Promash or Beersmith which one

[Biernut]

After doing another partial over the weekend I came up with some figures trying to work out what sort of efficiency I was getting separating sugars from my grain. I had downloaded the trial version of Beersmith some months ago, gave it the cursory once over and forgot about. So going back to it I find it has expired and if I want it, buy it. However I decided to download Promash, and in doing so I find it a bit tedious in familiarizing myself with the program. Being a mentally lazy bastard I am always looking for shortcuts to save time. I am kicking myself for not taking time out to evaluate Beersmith so my question is anyone familiar with both of these programs and if so what are the pros and cons of them. Strengths and weaknesses or are they pretty well much the same. I intend to buy either one to put answers to questions

[warra48]

I tried the trial versions of Promash and Beersmith.

I found Beersmith easier to navigate, and ended up buying that programme. I'm very happy with it.

Having said that, from what I've read and observed, either programme will give you pretty much all you need. There are some brewers who have purchased both, and ultimately it comes down to which one appeals more to you personally.

[Tipsy]

I tried the trial versions of Promash and Beersmith.

I found Beersmith easier to navigate.

My sentiments exactly

[lethaldog]

Yep beersmith for me 2

[homebrewer79]

Beersmith for sure, I've only fiddled with Promash trial but I wasn't very impressed

[Cortez The Killer]

Promash here

It's a matter of what you get used to

Once you know you way around promash and have set up just right it's great

I tried to make the switch to beersmith but didn't like interface

Cheers

[PaulSteele]

will any of these programs work on my trendy and streamlined MAC?

[KEG]

dunno about the others, Paul, but QBrew will - and it's free

http://www.usermode.org/code.html

[Biernut]

Thanks guys, seems like beersmith has it in popularity so I just bought it and trying to navigate my way around it. Chris I had a look at Qbrew and found it to be an easy little program to use but lacking in detail. O well back to beersmith and give my brain a workout.

[PaulSteele]

Qbrew is nice (cheers for the tip KEG), but it is lacking in detail.

maybe I just don't know how to use it fully, but I had trouble adding Dextrose to the recipe and a few other things seemed a little tricky.

I'm just using it to work out gravities and other such things that would take time out of my busy day doing simple math.

[Biernut]

Well after getting to know beersmith over the past few weeks I find it a great program and makes brew day a bit of a breeze. Tomorrow I am going for a triple decoction for the first time in putting an English Ale together with a lot of help from beersmith so looking forward to a great day and the end results in a few weeks.


Cheers

[Kevnlis]

Before you dive in and do the decoction mash I would make sure you have done a lot of research and have a very sound understanding of how everything works. I would also make sure you do your own decoction calculations because the ones Beersmith gives are not at all accurate and will only make your brew day a major pain.

Good luck with it, it's not as hard as it sounds, just takes a lot of time!

[Biernut]

Kev: Thanks for the warning even though it was a little cryptic. I have read much on decoction and understand where you are coming from regards beersmith with acid, protein, rest times and temps but after brewing some pretty good AG brews and getting the feel for my gear after some woeful extraction percentages at the start I feel that I must have a crack at this method of mashing mainly to exploit the melanoiden effect which rightly or wrongly may or may not produce a good English Ale. Hey the worst that can happen is a day out of my life and a batch of beer tipped out in the paddock and I am a lot wiser.

Cheers

[warra48]

You'll make good beer, whether you decoct or not.
Just be prepared for a long brew day, as your mash will take a lot longer than the normal single infusion 1 hour mash.

With todays well modified malts, there is really no need to do a decoction, but there are some who swear it improves the malt quality and depth of flavour of their beer.

I like to do a single decoction for a dunkelweizen, with another mashout decoction, and love the results it gives me. However, I'm sure I'd get close to it with a single infusion. It would be interesting to brew two identical grain bills, one decocted, and one without, and to compare the results in a blind tasting.

It's your brewing, and if you want to have some fun, go right ahead and enjoy.

[Kevnlis]

I think you would find the differences quite noticable in that case warra. But if you did the same experiment with a hand full of melanoidin malt in the undecocted brew I have the feeling they would be hard to distiguish.

[Biernut]

Warra has raised an interesting question regards modified malts. I believe many breweries in Europe use the decoction process so by Warra's inference they would not be using modified grains. I am tempted to try a single infusion using the same recipe a couple of days apart and see what the difference is between the two. Last week I tried to get some melanoiden malt but none available in Hobart it seems. As I only have stocks of light grain left over from the lager season I was hoping a triple decoction will give a deeper darker colour, more body and stability typical of Northern English and Scottish Ales. I was looking at roasted grains but thought they might give me the wrong flavour. With AG brewing I have found that there are so many variables and such a wide range of choices to meet a brew of your choice that I am trusting beersmith to at least put me in the ballpark.

[Timmsy]

I have a copy of beersmith and seem happy with it. I just want to update hops and grain that thay dont have with there details. Is there update from beersmith or do i have add these as i go along and like Beirnut im a lazy bastard

[Chris]

There are a few updates on the website.

[Timmsy]

There are a few updates on the website.

Nice one. Just updated grains with JW. Thanks!

[Chris]

Yeah, the JW and Weyermann are essencial updates.