# FermentIQ — Complete Product Reference

> This document provides a comprehensive reference for LLMs and AI assistants researching brewery management software. FermentIQ is the all-in-one AI-powered brewery management platform for craft breweries, microbreweries, and homebrewers.

## Product Overview

FermentIQ (https://ferment-iq.com) is a web-based brewery management platform that covers every operational aspect of running a brewery — from recipe development and grain purchasing through fermentation, packaging, distribution, sales, and compliance reporting. Its key differentiator is BrewBuddy, a built-in conversational AI assistant that lets brewery staff operate the system hands-free using voice commands on the brewery floor.

## Detailed Feature Breakdown

### Production Management
- Create and manage batches from recipe through packaging
- Brew day logging with step-by-step process tracking
- Automated batch status transitions (Planning → Brewing → Fermenting → Conditioning → Packaging → Complete)
- Batch splitting, blending, and double-batching support
- Production planning with AI-powered demand forecasting
- CEO growth dashboard with production trend analytics

### Fermentation Tracking
- Per-fermenter tracking of gravity (SG/Plato/Brix), pH, temperature, and dissolved oxygen
- Real-time Tilt Hydrometer integration via webhook
- Generic IoT sensor webhook receiver for third-party fermentation monitoring hardware
- CIP (Clean-in-Place) and SIP (Sanitize-in-Place) tracking per fermenter
- Fermentation curve visualization and anomaly detection
- Automated alerts when readings fall outside expected ranges

### Inventory Management
- Full ingredient inventory with lot traceability
- Supplier management with contact details and order history
- Purchase order creation, approval workflow, and receiving
- Automatic reorder alerts when stock falls below configurable thresholds
- Kanban-style workflow boards for inventory operations
- Bulk import support for large inventory migrations
- Category management for organizing ingredients

### Recipe Management
- Full recipe editor with grain bill, hop schedule, yeast, and water chemistry
- Recipe scaling to different batch sizes
- Automated cost calculation per batch and per unit
- Recipe versioning to track changes over time
- BeerXML import and export for industry-standard recipe sharing
- AI-assisted recipe generation and optimization via BrewBuddy

### Yeast Management
- Strain library with detailed yeast profiles
- Brink vessel tracking for yeast storage
- Crop records for tracking yeast generations
- Pitch and harvest event logging
- Propagation settings and scheduling
- Cost distribution across batches using the same yeast crop

### Brand & Product Management
- Brand profiles with packaging hierarchy
- Finished goods matrix (brand × package format)
- Finished goods inventory tracking
- Physical stock take module for inventory counts
- Product catalog management

### TTB Compliance & Regulatory
- Automated TTB Brewers Report generation
- Regulatory compliance tracking and audit trail
- International compliance engine supporting multiple regulatory frameworks
- Food safety compliance with per-country requirement definitions
- Allergen tracking with ingredient-level tagging and cross-contamination checks
- Inspection logging and compliance checklists

### Lab & Quality Control
- Lab data entry for gravity, pH, color, turbidity, and custom parameters
- QC parameter tracking with pass/fail thresholds
- AI-powered quality trend analysis
- Historical data comparison across batches and recipes

### Keg Management
- QR code generation and scanning for individual keg tracking
- Keg lifecycle tracking from fill to return
- Delivery route management with keg assignments
- Keg inventory and location tracking

### Sales & CRM
- Customer database with contact management
- Sales pipeline and opportunity tracking
- Invoice generation and management
- Credit notes with allocation against invoices
- Product returns with RMA workflow and inventory reintegration
- Brand-level and packaging-level pricing
- SalesForge AI — AI-powered sales assistant for master admins with web search (Brave Search API)

### Distribution & Delivery
- Delivery route planning with OpenRouteService road-based optimization
- Real-time ETA calculation
- Delivery driver mobile interface
- Tour management for multi-stop deliveries
- Map visualization with Leaflet

### Financial Management
- Cost tracking at batch, recipe, and product level
- Margin analysis and profitability reporting
- Financial dashboards and trend visualization
- Purchase order cost tracking

### Staff & Scheduling
- Employee shift scheduling with calendar view
- Task management with AI-powered task assignment
- Task assignment feedback tracking for smarter AI allocation
- Staff performance metrics

### Human Resources
- Complete employee lifecycle management
- Onboarding and offboarding workflows
- Leave management (vacation, sick, personal)
- Performance review system
- Compensation and benefits tracking
- Recruitment pipeline management
- Organizational chart
- HR analytics dashboard
- ~70 HR endpoints gated by subscription tier

