Software Recommendations for eBIAB brewers

[cnash]

A little background I've tried both Brewer's Friend and Beersmith 3 once each with my previous stove top brewing methods.

Now that I am awaiting my Brew-Boss system I am considering giving one of these or something else a shot to earn their place in my normal brewing..

I am most interested in getting water volumes correct along with OG, FG and Efficiency Calculations.
Not interested in building water at this time, but may be in the future. (Using Filtered South Florida Water with Campden, which seems to be pretty decent for most styles).

I have downloaed brewtarget, brewcipher and a couple biab tools to check out, but I was looking at other recommendations.

 

[estricklin]

I notice you didn't mention Pro Mash, I don't have any experience with it personally but a lot of people use it alternatively to Beersmith.

I tried BrewTarget a couple of weeks ago, and it has a lot of bugs it seems. Hopefully they will get those worked out. I have an old copy of Beersmith 2, but my product key was damaged (my 2 year old) so I have just been doing everything by hand mostly. I'm actually kinda happy doing it manually, dunno why I never tried it before.

 

[IslandLizard]

I have an old copy of Beersmith 2, but my product key was damaged

You can request a new key.

I too stick with BeerSmith 2, but I don't BIAB, not sure how BS handles that, except for making the correct adjustments to the mash/sparge volumes, which is straightforward. Everything else remains the same.

ProMash is defunct. From what I've read, you can't even buy it anymore. Maybe you can find a copy somewhere.

Although the interface takes some to get used too (at least with v2), BS is very good for recipe formulation. But I use Bru'nWater for water calcs, and Homebrew Dad's for Yeast calcs. I hate subscription-ware, so if I ever decide to upgrade to v3 or so, it will be a "One-Time Basic" version.

 

[azdavid]

I use Brewers Friend and have since I started Brewing. I have the 15 gal Brew Boss set-up and I feel BF provides everything you could need including water volumes along with OG, FG and Efficiency Calculations, along with Tilt integration if you have one. and when you are ready to tackle the water side of things it can handle that as well. I have tried Beersmith and Brewtarget but always end up back using Brewers Friend

 

[kevin58]

I notice you didn't mention Pro Mash, I don't have any experience with it personally but a lot of people use it alternatively to Beersmith.

ProMash has been out of business and left unsupported for about 10 years. Which is the reason I switched to Beersmith.

 

[estricklin]

You can request a new key.

I too stick with BeerSmith 2, but I don't BIAB, not sure how BS handles that, except for making the correct adjustments to the mash/sparge volumes, which is straightforward. Everything else remains the same.

ProMash is defunct. From what I've read, you can't even buy it anymore. Maybe you can find a copy somewhere.

Although the interface takes some to get used too (at least with v2), BS is very good for recipe formulation. But I use Bru'nWater for water calcs, and Homebrew Dad's for Yeast calcs. I hate subscription-ware, so if I ever decide to upgrade to v3 or so, it will be a "One-Time Basic" version.

Yes I can get a new key, thanks! I was about to throw the disc away. I feel like an idiot for not knowing about the demise of Pro Mash

 

[cnash]

So, as an update I have seen a bunch of talk since BrewToad is shutting down.

Out of people that have used multiple systems. Which of these were your favorites?

BrewFather (looks pretty clean, imo. But I haven't put it to work)
BeerSmith (Big network, old UI)
Brewer's Friend (Very Clean, but I have trouble finding things)
MiBrew (looks nice, but capability?)
Brewgr (anyone actually use this one?)

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

About 4 years ago I started writing ezRecipe after ordering a BIAB system from High Gravity Supplies. I've been tuning and using both ever since. ezRecipe is a full-featured web based recipe designer that is accurate and easy to use.

 

[jturman35]

I use Beersmith 2 and export the brew steps via xml file into the supplied Brew Boss tablet with no issues whatsoever! Beersmith also has a BrewBoss Equipment profile which you can use that will get you pretty dialed in. Obviously you will have to tweak after a few brews to tweak.

