Brews and Blues Beer and Smokin’ Blues

BeerSmith

During my online searching for cool beer brewing related stuff, I found some software called BeerSmith.  I was browsing the list of features on the website and decided to download the free trial to see what it had to offer.  The features available in this software cover almost everything a home brewer could ask for.  I'm not going to talk about all the features this software has to offer... you can click on the link for that. 

The reason I bought this software is primarily for one feature.  A lot of home brewers, like myself, are not experienced enough to formulate beer recipes on our own without some help or without basing it on an existing recipe.  If someone asked me to put together a recipe for an imperial stout, I would have some basic idea of the ingredients necessary but not the quantities or specific hop choices that would make a really good recipe.  BeerSmith solves this problem very nicely.  You can create recpies in the program.  You decide what style of beer that you want to brew and the software will give you a set of targets to meet with the ingredients you choose.  BeerSmith gives you a target original gravity, final gravity, color, and bitterness.  As you add ingredients to your recipe from the database, BeerSmith estimates these values and tells you if your brew is going to fall within the realm of the chosen style.  I think this is a fantastic system.  It will give me the ability to experiment with various ingredients and still stay within the realm of my choice in style.  By the same token, it gives you the ability to modify a style that you might not like so well into something you do like.  For instance, if you don't like the bitterness of an imperial stout, you can tweak the hop choices to tone it down.  If you want one that is even more bitter, you can tweak in the other direction.  If you want something that looks like a stout and tastes like an amber ale, BeerSmith gives you the tools to create that recipe. 

The first brew that I make is going to be a recipe that I already have.  I'll be experimenting with the BeerSmith on my second brew after all my equipment is tested and proven to be working properly...