Home Brew Software (Recipe Management)

As the world of home brew grows ever larger, the need for software for homebrewers is increasing. It can be difficult for the modern home brewer to keep track of all the recipes, methods of brewing, and tricks that one has used for the craft. With modern technology and new software for homebrewers, your beer recipe can be kept on-hand â€" or even on-line - quite easily. Already the American Association of Homebrewers has an extensive website, and new websites are popping up daily with advice on your home made beer recipe, mashing methods, and even concerning distillation techniques. Homebrew applications are becoming more and more common as the world of brewers emerges as a definitive presence on the internet.

In addition to numerous web pages offering advice on just about every aspect of brewing, most brewing supply houses are offering ordering services online. It is now possible to order direct from the manufacturer numerous kinds of homebrew supplies and ingredients, even including some farms that sell direct through their websites. It is no wonder then, that there is now a plethora of software available for the home brewer. Homebrew applications are available for storing your beer recipe, calculating the flavors of your homebrew, and even humorous video games have been made based on brewing ingredients. Here are four examples of software for homebrewers currently available online as shareware. Usually, shareware means free 30 day trial of the homebrew application before you are asked to register as a paying customer, and shareware programs cost around $10-$50 in most cases.

Homebrew Calculator (homebrew application) is a program available from Homebrew Software that can record your beer recipe and uses the information to calculates the bitterness, color, original gravity, and alcohol content of your brew, as well as provide brewing tips. It comes with a glossary with over 250 terms, and support from the company in the way of on-line customer service. This homebrew application is quite a value, and is supported on most Windows operating systems.

Home Brew Kit Master (homebrew application) is a program that can be used to record the details of your home brews and is designed to help with quality testing. It prints reports, generates tasting sheets, and features a searchable knowledge base of tips on home brewing. Other programs, such as Beersmith, even take into account the vagaries of all grain and partial grain brewing. This is a program by Kevin Solway.

Strange Brew is another shareware program that can be used to record your recipes and the flavors and opinions that result from them. This homebrew application has received a good review from Zymurgy, the monthly magazine of the Brewers Association, and is available for just $15 after a 30-day trial period. This software for homebrewers comes with a recipe database for many different kinds of beer, and features online recipe database to browse and download from.

Finally, MrGoodbeer.com brings us Yeastman - a low-fi video game much like pac-man in which wort dots are consumed by the Yeastman, while pursued by evil bacterium. Power pellets, I mean, beer barrels, help to defeat these haunting bacterium. This program is freeware.

These and other pieces of software for homebrewers are available with recipes for distinct types of beer, ingredient databases, and even labeling programs. The world of software for homebrewers seems to be growing all the time, and more and varying homebrew applications are filling a void in software technology each month. Although many of us are not the most technologically advanced folks, there is a growing community of home brew beer makers online that are finding unique beer recipes that would otherwise not be shared. Most of the beer recipe software is available for a free trial anyways, so why not try it out? You might find it more useful than you bargained for!