Looking for a Kleiner Brauhelfer alternative?
BrewForge does what you use Kleiner Brauhelfer for: recipes with mash schedule and water treatment, priming and spunding, stock and tastings. It runs in the browser on your PC, phone and tablet, logs your iSpindel live and adds a calendar, a cellar and a taplist. Your kb_daten.sqlite comes along.
Import your database
Your brews come along, readings and all.
- 1Find kb_daten.sqlite
The settings (Einstellungen) in Kleiner Brauhelfer show where your database is. Close Kleiner Brauhelfer first.
- 2Drop it into BrewForge
Open Kleiner Brauhelfer Import from the user menu and drop the file. A .kbh export of a single brew works too.
- 3Pick and check
Choose brews by year, confirm the ingredient matches, pick which setups and water profiles come along, then import.
- The file is read in your browser; nothing is saved until the last step
- Nothing changes in Kleiner Brauhelfer, so you can keep using it
- Undo an import for 7 days
- Import the same file again later: brews already in BrewForge are skipped
What comes over
- Brewed, bottled and finished brews with brew day and bottling date
- Brews with status Rezept as ideas in your recipe book
- Fermentation readings (Hauptgärung) and pressure readings (Nachgärung)
- Tastings (Bewertungen) as rating and tasting notes
- Malt bill, hops incl. mash and dry hops, yeast, other ingredients, mash schedule, water treatment and your notes
- Setups (Anlagen) as equipment profiles, with their Sudhausausbeute and vessel volumes from diameter and height
- Water profiles
- Stock amounts, prices and best-before dates, matched to the BrewForge ingredient database
Stays in Kleiner Brauhelfer
- Labels and attachments: they point to files on your computer.
- Forced fermentation tests (Schnellgärprobe): a separate sample that would confuse the fermentation curve.
Choose BrewForge if you…
- want your iSpindel, Tilt or RAPT Pill to log live instead of importing CSV files
- want to open your brews on your phone in the brewery, without syncing a database file
- want to see which ingredients run short across your next brews
- manage fermenters, kegs and bottles and want a taplist
- want brew days, dry hops and bottling in a calendar on your phone
Stay with Kleiner Brauhelfer if you…
- want free, open-source software (GPL-3.0) with no paid plans
- brew without internet and want a desktop program
- want your data only in a file on your own computer
- use the brew overview charts across all your brews
- need the interface in Swedish or Dutch
Kleiner Brauhelfer is a great piece of community software that many German homebrewers brew with for years. BrewForge is built by a homebrewer too. This page tries to be fair to both.
Where BrewForge goes further
Beyond the desktop.
Runs in the browser and installs like an app. Same data on PC, phone and tablet, no Dropbox setup.
iSpindel, Tilt, RAPT Pill, GravityMon, Plaato Airlock and webhooks send readings on their own, on the free plan.
All brews, dry hops, packaging and reminders in one calendar and in your phone’s calendar app.
Projected stock across all planned brews, shortages before brew day, order lists with partial deliveries. Pro.
Fermenter and keg stays on a timeline, keg and bottle stock. Pro.
Public web menu, printable menu and a TV screen that updates itself. Pro.
A brew-day sheet with fields to fill in and a fermentation log, next to the recipe PDF.
A spunding calculator plus a forecast of when to close the valve, from your hydrometer readings.
Feature comparison
BrewForge vs Kleiner Brauhelfer, side by side.
