Moving your recipes to new software

1. Export everything you have

Find the BeerXML export in your current software. Export the lot, not just your favorites — the recipe you have not brewed in four years is exactly the one you will want to look up. See the BeerXML guide for where the export lives in each program.

2. Import

Drop the files into Brewgravity’s Import screen. Fermentables, hops, yeast, misc additions, mash steps, batch size, boil time and efficiency all come across. Ingredients are matched against the built-in database, so a “Maris Otter” in your file picks up its yield and color automatically.

3. Set your efficiency

This is the step people skip, and it is the reason the numbers look wrong. Brewhouse efficiency is a property of your equipment, not of the recipe, and it drives every gravity prediction. Put in the figure you actually hit — if you do not know it, work it out from your last batch with the efficiency calculator.

4. Check one recipe you know well

Open a recipe you have brewed several times and compare the calculated OG, FG, IBU and SRM against what you measured. Gravity should land within a point or two once the efficiency is right. Bitterness may differ more, because different programs use different utilisation models — Brewgravity uses Tinseth, and if your previous software used Rager its IBU figures were around 20–30% higher for the same hops.

5. Do not migrate your brew logs by hand

Past brew sessions rarely transfer between programs, and retyping years of them is a poor use of a weekend. Keep the old software installed, or keep a PDF, and start logging new sessions in the new place. Within a few batches the new log is the one you actually consult.

What to check afterwards

• Batch size — some programs export post-boil volume where others export fermenter volume.
• Hop form — pellet versus leaf changes calculated bitterness by about 10%.
• Mash steps — single infusion mashes import cleanly; complex step and decoction schedules are worth a glance.
• Water adjustments — usually not carried in BeerXML at all. Set these up again from your notes.

Keep the export

Whatever you move to, keep a BeerXML archive somewhere you control. It is a few hundred kilobytes and it means your recipes outlive any particular company’s plans.