We've updated our popular Bitterness Range Graphs with the latest BJCP beer styles. This chart shows the BJCP beer styles and their international bittering unit (IBU) ranges in bar graph format.
We've updated our popular OG/FG Range Graphs with the latest BJCP beer styles. This chart shows the BJCP beer styles and their original gravity (OG) and final gravity (FG) ranges in bar graph format.
Original gravity (OG) measures how much sugar is present in the wort before it is fermented. The final gravity (FG) is how much sugar is left over when fermentation is done. For a beer to fit into a certain style, each of these numbers must be within the specified range as the chart depicts.
A lower final gravity indicates a dry or crisp flavor, while a higher final gravity indicates a sweet or malty flavor.
The size of the gap between OG and FG can be used to calculate how much alcohol the beer contains.
We've updated our popular SRM Color Charts with the latest BJCP beer styles. This chart shows the BJCP beer styles and their SRM colors in bar graph format. SRM stands for ‘Standard Reference Method’, a scale devised by scientists to describe how light or dark a beer is.
We’ve heard lots of feedback on the way Brewer’s Friend deals with First Wort Hops and today we’re rolling out some updates to the Recipe Builder, offering better calculations for First Wort additions. For details on what First Wort Hopping (FWH) is, check out our FAQ and original blog post here:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/faq/#firstworthops
https://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/05/09/first-wort-hopping/
Prior to these changes, we calculated FWH additions as if they were regular boil hops with a duration of 20 minutes. This was due to subjective reports of the bittering contribution from FWH resembling a 20 minute hop addition. This doesn’t really capture the essence of what’s happening with first wort additions, since the hops contribute bitterness both during the pre-boil time as well as during the entire boil.
To fix this, we’re changing the way these additions figure into overall bitterness. Instead of a fixed time duration, FWH additions now are included for the entire boil duration (based on what’s entered for boil time in each recipe), and are given a percentage boost in utilization to account for the additional time spent steeping before the boil. Typically this factor is an additional 10% boost over a regular boil hop, but this value can be customized based on individual findings. Now, when you select “First Wort” in the “Use” field on the recipe builder, you’ll notice that there’s now a “Scale Util.” field, which holds the overall utilization multiplier. That means if you want to boost the FWH utilization by 10%, you’d enter 110% in this field. If you think the additional contribution is more like 20%, you’d enter 120%. And if you think a first wort hop behaves exactly like a boil hop for the duration of the boil, you’d just enter 100%.
We know there are thousands of recipes that have been built on the previous FWH functionality. And we know how seriously we rely on our recipe metrics to remain stable and predictable as we brew, rebrew, and experiment. To that end, we’re taking every existing recipe with a FWH addition and we’re calculating the utilization scalar that results in no IBU/bitterness changes. So when you open those recipes, you’ll notice that the stats don’t change as a result of this. If you look under the existing First Wort hops, you’ll see that we’ve filled in a utilization percentage that equates to the IBU numbers you had previously. If you want to adopt the new approach for an addition, you can simply change that value to 110% and you’ll get the new calculation. Any new First Wort hops you add will default to the 110% number.
We think these changes will help us all achieve more accurate recipe metrics, use First Wort Hopping more effectively, and ultimately make better beer! If you run into any problems, bad calculations, or bugs with these changes, please reach out to us:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/feedback-welcome/
Cheers!
It’s been a LONG time coming, but we’re excited to announce that we’ve updated our Android app! It was very overdue for some improvements, so we started by fixing some of the more serious issues, including:
We also brought it up to speed with the latest BJCP 2015 style guidelines. This means you can create recipes in the latest styles on the app and also that recipes coming from your Brewer’s Friend account will sync properly now.
We know we’ve had a rocky road with the Android app, and we REALLY appreciate everyone’s patience, and especially the feedback and testing you’ve helped us with. We know there are lots of other very important requests and serious issues we still need to address, but we anticipate this is just the first step of many we’ll be taking. We plan to continue releasing updates regularly now that we’ve gotten back on track, so please stay tuned for more announcements to come.
If you’re an Android user and haven’t tried it, you can check it out on Google Play here:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.brewersfriend.premium
Cheers!
We have good news for you mobile brewers out there today: we’ve released a new version of our iPhone app which is rolling out today. The new version addresses a few important additions and fixes including:
It’s been quite a while since we last updated our app, but we’re committed to making these updates more frequently going forward. Quite a few feature requests, bugs, and improvements have stacked up on our TODO list since we last updated, so we have a long list to catch up on. Please stay tuned if you’re still having other issues or your feature hasn’t been added yet and we’ll be working hard to get through all of them. Thanks to everyone who’s submitted feedback and for your patience as we update. If you have additional feedback or bugs to report, feel free to use the links within the app to connect with us.
Cheers!
