BeerSmith Home Brewing

BeerSmith Lite App Preview

Since launching BeerSmithRecipes.com a few months ago I've been hard at work developing the mobile versions of BeerSmith.  The first of these will be "BeerSmith Lite" which is a I'm going to preview this week.  I will be submitting it to both the Apple store and Android store in the coming days, and hopefully (with their approval) have it available for download in late October or early November.

BeerSmith Lite App (and BeerSmith Full)

The "lite" version is intended as a companion application, recipe finder and brewday timer for BeerSmith on the desktop.  Unlike the full version (which is still in development and a few months away from release), the lite version does not allow recipe editing.

However, the lite version is still packed with features including the ability to search, browse and download recipes from our BeerSmithRecipes.com sharing site, access via the internet to your cloud folder which lets you take recipes with you on the go, and a detailed brewday timer so you can use it while brewing your beer.  It also has a brewing reference, series of standalone tools and unit converters.

iPhone, iPad and Android Support

We've been beta testing the lite version for over a month now on a wide variety of Android devices (phones, tablets, even the Kindle fire) as well as iPhones and iPad.  It runs well on Android 2.3 or higher and IOS 5.1 or higher.  The application layout is identical on all platforms in the initial version, though I may further customize tablet layouts in the future.

Cloud Access to Desktop Recipes

One of the main reasons it took so long to get a mobile version of BeerSmith published, is that I wanted to complete the BeerSmithRecipes.com cloud service first so you would have an easy way to access recipes created on your desktop from your phone or tablet.  I'm happy to say that this is precisely the case for with BeerSmith Lite.

If you add a recipe into your cloud folder on your desktop version of BeerSmith, and then refresh the cloud view on your mobile device the recipe is instantly available on your mobile device.  From there you can copy it to local (offline) storage on your device or directly access the brewday timer.

Search BeerSmithRecipes.com on the Go

I've added a search page so you can search thousands of recipes available now on BeerSmithRecipes.com directly from your phone or tablet.   BeerSmithRecipes.com, which I launched in May now has almost 3,000 shared, recipes, over 9,000 users and some 17,000 recipes stored online.  Type in "Irish Red" and you can quickly locate the top rated Irish Reds.   If you find one you like, you can copy it directly to your local storage or cloud folder for later reference.  Its a great way to find new recipes on the go or have a few minutes at work and want to find new brown ale recipes.

The Brewday Timer

A lot of people asked for the ability to take their desktop brewday timer with them.  So I started by duplicating that function on the mobile app.  You can drop a recipe into your cloud folder, walk out in the garage and open the brewday timer for it on your phone.  The timer shows you step by step mash/steep and boil instructions and also plays an alarm as each new step is reached.

The beta testers asked for more - so I also included just about all of the data that appears on an average brewsheet in compact form on the timer page.  This makes it easy to compare your expected volumes and gravities against the estimated values, and also provides a reference for later steps like aging and carbonation.

 Brewing Reference, Tools and Unit Converters

The lite app also includes a suite of 7 handy brewing tools for common functions like determining alcohol content, converting a refractometer reading or adjusting your mash temperature.  I added unit converters for volume, weights, temperature, and OG to perform those functions.

• Hydrometer Adjustment
• Infusion Step Tool
• Alcohol and Attenuation Tool
• Mash Adjust Tool
• Weight to Volume Tool
• Refractometer Tool
• Carbonation Tool
• Temperature, Gravity, Weight, Volume, Pressure unit converters

Also the new mobile app has a brewing reference with a full beer style guide and also the most common beer ingredients - so you can have that in your pocket while on the go as well!

• Beer Style Reference
• Hops Reference
• Grain/Extracts Reference
• Yeast Reference
• Misc Reference
• Water Reference

Pricing and Release Date

The app will be submitted to both the Apple App store and also the Google Play (Android) store shortly.  The price is set at $3.99.  Final release dates depend on approval timelines for both stores, which can vary widely from a few days to many weeks.  I will be posting additional messages both here on the blog and also to my email subscription list and on the podcast as soon as the app is released.

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