Promash File Converter
There are a ton of great resources on the internet for beer recipes. Unfortunately for brewers many are posted in proprietary formats that are not compatible with other software packages. Some clever brewers put their heads together and came up with an open format they named BeerXml. In an effort to break down barriers between the different software packages I have written a converter to translate Promash files into BeerXML files. This is not a covert attempt to subvert Promash in any way, this is only an attempt to encourage the sharing of recipes between brewers. It is totally possible that something like this already exists but I have not stumbled across it.
Enough talk. The file can be downloaded below. If anyone has issues with exceptions please let me know. Its not perfect but it should get the job done 90% of the time.
Requirements:
Windows(So much for the big talk about open standards), .net 2.0
Usage:
[required] {optional}
Converter.exe [Directory Or File to Convert] {/s:Suffix} {/o:OutputDirectory} {/p}
sample: Converter.exe lager.rec /s:_Converted o:C:\ConvertedBeerRecipes
*File or Directory to convert. If no value is entered the application will process all the recipe files in the executing directory
*/suffix: Suffix to append to the convert files ie. _Converted (short form /s)
*/output: Directory to Output the files to. If blank will output to same directory (short form /o)
*/processSessions[+|-] Would you like to convert the brewing session files as well as the recipes. (short form /p)
Updates:
10/28/2009: Fixed issue with Waters element to now include the child element Water. Note we are only converting a single water, if for some reason Promash contains more than one water entry everything past the first entry is ignored (Thanks Brian P)
2/10/2009: Fixed the missing yield issue. Dry yield is now calculated properly. Fixed the Whole vs Leaf hop issue. Fixed the import issue for recipes that do not have hops.
ToDo:
Fix Missing Grain Potential
Missing SRM (work around is to let the program recalc then save)
Grain Temp converts in F not C
Sparge Temp Issue.
Download: Promash Converter (if it attempts to save as a .txt file just rename to .exe)
Hey Mate,
This is one tidy piece of work, downloaded the program into my recipe folder and double clicked on it, 2 seconds later i had over 70 of my promash recipes converted to BeerXML.
Cheers Rob.
Thanks Rob.
Glad that it worked for you.
Brian, this is exactly the app we’ve been looking for.
I’ve modified my program, Brewthology, to get around some limitations (Mostly ProMash’s fault).
However, there’s a few additional things I’m having an issue with. Could you drop me a line (bperetto@kotmf.com) and we can chat about it? The main things I’m having a problem with can be fixed in about 2 minutes.
Hey Brian,
There is a few issues with the BeerXML files this Convertor is producing
under each |FERMENTABLE| there is no |YIELD| (which is a required field of BeerXML) so the brewing software importing it just uses it’s default yield value which throws the recipe out quite a bit.
and under |HOP|, |FORM|Whole|/FORM| is not acceptable, it has to be either Pellet, Plug or Leaf.
Cheers Rob.
A few glitches here and there, but all fixed in one evening. Without your converter it would have taken me a month to migrate the recipes. I still have a bunch of recipes in Brewer’s Workshop – when will that converter be ready??? .
Many thanks for your great effort and your generosity for sharing with the homebrewing community!
Chris –
Glad it worked for you. Send me the rec files that had issues and what the issues were and Ill work on getting the fixes in quickly.
As for the Brewer’s workshop converter, Ive assembled my team of monkey coders and they have assured me the work should be done within weeks! I just need to ply them with more banana’s and beer. My wife claims its a bad idea, but I cant see what could go wrong.
Great stuff, thanks very much!
I have noticed that the ‘Est Original Gravity’ and ‘Bitterness (IBUs)’ are a bit off from a printed Promash recipe I have compared to a BeerSmith2 recipe I have converted.
I no longer have Promash, just my recipe file but I am assuming this is due to the individual ingredient parameter each program has set. Can you confirm this?
Thanks much for your great work on this!
Lakedawgs