Beer Tools Pro 1.5 released - Talk about it here!

[olllllo]

It installs in a new directory but uses the same icon image... so you can run them in parallel. It's very easy to run the version that you don't want.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

It installs in a new directory but uses the same icon image... so you can run them in parallel. It's very easy to run the version that you don't want.

I do a pretty good job of keeping my desktop uncluttered and remove the desktop icons for the softwares I don't use much. Opting to access them through the Programs start menu.

I am not sure I really see any reason to keep the older version on the machine anymore.

 

[Bobby_M]

It installs in a new directory but uses the same icon image... so you can run them in parallel. It's very easy to run the version that you don't want.

I saw that... I had to deliberately rename the shortcuts. Also, if it makes you feel any more confident, I too have neglected my older official version once I started on the beta. Even through the little bugs and small learning curves it was no problem getting a recipe and brewsession completed.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Meh.

I am still at odds with this "platform". It looks great untill you try to use it.

I still say ProMash was the most user friendly software and BeerSmith still holds a close second. Too bad about the happenings with Jeff at Sausolito. I am still keeping my eyes peered for a new release of ProMash.

Not that BTP is marketed to BrewPubs or larger breweries but, I just don't comprehend how a company can release a product and expect the users to write the manual for them. Sure BTP 1.5 has an "official" manual now but dang is it lacking in content. If I were commercial and looking at BTP for a recipe formulation tool I'd look elsewhere since they can;t be bothered to write a decent manual. I mean, who has time to "figure it out for themselves".

It seems, when you get deep down in the rabbit hole of BTP, that the developers put a lot of thought into the design and functionality of the program. Too bad they don't have a clue how to explain it in written word BEFORE you ask the question.

I'll stay optomistic for a while and maybe the light will come on and I'll suddenly understand all of the program but, for now, I am thinking I'll eventually take this back off of my desktop and use revert back to BeerSmith for my actuall brewings.

I may not like it much either but, at least I can trust it.

edit: Okay, I am done with BTP 1.5. It just insn't intuitive enough for me. I ran a new recipe paralell between BTP and BS and BS made sense of it BTP just threw out red flags. Man, I hope Jeff D's wife is okay. I am still anticipating the ProMash v2.0 release so I can get back to trusting software.

 

[Bobby_M]

Exactly what is it about BTP that is frustrating you?

 

[truckmann]

I've been using BTP for a bit now and have never bothered to look for the manual. Sure there are some things I could learn about the program with a little explanation, but to this point I haven't had any problems formulating recipes and schedules.

First impression on 1.5 is it's a great update to the interface with little changes to the operation. My only real complaint is that they are so slow with updates. I would think that a new program with many ideas and the appropriate amount of programming time would have updates about every 6 months to continually improve the program.

I kind of stumbled in to BTP and unfortunately I have not used any of the other programs so I can't compare to them. However BTP does everything I need it to and as long as they keep updating and supporting it I will stick with it.

 

[lustreking]

I heard rumors of them working on BTP for Linux. Is that still on the horizon? I tried to get the demo working in wine this morning, but the licensing didn't work.

 

[Bobby_M]

Would anyone be interesting in a video tutorial of the basic setup, recipe construction and schedule?

 

[flyangler18]

Would anyone be interesting in a video tutorial of the basic setup, recipe construction and schedule?

Sure! I've got most of the functionality with recipe construction figured out- connecting inventory to planned recipes is another matter entirely.

 

[brewt00l]

Sure! I've got most of the functionality with recipe construction figured out- connecting inventory to planned recipes is another matter entirely.

did you try what I posted previously in this thread?

 

[flyangler18]

did you try what I posted previously in this thread?

I did- but I can't get the proper amounts to show 'in stock'. For example, it's telling me that I need to purchase 12 lbs of 2-row when I have 55 lbs in stock under a single planned recipe.

 

[brewt00l]

I did- but I can't get the proper amounts to show 'in stock'. For example, it's telling me that I need to purchase 12 lbs of 2-row when I have 55 lbs in stock under a single planned recipe.

kooky..I haven't tried it with the full release yet but it worked with the last beta version.

 

[Bobby_M]

I did- but I can't get the proper amounts to show 'in stock'. For example, it's telling me that I need to purchase 12 lbs of 2-row when I have 55 lbs in stock under a single planned recipe.

Did you drag that two row out of your "my ingredients" list or from the general ingredients library? I had to get used to dipping in to the correct list when building or I had the same problem. The grain you're interested in will obviously show up in both sources but only those dragged directly from your inventory list will give you the results you're after.

 

[flyangler18]

I may have input something incorrectly/incompletely, so it may not be a flaw in this beta.

I'll have to tinker some more with it later.

 

[brewt00l]

I may have input something incorrectly/incompletely, so it may not be a flaw in this beta.

I'll have to tinker some more with it later.

Are you running the beta or the release? Which version#?

 

[flyangler18]

Are you running the beta or the release? Which version#?

Sorry, it's the release- 1.5.0.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Exactly what is it about BTP that is frustrating you?

Mostly the mash designer but, there are other things about it that don't add up.

