A Program for Home Brew Wine Makers

[Kentuckyhomebrewer]

I don't mind, in fact I appreciate the feedback.

 

[Kentuckyhomebrewer]

I think the app would be great.

Thanks. Let me know if you are interested in it when it is finished.

 

[cmason1957]

I'm pretty certain you can ask the great god Google about holidays. They are pretty good about telling you things like that.

 

[Kentuckyhomebrewer]

I'm pretty certain you can ask the great god Google about holidays. They are pretty good about telling you things like that.

getting the holidays isn't the problem. floating holidays aren't hard to program, just tedious. I have to look up the holiday for each year, then program it in. rinse and repeat for each year.

at this point it is more a matter of getting feedback on what holidays people would want to see and if there is enough international or niche (like religious holiday) interest to warrant putting the work in for them. plus there's the question of how far out to go. 2030? 2040? 2050?

 

[sour_grapes]

getting the holidays isn't the problem. floating holidays aren't hard to program, just tedious. I have to look up the holiday for each year, then program it in. rinse and repeat for each year.

If it were I who were interested in doing this, I would program in the formula for floating holidays, not a simple look-up table. But that's just me.

(Examples: Thanksgiving is the 4th Thursday of Nov., election day is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in Nov., Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, etc.)

 

[Kentuckyhomebrewer]

If it were I who were interested in doing this, I would program in the formula for floating holidays, not a simple look-up table. But that's just me.

(Examples: Thanksgiving is the 4th Thursday of Nov., election day is the first Tuesday after the first Monday in Nov., Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox, etc.)

easier said then done. I'm not even sure it's possible. An expert I am not. And ever ask a career programmer a programming question? it's like "WHAT?!?!?!?!? someone dared ask for help instead of spending countless hours and years pouring over books to know the answer themselves? WE MUST CRUSH THEM!"

 

[MTJoeT]

I would buy and screw the Holidays. I just want a reminder to rack and keep me on track. I could care less if it is a Holiday or not.
As for measuring I try to convert to grams and ml as much as possible. A conversion calculator built in would be incredible.
Maybe having a self calculating aspect say for Example... primary Fermantation using x yeast will display on calendar that needs racking on this date vs another type of yeast and add a Self setting reminder to add nutrients and/or etc etc. Maybe having extra input (like temperature) Could also be factored in for the setting of dates.

 

[bstnh1]

I use an 8 1/2 x 11" calendar you can pick up free at many locations to keep track of what needs to be racked and when, etc. I keep it in my wine room. I keep individual batch notes in a similar sized notebook, also kept in the wine room. That system works fine for me. While I can certainly appreciate all the effort that went into developing this program, to me it seems to be an overly complex, time consuming solution to a relatively simply problem.

 

[vineyarddog]

Seems like a more complex version of the app I use, EnoFile. EnoFile has some major flaws but it’s simple enough to use to keep track of the steps. It automatically syncs to my iCloud calendar which is nice.

 

[Johnd]

Don’t really get the whole holiday discussion, isn’t this about home wine making? Is it just a convenience? If so, there’s more discussion than convenience already. If it’s about programming days when we’re not available to do wine chores, don’t we normally work on our wine lots more when we’re off of work?
Set up a function where folks can input their own holidays, the ones they think are important, if any st all, you’ll NEVER get it all right. Look at the major holidays you’re already missing......for example, no Jewish holidays, no Muslim holidays, etc. , etc.
No, if it were me, I’d leave holidays to the iPhone.

Edit: Didn't mean to be negative without focusing on some good as well. The winemaking part of the effort is a very worthwhile venture, looks like it would be a useful and valuable too. Hopefully some input from the Forum can help deliver all of the flexibility needed to make it a productive tool!

