I’m pleased to announce the release of BeerSmith 4 for Windows and Mac as well as a partial release of new BeerSmith 4 features on BeerSmith Web.
BeerSmith 4 Launched!
- You can download BeerSmith 4 for Windows and Mac now for a free 30 day trial on the main download page at BeerSmith.com. We are working on a Linux build which we will publish as soon as it has completed testing.
- We’ve also published updates to BeerSmith Web to support the new yeast features, yeast calculator, pH tracking and many other features. However the web version does not have the new water profile calculator or mash pH adjustment which we plan to add in the coming weeks.
Getting your BeerSmith 3 Data Into BeerSmith 4
BeerSmith 4 uses a new SQL based database, so it runs independently of BeerSmith 3. Existing users can import their data into BeerSmith 4.
- I’ve published an article here on Importing your BeerSmith 3 Data into BeerSmith 4 as well as a video on getting started here.
- We strongly recommend selectively importing your recipes and desired equipment profiles as a starting point as described in the article and video. You can import additional custom data later. This involves selecting the tables to open and then copy/pasting the data over to your Local Recipes and Equipment views.
- A lot of the ingredients and profiles in BeerSmith 4 have been updated, so overwriting new yeast and other data with old data may limit many of the new features. That’s why we recommend starting with just your recipes and desired equipment profiles, and perhaps inventory if desired.
BeerSmith 4 Licensing
If you don’t own a copy of BeerSmith you can purchase BeerSmith desktop along with BeerSmith Web from our main order page here, starting at $19.95/year. Both the desktop and web versions are available for a free 30 day trial here. BeerSmith 4 uses the same licensing system and terms as we did with BeerSmith 3.
- All Gold, Platinum and Professional Licenses Include BeerSmith 4 – Any of the subscription based licenses include major upgrades as well as the web version, so you can activate BeerSmith 4 with your existing license. As each of the licenses has a limited number of license slots (2, 3 or 5) you may want to run in trial mode for a short period of time until you have your data up and running before activating. If needed you can free up a slot by deactivating your old copies on your license page here.
- Basic Licenses in Most Cases Require an Upgrade – While I grandfathered basic licenses purchased after 1 July 2025, most existing Basic licenses will need to purchase a new license for BeerSmith 4. This is consistent with what we did for the BeerSmith 2 to 3 upgrade, and consistent with the licensing terms. You can continue to use BeerSmith 3 with a BeerSmith 3 basic license but it does not include BeerSmith 4.
BeerSmith 4 Highlights
I’ve published a series of videos here focusing on the new features and also have a lot of blog articles now on BeerSmith 4. In addition the full BeerSmith 4 release notes can be found here.
- Cloud and Local Mode: On startup you can select to use either the cloud or your local drive as the primary storage, though both will be accessible. This gives user’s of BeerSmith web the ability to work explicitly from their cloud based recipes, ingredients and profiles across all machines. However I’ve also preserved the local storage option for many businesses and individuals that don’t want their data stored online.
- Improved Brewing Features: (Article) A “Run Checks” button lets you do a quick check of your recipe for possible omissions and errors before brewing. Yeast, water, mash pH, and other brewing models have been updated and improved, and new brewing tools have been added.
- Major Yeast Changes: (Article – Video) You can now use liquid volumes or weights to specify yeast quantities, and the yeast models have been completely rewritten to match best professional practices. You can now adjust pitch rate to match your specific recipe, and all of the yeast addons and models have been updated to reflect yeast lab data and recommendations. Dry yeast starters are supported, dry pitch rate in grams/hecto-liter, pitched cells in cells/ml and more.
- Major Water Changes: (Video) The water profile tools have been completely revamped and reworked to reflect annhydrous salt additions, updated water chemistry, using pickling lime and MgCl, and estimating water profiles not only in the mash but throughout. Also more options were added for targeting specific additions and phases.
- A Cleaner User Interface: Both the Windows and Mac version now support dark mode, and the entire interface has been redesigned to place the most commonly used functions at your fingertips, and reduce clutter. Many operations were streamlined like adjusting water and pH or creating a New Session which involves archiving your old recipe, bumping the version number and resetting the session data all into one operation.
- Completely Rewritten Backend: The program now runs from a SQL database that is passively backed up as you work instead of the old problematic XML files. This results in dramatically improved data security, reliability and the ability to undo mistakes and retrieve archived or old data. Also it will be separate from BeerSmith 3 so you can use both side-by-side.
- New Inventory and Shopping List: The inventory and shopping list features have been rewritten to make it easier to maintain a shared inventory in the cloud as well as selectively move data from recipes to the shopping list, to inventory and then remove them once the recipe is brewed.
- Improvements Across the Board: (Article) Dozens of new tools and features have been added and hundreds of fixes have been added across the platform. A few examples include support for Seltzer recipes, much simpler Mash pH adjustment, proper handling of secondary and tertiary fermentables, new units and much more.
I hope you enjoy using the new features in BeerSmith 4 to make your best Beer, Mead, Wine, Cider and Seltzer. Thanks for your continued support!
Brad Smith, BeerSmith.com