I may be wrong but I don’t think you can do this with those others software programs.

This is the answer your looking for. You can thank me later.

 

[Cato1507]

About 4 years ago I started writing ezRecipe after ordering a BIAB system from High Gravity Supplies. I've been tuning and using both ever since. ezRecipe is a full-featured web based recipe designer that is accurate and easy to use.

@ScrewyBrewer I've been using your Qbrew for my extract & partial mash brews, but I'm transitioning to more AG batches BIAB. I've used your ezRecipe v.1.24 for my last batch.
I got my water report from Deer Park for their Spring water. Will ezrecipe allow me to input and develop my spring water profile or do I need to do that in some other calculator?
Obviously I'm new to this aspect of brewing but time to learn when and what to add to my mash water.
Attached pic shows my simple setup using 3500w induction for my 7.5 gal kettle.
Thanks to your Qbrew and ezbiab I've been growing my skills. I really appreciate what you've done, since I started out with a MRB kit.

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

@ScrewyBrewer I've been using your Qbrew for my extract & partial mash brews, but I'm transitioning to more AG batches BIAB. I've used your ezRecipe v.1.24 for my last batch.
I got my water report from Deer Park for their Spring water. Will ezrecipe allow me to input and develop my spring water profile or do I need to do that in some other calculator?
Obviously I'm new to this aspect of brewing but time to learn when and what to add to my mash water.
Attached pic shows my simple setup using 3500w induction for my 7.5 gal kettle.
Thanks to your Qbrew and ezbiab I've been growing my skills. I really appreciate what you've done, since I started out with a MRB kit.

Thank you for your kind words @Cato1507. As a former Mr. Beer homebrewer I found qBrew to be very helpful when creating and sharing extract recipes with other homebrewers. Eventually moving to all grain brewing I stopped updating the qBrew ingredient library. The current ezRecipe version supports reverse osmosis and distilled source water. Support for additional water sources is currently under development for a planned release in 2019. Until then thank you for your interest in ezRecipe as you enjoy brewing on your new system. I really like the finish on your brew room floor by the way!

 

[Cato1507]

Thank you for your kind words @Cato1507. As a former Mr. Beer homebrewer I found qBrew to be very helpful when creating and sharing extract recipes with other homebrewers. Eventually moving to all grain brewing I stopped updating the qBrew ingredient library. The current ezRecipe version supports reverse osmosis and distilled source water. Support for additional water sources is currently under development for a planned release in 2019. Until then thank you for your interest in ezRecipe as you enjoy brewing on your new system. I really like the finish on your brew room floor by the way!

Thanks, I think there are some other water calculators I can use in the meantime. Garage Monkey, a franchise, coated the garage floor and block. Completely seals all the concrete and so no moisture and helps insulate the garage and blocks out moisture. Was worth it.

 

[BarleyStanding]

I've been using BeerSmith (v3 now) for 4 or 5 years, switched over to BIAB completely from 3-vessels around 2-3 years ago. Through trial and error, I've created profiles that fit my equipment for the most part. There are still a few quirks that trigger sudden bouts of Tourette's, but it's rare. The BIAB issues I've come across are directly related to what you are concerned about; setting up the mash temp profiles and water volumes. I think I've dialed in on my equipment pretty well now, but it took a lot of trail and error over maybe 15-20 brews to get the numbers right. At the end of the day, as long as I can hit the temps and gravities, it's all good!

 

[ScrewyBrewer]

Thanks, I think there are some other water calculators I can use in the meantime. Garage Monkey, a franchise, coated the garage floor and block. Completely seals all the concrete and so no moisture and helps insulate the garage and blocks out moisture. Was worth it.

It's a great idea and thanks for the information. I've been trying to get my accountant aka: my spouse to approve the funds for Encore Garage to do ours too.