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Titan88

Titan88

Creator of MashLab Brewing Software
Joined
Dec 18, 2012
Messages
231
Reaction score
60
Location
Alexandria
As the title states, I have programmed my own brewing software (desktop written in Java) and want to release it to everyone here. Currently, it is in the Alpha testing phase and has the current features:

1. Brewing Calculator
2. Tasting Notes
3. BJCP Beer/Cider/Mead Gradesheets
4. BJCP Entrance Exam Study Material
5. Cicerone Study Material (not associated with actual Cicerone)

I am looking for feedback on what people would like to see in the software so I can incorporate that. It is meant to be a one-stop-shop for everything a homebrewer may need.

I am finishing updates to bring it to the Beta testing phase, at which point I would like to start incorporating feedback from here. Cheers!
 
Titan88 said:
As the title states, I have programmed my own brewing software (desktop written in Java) and want to release it to everyone here. Currently, it is in the Alpha testing phase and has the current features:

1. Brewing Calculator
2. Tasting Notes
3. BJCP Beer/Cider/Mead Gradesheets
4. BJCP Entrance Exam Study Material
5. Cicerone Study Material (not associated with actual Cicerone)

I am looking for feedback on what people would like to see in the software so I can incorporate that. It is meant to be a one-stop-shop for everything a homebrewer may need.

I am finishing updates to bring it to the Beta testing phase, at which point I would like to start incorporating feedback from here. Cheers!
Click to expand...

So it will always be free to HBT members?
 
passedpawn said:
So it will always be free to HBT members?
Click to expand...
It will be free for everyone, but I'm soliciting feedback from HBT members as they are my primary intended users.

However, if it does reach a point where I would like to charge, it will not apply to HBT members.
 
So is it a recipie builder and a brewing calculator or just some sort of calculator? Does it offer timers, and does it have featues to adjust for profiles such as water, equipment etc?

Here is what i would look for in a SIMPLE software (just to name a few):

For recipie building:
Up to date grain choices
Adjuct choices to include items like hibiscus flowers etc, or the ability to build those in
Up to date hops
Up to date yeast list

For brewing calculator:
Calculated ibus based off hop AA and times to include steep and whirlpool
Adjustments for water profiles to include all available salts and their effects
Sample color of expected srm
Expected bitterness from additions

But really important also is easy user friendly interface without the need of tons of videos to show how to use it

Just to name a few and get the creative juices flowing
 
Redtab78 said:
So is it a recipie builder and a brewing calculator or just some sort of calculator? Does it offer timers, and does it have featues to adjust for profiles such as water, equipment etc?

Here is what i would look for in a SIMPLE software (just to name a few):

For recipie building:
Up to date grain choices
Adjuct choices to include items like hibiscus flowers etc, or the ability to build those in
Up to date hops
Up to date yeast list

For brewing calculator:
Calculated ibus based off hop AA and times to include steep and whirlpool
Adjustments for water profiles to include all available salts and their effects
Sample color of expected srm
Expected bitterness from additions

But really important also is easy user friendly interface without the need of tons of videos to show how to use it

Just to name a few and get the creative juices flowing
Click to expand...
Great suggestions! That is the exact type of feedback I wanted. The application is extremely user friendly and uses prompts to make things simple. My intent with recipes is to provide up to date grains/hops/yeast, but allow the user to customize as much as they want.

The main focus at the moment is smoothing out the user interface and moving it into the Beta testing phase, which is user-focused testing.
 
One badass feature would be a feature that showed suggested substitutes.....so if i was to build a recipe of something simple, but maybe didnt have cascade hops, then a substitutes hover over window would be sick....some for yeast and grains. Or perhaps a built in chart showing suggested substitutes that i could chose from.

