Brew planning software

Introduction

A lot of brewers (both homebrewers and professionals) use brewing software as a tool to calculate recipes. Brewing software in general is a great help prior to, during and after a brewing session. If you do not use softweare like this, here is some examples of what they can offer:

  1. Inventory - Keep inventory of your malts, hops and yeast.

  2. Recipes - Make your own recipes or download other public recipes.

  3. Batches - Keep a record of all previous batches.

  4. Calculators - Get valuable help in calculating water adjustments, ABV, yeast, carbonation.

  5. Integration - Connect to third party devices like Plaato, Tilt and iSpindel etc.

The most commonly used brewing softwares today are Brewfather, BeerSmith and Brewers Friend. We highly recommend Brewfather, which gives you everything you need in the process from planning your recipe and to a drinkable beer. All wrapped up in a very delicate way that is intuitive.

To check out Brewfather, click on the link below.

All three mentioned brewing software support beerXML which is a data format for recipes that enables export and import between the different systems.

What is an equipment profile?

One key function in brewing software is the equipment profile. The equipment profile defines volumes and expected mash efficiency related to the brewing system you are using. Having this set up correctly is key in getting the correct calculations of e.g. mash water volume and SG (Specific Gravity) during the various stages of your brew day.

How to use and tune the equipment profile to a Brewtools system?

Default equipment profiles exists in Brewfather for all our brewing systems. In general, they are pretty good, but consider them a starting point. How your system is set up (valves and hoses), available heating power (model and settings dependent), batch size, grain weight, personal preference for boiling etc. can change what are the "correct" parameters for you.

Opening an equipment profile will display lots of parameters. Here are some that you should know.

We advise that you, after every brew day, evaluate how it went and record the numbers. After multiple brews you will be able to better understand if you should adjust the equipment profile. Use social media or talk to experienced brewing friends for advice on where to improve. The main goal is to get a consistent brewing result.

Remember that the main point of having the equipment profile as correct as possible is to get the final beer as close to the recipe as possible. If the "Pre-Boil SG" is lower than the recipe, you will have to decide to either extend the boil time, add sugar/DME. Having the correct equipment profile helps you to avoid this.

On a general basis it is better to aim for a too high "Pre-Boil SG" and in the case it gets too high, dilute with water before boiling.

Detailed information on equipment profiles

Visit Brewfather - docs. for more details and how to set up a profile from scratch.

https://docs.brewfather.app/getting-started/setting-up-your-equipment-profile

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