Homebrew software
Recipe to glass, in one tab
Recipe design, brew day checklists, fermentation logging and inventory — what each part does, and what it does not.
Recipe design
The numbers, while you type
Add a malt and the gravity moves. Add a hop and the bitterness moves. Original gravity, final gravity, ABV, IBU and SRM color recalculate on every keystroke, next to the target range for whichever of the 110 BJCP 2021 styles you are aiming at.
The ingredient pickers already know the data: 248 fermentables with their yields and colors, 273 hop varieties with alpha acids and origin, 571 yeast strains with attenuation and producer. You pick a name, not a spreadsheet row.
- Gravity from grain bill, batch size and brewhouse efficiency
- IBU by Tinseth, with pellet, plug and leaf correction and whirlpool utilisation
- SRM color by Morey, shown as the actual color
- Apparent and real attenuation, ABW, calories and BU:GU ratio
- Pre-boil gravity and volume from your equipment profile
Brew day
A plan, not a printout
Turn a recipe into a brew session and it becomes a staged checklist — prep, mash, boil, cool, transfer — generated from the recipe itself. The current step runs a timer. Hop additions appear where they belong, with amount, timing and alpha acid.
It keeps working if the connection drops, because your data is cached locally and syncs when you are back. Brew days happen in garages.
Fermentation
Watch the gravity fall
Log gravity, temperature and pH as the fermentation goes. Each reading is plotted against your target OG and FG, so "is it finished?" is a glance rather than a debate.
Every session is tied to the exact recipe version you brewed, so a year later you can still see which version of the recipe produced which beer.
Inventory
What is actually on the shelf
Track fermentables, hops, yeast and everything else you keep, in whatever units you buy them in. Then the question "can I brew this on Saturday, or do I need to order something?" has an answer on screen.
The details people ask about
| Detail | Value |
|---|---|
| Runs on | Any modern browser — Windows, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android |
| Installation | None |
| Cost | Free plan with unlimited recipes and brew sessions |
| Import formats | BeerXML, BeerJSON |
| Export formats | BeerXML, BeerJSON, Markdown |
| Style guidelines | BJCP 2021 — all 110 styles with OG, FG, IBU, SRM and ABV ranges |
| IBU model | Tinseth, with form correction and whirlpool utilisation |
| Color model | Morey |
| Water chemistry | Salt additions, residual alkalinity, sulfate:chloride ratio, mash pH estimate |
| Mash tools | Strike water temperature and volume, step infusions, decoction volume, grain absorption |
| Carbonation | Priming sugar by sugar type, forced carbonation pressure, keg pressure table |
| Offline use | Yes — local cache, syncs on reconnect |
| Recipe version history | Yes |
| Hardware integrations (Tilt, iSpindel) | No |
| Public recipe database to browse | No |
| Optional assistant panel | For clerical work only — parsing a pasted supplier order into inventory. Opt-in, and no brewing calculation goes through it. |
Free tools, no account needed
These run in your browser with no sign-in.
Brewing calculators
ABV, IBU, color, priming sugar, strike water, efficiency, refractometer correction and keg pressure.
BJCP 2021 style guide
All 110 styles with their gravity, bitterness, color and alcohol ranges.
Ingredient charts
Hop alpha acids, malt color and yield, yeast attenuation — the reference tables, in full.
How it compares
Honest comparisons — each one says where the other tool wins.
Homebrew software questions
What does homebrew software actually do?
It predicts what a recipe will produce (gravity, ABV, bitterness, color), gives you a timed plan for brew day, and keeps a record of what you measured and how fermentation went.
Is there good free homebrew software?
Yes. Brewgravity is free with no recipe cap and no trial clock — recipe design, brew day checklists, fermentation logging, inventory and BeerXML export are all on the free plan. Most other options are either paid outright or free up to a small number of recipes.
What is the best homebrew software for Mac?
Anything browser-based. Brewgravity runs in Safari, Chrome or Firefox on macOS with nothing to install, and the same account works on your iPhone. Desktop programs like BeerSmith have Mac builds but require a separate installation and often a separate payment for mobile.
Can I move my recipes between brewing programs?
Yes, through BeerXML — the format nearly every brewing program reads and writes. Brewgravity imports and exports both BeerXML and BeerJSON on the free plan.
Do I need software to brew good beer?
No. People brewed well for centuries with a notebook. What software buys you is repeatability: knowing why the last batch came out at 1.048 instead of 1.052, and being able to change one thing on purpose rather than starting again.
Try it on a recipe you already know
Import a BeerXML file and see whether the numbers land where you expect. It takes a minute.
There will always be a free plan · no credit card · drag in BeerXML or BeerJSON