What features would you want in your ideal Brewing Software program?

[trboyden]

I am an IT Manager/Systems Engineer/Software Hacker by trade, and after observing many posts from people not absolutely in love with their brewing software, I figured I would throw out a thread and ask for my fellow homebrewers' feedback on what they would like to see/get out of their ideal brewing software program?

Below are some starting points for the conversation. Current software authors should feel free to snag the feedback and improve their own programs.

What platform/device would you prefer the software to target?

What are the essential features every brewing software program should have?

What is lacking from current applications that would be a killer feature to you?

Would an open source approach to development be something you would be interested in contributing to (with development participation), or would you just prefer an application author to do all the work?

Do you find value in web/mobile-based companion sites, typically used for recipe storage/sharing?

Do you feel there should be any standards developed, such as file formats for application data to allow importing/exporting from various applications and services?

Free is always a wonderful price for a product, but what would you be willing to pay for your ideal brewing software program?

 

[Seven]

i am an it manager/systems engineer/software hacker by trade...

Me too

what platform/device would you prefer the software to target?

Windows / Android / Apple / Linux

what are the essential features every brewing software program should have?

Recipe formulation, recipe tracking, recipe scaling, ability to customize equipment profiles, common brewing tools like gravity adjustment, refractometer/hydrometer, unit/weight conversion, etc...

what is lacking from current applications that would be a killer feature to you?

Ability to use software on multiple/networked computers and share recipe data and equipment/ingredients profiles among all computers. I'm not talking about a proprietary "cloud recipe storage" feature. I'm talking about basic support for running the software on a local / home network using common tools such as shared network drives or Dropbox.

Ability to run the software from a USB key or similar for people who travel.

Brewing ingredients database that is updated frequently with new items and automatically downloaded by the software. The program I'm using now requires manual updating and there are many different ingredients profiles scattered around the Interwebs. Would be nice to have at least one master database that is kept current as things change.

would an open source approach to development be something you would be interested in contributing to (with development participation), or would you just prefer an application author to do all the work?

Yes

do you find value in web/mobile-based companion sites, typically used for recipe storage/sharing?

Yes

do you feel there should be any standards developed, such as file formats for application data to allow importing/exporting from various applications and services?

Yes, if possible

free is always a wonderful price for a product, but what would you be willing to pay for your ideal brewing software program?

$25 to $50

 

[kcolby]

on what they would like to see/get out of their ideal brewing software program?

Side stepping the initial questions as the post above me is pretty spot on.
The feedback I would like to highlight is about what's missing.

What I don't see a lot of is really solid Brew Day usage. I.e. Timers, Alarms, prompts for all of the relevant notations and measurements. BeerSmith has started down this road, and it works OK but I think the UI and usability could be improved upon.

Calendaring and Recipe versioning is a huge issue in most software. This is definitely not a solved problem. Calendaring should revolve around everything post brewday. Fermentation Timers/Alerts (Email/SMS?) even for multi-step fermentations (Primary, Lagering, diacetyl rest, Bulk aging, Kegging, Carbing, Initial tapping, Kick date). These are things we all do but probably keep pretty crappy notes on or do haphazardly without much organization to it most of the time. Lets not forget the things that come before brewday with Starters and such.

Recipe versioning and batch recipe's are important as well. We've all gone to the LHBS and had to replace a hop or a grain on the fly. Or we forgot to pickup whirfloc or fermcap or something.

All of these things are important in the outcome of the beer and in our ability as brewers to both improve our processes and become more consistent.

All in all I'd love to be able to have a full log of everything related to the production of a batch of beer, "Grain to Glass".

Pie in the sky items would revolve around plugins into BCS or Brewtroller for brewday activities/monitoring. Even Fermentation could be monitored/controlled with a Fermtroller or BCS system. Reminders to get yeast starters going or to actually make sure you have all the ingredients would be great.

Ingredient files for both Brewing Characteristics as well as "Purchasing" characteristics would be fantastic. It would be great for homebrew shops to be able to produce a file that showed what they carried (yes it'll never be 100% up to date and they may be out of something still), the unit size and unit price. This would keep your costing data up to date in the system which might help when deciding what to brew next as well as make it easy to decide what to formulate your recipe with based on what you LHBS(s) carries.

Multi-User is really important to me. I brew with 2 other brewers. We want to be able to share all of our recipies, batches, calendars, etc transparently. BeerSmith has made a good first step in this but it has a lot of pitfalls that don't allow us to use it very effectively.

 

[GeorgiaMead]

I am computer literate but by no means an expert... So I'd like a simpler layout when it comes to equipment adjustment and maybe a way to automatically adjust every ingredient depending on what size batch say you wanted a 1 gallon batch one time and next time a 3.5 gallon batch. Also have it able to set up for BIAB. That's my .02

 

[grathan]

I need something that can handle inventory and planned recipes.

I buy all my ingredients for the coming year in a single purchase to save on shipping and whatnot. If I have roasted barley in inventory and it is for a planned recipe, I want to avoid using it by mistake.

I picture recipe creation taking place in the inventory screen (crtl-clicking items then adding all at once to recipe).

 

[GrogNerd]

What is lacking from current applications that would be a killer feature to you?

parti-gyle recipe formulation

 

[BreezyBrew]

In addition to what's in Beersmith

I'd like a simple layout screen to see where your projected (theoretical values) numbers match your actual numbers. Then be able to do some type of modeling for your particular system. Your entering all this dang data, why not use it for something?

I'd like it to calculate water values like the bru'in water sheet and have it in one place.

Greater way to take notes on the beer taste throughout the process rather than a text box (but include this as well)

Include a plotted graph for BU:IBU ratio on a particular beer

More data input for a yeast bank.

Calender/Scheduling

... I'm sure I'll think of something additional

 

[GeorgiaMead]

A fully functional mobile version that is linked to the original software ad a low $$$ on the whole package

 

[Weezy]

I use BrewMate for recipe formulation and batch notes and the timer. It also doesn't need to be installed. I have it and all my recipes and every other brewing bit of reference, spreadsheet, etc on a thumb drive. I also have it all mirrored to Skydrive. It runs from the thumb drive or right from SkyDrive, from any pc and my win 8 tablet.
Its nice and light weight, fast. But it lacks some features. Most features, for equipment, brew day, and inventory, I wrote in spreadsheets.

KISS. Avoid the ideal of trying to satisfy everyone...you'll end up with bloatware. At least have a toggle for basic and advanced modes, if you do choose to cram the Swiss army knife in it.