That being said, let’s continue on as I show you how to enter your first recipe.Īs you can see above, I’ve highlighted in red boxes all of the areas you need to worry about for now. Personally, I tend to avoid instructions at all costs and just start messing around, but if you’re the kind of person who can take the time, reading the instructions is definitely a good idea. When you first open the software, you’ll see the welcome screen. So, as I walk you through how to create your first recipe in BeerSmith, I’ll also point out all of the parts of the screen that you can safely ignore until you become more comfortable with the software. This can be extremely overwhelming to a new brewer who just has a few extract batches under their belt. One of the issues I have with it is that it shows you almost every feature up front, on the main screen. As I mentioned, BeerSmith is great software, but also quite advanced. What I’ll be covering today is, ironically, how to ignore most of the BeerSmith screen. At a cost of $28, you really can’t go wrong with BeerSmith, especially if you consider that your homebrew hobby may extend through the next 5 years, 10 years, or even 20 years! Some people prefer other software like ProMash, which is designed more for professional brewmasters, or mobile apps like BrewPal, which has plenty of features but is not as advanced as BeerSmith. It was also recently updated to version 2 this past year. The software that I use and recommend is BeerSmith, available at In my opinion, it is the best designed software, and the easiest to use. Many brewers keep a log of each and every brew in a binder, and take notes on any modifications made during brew day, as well as during the following weeks of fermentation and carbonation, and finally sampling at various points. Secondly to create a record that you can use to brew the same exact recipe (in the case of success!) or to review in case something goes wrong. First, to automatically calculate many aspects of your brew day including the gravity, IBU of your hops, mash temperature, water additions, etc. There are two main reasons to use software. Today we start down the path of a major improvement to your brewing – using software. BeerSmith tutorial part 1 – entering your first recipe

How to use beersmith