Yankee Brew News Archive

Homebrewing Corner: Brewer's Workshop, Another Handy Software Tool

Originally Published: 06/96

By: Gregg Glaser

Brewer's Workshop, Version 4.0

TKO Software, 423 Greenwood Drive, Arroyo Grande, CA 93420,

805-481-4900, $29.00.

Brewer's Workshop, like the two previously reviewed homebrew software programs, is an easy-to-use, well-made Windows program. Once booted-up, the main window reveals three commands: File, View and Help. From File you can select New or Open to get into the heart of the program, the Recipe window.

The Recipe window offers commands and/or icon buttons for File, Recipe, Ingredients, View, Window and Help. From File and Recipe, various housekeeping tasks of saving, printing, copying and exporting files can be accomplished. The Ingredients command is broken down into Grains, Extracts, Hops, Adjuncts, Finings and Yeasts. In each of these areas, a pre-defined set of ingredients is listed, to which you can change, delete or add.

The Grains area allows you to set the mash time and quantities of many grains, and it calculates yield in points/pound/gallon and color in SRM/pound/gallon, as well as the projected original gravity and color for the total amount of grain used. The Extracts area has an option for whether or not you're using a hopped kit, as well as the calculations and projections found in the Grains area.

In Hops you set the variety, boil time, quantity, alpha acid percentage and type (whole leaf, pellets, plugs) of your hops. IBUs are automatically calculated.

Adjuncts includes items such as cinnamon, cloves and ginger, and some of the listings in Finings are Irish moss, isinglass and polyclar. The Yeast area comprises many commercial dry and liquid yeasts.

The Recipe window working area is divided into several sections. In one section you fill in the brew title, batch number, brewer's name, boil size, batch size, brew date and extraction efficiency. The program calculates the age of the beer (once fermentation and bottling data have been entered elsewhere) and the price per bottle (based on prices entered in the Ingredients areas).

A separate box on the Recipe window allows you to enter the specific gravity and temperature of your beer from the brew date, racking date and bottling date. The program then adjusts the gravity readings to read what they would be at 60¡F. The program also calculates the final alcohol percentage of the beer (both by weight and volume) and the yeast attenuation.

A beer style box on the Recipe window allows you to pick the AHA-defined style for your beer. A chart then lists the low and high ranges for the style, as well as your recipe's predicted numbers, for specific gravity, color and IBUs.

An ingredients box on the Recipe window includes all the ingredients you previously selected.

On the right side of the screen of the Recipe window are buttons for Water, Mash, Boil, Ferment, Tasting Notes and Comments. The Water command allows you to look at the water chemistry characteristics of the beer style you've selected, or you can set the data for your water. The Mash command plots and charts different types of mashes (infusion, decoction, etc.), as well as amounts, temperatures and pH readings. The Boil command gives recommendations of the amounts of water to use for different batch sizes and for specific gravities, and the quantity lost to evaporation. The Ferment command plots and charts fermentation schedules for ales and lagers. You enter data for primary and secondary dates and vessels, type of bottles or kegs used and priming agent employed. The Tasting Notes and Comments commands are for your own notes.

No problems presented themselves in a bench test of Brewer's Workshop. Along with the programs previously reviewed, it's a handy tool for the computer-minded homebrewer.

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Brewer’s Workshop