Hi, I'm Bernd.
Most people in the German homebrewing scene know me as Lagerbernd. I've been brewing since 2018, have over 200 batches under my belt, and I built BrewForge because I wanted brewing software that thinks the way I do.
It started with a Pale Ale starter kit on a friend's stove. I got hooked immediately, bought a Grainfather, and started brewing everything: Pale Ales, Stouts, Porters, Hefeweizen. Then came a serious NEIPA phase.
But then I fell in love with Franconian beer culture. The clean, malty lagers from that region changed how I think about brewing. Gradually I shifted to brewing almost exclusively lagers: Helles, Märzen, Kellerbier. That's how I earned the nickname Lagerbernd.
My go-to style today is Kellerbier with a golden-amber color and assertive bitterness. I brew on a 2-vessel setup at home specialized for lager brewing and ferment in Brewtools Miniunis.
The lager obsession opened unexpected doors. A small craft brewery in Hamburg called Billbrew wanted to focus on lagers and asked me to create their recipes and brew there. Since then the brewery has grown, brought on a brew master, and I still do the occasional brew day.
1st Place, Helles
2023 competition, 300 participants
2nd Place, Märzen
German Heimbrauconvention 2024
Public Competition Winner
Heimbrauconvention 2025, Hamburg team
I used Brewfather for 5–6 years and logged over 200 batches there. I genuinely love it. The detail depth is exactly what a homebrew nerd like me appreciates. I'm still a fan.
But over time, things started to nag. I wanted better stock management: knowing what I need to order, what I already have, which ingredients to use up before they go stale. The split between recipe and batch became more and more troublesome. And there were features I kept wishing existed.
I'm a software engineer with about 15 years of experience building web applications, mostly at smaller startups where I led product engineering. I always dreamed of making a living off my own software, especially something related to brewing. When AI tools reached the point where they could genuinely scale a solo developer's output, I finally had the missing piece.
BrewForge isn't born from frustration. It's born from wanting to take what already works and push it further.
I want BrewForge to cover as many aspects of the hobby as possible. Every homebrewer has their own nerdy corner: water chemistry, yeast propagation, inventory planning, lager fermentation schedules. And I want the software to support all of it.
More than anything, I want to listen to my users. Good feature ideas and honest bug reports are what drive this forward. If you have thoughts on what brewing software should do, I want to hear them.
Come Brew With Me
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