I was hemming and hawing whether to plunk the cash for this. Glad I waited. only $19.95 instead of $27.95 through Memorial Day http://beersmith.com/order/
I paid $28 back in 2012. No biggie, the program is very useful despite my having paid an extra eight bucks for it.
I agree. I bought it 3 years ago, but I think it was on a 20% sale at that time, then when the 2.0 came out recently, I bought the license again. I love the program, for it allows me to play around and develop my own recipes. I can say, what ifs and see what the possible consequences are. For example, if I change out hop X for Y, what's the IBU comparison, or by thinking about what malt/hop profiles from the program's descriptions, I can imagine using and experimenting with more unconventional substitutions. For instance, I've started using Belgian and German (Munich, Carafa Special [instead of crystal] or Melanoiden) malts more. It's worth the money just for that. In addition, I've also taken just the % of ingredients of a recipe, plugged in various malts/hops to get the desired OG/IBUs for clones at 5 gal. and then re-sized it to 10 or 12 gal. easily with BrewSmith, and then substituted ingredients to match what's in my personal inventory. Overall, using this program has taught me more in a few years than almost a decade of simply brewing up pre-formulated recipes either from books or LHBSs. It also helps in learning to analyze other people's or breweries' beers by trying to tease out what ingredients could have gone in. It's not just the experience of simply brewing; rather, it's the experience of inventing, substituting and imaging alternative recipes, both copied and self-created, that have improved my knowledge of how the individual components mix together to add up to a complex taste experience, kind of like an expert chef of cocktail mixer might do.
I should also note that after having used beersmith II for over a year, my criticisms of the program are almost entirely cosmetic, not functional. There are too many toolbars. The screen is a little busy. Sometimes less is more. Other than that, functionally, the program is amazing and well worth the money. Boddhitree's comments are spot-on. It's super easy to do a little virtual experiment before actually trying something out. Or if someone posts a recipe, you can evaluate it with an eye for "if I made this." Once you get your system "dialed in," the numbers are extremely close (I'm usually within one or two points OG now).
I've been on the fence. I was a Hopville user but I do not like BrewToad. How often do the users need to repurchase a license? Do you have to buy the new version or could one continue to use a previous version?
I like having ibrewmaster on my cell phone. It is useful on brew day in my pocket and at the LHBS when purchasing ingredients. I downloaded the beersmith demo but prefer ibrewmaster. Half price too.
I haven't found out this answer yet. I bought at version II already being out. Hopefully when the new version comes out, it will just be an update and either be free, or cheep, much less than the original program. I would be pissed if it were full price to upgrade (I doubt that will be the case tho). Right now, other than a few fixes of minor issues, I don't need a version III. Beersmith II works fine.
You don't have to purchase a new license to use your existing copy (older version) when new version is released (e.g. your version 2.x is still going to be functional when v3.x is released). Any updates (e.g v2.1, v2.2, v2.3, etc) are free. When a new version (e.g. v2.x-> v3.x -> v4.x, etc.) comes out, you can purchase the new version at a discount if you have a previous version (e.g. you have v2.x, so you can purchase 3.x at a discount).
This jives well with other programs I've purchased, and is a sensible way of doing things. If the 3.0 version (when it comes out) is flogged as being so very much better that it's worth the cost, I'll get it. But for now, version 2 does a fine job for me. I have added a few ingredients (mostly hops) so the flexibility of 2.0 works for me, even with changes in the beer world since 2.0 was released.