I know in almost every single post of a recipe on here, there are tons of people who ask "i dont have XXX item, whats a good sub" or "my LHBS is out of XXX yeast, would YYY work in its place?"
 
bracconiere said:
I decided to ditch ProMash (because they went down), and BeerSmith has a cost tracking feature.
Click to expand...
To be honest, I don't think it would be that hard to implement a cost tracking system. It would be user-based, meaning they would need to enter their own data that could go into a digital ledger.
 
Redtab78 said:
One badass feature would be a feature that showed suggested substitutes.....so if i was to build a recipe of something simple, but maybe didnt have cascade hops, then a substitutes hover over window would be sick....some for yeast and grains. Or perhaps a built in chart showing suggested substitutes that i could chose from.

I know in almost every single post of a recipe on here, there are tons of people who ask "i dont have XXX item, whats a good sub" or "my LHBS is out of XXX yeast, would YYY work in its place?"
Click to expand...
That's a great idea. I was already implementing suggested grains (based on BJCP guidelines), but substitutions would also be extremely helpful.
 
Anything software I'd use needs to be web-based so I could use on desktop, tablet, or phone. And along with what others have stated for the recipe builder, an inventory management system integrated into recipe builder and brew sessions (ie automtically deducts inventory based on recipes I'm brewing).
 
lump42 said:
Anything software I'd use needs to be web-based so I could use on desktop, tablet, or phone. And along with what others have stated for the recipe builder, an inventory management system integrated into recipe builder and brew sessions (ie automtically deducts inventory based on recipes I'm brewing).
Click to expand...
So, I'm still working on cloud features. More than likely, I'll find a way to communicate between the app and desktop version without a cloud since it's free.

Inventory management is being implemented as we speak. Of course, that would seamlessly tie into a brewday module.

Honestly, I will likely use a setup where the app can connect to the desktop version as long as it is left open.
 
FWIW, cloud does not equal free... But, it could be nice if the database was friendly to sync software (dropbox/OneDrive etc..) either just at the file level (aware of potential sync conflicts and able to mitigate them) or even able to consume a few popular API's for file storage as an option.

Wish big??? :)
 
Nagorg said:
FWIW, cloud does not equal free... But, it could be nice if the database was friendly to sync software (dropbox/OneDrive etc..) either just at the file level (aware of potential sync conflicts and able to mitigate them) or even able to consume a few popular API's for file storage as an option.

Wish big??? :)
Click to expand...
Aim high, hit...well, somewhere close hopefully!
 
So, after doing some research, I've decided to make the application cloud-based with the use of Google Drive, OneDrive, etc. This will also make it much easier to sync a mobile app so you don't have to keep running back to your desktop during brewday.
 
Titan88 said:
I've decided to make the application cloud-based with the use of Google Drive, OneDrive, etc.
Click to expand...

Will it optionally be usable without cloud storage? Some folks may not want that or they may not even have internet access when brewing... Just curious what the plans around this might be.
 
Nagorg said:
Will it optionally be usable without cloud storage? Some folks may not want that or they may not even have internet access when brewing... Just curious what the plans around this might be.
Click to expand...
It is based on offline use, but the cloud will be used for synchronization between desktop and phone, if the user wants to. This is meant to provide a plethora of options for the software to be configurable to the user needs.
 
Just a quick update. I'm currently finishing up functionality in the modules.

The following modules will be in the Beta release:
1. Recipe Builder
2. Inventory
3. Cellar

In the Version 1 release, the following modules will be included:
1. Certification Study Material
2. BrewShop
3. Local HBS Directory

If anyone has any ideas, I am completely open to putting them in a future iteration. The Beta release will be introduced to HBT very soon.
 
BitterSweetBrews said:
Water treatment is always a good thing. That incorporated with expected PH and mitigations to achieve the proper balance.
Click to expand...
So I incorporated water profiles into the recipe builder since it's also affected by grains/hops. The goal is to have the software give suggestions to adjust the ph to an optimum level.
 
Just adding some screenshots as updates.

