Brewer's Friend Home Brewing Software

Version 1.04 Launched, Copy and Brew Log

The latest release is now live, which includes:

• Recipe Copy feature activated.  Now you can make copies of your recipes or other recipes that have been shared by others.
• Brew Log feature setup which allows you to record gravity readings, how much volume you collected, tasting notes, etc.
• When starting a Brew Session you may make a snapshot of the recipe (which is essentially a copy of the recipe tied only to the Brew Session). That way if you change the recipe later on, or you need to make a minor edit for just that brew session you know EXACTLY what you brewed.
• The Brew Session page allows you to change the current phase of the brew. The phases are Planning, Brewing, Primary Fermentation, Secondary Fermentation, Conditioning, Ready to Drink, and All Gone.
• Mash steps now visible for Partial Mash style recipes on the Recipe Editor.
• BIAB brew step profile created.

Posted in Announcements | 5 Comments »

Brew Feature Launched Version 1.03

Hello fellow brewers,
Thank you to the many brewers who have written in with comments and suggestions. The positive feedback has been really great to hear. We have just launched the 1.03 installment of the Brewer’s Friend Recipe Builder which we hope you will enjoy using.

Recipe Builder 1.03 supports the following features the community asked for:

• Other Ingredients section has a units drop down box. Now you can setup a recipe that calls for 1/2 tsp of Irish Moss with 10 minutes left in the boil and 10 quarts of Fresh Blueberries in the secondary. Supports both US and Metric units.
• Mash section improved and clarified.
• Less fields on recipe editor are required, making the tool easier to use.
• Ability to delete recipes under the My Recipes page.
• Ability to set a custom yeast attenuation value. This allows fine tuning of the expected Final Gravity.
• Added additional types of DME/LME to the fermentables drop down (Pilsen, Munich).

This release introduces the Brew Session section.   In the style of our brew day checklists the brew session page computes all the steps neccessary to brew a recipe and generates a customized checklist. This is accessible by clicking the ‘Brew’ tab inside a recipe.  Brew sessions are saved in the system under your account and can be accessed using the new ‘My Brewing’ tab above.

In addition to a brewing checklist, the Brew Session feature computes water requirements for the batch given your equipment profile. How much water to use in all grain brewing can take time to dail in, especially for new all grain brewers. You must be signed up and have an accurate equipment profile for this to work. There are default settings but you will no doubt want to adjust them.  US and Metric units are fully supported.

In our next release, the Brew Session feature will include a brew log where you can record gravity readings, tasting notes, schedule when to rack/package, etc.  Eventually we want to allow customizable and sharable brew steps, but that depends on how many brewers would want that functionality.

What fellow brewers are saying about Brewer’s Friend:

Posted in Announcements | 4 Comments »

Recipe Builder 1.02 Launched

Another release just went live.

The 1.02 release includes the following features:

• New and improved Mug icon (the color is dynamically set by the brewing software).
  
• Scale by Efficiency feature launched for All Grain / BIAB / Partial Mash recipes. Uses logic to keep OG the same, while preserving flavor and color balance. This was a bit tricky to get right and feedback would be appreciated.
• Ability to view a recipe as HTML or Text, and download in either format. Check the new buttons on the recipe view page. This way recipes are easier to share by email or in forums.  BeerXML format is on the way (that is a bit more complex though!)
• Darkened up the last 5 SRM values. An SRM value of 40 should be pitch black, and now that is how it should look on most monitors.
• Bug fixes: (ECB color equation, sharing a recipe after the first save, stay signed in now tracks profile information correctly).
• Back end upgrades to libraries.

We’ll get around to posting more beer related blog posts in the near future.  An IPA clone recipe Larry is perfecting is fermenting right now:

Best of luck in brewing next year to all our readers and users!
– Larry

Posted in Announcements | 3 Comments »

Recipe Builder 1.01 launched

Hello fellow brewers,
Happy holidays from the Brewer’s Friend team. May your brewing be merry and plentiful in 2012!

Our team has been working very hard the past week and a half to make the 1.01 release of the Recipe Builder possible. There is a lot more on the way in 2012 from Brewer’s Friend, we hope you will join us.

The Recipe Builder has just been updated to version 1.01 with the following features:

• Sharing: It is now possible to share recipes, such that the URL can be posted, emailed etc.  By default recipes are private.  There is also an option to make recipes searchable in our database, but the search interface is not available yet (expect to see that in January).
• Scaling: The new scaling tab at the top allows a batch to be scaled to different volumes. We are working on a scale by efficiency feature.
• Text View: Recipes can be viewed in ‘text’ mode for easy posting to other sites. We are working on an HTML version.
• Yeast Section: When selecting a yeast from the drop down, the page now shows the yeast stats (Attenuation, Flocculation, Optimum Temperature, and Alcohol Tolerance).
• Content: Added 11 different types of yeasts (thank you readers for pointing out a few missing ones).
• Misc Updates/Fixes: Priming sugar/amount now visible on display page,  Firefox 3.6 bug fixed, IE 7 + 8 header renders better, adjustments to view page rendering, styled buttons on recipe editor.
• Social Networking: Facebook and Twitter pages setup and linked.