 

[Old Corker]

I would be willing to give something like this a try. Heck, I pay for fantasy football draft software and I only play in a family league for bragging rights. IMO you are taking on a tall task. While there are not that many things to track in wine making your are talking to a diverse group who are not short on expertise and mostly have their own way of doing things. To build an program that is seamless to everyone's individual process will require a lot of setup options. Probably the least of which is holiday options. I'm not a code writer so have no idea how difficult these things are. All that said, having a simple, reliable and safe way to record notes and generate reminders about the batches I make is appealing. I keep all my notes in a surveyor's field book because I have always used them for note keeping. But if I lost that thing I have no backup. I'm assuming you are planning something that is user friendly on both PC and mobile device formats.

 

[Kentuckyhomebrewer]

You guys are right, the holidays were just a convenience feature for those like me who forget to check the method currently in use every single day. But it has taken way too much of a life of its own. And I already have a way for user to input up to 12 of their own important days. I will likely leave things the way they are and focus on any additional features like metric/imperial conversion and if possible yeast ferment speeds (though I haven't found any good formulas for that) and then release it.

As for mobile device format, I am not so sure about that as many of the screens would be too large to display well on a small screen like a tablet or phone.

a self calculating aspect say for Example... primary Fermantation using x yeast will display on calendar that needs racking on this date vs another type of yeast and add a Self setting reminder to add nutrients and/or etc etc

If I could find accurate data to develop a formula on how fast different yeasts ferment at different temperatures I would certainly attempt that.

a metric to imperial conversion tool, might be something i could do. I'll have to look into the formulas for that.

as for a complex method to solve a simple problem, I thought like that too until I had an accident and had a spill all over the notebook I use. Which lead to the thought of digitizing in the first place to protect all that hard earned data. That's what this is all about. Being able to input, access, and protect the data of all that hard work. But it's not for everyone. If it isn't something you would use it's pointless.

 

[MTJoeT]

You guys are right, the holidays were just a convenience feature for those like me who forget to check the method currently in use every single day. But it has taken way too much of a life of its own. And I already have a way for user to input up to 12 of their own important days. I will likely leave things the way they are and focus on any additional features like metric/imperial conversion and if possible yeast ferment speeds (though I haven't found any good formulas for that) and then release it.

As for mobile device format, I am not so sure about that as many of the screens would be too large to display well on a small screen like a tablet or phone.



If I could find accurate data to develop a formula on how fast different yeasts ferment at different temperatures I would certainly attempt that.

a metric to imperial conversion tool, might be something i could do. I'll have to look into the formulas for that.

as for a complex method to solve a simple problem, I thought like that too until I had an accident and had a spill all over the notebook I use. Which lead to the thought of digitizing in the first place to protect all that hard earned data. That's what this is all about. Being able to input, access, and protect the data of all that hard work. But it's not for everyone. If it isn't something you would use it's pointless.

@Kentuckyhomebrewer
Here is some data on different yeasts that might be helpful for the calculations. Let me know if you need higher resolution.

As for Holidays; leave em off.

I like the app idea so I can get away from multiple notepads and possible spillage and loss of data. With family, business and life I like more convenience, security and less chance for loss of information. Thanks for doing this.

 

[Darrell Hawley]

Location of the wine making handbook 2020 - Yeast strains pages 11-16

https://scottlab.com/content/files/Documents/Handbooks/WinemakingHandbook2020.pdf

 

[Kentuckyhomebrewer]

That handbook is useful to be sure, but I don't see any exact information I can use for a formula. Ferment speeds are only slow, mod, or fast. Nothing like at 50 degrees yeast x ferments at a rate of .01 S.G./day or anything like that. Without some kind of mathematical formula I don't know how I would program some form of calculator.

 

[Kentuckyhomebrewer]

Unless I can find a mathematical formula for yeast fermentation, I'm calling the program done for now.
Also, I'd be willing to have 1 or 2 beta testers. I would give these beta testers the program for free under 3 conditions.
1 - don't share it with anyone
2 - provide feedback
3 - write a short review.

 

[Kentuckyhomebrewer]

I should mention this program was written with Visual Basic .Net and only runs on PC