Although I am fairly adept at certain computer related endeavors such as posting on forums etc, I am not exactly a pro. I'm wondering if software like Beersmith is a good idea for me. Is it complicated? Does it help out in the brewing process? Are there other programs that would be better?

I recently downloaded the free 21 day trial, and the best caveats I can give to the program is that I will indeed be purchasing it. For 20 bucks you cant go wrong. I really cant imagine attempting my own recipe without it. Why dontcha give the free trial a shot, and post back your thoughts on it?

http://www.beersmith.com/download.htm

Hope this helps!
Dave

I've used ProMash for 6 years, so I cannot say what beersmith gives, but go to www.promash.com for their trial. I've not had a bad beer from it and all my award winning recipes are in it's format. Our club, brewcommune has recently made available a recipe database that accepts both formats, so check it out: Recipes
I'm sure more recipe's will follow. Also our club has won many best of show's so more will follow soon.

Brew on!

Thanks for the advice gentlemen, I'll try out the free trials, I mean, what do I have to lost right?

I dont know. I know you cant knock something before you try it but.....
Digging for how to brew (at least for me) has been apart of the hobbie. If I had the program I would not be in the beer world as much as I am now. And most likely wouldnt be at this forum. If it works great. If it helps go for it. Any thing that helps people brew beer is alright with me.

While I can agree that it is cool to dig for information on your own, its also nice to have a program that takes care of all the tedious mathwork. The truth is, if I hadnt run across Beersmith, I would simply have programmed an Excel spreadsheet to take care of that stuff anyway. Beersmith is probably easier to use than what I could have come up with. Plus, it has some other nice information packaged with the program, that'll eliminate a the need for a bunch of paperwork.
I guess its a matter of "to each his own". I, for one, need all the help I can get.

GuitarLord5000 wrote:While I can agree that it is cool to dig for information on your own, its also nice to have a program that takes care of all the tedious mathwork. The truth is, if I hadnt run across Beersmith, I would simply have programmed an Excel spreadsheet to take care of that stuff anyway. Beersmith is probably easier to use than what I could have come up with. Plus, it has some other nice information packaged with the program, that'll eliminate a the need for a bunch of paperwork.
I guess its a matter of "to each his own". I, for one, need all the help I can get.

I agree. Its good that it works.