From Ingredient List to BeerXML: A Better Way to Format Recipes

You’ve got a recipe scrawled on a napkin, posted in a forum, or pasted from a blog post. The format is messy — “7 lbs Maris Otter”, “1 oz Cascade @ 15 min”, “US-05 yeast”. How do you get that into your brewing software?

What is BeerXML?

BeerXML is an open standard for exchanging brewing recipes. Most brewing software (BeerSmith, Brewfather, Grainfather, etc.) can import BeerXML files. The problem? Nobody writes BeerXML by hand — it’s verbose XML that’s easy to get wrong.

The Problem with Plain Text Recipes

Recipes shared online come in every format imaginable:

• “7 lbs 2-row pale malt”
• “2.3 kg Pilsner malt”
• “1 oz Centennial @ 60 min (10% AA)”
• “WY1056 / WLP001 / US-05”
• “1 tsp Irish moss @ 15 min”

Converting these manually into BeerXML is tedious and error-prone. That’s why we built a free parser.

How the Free BeerXML Parser Works

Our BeerXML Parser understands common brewing shorthand:

1. Fermentables: Recognizes grain names, extract types, sugars, and their PPG/lovibond values from a built-in database
2. Hops: Parses amount, variety, boil time, and alpha acid percentage
3. Yeast: Identifies common yeast codes (WY, WLP, Safale, etc.)
4. Misc ingredients: Captures Irish moss, water salts, spices, etc.

Just paste your ingredient list, review the parsed results, and download a valid BeerXML 1.0 file.

Supported Formats

# Fermentables (any of these work)
7 lbs Maris Otter
2.3 kg Pilsner malt
1 lb Crystal 40L
8 oz Chocolate malt

# Hops
1 oz Centennial @ 60 min (10% AA)
0.5 oz Cascade - 5 min (6% AA)
28g Citra hops - dry hop

# Yeast
WY1056 American Ale Yeast
US-05 Ale Yeast

# Lines starting with # or // are ignored

Tips for Better Parsing

• Include amounts with units — “Maris Otter” without amount won’t parse correctly
• Specify Lovibond for specialty malts — “Crystal 40L” or “Crystal (40°L)”
• Include alpha acid for hops — “(10% AA)” or “10% alpha”
• Common yeast codes are auto-detected — WY, WLP, US-05, S-04, etc.

Why BeerXML Matters

• Software compatibility: Import into BeerSmith, Brewfather, Grainfather, and dozens of others
• Recipe sharing: One standard format for sharing across platforms
• Archiving: Stash your recipes in a format that will still work 10 years from now
• Calculation: Import into software that calculates OG, IBU, SRM, and ABV automatically

Try It Free

The BeerXML Parser is completely free — no sign-up required. Paste your ingredients, review the parsed output, and download the XML file.

When you want to manage recipes with full batch tracking, automatic IBU/SRM/OG calculations, and step-by-step workflow templates, start a free trial of Levain.