It’s been a busy few weeks here at Brewer’s Friend, but we have another feature we’d like to announce. The recipe builder is the core and most important tool we have here and we take feedback and ideas on it to heart. We’ve continually gotten requests to provide the ability to search for fermentable ingredients when creating a recipe, improving on the traditional dropdown menu of sorted ingredient names.
We’ve now integrated a filtering & searching capability into the fermentable & steeping grain selection boxes on the recipe builder. So when entering ingredients, you can simply begin typing what you need and it will filter down the list to just what matches. Once you select the ingredient, it behaves the same as it always has, but this should help save us all time as we choose our grains, extracts, etc.
Give it a try over on the recipe builder:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator/
This is really a significant change to one of the core functions of the recipe builder. We’ve done quite a bit of testing on different browsers, operating systems, & devices and feel that this should work for everyone, but if you do run into issues, please reach out to us here:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/feedback-welcome/
and we’ll respond asap.
And please keep the feedback and ideas coming. The best features and improvements come from you, our awesome brewing community.
Cheers!
We’re really excited to share two of our largest announcements ever! Read on for details on how we’re improving the Brewer’s Friend website and making it more convenient to brew your best beer.
As you all know, the Brewer’s Friend website has always had a quirky look and feel that seemed a little dated, but got the job done. Over time, we’ve seen website design evolve quite a bit and new techniques have come along to make things better for mobile browsing, performance, and user interaction. As a result, we’ve been working hard on completely re-skinning the site, while enabling a more mobile-friendly UI and more modern appearance; all while preserving the exact same core functionality and tools that we all know and love.
That work has finally paid off and we’re excited to unveil the new look of Brewer’s Friend!
As you’ll notice, we’ve breathed new life into the color scheme, fonts, and layout. But if you look deeper all the buttons, data, bells & whistles are all exactly where you left them, just with a fresh coat of paint. Our goal is always to make your brewing the best it can be, so we did our best to keep the functionality of the site as familiar as possible.
Change is definitely tough and we know there will be things you love with the new design and things that you miss about the old look; we’d love to hear that feedback so we can make it even better – just drop us a line here:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/feedback-welcome/
As homebrewers, we’re always looking for the best way to get the best ingredients for our beer. Usually, this involves pulling up our recipe, jotting down the list of things we need, how much of each, preferred brand, etc. Then we go to our favorite LHBS or online homebrew supply and individually pick out each product. And inevitably something is missing or out of stock and then we get to consult substitution charts, or rework our recipes. Frustrating.
We gave this process a lot of thought and we’re very proud to announce a new feature that we believe solves this problem. In partnership with HomebrewSupply.com, we have built a one-click ingredient ordering system for all Brewer’s Friend recipes.
Now when viewing or editing any recipe on the Brewer’s Friend site, you can now click “Buy Recipe Now” and you’ll immediately see a list of the ingredients & products you’ll need to brew your recipe, the quantities needed, and even recommended alternatives when necessary. You can quickly review this list and then add your ingredients to your Homebrew Supply shopping cart in one simple step.
Behind the scenes, the system takes your list of ingredients and carefully matches them to products that should fulfill your recipe. If there’s more than one product that could be used for your ingredient, you’ll be given those options so you can tailor your brew to your brand preferences, etc. So if you have “American – Pale 2-Row” in your recipe, you’ll be given the options for Rahr 2 Row as well as Briess.
And you can even make a selection for your grain milling preference for the recipe before placing the ingredients in your cart.
Finally, we really want to hear your feedback on this new ordering feature. We’ve put a lot of time into the ability for it to intelligently match ingredients to products, but we’ll continue to do even better over time. So if you have feedback on what was matched, or not matched, please click the “How’d we do” box next to the ingredient and give us some info before adding it to your cart. Or if you have more general feedback on the feature, we’d certainly appreciate that too:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/feedback-welcome/
Of course, we’re always working to improve the Brewer’s Friend tools, on the website and mobile apps. Since our last newsletter, we:
Made improvements to the Brewer’s Friend Windows App – fixed some bugs in calculations on the brew day feature and added better support for US units, especially when making brew day calculations.
Fixed a bug on the My Recipes page that occasionally caused crashes related to Brew Session data. The page should be more stable overall now.
Released two updates to the Brewer’s Friend iOS app – fixed some formatting issues with certain fields in the brew log. Released a full updated to the ingredient data in the app, including hops, fermentables, and yeast.
Our first ever recipe kit giveaway concluded this past week, and we’re excited to announce the winners!
TheZ
Brewer #19658
thomurray
mdbitt
David Bader
Brewer #53216
Beercat094
BungBrewer77
Jpdomanico
JugDog Brewing
Each winner will receive a recipe kit from HomebrewSupply.com.
We’re really excited about these improvements and new features and hope you’ll find them to be helpful in your homebrewing experience. Thanks to all of you in the Brewer’s Friend community for helping us make our tools the best they can be, so we can make the best beer together.