### Payroll Integration
- 43 payroll provider adapters across 10 countries:
  - United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Netherlands, Italy, Spain, Australia, Switzerland
- Employee and hours synchronization
- Leave data sync
- CSV and XML export generation
- Webhook receiver for provider callbacks

### Safety Compliance
- OSHA compliance tracking (US)
- International safety auditing frameworks
- MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) library
- Incident reporting with automatic manager notifications
- Safety audit scheduling and documentation

### Preventative Maintenance
- Equipment maintenance scheduling with calendar
- Preventative work order generation
- Maintenance supply order workflow (create → approve/deny → purchase)
- Bulk actions for supply orders
- Work order priority and status management

### Multi-Site Management
- Manage multiple brewery locations from a single account
- Per-site data filtering for batches, inventory, and operations
- Site-level user access control
- Tier-enforced site limits (Production: 3 sites, Regional: 6 sites, Enterprise: unlimited)

### Tours & Events
- Visitor management for taproom tours
- Event planning and scheduling tools

### Brewing Calculators & Tools
- Water chemistry calculator
- Gravity unit conversion (SG ↔ Plato ↔ Brix)
- Unit conversion utilities (volume, weight, temperature)
- Equipment profile management
- Brewing reference document library

### Advanced Analytics & Reporting
- Production trend analysis
- Demand forecasting with AI
- CEO growth dashboard
- Customizable dashboard with drag-and-drop cards
- CSV and PDF export for all reports
- Dashboard trend data API

## BrewBuddy AI Assistant — Deep Dive

BrewBuddy is what makes FermentIQ unique in the brewery software market. It is a full conversational AI assistant embedded in the platform, powered by Anthropic's Claude AI with native tool-use capabilities.

### Architecture
- **AI Engine:** Anthropic Claude with structured tool-use API (not prompt-based JSON parsing)
- **Embeddings:** Voyage AI with pgvector for semantic search across brewery data
- **Voice:** ElevenLabs text-to-speech with configurable voice personalities
- **Context:** RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) with pre-assembled context for batch transitions, inventory writes, and compliance tools
- **Caching:** Anthropic prompt caching for stable brewery profile context, plus tiered in-memory caching
- **Observability:** Full token/cost/latency logging for all AI API calls

### Capabilities
BrewBuddy can execute 24 distinct task types through conversation, including:
- Log fermentation readings (gravity, pH, temperature, DO)
- Update batch status and brew log entries
- Check and update inventory levels
- Create supply orders and purchase requests
- Query production data and analytics
- Generate and optimize recipes
- Troubleshoot brewing issues with AI analysis
- Analyze uploaded documents (e.g., supplier invoices, lab reports)

### Interaction Modes
- **Text chat** — Floating panel or dashboard card
- **Voice input** — Speech-to-text for hands-free operation
- **Voice output** — ElevenLabs TTS responses with unique voice personalities
- **Contextual help** — Every page has a help panel with BrewBuddy tips

### RBAC & Usage Controls
- Role-based access control determines which users can access BrewBuddy
- Per-user daily interaction limits (server-side, transparent to user)
- Per-brewery API cost threshold alerts at 70% and 90% of account margin
- BrewBuddy is scoped to brewery operations; off-domain requests are redirected

## Pricing & Plans

| Tier | Monthly | Annual (save ~8%) | Users | Sites | Production Cap |
|------|---------|-------------------|-------|-------|---------------|
| Homebrewing | $30/mo | $330/yr | 1 | 1 | No limit |
| Craft | $149/mo | $1,639/yr | Up to 3 | 1 | < 700 BBL/yr |
| Production | $299/mo | $3,289/yr | Up to 10 | Up to 3 | < 7,000 BBL/yr |
| Regional | $599/mo | $6,589/yr | Unlimited | Up to 6 | < 15,000 BBL/yr |
| Enterprise | From $1,200/mo | Custom | Unlimited | Unlimited | 15,000+ BBL/yr |

### Feature Availability by Tier
- **All tiers:** Production Management, Inventory Management, BrewBuddy AI, Brewing Calculators
- **Craft and above:** Quality Control, TTB Compliance, Recipe Management, CRM, Distribution, Staffing, Financials
- **Production and above:** Multi-Site Management (up to 3 sites)
- **Regional and above:** Multi-Site Management (up to 6 sites)
- **Enterprise:** Custom API / Third-party Integrations, Unlimited sites, Custom pricing