I ran a recipe in BTP that I had originally designed and brewed from with BS. The beer came out in agreement with the numbers that BS generated. For example without being too specific I ran the IBU's. BS calculated IBU for the batch at 80 where BTP 1.5 returned 112 IBU for the batch every addition was the same and the algorithm choices were the same too (Tinseth). The actual beer is closer to the 80.

Other than that I keep getting red flags on the mash designer and haven't taken any more time to figure out why. I tried my typical scenario of heating strinke water in the MLT so I used the direct fire option for strike. When the mash is done I fly sparge and runoff.

As best as I can figure BTP1.5 is expecting me to drain the tun in a transfer step before I start to collect in the boiler.

I have tried different options here and so far nothing adds up.

In reality I collected 17 Gallons at 1.050 but BTP keeps trying to tell me I will have 100's at something like 1.030. When I try to adjust the volume collected to match the actual result everything else re-adjusts to unrealistic figures.

Sorry I can;t be more specific. I eventually scrapped the session in BTP. I imagine I will try again later but for now I'll stick to trusting the smithy.

 

[Jilaman]

I like that they finally have a demo version for 30-days. I am always a little leary when I cannot test out software before I pay for it. I've bought my share of software that "promises" stuff and then works like ****.

 

[flyangler18]

So I've been tinkering more with BTP and haven't yet come across one feature- batch logging. Is there a way to track the number of batches brewed?

 

[brewt00l]

So I've been tinkering more with BTP and haven't yet come across one feature- batch logging. Is there a way to track the number of batches brewed?

Can't say I have looked but I don't recall that feature. Haven't had a chance to look at the inventory either yet.

You'll prb find quicker answers over on the BTP forum:
The Hop Vine :: View Forum - BeerTools Pro Software

 

[flyangler18]

Haven't had a chance to look at the inventory either yet.

I'm getting the inventory deduction to work about 1/2 of the time- and I even went back and reentered recipes to make sure I was drawing ingredients from the 'My Ingredients' DB. Time to go scour the BTP forums.

 

[Bobby_M]

So I've been tinkering more with BTP and haven't yet come across one feature- batch logging. Is there a way to track the number of batches brewed?

As far as I can tell, all it has is the planned recipe designation that I only use for batches I absolutely know i'm going to brew. It doesn't have any numeric indicator or any cross-batch analysis output. It would be cool to easily extract data like:

Average, Low and High: OG, FG, Efficiency, Grain Bill, Hop use.

Most frequently used malt, hop, mash temp.

 

[CarlosM]

apparently they have 1.5.1 not to sure whats been updated but im dinking around with it currently

 

[WBC]

It looks like a slightly more complicated program......

I think it is way too complicated in the way that they have you move around to different functions. Beer smith makes this simple and you can see all your stuff on the one page where BTP has you switching between grain, hops, etc, etc. before you can add them to the list of ingredients. The list also gets mixed up as you add and remove items.


There are no brew sheets to print. Only 2 formats for export and only xml for import.

Things I do like are the ability to change units on the fly for volumes or weights, etc.

Visually it looks great although I can hardly see the numbers displayed for the percentages because it gets clobbered by the bar graphs and there is no way to make them appear bigger. The programer could keep the numbers to the right of the bars until the bar reaches to 50% point and then move them to the left to keep them easy to see.



It does a real nice job of itemizing the mash schedule and displaying it. This is one of the nicest features.

If they can clean up some of this Kludgyness I would consider buying it though.

 

[Bobby_M]

That was one of my complaints to the designers during the beta. I explained that if one wanted to have their screen resolution high enough, there would be plenty of space to include the ingredients and schedule on a single screen. No dice there. Once you're done working with the ingredients database, that upper space becomes useful to tweaking.

You do NOT have to go through hops/grain individually. If you click the ingredients database heading (instead of hops, grains, etc) the browser shows them all. You then use the filtering search box to find whatever you want.

I'm not sure what you mean by "no brewsheet". Hit print in the menu. I get this:

Sorry about the size of the second page, that's what I got when I saved the PDF as a JPG.

 

[flyangler18]

I've gotten to be pretty proficient with BTP 1.5.1 so far, but one thing does annoy me. When I was using Beer Alchemy, it had an option to carbonate according to style (and it adjusted dextrose and vols to that style accordingly).

Sure would be nice to have that in BTP...

 

[WBC]

Ok Bobby, I see what you mean, it does have all the data needed but I was referring to the way Beersmith had a recipe printout and a brewing printout. I guess BTP is evolving and I need to be patient.

 

[mZnthebend]

I just upgraded my BTP to the new version...looks slick. Does anyone have heat loss values, measurements, etc. for keggles or popular coolers posted anywhere?

 

[Shay]

I just upgraded my BTP to the new version...looks slick. Does anyone have heat loss values, measurements, etc. for keggles or popular coolers posted anywhere?

I got the values from here: The Hop Vine :: View topic - Database for equipment...

 

[G-E-R-M-A-N]

Yeah I calibrated my 10 gal rubbermaid. I just measured the inside measurments and did the heat loss routine. Does BTP adapt for heat loss of initial strike after you have entered this info? In other words do you still have to pre-heat the MLT?

It seems it would be hard because of amt of grain and grain temp variables. Anybody know?