For me, brewday is an all day adventure (especially since switching to all-grain) that begins in the early morning and can run till sunset.  I’m always looking for tools and gadgets to help make better beer and to make the brewing process as smooth as possible.  I take detailed notes during every brew session about what went right and what went wrong.  Before my next brew session, I review what went wrong and see if there are any process improvements or gadgets that can help.

Preparing to brew the NB Big Honkin Stout, I  was reviewing my notes from my last batch and found I ran down to the basement to fire up BeerSmith three times during the session; Once to get a temp adjusted gravity reading, another to adjust the hops since I missed my preboil gravity, and lastly to calculate the adjusted SG.   Not that I couldn’t use the exercise, but running up and down the stairs and leaving the brewery unattended is risky.

So I thought about using one of my many laptops out in the garage with BeerSmith loaded but then remembered that I use my iPhone for making a bunch of weight/temp conversions, as a timer, and to listen to the BN Sunday Session already….I thought, maybe there’s an app out there for homebrewing.  And a quick search revealed two;  Brew Pal , $0.99 and BeerMath , $4.99.  After reading the reviews and checking out the screens, I decided to try out Beer Pal.

Overall, I was very impressed with the software.  I was able to prepare my grain bill and get estimated SRM, OG, FG, set my efficiency, and attenuation.  Mash and Sparge calculations were easy to setup (haven’t tested them out yet during a brew session though they’re close to BeerSmith).  All the hops I needed were available and I could easily adjust the alpha to the specific hops I have.  Dry hops can be calculated.  There’s a  simple yeast pitching calculator, though it’s not going to replace Mr. Maltys.  There’s a great brew session timer and calendar, BJCP style guides, carbonation calc, export and email features…the list goes on and on.  It’s very easy to use, looks great and will become my new assistant brewer.  And when inspiration strikes on the road, I’ll be able to craft a recipe on the fly too.  For $0.99, this is a no brainer.  Unless you have a blackberry, then it’s going to cost you $299 + 2yr contract (kidding Mr. Angry).

Overall: A

Pros: Cheap, great graphics and interface, does almost everything BeerSmith does

Cons: Pitching rate calculator for yeast staters would be nice, I saw no extract options

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Tags: blackberry, Brew Pal, iPhone, software

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 2nd, 2009 at 8:22 am and is filed under Enhance Your Knowledge, Homebrew. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.