Beer Recipes and Brew Day Batch Logging
This page used to be a list of tools for developing recipes, logging batch data and managing water chemistry. You can now find it all in one program: Brewfather. There is still value in using Bru’N Water for understanding and cross-referencing your beer’s water chemistry. However Brewfather’s built-in water calculator does a great job of putting together a water profile based on your source and target chemistry.
Brewfather
I have licenses for each of the major homebrew recipe programs and even dabbled in coding my own homebrew batch journal. If you subscribe to the adage that ‘we eat with our eyes first’ then you will appreciate the design and layout of Brewfather. It is intuitive and provides the right visual cues to keep you focused on your tasks. I started out with the Beer Smith, rapidly moved to Beer Tools Pro but have recently switched to Brewfather. Of all of these programs, Brewfather is the easiest to use and it allows you to track the entire lifecycle of your beer from ingredient lots to recipe development and batch logging. For $25 a year (20% off if until December 31, 2021), it is worth it’s weight not only because it is a total suite of tools but it is also intuitive, has great documentation and a very active support community.
Bru’N Water
If water chemistry is a mystery or a pain-point for your brew day, I recommend Martin Brungard’s Bru’n Water. It is a spreadsheet application where you input your water chemistry and it outputs how much of each mineral you need for your beer. It is designed to balance your beer’s flavour or match the water profile from a popular brewing region.
It is the most comprehensive and educational application I have come across for adjusting water chemistry. My chemistry knowledge was at a zero but this app helped me understand what was going on in my beer and how each mineral would accentuate certain flavours. My beer is definitely better for adjusting the chemistry and my chemistry is definitely better thanks to Bru’n Water.
Bru’n Water is free and if you are gracious enough to make a donation for his time and expertise, Martin will send you an advanced edition.