Timer for Hop Schedule

[Shem]

Hello all,

 I have started to get bolder with my home brewing, by entering the world of partial mashing.

 I found that I could prep everything in advance, but once I got to the hop schedule I was left worried about timing of the numerous additions I needed to make.

 After a few brews, and some googling I found that there is no timer I could find that was specifically built for a hop schedule.

 So, being a geek and a home brewer I decided to make one.

In the above screen grab, you can see a timer that has 40 minutes remaining. Two hops additions have already been added, and a third (the Cascade at 45mins) is showing an alarm that needs to be cleared. Then you can see there are still three more hop additions to go.

I've tried to make the view as simple, yet as informative as required. What's been, what's current and what's coming up.

The next image shows you how to enter the data (all in a single screen app to keep it simple).

Labels for hops can be what ever you want, as it is simply free text. i.e the name, quantity (if that helps you tip the right one in).

The boil time is defined by the first entry, then each following hop addition simply defines the duration it should be boiled for. Flameout additions are time = 0.

Reminder alarms are visual and audio.

I built this for IOS devices, and currently have it running on an ipad.

https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=...

Now I'm looking for a IPA recipe with a busy hop addition schedule so I can enjoy bittering with confidence.

[Paul Finney]

That is visually very cool! 

If you get beersmith, or some other brewing software, there are timers in there with alarms for your hop additions, but none this cool! 

[Shem]

Thanks Paul, good to get some feedback.
Yes I'm aware of beer Smith, but I didn't want to pay that amount of money, or all stuff it offers. I like software that does just what you need, and does it well.

[Tilt]

Looks great for a simple and effective timer tool. Nice work.
From a human factors point of view, is there any reason you have the timer running counter clockwise?
Also, can you programme steeping additions in past flameout ?

[Shem]

@Tilt, It runs counter clockwise because it is a count down from the initial boil time to zero.

Running it down just felt natural. Clockwise for counting up, counter clockwise = count down.

I'll be interested in what others have to say about that, thanks for your comment.

No I haven't added in a steep ability (I haven't had one in any recipe I have brewed is my only excuse sorry.)

[IPeeAye]

Hey there Shem, so now that you have teased us with your IOS HopTimer, how do we get our mits on it? Looks like a great addition to go alongside Beersmith.

[Shem]

Hi IPeeAye,

 I hope to submit it to apple soon, Hopefully they wont have any issue with it. I'll announce on this thread once it is available for download.

Thanks for your interest.

Shem

[Shem]

The app is now on the itunes, https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=...

 I didn't get to test it out on many different devices, so there may be some issues for me to fix once people try it out.

 Hopefully you find it useful.

Cheers