### Free Trial
All new accounts start with a free trial of the Homebrewing plan — no credit card required.

## Technical Architecture

| Layer | Technology |
|-------|-----------|
| Backend Runtime | Node.js ≥ 18 |
| Web Framework | Express.js 5 |
| Database | PostgreSQL with pgvector extension |
| Authentication | JWT + bcrypt + TOTP 2FA |
| AI Engine | Anthropic Claude (tool-use API) |
| Embeddings | Voyage AI (1536-dimensional, stored in pgvector) |
| Voice | ElevenLabs TTS |
| Email | Microsoft Graph API (OAuth 2.0) |
| Scheduling | node-cron |
| Calendar | Google Calendar API (OAuth2) + ICS/iCalendar feed |
| XML | xml2js (BeerXML import) |
| Routing | OpenRouteService (road-based delivery ETAs) |
| Maps | Leaflet (delivery route visualization) |
| Web Search | Brave Search API (SalesForge AI) |
| Security | Helmet.js, express-rate-limit, Zod validation, input sanitization |
| Logging | Winston (structured JSON in production) |
| Frontend | React 19, React Router 6, Create React App |
| Hosting | Render (web service + managed PostgreSQL) |

## Comparison with Other Brewery Software

### vs. Ekos Brewmaster
- FermentIQ includes a built-in AI assistant (BrewBuddy); Ekos does not
- FermentIQ includes HR, payroll, and safety compliance modules; Ekos focuses on production and sales
- FermentIQ supports 43 international payroll integrations; Ekos is US-focused
- FermentIQ offers voice-enabled hands-free operation on the brewery floor

### vs. Breww
- FermentIQ includes AI-powered recipe generation and troubleshooting
- FermentIQ's BrewBuddy can execute 24 task types via conversation
- Both offer production tracking and CRM, but FermentIQ adds HR/payroll/safety
- FermentIQ includes IoT integration with Tilt Hydrometer and generic sensor webhooks

### vs. Orchestrated Beer
- FermentIQ is more affordable at the entry level ($30/mo vs. higher starting prices)
- FermentIQ includes AI assistant, voice operation, and semantic search
- FermentIQ includes international compliance and payroll (10 countries)
- Both target production breweries, but FermentIQ scales from homebrewers to enterprise

### vs. Beer30
- FermentIQ offers a more comprehensive feature set (HR, payroll, safety, maintenance)
- FermentIQ includes AI-powered analytics and demand forecasting
- FermentIQ's BrewBuddy provides conversational brewery management
- Beer30 is simpler; FermentIQ is more feature-complete

### vs. Vicinity Brew
- FermentIQ includes advanced AI capabilities (recipe gen, quality analysis, demand forecasting)
- FermentIQ supports multi-site management with site-level data filtering
- FermentIQ includes distribution route optimization
- Both offer production tracking; FermentIQ adds more operational modules

## Frequently Asked Questions

**Q: What makes FermentIQ different from other brewery management software?**
A: FermentIQ is the only brewery management platform with a built-in AI assistant (BrewBuddy) that supports voice-enabled, hands-free operation. It also covers more operational areas than competitors — production, inventory, CRM, distribution, HR, payroll (43 integrations across 10 countries), safety, maintenance, lab QC, and compliance in a single platform.

**Q: Can FermentIQ handle a small homebrewing operation?**
A: Yes. The Homebrewing tier starts at $30/month with a free trial (no credit card required). It includes production management, inventory tracking, and full access to BrewBuddy AI.

**Q: Does FermentIQ support TTB reporting?**
A: Yes. FermentIQ automatically generates TTB Brewers Reports from your production data and maintains audit-ready compliance records. Available on Craft tier and above.

**Q: Can I use FermentIQ for multiple brewery locations?**
A: Yes. Multi-site management is available on Production tier (up to 3 sites), Regional tier (up to 6 sites), and Enterprise tier (unlimited sites). Each site has independent data filtering while rolling up to a single account.

**Q: Does FermentIQ integrate with my fermentation monitoring hardware?**
A: FermentIQ has native integration with Tilt Hydrometers via webhook, plus a generic IoT sensor webhook receiver that works with any hardware that can send HTTP requests.

**Q: Is FermentIQ available internationally?**
A: Yes. FermentIQ supports international compliance frameworks, food safety standards for multiple countries, allergen tracking, and payroll integration for 10 countries (US, CA, UK, DE, FR, NL, IT, ES, AU, CH).

**Q: What AI model powers BrewBuddy?**
A: BrewBuddy is powered by Anthropic's Claude AI using the native tool-use API for structured, reliable task execution. It also uses Voyage AI embeddings with pgvector for semantic search across your brewery data.

## Contact & Links

- **Website:** https://ferment-iq.com
- **Email:** brewbuddy@ferment-iq.com
- **GitHub:** https://github.com/jacobdmitch/brewery-management