Today I present the new cloud mode in BeerSmith 4 as part of my series on new features in the BeerSmith 4 software release scheduled for 19 March 2026.
Cloud and Local Data Storage
BeerSmith 1 originally stored data only on your computer. In 2012, the BeerSmithRecipes.com site was launched as a site for sharing beer, mead, cider and wine recipes and also to support transferring data to the mobile version launched that same year. It was expanded greatly when the web based version of BeerSmith was launched in 2021 and now hosts almost 2.1 million recipes.
As popularity of the web version has grown, there are now many brewers who prefer keeping their data online so they can access the web version from the phone, tablet or any computer they are on. However there is another group of brewers including many professional brewers who still want the option to store their data locally on their own computer for privacy and security reasons.
So when I designed BeerSmith 4 I wanted to make the online data fully accessible for those who prefer to store online, while still allowing the option of storing data locally. I also wanted to make it easy to switch between the two as needed.
Cloud Mode
When you start BeerSmith 4 the first time you will see a dialog that lets you set your startup options as well as the basic unit settings. It looks like this:
Here you can select whether you prefer to work primarily from the Cloud/Web based storage or use local storage on your own hard drive. You can also select Metric or English units for a quick setup though you can further customize your unit settings on the Tools->Options (BeerSmith4->Preferences on Mac) dialog.
If you select Use the Cloud then the program will ask for your BeerSmithRecipes.com user name and password, and will begin downloading your web based recipes. Also as you start to use ingredients and profiles it will download your cloud based ingredients and profiles on demand. So basically BeerSmith will start up showing your cloud/web data and when you build a recipe it will show the cloud based ingredients, cloud based profiles, and cloud based shopping and inventory. Operations like adding to the shopping list or inventory will work against your cloud based lists by default.
Conversely, if you select Use Local Storage then BeerSmith will use your local hard drive to store recipes, ingredients and profiles. It will work on the local shopping list, inventory, and only items you specifically copy/paste into one of your cloud views will be stored online. Using this option you can still run BeerSmith in a stand-alone mode, without shared data, and the program only needs internet access to activate and if you want to later access your cloud data or new ingredient and profile addons.
Can I Still Access Both Local and Cloud Based Data?
Choosing either local or cloud mode does not limit your access to the opposite storage. The only major change is which data set appears at startup and acts as your primary storage. For example, in cloud mode, the shortcut bars on the left show the cloud based listings at the top and local below them as you see here:
The first image above shows the recipe folder listing. In cloud mode, the cloud based recipes show up first, and the program on startup will refresh and show your cloud based listings. However the local recipe folders are shown below that and you can easily move between them by clicking and transfer data by using copy/paste. Also shown in the first images is the menu at the top which gives you access to all of the Cloud and Local views from the Cloud and Local menus including your ingredients and profiles, search views, inventory and shopping list.
The second image shows the lower shortcut bar on the left. When the program is in cloud mode the cloud views appear on top, but you can see that you can easily access any of the data views, either cloud or local, from the shortcuts and again it is easy to move data using copy/paste.
The only views that are somewhat special are the inventory views. If you are in cloud mode, the program will display and primarily work with your cloud based inventory and shopping list. If you are in local mode then it will work with local inventory and shopping list. This comes into play for operations like adding a recipe to the shopping list, displaying current inventory for a recipe or moving/removing items from inventory.
Changing from Cloud to Local View
As I mentioned BeerSmith will show the startup dialog allowing you to make a selection the first time you run it. However you can change this at any time using the Tools->Startup Options menu selection. So if at some point you want to work offline or just change your mind you can easily make the change.
That is a quick overview of how to use Cloud and Local modes in BeerSmith 4. If you want to learn more about BeerSmith or our web based version please check out our main site at BeerSmith.com.