| Feature | BrewForge | Kleiner Brauhelfer |
|---|---|---|
| Recipes | ||
| Recipe designer | ||
| Mash schedule incl. decoction | ||
| Efficiency as Sudhausausbeute | ||
| Water chemistry with salts, acids and mash pH | Partlyno water blends, no warnings | |
| BJCP styles with style check | own categories only | |
| Share a recipe by link | Partlyby exporting a file | |
| BeerXML import and export | ||
| MaischeMalzundMehr recipes | import | |
| Brew day & bottling | ||
| Printable brew-day sheet | Spickzettel | |
| Priming and carbonation calculation | ||
| Spunding pressure | with valve forecast | |
| Tastings with stars and notes | ||
| BJCP score sheets | Pro | Partlyown tasting sheet |
| Fermentation | ||
| Fermentation readings by hand | ||
| iSpindel, Tilt and RAPT Pill logging | live, free plan | PartlyCSV import |
| Custom webhook devices | ||
| Stock & planning | ||
| Ingredient stock | ||
| Cost per brew from ingredient prices | ||
| Projected stock and shortages across planned brews | Pro | |
| Order lists with partial deliveries | Pro | Partlyshopping list |
| Calendar view of all brews | ||
| Calendar feed (ICS) for your phone | ||
| Cellar & serving | ||
| Fermenter and keg scheduling | Pro | |
| Keg and bottle stock | Pro | |
| Taplist web menu and TV screen | Pro | |
| Labels | Niimbot printers, Pro | SVG label editor |
| Platform | ||
| Runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, phone and tablet | in the browser | desktop program |
| Same data on all devices | Partlyfile in Dropbox or Google Drive | |
| On your phone | installable web app | PartlyAndroid app as APK |
| Works without internet | ||
| REST API | Pro | |
| Use from ChatGPT, Claude or Cursor (MCP server) | Pro | |
| Open source | GPL-3.0 | |
| Languages | PartlyEnglish, German | German, English, Swedish, Dutch |
Prices
What you pay per year.
BrewForge
- Free
- $0Up to 20 brews, devices, inventory, Kleiner Brauhelfer import
- Basic
- $19.99/yearFor brewers who brew regularly.
- Pro
- $29.99/yearRun your home brewery, not just your recipes.
Kleiner Brauhelfer
- Open source
- $0Free desktop program, GPL-3.0. No paid plans.
BrewForge prices in USD, billed yearly. Basic and Pro start with a one-month free trial. Full BrewForge plan comparison
FAQ
Switching questions
Is BrewForge a good Kleiner Brauhelfer alternative?
If you want your brews on every device, live logging from your iSpindel, Tilt or RAPT Pill, a calendar, stock planning across upcoming brews, a cellar and a taplist, yes. If you want free open-source software that runs offline with your data in a local file, Kleiner Brauhelfer remains a great choice.
Can I import my Kleiner Brauhelfer database?
Yes. Drop your kb_daten.sqlite into BrewForge (user menu › Kleiner Brauhelfer Import). Brewed ones become brews with their measured values, fermentation and pressure readings, notes and tastings; recipes land in your recipe book. Setups, water profiles and stock come along too, and ingredients are matched to the BrewForge ingredient database. A .kbh export of a single brew works as well.
Does it work with the old Kleiner Brauhelfer 1.x?
Open the database once in Kleiner Brauhelfer 2, which updates the file, then import it into BrewForge.
Can I keep using Kleiner Brauhelfer while I try BrewForge?
Yes. The import only reads the file and changes nothing in Kleiner Brauhelfer. If you import the same database again later, brews that are already in BrewForge are skipped, so you can bring newer brews or older years over whenever you like. Each import can be undone for 7 days.
I have more than 20 brews in Kleiner Brauhelfer. Can I still import them on the free plan?
The free plan holds up to 20 brews, and imported recipes count too. The import shows how much room you have and lets you pick, for example your brews in progress and the last year. Basic ($19.99/year) has no limit, and you can import the rest later from the same file.
Kleiner Brauhelfer is free. Why pay for BrewForge?
You don't have to: the free plan covers up to 20 brews, hydrometer logging and inventory. Basic ($19.99/year) removes the brew limit, Pro ($29.99/year) adds the inventory planner, cellar, taplist, labels and the API. You pay for a hosted service that syncs across devices and receives your hydrometer readings around the clock.
Can I get my data out of BrewForge again?
Yes. Every recipe exports as BeerXML, which Kleiner Brauhelfer can import, and you can download a full account export as JSON at any time.
Is BrewForge affiliated with Kleiner Brauhelfer?
No. BrewForge is an independent product. Kleiner Brauhelfer is an open-source project by its own developers.
Bring your brews to BrewForge.
Free for up to 20 brews. Import your Kleiner Brauhelfer database and compare for yourself.