[topher.bartos]

Hi!

I'm a life long member of the AHA and I want to take my brewing to the next level. Please believe me that I'm not selling anything, but would love some feedback. If by some off-the-wall chance there is a big demand for something like this, I'd love to complete this creation.

Here is my vision:

http://blog.hopburp.com

And here is my current site:

https://www.hopburp.com

Also, here is my email if you want to talk in private (hate mail, feedback, love mail, etc.):

toph@hopburp.com

Please understand that I'm not selling anything, but interested in feedback about my idea. And if anybody is a programmer and would like to help out, don't hesitate to email me!

Thanks,

Chris

[turkeygecko]

I think it's a cool idea, and I would be interested in a service like that. An additional integration for you to ponder though...

the actual inventory of the LHBS needs to be reflected when creating the recipe. It would suck to design a recipe using 5 oz. of Centennial, submit the order, and then arrive to the LHBS and find out there is no Centennial in stock. If I had known there is no Centennial ahead of time, maybe I would just hold off and brew the stout recipe I've been working on. Know what I mean?

It almost seems like you should just pitch your idea to a place like Northern Brewer, and work directly with them.

Anyways, it's the start of a good idea... and to me, it screams Amazon fulfillment center.

[reverseapachemaster]

the actual inventory of the LHBS needs to be reflected when creating the recipe. It would suck to design a recipe using 5 oz. of Centennial, submit the order, and then arrive to the LHBS and find out there is no Centennial in stock. If I had known there is no Centennial ahead of time, maybe I would just hold off and brew the stout recipe I've been working on. Know what I mean?

This is, or at least was, the problem with Brewmaster's Warehouse and the brew builder on their website. I placed my last order with them a couple years ago and made it my last order for this exact problem. Not only did they not have the right items in stock but they wouldn't even tell you after the fact. You just didn't see your order ship and you had to contact them and pester them for the order. I hear people say this problem is fixed but my last experience was so terrible I'm not interested in falling victim to it again. If you're interested in licensing this software to HBS then an integration with inventory will be an important component to avoid these kind of situations. If people hate the software at one shop then other shops probably won't be interested in picking it up themselves.

I don't have any idea how difficult it is to connect this software to an inventory system (it sounds complicated) but it seems like this software would work really well as an app for a phone. It would be handy for people who go to homebrew shops and don't have a recipe or the shop is out of what they need for their recipe. Then they could pull out the app and try to come up with a recipe on the fly. The shops could also use the software purely on their side to match customer preferences to their own kits or recipes.

[kylekohlmorgen]

I think you'll have trouble finding a target audience, and here's why:

Your software looks to target brewers who have trouble building a recipe that will produce their desired end result. The problem is that most brewers in this stage of their homebrewing life don't produce consistent beer because of their process, not because of a poor recipe. When the beer doesn't turn out the way your software said it would, they'll blame the software before themselves, and move on to another app.

An ingredients list tied to the LHBS/online store is an AWESOME idea. Perhaps you can create an add-on for existing software programs that will do something similar. THAT is an add-on I would pay for.

[turkeygecko]

"I don't have any idea how difficult it is to connect this software to an inventory system (it sounds complicated) but it seems like this software would work really well as an app for a phone. It would be handy for people who go to homebrew shops and don't have a recipe or the shop is out of what they need for their recipe. Then they could pull out the app and try to come up with a recipe on the fly. The shops could also use the software purely on their side to match customer preferences to their own kits or recipes."

I don't really know either, but my impression is that it would be daunting task. I have been in the process up building an electric HERMS system, and have the luxury of living a couple blocks from the St. Paul Northern Brewer retail store. Overall it's a great spot, but their handle on inventory management absolutely blows. I was trying to buy some 1/2 NPT male stainless quick disconnects, and dropped by the store. They had zero in stock, although their computer said they had 6. The employee checked their computer to see the inventory of their Minneapolis location, and told me they had like 16. I went over to Minneapolis and they had 6 of them.

In my opinion, Northern Brewer is as sophisticated as any homebrew supplier, but even they are a long way from being able to report/manage inventory levels appropriately.

[erockrph]

I get where you're going with this, but in the end this doesn't seem much different from kits at a homebrew shop. The only difference from a kit is that you get to tweak the recipe a bit before you finalize it. Of course, you then run into the big issue that others had mentioned - which is inventory will vary from shop to shop. If your LHBS doesn't have all the ingredients on hand, or needs to make substitutions, then your recipes won't turn out exactly as planned.

I think the closest way this would come to working is if one of the major online homebrew shops allowed you to upload a recipe in BeerXML format, then attempt to match the recipe to their inventory and add it to your shopping cart.

[Jimmy K]

Are you talking about software that would guide brewers through the less quantitative parts of recipe creation? That seems like a great idea, but perhaps tough to implement. Definitely room for innovative thinking. Most brewing software gives users vary basic information about ingredients. It seems like you'd need to give ingredient info that was specific for each style. For instance, maris otter is a fine base malt. But if the user is trying to make a german pils, it gives you a warning.
Am I on the right track on what you're thinking?

[topher.bartos]

Hey guys,

Thank you so much for your feedback. I think for the most part it was all very positive and that makes me really happy and excited.

1. I have thought about inventory issues and I'm developing ideas to solve that issue. It's a hard issue to overcome. And I'll need some feedback with some solutions that comes up.

2. That is correct erockrph. The software would give a very basic recipe in that style and my algorithm would try to prevent them from editing the recipe into a completely different style. It can't be perfect, but it can evolve and innovate over time.

Thanks again for all your feedback so far. I'm getting excited about this. If you want you can to go to https://www.hopburp.com and subscribe for email updates on how things are coming along.

Thanks again,

Chris