Posted in Announcements | 3 Comments »

Complete Recipe Builder Launched

Hello fellow brewers!

Great news, Brewer’s Friend has just launched the Early Release of our complete recipe builder!  We took our readers’ advice and leveraged the existing calculators to create a complete tool that allows you to input, save, and print recipes.  The tools can be used anonymously, but in order to save things you’ll need to Sign Up first. We humbly predict many a great beer will be designed using the Brewer’s Friend tools.   The current release will serve as the foundation of many future tools including a brew assistant (sounds sexy doesn’t she?),  water management tools, social networking, BeerXML support, mobile apps, the list goes on…

The existing calculators will stay exactly the same. The blog will continue to put out interesting and fun home brew posts on a regular basis.

During the early release users are granted free access to the Brewer’s Friend platform. We will eventually switch to a ‘Freemium’ model where use of the tools on a limited basis is free. The annual fee for full access to the system will probably be around $15.00 USD for one year of service. Sign Up for the early release is completely free, no credit card information is collected, and there are no obligations.

Current feature set:

• Complete recipe calculator.
• Supports All Grain, Extract, Partial Mash, BIAB.
• Ability to save recipes to your account.
• Ability to print recipes.
• Multiple ABV, IBU, and SRM equations supported.
• US and Metric Units
• World Timezone Support

The Brewer’s Friend platform will eventually include:

• Complete water volume management for All Grain brewers.
• Ability to scale recipes by efficiency and batch size.
• An automated brew helper with customizable steps, based on our brew day sheets.
• Ability to log brew events, gravity readings, and automatically calculate efficiency.
• BeerXML import and export.
• Support for brewing kits from home brew stores.
• Additional brewing equations.
• Ability to search and share recipes.
• Social networking features.
• Integration with mobile devices.
• Most importantly – Tell us your ideas!

Please use the comments thread on this page or the feedback page and let us know what you think!

To say thank you to early adopters, a discount will be made available when we go live.

Join and participate in the newest brewing solution built by brewers for brewers!

Posted in Announcements | 2 Comments »

Site Theme Upgraded

Hello fellow brewers, this is a quick announcement to let you know we upgraded the site theme today!

Yeah, change is no fun and we apologize if the shock of seeing the blog theme change caused anyone to spill their beer. The old theme was so familiar to me it does take some getting used to. You might have to clear your browser’s cache on any pages previously visited to get the new appearance.

By the way, the new image in the top is a close up of some fresh hops!

We hope you like the new theme. This work is in preparation of an upcoming major release that represents a culmination of all the brewing calculators.

PROST!

Posted in Announcements | 2 Comments »

Wine Season and New Wine Calculators Released

Home wine makers are wrapping up the season with late harvests coming in throughout the Northwest. This weekend is going to be the last chance for Oregon Pinot Noir. The California harvest is of course long over by now. Recent wine making activity has inspired me to write a couple new calculators related to wine making with more on the way.

New Wine Calculators:

• Brix and Specific Gravity Conversion Calculator– Converts Brix to Specific Gravity and vice versa. The Brix scale is commonly used in wine making. Specific Gravity is commonly used in home brewing. Some hydrometers have only one or the other, which is where this calculator comes in.

  Brix and Specific Gravity are used to tell how much sugar is in solution. In wine making the freshly crushed juice is being measured (commonly known as the ‘must’). The Brix scale is very close to the Plato and Balling scales.

• Chaptalization Calculator – Chaptalization is the process of adding sugar to must (grape juice) to boost the final alcohol level. This is often done in poor growing years where the grapes did not mature to the desired Brix level. The amount of sugar to add is dependent on how much wine is being made, and how big of an increase in Brix is needed.

I currently have 160 pounds of Pinot Noir fermenting. I split the must into two 24 gallon fermentors after doing a two day cold soak. The left one has RC-212 yeast, and the right one has Assmanshauser. After the crush they will be blended and put through Malolactic fermentation. The house smells really, really good!

The above image shows the two fermentors all setup waiting for the cold soak to finish. The 1 gallon container on the side is a starter for the Assmanshauser yeast.