Cheers!
The Brewer’s Friend Team
Hey there Brewers!
In this edition of the Brewer’s Friend Newsletter, we have a special announcement in addition to covering some of the latest features and additions to the site. So grab a beer and let’s check out what’s new.
We’re always working to improve our calculators, recipe builder, and apps, so you can make the best beer possible. Here are some of the latest improvements we’ve made this month:
In the Other Ingredients section on the Recipe Builder, added a unit selection for the time field. Now you no longer need to convert your week long dry hop time into minutes.
The Mash Calculator now offers the ability to enter strike water volume directly, not based on ratio
Added a Hop Uitilization Multiplier on the Recipe Builder, so you now can scale non Whirlpool/Hopback hop utilization by a recipe-wide factor
Added Gallons as an available volume unit in the Mash Calculator
Restricted Recipe Search Results to valid ABV values to avoid surfacing invalid recipes
Added Rakau and Opal hop varieties to the Recipe Builder ingredient list
Built a new calculator for switching between LME and DME while maintaining gravity (https://www.brewersfriend.com/lme-dme-conversion-calculator/)
Fixed a bug in Brewer’s Friend Windows App to enable Brew Day functionality regardless of the units selected
Added Brix unit option in hydrometer temperature correction calculator (https://www.brewersfriend.com/hydrometer-temp/)
Fixed bug in Recipe Export to HTML function where hop headings didn’t match the data in the table
Added Target Residual Alkalinity to advanced stats in Recipe Builder, based on Palmer’s How to Brew formula
We’re extremely excited to announce our first recipe kit giveaway sponsored by HomebrewSupply.com!
The folks at Homebrew Supply carry a wide array of recipe kits for every skill level and they’ve graciously offered up ten of them for this giveaway! They’ll be giving away 10 kits total (1 per winner) to 10 individual winners.
Here’s how to enter:
Entry is limited to subscribers of the Homebrew Supply newsletter. If you’re not currently a subscriber, or aren’t sure, head over to this link to sign up: https://bit.ly/1XIDzM8
To enter, just visit the giveaway post in the Brewer’s Friend forum here: https://www.brewersfriend.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=12&p=18299 and reply one time naming your choice of recipe kit. Replying to the blog post or email will *not* enter you in the contest.
On May 20th we will close this giveaway, and draw ten (10) winners on May 21st.
The winners will be able to choose from any all-grain or extract recipe kit:
Extract Recipe Kits
All-Grain Recipe Kits
Top 2015 HomebrewTalk Recipes
And be sure to check out HomebrewSupply.com, where you’re sure to find something for each brewer at every level of homebrewing.
Cheers!
Brewer’s Friend
No purchase necessary. To enter by mail send full name, address, phone number to Brewer’s Friend, PO BOX 911 San Marcos, Texas 78667. Entries must be received by May 19th, 2016. Void where prohibited. International winners must pay for shipping. Limit One (1) entry per household. Brewer’s Friend is not responsible for prizes.
Hi Fellow Brewers!
Our team at Brewer’s Friend has been hard at work improving our brewing tools and we’d like to share some of our progress and a few changes to the site and subscriptions.
First, an update on our community and content: Brewer’s Friend now has 60,000 brewers using our recipe builder, forum, and recipe catalog. We also have 327,000 recipes in our database, which have been brewed over 100,000 times! We’re so proud to be such a repository of brewing knowledge and that so many of the world’s greatest brewers trust Brewer’s Friend to plan, record, and analyze their beer.
We’ve also been working hard to bring our awesome community the tools and features they deserve. Just in the last month, we’ve introduced:
Additional columns on your list. You can now quickly see which of your recipes are shared, public, and how many times people have brewed them.
Secondly, we’re announcing some change to our membership options. Since Brewer’s Friend became a full-featured professional brewing tool and began charging subscription fees in 2012, our prices have been fixed at $9.99 per year. Four years later, we’ve now decided it’s time we adjust our pricing to more closely match the investment we’re making in development, servers, and maintaining the tools and service at a high level. This will help us continue adding new features, and keep the site running as fast and as smoothly as possible.
Additionally, we’ve received quite a bit of feedback that people would prefer a lifetime option, so you can pay one price, one time, and have premium access to Brewer’s Friend forever. We’re happy to announce that we’re re-introducing this option.
With these two changes, our new premium subscription options will be:
And don’t worry, we’ll still offer a free option to allow you to try out our services before deciding on a Premium account.
We want to be sure that you, our valued current customers, have time to upgrade at the existing rates before we make these changes. As a result, these updates won’t appear on the site until Friday, March 11th. In the next two weeks, feel free to add time to your Premium account and/or upgrade at the current rates.
Thank you so much for being a valued part of our homebrewing community and growing your brewing with us over the years. We look forward to continuing to make great beer with you!
Cheers!
The Brewer’s Friend Team
