Brewtoad buys out Hopville

Who's Brewtoad?

 

I'm in the same boat.

The good news, it seems, is that Brewtoad will--like Hopville--be free (though I have no idea how they recoup all those development costs)--at least for now.

I tried out Brewtoad and I really like it. Very clean, easy-to-use interface. Definitely give it a shot.

 

Checked out Brewtoad after I got the email about Hopville selling out. The website is much nicer, and put together well. Haven't submitted a recipe to the new site yet, so not sure how it will work.

One thing I did read: You will no longer have the ability to add a new ingredient to a global list. Brewtoad has a global, default list of ingredients which they maintain. And no one can add to it. However, you can still add an ingredient, only you will see it.

 

Of which I had to do multiple times in the past hour... Their ingredient list is laughable, but I'm certain it will grow in due time... *High Hopes!*

 

I tried it too....not a fan. Hopville was much easier to use, plus you could plug in variables for mash and sparge, edit your OG and FG. I think you can do it on Brewtoad too, but have not figured it out yet.

I downloaded Brew Target yesterday, which is also free. I like it for the most part, it is pretty straight forward once you get used to it, and the results from recipe calculation are almost identical to Hopville.

It will have to do until I stop being so cheap and buy Beersmith. I used the trial and thought it was good.

 

Edit: ok, I went back and looked again. You can add your mash info to it, but it does not help calculate at all, although I did not rely on Hopville's mash and sparge calcs. I use brew 365 or isparge for those.

And as someone mentioned, their ingredient list and the way they constructed it is poor. They may have wanted to improve on that before going live.

 

i set up a recipe yesterday. the program was just as slow and buggy as ever. but it is free.

doing a quick 5 gallon this afternoon and i see, yes, beer calculus can not possibly become any more failure prone under any circumstances. it's just an easy way to keep track of my recipes. i don't pretend this software can calculate anything accurately.

 

On further investigation I have to agree with those above that the Brewtoad site isn't ready for prime time. There's no indication that I can identify of the hop utilization formula they employ, whether Rager, Tinsith, etc. A deal-breaker for me.

 

I made the switch to brewtoad about a year ago when Hopville "updated" their own system. Both have things I like and dislike, but I thought the general "recipe build" at brewtoad seemed smoother so I made the switch. Hopefully some of the hopville systems get implemented, and maybe the whole system becomes better.

Either way it is still free, and I have always taken the calculations with a grain of salt.

 

Beersmith is all of $28.

 

I should have purchased Beersmith in the first couple years, but after six years of recipe creation it really doesn't matter anymore.

 

I just converted all my recipes over to Brewtoad from Hopville because I was having a lot of problems with Hopville's software glitches and bugs. Then I find out a week later that Brewtoad bought them out and would convert your recipes over for you. Figures. I like it so far though.

 

Sounds like we're on a similar path. Actually got Beersmith this winter...i've plugged 3 recipes in so far and haven't used any of them yet One of these days I'll actually put it to good use...hopefully. So far it seems pretty geeky and intuitive simultaneously. I used hopville for a while, then the byo calculator. More often then not these days, I'm just throwing recipes together in my head though.

 

I put the recipes together in my head, but I suck at math, so I need something to get me in the ballpark. I am waiting for the rest off my recipes to migrate over. Pretty much all of my all grain recipes haven't come over yet.

Does anyone know if there is a way to edit the OG and Fg on recipes you have brewed on Brewtoad? Can't seem to figure that one out.

P.S.,

I know that Beersmith is only $27, times are tough I suppose. I would rather spend my money on other "necessities" then a program that I can almost duplicate for free at the moment. I will buy it soon enough however.

 

not to derail the thread, but for those of you who use beersmith, is it noticeably better than hopville?

 

To everyone that has issues with the BrewToad--could you please make sure to send them a message about your concerns after you have aired your grievances here? Feedback will help make the software better, and complaining on BeerAdvocate will not get anything done.

 

With basic math skills and a few formulas (most of which are in How to Brew IIRC), you can build a spreadsheet that does everything the commercial programs do. You can even do it better, by doing crazy things like realizing that Lactose is 0% fermentable and Table Sugar is 100% fermentable.