Posted in Announcements, Wine | 4 Comments »

Good news for Oregon Home Brewers

The Oregon Senate has passed legislation to re-legalize aspects of home brewing that were outlawed last year. The bill, SB 444, invalidates last June’s article. At that time home brew clubs and beer competitions were considered illegal. The law was so narrowly reinterpreted that taking home brewed beer out of the house was seen as a problem.  It was stupid, and thankfully our democratic system has shown itself able to do some good.  The spirit of the laws surrounding alcohol regulation and taxation draw the line when money and commercial production come into play.  Unfortunately home brew got sucked into this temporarily but now that is fixed.

The credit for saving us goes to Sen. Floyd Prozanski! Oregon is fortunate that Sen. Prozanksi is a long time member of the Oregon Senate AND a long time home brewer.  I am impressed by the fact that not a single member of the Oregon Senate voted ‘No’ on the bill. All 30 members voted yes.  It was bi-partisan whoo hoo!

What the bill does in Oregon:

• Beer and wine competitions are legalized.
• Home brew clubs may operate again as they used to.  Members may bring the home brew to share and taste.
• Transportation of home brew is legal, including sweet wort.  You can brew at your friend’s house and ferment at your house.
• Compensation in the form of home brew contest prize money is legal.
• Club dues are legal provided the amount of the dues is NOT tied to the amount of home brew you get to drink.  Dues must be separate from how much beer you get during a meeting.
• Trading home brew is legal.
• Trading home brew ingredients is legal.
• Donating home brew to a not for profit qualifies for a tax deduction!?
• Restates statue limiting amounts of home brew per household.  If you are over 21 you can brew 100 gallons.  If your spouse or roommate is also over 21, you can brew up to 200 gallons between the both of you.
• Holders of a brewery public house license may allow customers to brew on site, provided alcohol by volume does not exceed 14% in the brew.  The customer made brew may not be consumed or sold in the pub.

It still needs to pass in the House, but it is widely expected to sail through without a problem. The bill has a rider that makes it go into effect when the Governor signs it. To track the progress of the bill:
https://gov.oregonlive.com/bill/2011/SB444/

For the full content of SB 444:
https://www.leg.state.or.us/11reg/measures/sb0400.dir/sb0444.intro.html

Posted in Announcements | 2 Comments »

Oregon Brewing Clubs Get Screwed

This sucks! Home brew clubs in Oregon are no longer allowed to have home brew at their meetings! Public beer and wine competitions, like those commonly held at the state and county fairs are now considered illegal too. What a bummer for us home brewers… The clubs can live on, but they have to be ‘dry’. Takes all the fun out of it, and the chance to learn and share about brewing (which is the whole point). The Oregon law had been on the books for 30 years, but it was not enforced or interpreted in this way until now.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) and the Oregon Department of Justice have decided to shut down beer and wine competitions, and remove home brew from home brew clubs. Excerpt from the law:

‘No person shall brew, ferment, distill, blend or rectify any alcoholic liquor unless licensed so to do by the Oregon Liquor Control Commission. However, the Liquor Control Act does not apply to the making or keeping of naturally fermented wines and fruit juices or beer in the home, for home consumption and not for sale.’” https://www.leg.state.or.us/ors/471.html

The problem with the competitions and home brew clubs is, the home brew is taken out of the home, and then consumed by the ‘public’. Sounds down right naughty doesn’t it?? People, sharing home brew and discussing it?? Under the law, even though the home brew is not sold, it is still illegal to have members of the ‘public’ drink the home made alcoholic beverages. Judges are considered members of the public under the new interpretation as well.

This means it is illegal to drink home brew anywhere in Oregon, except at home.

In order to get home brew clubs, and beer/wine competitions going again, the state legislature would have to amend the law. Oregon has some pretty big budget items to address this year, so we can only hope for the best.

Interestingly enough, competitions for canned preserves, pies, etc are still legal at fairs. It is the mystique of alcohol that causes all the trouble for brewers and vintners. If the argument is for public safety, there are more dangerous strains of diseases in improperly canned foods than in a bad batch of home brew.

For the clubs in Portland, Oregon that are impacted, I predict new brewing clubs will be formed just over the river in Vancouver, Washington!

For more details, go to:
https://www.kval.com/news/business/97335294.html

Posted in Announcements | 12 Comments »

Spring Cleaning and Updates

Many updates were made to the site based on feedback from visitors:

1) Extract and partial mash brew day check lists now include a reminder to make sure all equipment is on hand. Thank you Matt for sending in that comment!

2) All brew day checklists and recipe templates have been made unit independent. They used to read pounds or ounces, which left out our brewing friends around the world who use European units. Quantities of weight simply say ‘amount’ now. When a temperature is listed both Fahrenheit and Celsius are specified. Thank you Guillermo for that comment!

3) The calculators on the site have been updated with a new grain list. There were approximately 30 grains added to the list. Thank you to Brian, Jeff, Aaron, Del, and Chris for writing in!

4) IBU calculator now accepts 5 digits as inputs for amounts.

Posted in Announcements | 3 Comments »