West Coast Brewer Home Brewing Blog

Category: Brewing Books and Software

Reviews and information on home brewing books and software.

Homebrewing Software

Beer Smith 2 Homebrew Software

BeerSmith 2 Home brewing Software

If you are currently all grain brewing and not using a software such as BeerSmith 2, you may want to consider making the investment.  For about $24, Beer Smith allows you to easily design homebrew recipes and tells you when you are in and out of alignment for the attributes of the beer style you are brewing such as bitterness, color and gravity.  You can add easily customize your beer recipe by adding different grain types, hop varieties and quantities to see the impact that it will have on your beer before you actually brew it.  In addition to that you can customize your water profile by adding minerals to mimic the ideal water composition of your style.

 

BeerSmith also helps you organize your brew day!  It tells you how much water to add and at what temperature to help reach your mash temperature efficiently.  It also provides you with a list of hop additions and times for them them to be added and it is all on one sheet of paper.

 

Here is a list of some of the features:

  • Get step-by-step instructions for any recipe
  • Build recipes in minutes, not hours
  • Match beer styles from around the world
  • Share and compare recipes with brewers from around the world
  • Great for both beginners and expert home brewers
  • Add a custom equipment profile
  • Save and store recipes for future batches

 

If you are looking to purchase BeerSmith 2, MoreBeer has a promotion on it today while supplies last.  You can pick it up for $18.99 using promo code Beerdeal.

Click here to purchase BeerSmith 2 Home Brewing Software

Beer-Smith-2-Homebrewing-Software

Home Brewing Books

I have compiled a list of well-written and informative books on home brewing for those of you who are either considering becoming a home brewer or recently started home brewing. Many of these books are also very informative when it comes to advanced brewing topics such as all grain brewing and understanding the importance of the water you brew with.

My top pick is How to Brew by John Palmer. It is basically the home brewer’s bible, and if you were going to get just one book, this would be the one that I would recommend.

 

 

 

Next up is Designing Great Beer by Ray Daniels. Ray’s book will help you take your brewing to the next level with his detailed guide on how to design a great beer. It is packed with valuable information.

 

Jamil Zainasheff has written a fantastic book covering the ins and outs of beer fermentation, and this is a great read if you are looking to learn more about yeast the specifics of fermentation.

 

Okay, so this last one is software and not a book, but it is still very informative when it comes to how to design a beer and understanding some of the more complex principals of home brewing. BeerSmith v2 is the software that I currently use and I can not recommend it highly enough.

 

MoreBeer.com also has a good selection of literature and software available for the home brewer, and their products can be viewed here:

Home Brewing Books and Software