(1) Main Console
Main Console.png


(2) Module Dropdown Menu
Module Menu.png


(3) Recipe Builder Base Grain List
Recipe Builder Grain Bill List.png


(4) Recipe Builder with random grains selected
Recipe Builder Grain Bill.png


(5) Recipe Builder Recipe Overview Screen
Recipe Builder Main Screen.png
 
cnash said:
This looks great, if it does water volume calculations and recipe creation I'm in.
Click to expand...

So, recipe creation is the main feature, at this point. All possible calculations (strike water, water volume, etc.) are on the list to be included. Additionally, everything is meant to be customizable. For example, users can add/delete/edit any grain, hop or yeast. This allows the brewer to really dial in their recipes since they aren't limited to generic ingredients.
 
Once water volume calculations are included I would be more than willing to use it and as more features are released I would incorporate those as well.
 
Another update:

Finished adding default base malts and I'm almost done with specialty grains. In total, there are already 173 default grains in the software before user additions/deletions/modifications.

Yeasts and hops are next. There are roughly 328 different yeast strains, and 148 hop varieties that will be available.

Like I said, I'll be posting updates periodically since development is moving along quickly.
 
Tagobolts said:
Looking good! I know you mentioned recipe creation was the main point. What about recipe sharing/viewing?
Click to expand...
Recipes are sharable. The file can be emailed to another user. I'm also working on making them shareable via QR codes.
 
Forgive me if I jumped right to the end and passed over what I was looking for but I always thought a software that would keep track of my current inventory of grains and yeast and adjuncts and then provide me with all of the options available to me based on what I had on hand and then perhaps another level of options where I was missing one item then perhaps another level with two items missing would be great. If I wanted to brew right now my options were clear and it would also improve my efficiency at my local shops causing to grab only what I needed.

Let me guess....what I am looking for is already out there?
 
Cool_Hand_Fluke said:
Forgive me if I jumped right to the end and passed over what I was looking for but I always thought a software that would keep track of my current inventory of grains and yeast and adjuncts and then provide me with all of the options available to me based on what I had on hand and then perhaps another level of options where I was missing one item then perhaps another level with two items missing would be great. If I wanted to brew right now my options were clear and it would also improve my efficiency at my local shops causing to grab only what I needed.

Let me guess....what I am looking for is already out there?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure if it's already out there, but that is already being implemented in MashLab. There will be an option to show only recipes for which you have the ingredients to brew. I will also look at adding in other options you mentioned like only missing one/two ingredients.

Thanks for commenting!

Matt
 
I'm a software/systems guy that knows java pretty well, could I bother you to let me be involved with what time I have? I know how to compile java, run it, etc manually, I'd love to help. I've got mac, windows, and linux hosts around I can test on etc.
 
pompeiisneaks said:
I'm a software/systems guy that knows java pretty well, could I bother you to let me be involved with what time I have? I know how to compile java, run it, etc manually, I'd love to help. I've got mac, windows, and linux hosts around I can test on etc.
Click to expand...
PM me.
 
Just canvassing for some opinions.

What type of layout is the most user friendly for a recipe? I want to group logical things together, but I don't want overcrowding either. I've been splitting up the ingredients into different groups, but I've seen them just all in a single group also.

I have seen the layout from other brewing software. And while I really don't want to copy, there's no reason not to if it's the best layout.

Any opinions?
 
I made this mockup in photoshop. I know it would take some effort to make this to a functional css, html, java code. But I thought that when planning this (I have some knowledge in basic stuff) so I know it could be done. I would like to use this kind of layout in software. I think it would be nice to see lots of info in one page. Also if you could make changes in that same page also would be great.
 
Juuso said:
I made this mockup in photoshop. I know it would take some effort to make this to a functional css, html, java code. But I thought that when planning this (I have some knowledge in basic stuff) so I know it could be done. I would like to use this kind of layout in software. I think it would be nice to see lots of info in one page. Also if you could make changes in that same page also would be great.
Click to expand...
I like it! I've already converted the layout to match what you posted, and I'm just working funcationality now. Thanks!
 

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