BrewingCalc vs Calcohol
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
BrewingCalc
A professional toolkit for homebrewers featuring a suite of calculators for IBU, ABV, calories, and Brix. It also includes precise unit converters for volume, weight, temperature, and gravity, all without ads or subscriptions.
- IBU calculator (Glenn Tinseth)
- ABV estimation (precision table & formula)
- Calorie estimation (Real Extract method)
- Brix/Refractometer conversion
- Volume, weight, temperature, gravity converters
- Metric and US unit support
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BrewingCalc is a professional toolkit for homebrewers — clean, fast, and built for serious brewing. Whether you're calculating bitterness, estimating ABV, or converting between metric and US units, BrewingCalc gives you all the tools you need in one place. CALCULATORS INCLUDED • IBU (Glenn Tinseth) — Calculate International Bitterness Units for up to 5 hop additions. Enter hop weight, alpha acid %, boil time, batch volume, and wort gravity. Get per-hop and total IBU. • ABV Table — Determine alcohol by volume using a precision 60-point specific gravity interpolation table. Supports both Plato and SG inputs. • ABV Formula — Temperature-corrected ABV calculation using a polynomial formula. Accounts for measurement temperature of both original and final gravity readings. • Calories — Estimate total and per-100ml calories from original gravity, final gravity, and batch volume. Uses the Real Extract (RE) method. • Brix / Refractometer — Convert refractometer readings to gravity and ABV. Two modes: enter original and final Brix, or work backwards from current gravity and corrected Brix. Includes wort correction factor support. • Unit Converters — Four precision converters: – Volume: litres, millilitres, decalitres, US/UK gallons, fl oz, pints – Weight: kilograms, grams, pounds, ounces – Temperature: Celsius, Fahrenheit, Kelvin – Gravity: Plato ↔ Specific Gravity DESIGNED FOR BREWERS All formulas follow established brewing science — Glenn Tinseth's IBU model, the Real Extract calorie method, and standard Brix correction. No ads, no subscriptions, no account required. Works great on both iPhone and iPad.
Calcohol
This app provides a comprehensive suite of tools for liquor makers, offering calculations for dilution, contraction, mixing, heating, boiling, and distillation. It also includes a notebook for recipes and iCloud sync, with support for various measurement systems.
- Alcohol strength calculations (dilution, contraction)
- Mixture calculations by volume and mass
- Heating and temperature management tools
- Boiling point and distillation calculations
- Mash and spirit making calculators
- Notebook with iCloud sync
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Here is a functions list: • Notebook - save notes, recipes and so on with iCloud sync (for iOS 13 and later) • Dilution – calculating require water volume, to decrease alcohol strength to desired • Contraction – calculating require volume of higher ABV solution, to increase available alcohol strength to desired • Mixing Alcohol by Volume – calculating mixture of two alcohol solutions by given their volume • Mixing Alcohol by Mass – calculating mixture of two alcohol solutions by given their weight • Weight to Volume - calculate volume of liquid by its weight • Gravity Change – calculating alcohol per volume, based on gravity change in SG, Plato and Brix • Water Temperature Mix – calculating overall temperature after mixing two solutions • Chilling Water – calculating volume of cold water, to chill hot one • Electric Heating Power – calculating required electrical current, voltage and % of max heater power, to get desired power from particular electric heater • Heating Time – calculating heating time by given liquid volume • Heating Power - heating source power calculation, which is applied to increase liquid temperature • Boiling – calculating boiling point by given pressure. With iPhone 6 and later version (except SE), atmospheric pressure can be read from build-in barometer • Hydrometer Reading Correction – correction reading hydrometer value depending on temperature • Mash Maker – calculate mash parameters, such as water, yeast requirements, alcohol amount prediction. All calculation based on specified ingredients list, its amount and desired total volume of mash • Strike Water – calculate required temperature for strike water, to get target mash temperature • Spirit Maker – this feature will help you to mix strong alcohol, water and sugar, to make liquor with specific proportion of that ingredients • Distillation Cut – calculate each fraction volume • Drip Speed – calculate time to collect specific volume • Theoretical Plates – calculate plates equivalent of your column extender Can be configured to calculate volumes in metric, UK or US imperial systems
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Calcohol at 4.7 against BrewingCalc's 3.5. Calcohol also leads on ratings volume (190 vs 2) and iOS requirement (12.0 vs 26.0). BrewingCalc's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 1) and review sentiment (73% vs 63%). On price, update cadence, ads and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Calcohol sells 1 one-off in-app purchase. BrewingCalc asks for nothing beyond the download.
Calcohol holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.5. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Calcohol has 190 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews complicate that: 73% of BrewingCalc's written reviews are positive against 63% of Calcohol's, so the app with the better star average is not the one people write more warmly about.
BrewingCalc ships an update every 3 months, Calcohol every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on September 8, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | BrewingCalc | Calcohol |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.5 (2 ratings) | 4.7 (190 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 72.7% of reviews — better | 62.5% of reviews |
| Number of ratings | 2 | 190 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 3 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free — better | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 12.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 12 MB | 20 MB |
| Age rating | 17+ | 17+ |
| Developer | Ilia Khokhlov | Denis Orlov |
Customer experience
BrewingCalc
Calcohol
In-app purchases
BrewingCalc
No in-app purchases
Calcohol
- Full Version$0.99
Questions
Is BrewingCalc free?
Is Calcohol free?
Which has better reviews, BrewingCalc or Calcohol?
Do BrewingCalc or Calcohol have ads?
Which is updated more often, BrewingCalc or Calcohol?
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