Anyone try hopville.com Recipes ?

I've designed one recipe there. It was nice to have an idea of the IBU's, which was all I was really looking for. I haven't used other brewing software, so I can't offer any comparisons.

Cheers,
Matt

 

I haven't used hopville, but a simple screening test I'd suggest for any software, which will probably eliminate most... plug in a 'grain bill' made up of 100% table sugar and choose any yeast strain. If the expected FG is not 1.000 (or lower), I'd pass.

Little things like that are the main reason I developed my own brewing spreadsheets.

 

I like beersmith. Hopville works in a pinch if not by my comp with beersmith on it but I will always support beersmith due to their great program and great customer support.

 

Recipe turned out very well. Simple pale ale with Nelson/Galaxy hops. With only three bottles left, time to brew some more.

 

I use it all the time. That's where I store my recipes

 

Interesting. I input 10lbs of table sugar in hopville and used Cali ale yeast.

OG 1.093
FG 1.023

5 lbs straight sugar resulted in:

OG 1.046
FG 1.012

 

Sure. But just keep in mind that if it doesn't handle the trickier stuff correctly, your results could be hit or miss, depending on the particular recipes. But, yeah, in general, do what works for you.

 

Which means that the program doesn't understand that simple sugars are 100% fermentable, and is applying some average attenuation percentage for the yeast strain.

 

I use Hopville, but all I care about is a basic idea. I also have been brewing for six years and understand how to read and calculate my own numbers. Hopville just gives me a basic system to jot down a recipe, then I have my own spreadsheet where I save process and notes of my brewday.

 

I think (IIRC) that just about every formula in my brewing spreadsheet can be derived from concepts and/or formulas that are contained in 'How to Brew.' It did take some time to evolve, but I would say I was still fairly novice when I started to build it.

 

My spreadsheet is a rudimentary system that allows me to keep notes on the brewing process, flavors and how the yeast preformed for each batch. I think more important than a good recipe calculation system is getting to know your own system (which can take some time), notes helped me learn more about brewing than anything else I have read, seen or heard.

It is a basic Excel spreadsheet where I can just add a new tab for the next beer. Not a formulating spreadsheet by any means...although I might work one up for the fun of it someday.

 

After playing around on hopville a little more I am less than impressed for all grain brewing. As I said, in a pinch to figure out an OG and maybe some IBUs itll work but past that I dont know how much I trust it. For example, I couldnt enter in a mashing schedule which will effect the final product. I want to brew a Kolsch and perform a Protein Rest to help with clarity since I will be using wheat in the grain bill but cant even enter that in even if it is just for my own reference.

 

I've been on and off hopville and beer calculus. It's a great way to make a crude recipe and ballpark BUs and GUs. I haven't tried to plug in anything complex and haven't EVER tried to make a competition style beer. I generally try shoot for a style of beer, add a few ingredients I think will be tasty on top of that and if the gravity is off by a few points, it'll still be good. Beer calculus is probably the best free software I've seen, but if you want to get really serious, as recommended above, you should go with Beersmith or another program.