Last Updated on September 6, 2020
In this series, we look at a range of home activities where Linux can play its part, making the most of our time at home, keeping active and engaged. The change of lifestyle enforced by Covid-19 is an opportunity to expand our horizons, and spend more time on activities we have neglected in the past.
In recent weeks we’ve seen a gradual relaxation of lockdown restrictions in many countries. But this could be short-lived. For example, schools across South Korea only opened briefly before having to return to online teaching. It seems very likely that we’ll still be spending more time at home.
It’s probably the best time ever to learn and enjoy a new hobby. How about brewing your own beer? The main reason to brew your own beer is for the love of crafting and learning. It’s a chance to weave malt and hops and yeast together in unique combinations. Combine experimentation and creativity to create a new taste sensation.
Step forward Linux software that’ll help you brew great beer. Cast aside guesswork, laborious calculations, and expensive disasters.
Brewtarget
Here’s open source software that’s perfect for creating beer recipes. What does it do? Succinctly, it’s a beer calculator for brewing beer. It automatically calculates colour, bitterness, and other parameters for you while you drag and drop ingredients into the recipe.
There’s a good range of features such as a brewday mode, a great database of ingredients and much more. It’s free, open source cross-platform software.
The software is compatible with BeerSmith.
BeerSmith
This is the best-selling beer brewing software. And it’s available for Linux. OK, so it’s not open source goodness, but there’s a 21 day trial available.
You get the full desktop package with all of its features. And there’s tons of features available such as mead, wine and cider recipe types, water profile tool, mash pH estimation and adjustment, and tons more.
QBrew
QBrew is oldie software but it’s still a great homebrew recipe program. Recipe entry and ingredient database management is extremely simple. Each recipe is stored in a separate file and can be exported in BeerXML format, as well as HTML, PDF, and text.
The summary pane lists the maximum and minimum gravity, bitterness, and colour levels according to standardized style definitions published by the Beer Judge Certification Program. This is handy when you are ready to brew competitively, or looking for a specific style of beer.
There’s other great open source software available which may be ideal if you can speak Dutch or German. There’s BrouwHulp (for Dutch speakers), and kleiner-brauhelfer (for German speakers).
All articles in this series:
| Linux at Home | |
|---|---|
| Astronomy | Explore the universe from your garden |
| Brew Beer | Weave malt and hops and yeast together in unique combinations |
| Circuit Design | Learn to design electronic circuits |
| Collaborating | Edit documents collaboratively in real-time |
| Cooking | Home cooking is an activity that’s great for individuals and families |
| Creative Writing | Pen a classic novel or screenplay |
| Cross-stitching | A form of sewing and a popular form of counted-thread embroidery |
| Digital Art | Paint and draw directly onto a computer |
| Digital Music Production | Digital Audio Workstations |
| DOOM Gaming | Take a break and play classic DOOM |
| Embroidery | Craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle |
| Exercising | Keeping fit can be a challenge with lockdown |
| Gardening | Plan your perfect garden with these great tools |
| Genealogy | Research your family tree |
| Home Security | CCTV solutions to protect your home |
| Musical Instrument | Learn to play an instrument |
| RSI | Reduce and prevent repetitive strain injury |