does not have an inventory, but for me inventory keeping is not an issue.
For the money, less than 2 us for me the mobile app is definitely worth it. I use it on planning my brew, tweaking a recipe for my malts and hops and style of beer and then on brew day I rathr forget about the device.... But then I only brew beer....
 
The app does not have all the features that the PC version has so if you were only to get one I would opt for the PC version. Many use the PC for recipe development and then use the app for brew day. I couldn't see paying for the app to get limited features that I already have on the PC. I have a place dedicated for my laptop come brew day.

Oh, and as I said previously, it is a tool that you will have to learn to use properly, but well worth it.
 
Just buy it and support Brad who has given a lot to the brewing community. $20 for all of the convenience, I can't believe we are even discussing it. :) To those who want to tell people that you can swap a full featured program like Beersmith for an Excel spreadsheet? I have to respectfully call B.S. on that one! This is the whole purpose of buying software, to get a finished product to use, not design. I think it is not a true comparison when you look at everything BS does. You would need to put some serious hours in designing your spreadsheet and it would still look 'pocket protector' imho.

Sorry to be pointed but two pages to decide on a $20 investment for great software with counter arguments?... Best to keep some perspective that things cost money to make and make well. Brad is s good guy. Worth the investment.
 
dustinthompson85 said:
Looking for opinions on beer Smith. Worth it or do most people calculate on their own or use freeware? I have tried brewgr before. Wasn't sure if there was much of a difference.
Click to expand...


What is worth it? It’s less than ingredients cost for a brew and it’s a great way to cross reference and cross check free software. I do it just because. Plus Brad is a great dude, you’ll get some great emails, and why not?
 
I like brewers friend, nothing to install unlike BS and I can access my recipes or sketch out a new one from anywhere. I don't use the "Brew It!" button because it seems unnecessary, likewise the inventory function would be better if it allowed me to select ingredients in a drop down from what I have in stock, and keep track of depleting supplies. It also doesn't remember what %AA my hops have, which is annoying. Crap maybe I should look into beersmith?
 
Bassman2003 said:
Just buy it and support Brad who has given a lot to the brewing community. $20 for all of the convenience, I can't believe we are even discussing it. :) To those who want to tell people that you can swap a full featured program like Beersmith for an Excel spreadsheet? I have to respectfully call B.S. on that one! This is the whole purpose of buying software, to get a finished product to use, not design. I think it is not a true comparison when you look at everything BS does. You would need to put some serious hours in designing your spreadsheet and it would still look 'pocket protector' imho.

Sorry to be pointed but two pages to decide on a $20 investment for great software with counter arguments?... Best to keep some perspective that things cost money to make and make well. Brad is s good guy. Worth the investment.
Click to expand...

I mean... No. I'm not going to just buy something because someone is a nice guy lol. Especially when the reviews from 2 weeks ago say the strike water calculations are off and have been for a long time. So I guess I'm just going to hold off on it.

And really any calculator type program like this IS an excel spreadsheet anyway just with better window dressing. It's also kind of funny to dismiss the DIY approach in a homebrewing forum.
 

Similar threads

Gadjobrinus
Beer Smith - strike temps way low?
Replies
27
Views
1K
Brooothru
Brooothru
M
Beer Smith Printing Issue
Replies
7
Views
612
wsmith1625
wsmith1625
Gadjobrinus
SMaSH IPA - 100% Warminster & EKG. Samuel Smith - "toasted," crystal?
Replies
18
Views
847
Gadjobrinus
Gadjobrinus
Chalkyt
Opinions on eating apples for cider
Replies
7
Views
807
Fixerman
F
B
Beer / Gas (or any other) tubing
Replies
3
Views
399
IslandLizard
IslandLizard
BrewSwag 300

Latest posts

Back
Top