How it works

From the first day to the last jar.

  • 1

    Start somewhere

    Nineteen recipes, from sauerkraut and kimchi to miso, garum, mead and dyed wool. Each one fills in its own calculator, with the steps, where they come from and a plan of checks.

  • 2

    Twelve percent of what?

    Recipes give salt against different totals and rarely say which. On 1,000 g meat, 300 g koji and 200 g water, 12% is 120 g, 180 g or 204.5 g of salt. The app shows every basis at once and converts between them.

  • 3

    Keep the batch

    Save a result as a batch and it holds the numbers it was made with, a plan of checks drawn from the sources, reminders that notify you, and a journal of readings, notes and photos.

  • 4

    Then the larder

    When it’s done it moves to the Larder: what’s left, which space it’s kept in, what’s open and who got some. Cultures, spores and rennet are logged as supplies, with their use-by dates.

Covers Salt & brine Koji Vinegar Kombucha Sourdough Mead & cider Bean-to-bar Natural dye Conversions
In the app

What it looks like in use.

Start from a recipeNineteen of them, grouped by craft. A first batch is guided and sized for one jar, with a shopping list, the equipment and what can stand in for it, and a path that leads from the easy ferments to the harder ones.
Start from a recipe
A batch keeps its own numbersEvery batch freezes the formula it was made with, so editing a recipe later never changes an old record. Readings, notes and photos go in its journal, and charts show how it moved.
A batch keeps its own numbers
What’s left, and whereJars move to the Larder when they are done: how many are left, which space they are kept in, what is open, who got some, and an eat-by date where the source gives one. Canned and bought jars go there too.
What is left, and where
A brew log for mead and ciderGravity readings, the alcohol so far and apparent attenuation, with a note when the same reading three days apart says the gravity has settled — and what it means if it has stalled instead.
A brew log for mead and cider
Detail

The parts that took the longest.

  • Thirty calculators, in nine groupsSalt and brine, koji, vinegar, kombucha, sourdough, mead and cider, bean-to-bar chocolate, natural dye and conversions. Each explains how it works and where its numbers come from. The koji, garum, titration and bean-to-bar math had no equivalent on Google Play.
  • Batches that outlast the appA miso can sit for three years. Reminders, charts of readings, recipe versions and two batches side by side all run on that timescale, not a week’s.
  • Free to make thingsEverything for making things is free, with no limits: batches, recipes, the Larder, charts, your own ingredients and presets, and the melanger run timer. Pro is a one-time $12.99 purchase for labels and selling — label designs, labels of your own for anything from a gift to a sanitizer bottle, Avery sheets with a QR code, product label text, costing and yield planning, and a batch record PDF. There is no trial: each Pro tool works three times free, with no clock.
  • Offline, and honest about itNo account, no ads and no tracking; everything stays on the phone. The app checks the arithmetic and compares results with published ranges, and says plainly that it cannot confirm a food is safe.
Miso salt against its own base.
Miso salt stated against legumes plus koji, converted to every other basis.
The bean-to-bar formulator.
Bean-to-bar: cocoa, fat, sugar and milk solids as you build the bar.
Labels and label sheets.
Labels, with Avery sheets and a QR code on each one. A Pro tool.

Where it stands. 1.5.2 is published to closed testers on Google Play as com.jdcap.cellarmath, ahead of a public release. Privacy policy.