BeerSmith 2.1 and BeerSmithRecipes.com Available

[Slyko]

Now I guess I gotta watch more tutorial videos.

I spent 20 minutes adding Yuri's Thunderstruck Pumpkin Ale with all the notes and refinements. Hit the save button 10 times as I was going, thought it was all good. Close it all down.

Then I open the program up again, and the recipe is gone! I looked everywhere. It's gone.

Only thing I can think of is Export All button and create a new *.BSMX file. Ugh! <- No, that's not what I want to accomplish, it will save the recipe in a different way than I want to. Hit the save button again, and it worked!? WTF?

I hate learning new software.

 

[aubiecat]

Man I am glad to see this feature added now my recipes can be synchronized at all times.

 

[cmybeer]

New features are great. Now all you need to do is upgrade the garbage that is the brewing calendar. Great idea. Horribly executed. Why would every recipe you write need to have a date on it that immediately puts it into the calendar? There should be a function where you can switch from a recipe to something you actually brewed that goes into the calender.

 

[cmybeer]

^Sorry, that sounded harsh. But it is rather useless compared to all the terrific other features.

 

[BeerSmith]

Thanks - I'm looking at possibly doing a full rewrite of the calendar in the future to make it cleaner and easier to use.

Brad

 

[Slyko]

Agreed,

The calendar needs some attention............ & make the month type out a little bigger.

I do like the fact that it requires ME to be a bit more organized before I brew. Last batch I made I got a little too happy with my previous brew................... I could have used the timer, "So what if I'm late, It's only Beer!"

Color makes it.

The more time I spend with the program............. the more I like it. The Cloud is HUGE. The fact that the program figures the efficiency automatically is really nice.

 

[stompbox]

Dang, I just bought BS on Thu 4/19/12 and I just saw this now.... Is there a free upgrade for those that had it for less than a month?

 

[JeepDiver]

Thanks - I'm looking at possibly doing a full rewrite of the calendar in the future to make it cleaner and easier to use.

Brad

It would be great if you could specify what folders (not just one) to show in the calendar. I have my Brew Log, my ToDo and several Recipie folders. I would love to be able to show the ToDo and the Brew Log so I can see what I have done, and work out what is coming up, without having to copy everything into the Brew Log.

 

[NA_Wreckdiver]

So...... I was looking at the Beersmith site a week ago and saw I could order a disk from
Amazon. I went to Amazon yesterday and ordered it. It said "Beersmith2" on both the
Amazon site & Beersmith site.

Got an email this morning that it shipped. Then I found this thread saying "Beersmith2.1"

I haven't even received it yet. Will it allow me to upgrade to the current 2.1 version???

 

[Jukas]

I like the move to cloud based recipes and the price is reasonable for that service is reasonable. My only wish is I could get BS to accurately calc water volumes.. I've posted multiple times on the forums, followed all the videos everything I can think of. It simply overcalcs volumes every time.

It's a pita to have to calc water volumes on paper for each brew, but I just can't trust BS.

 

[RogueGoose85]

New features are great. Now all you need to do is upgrade the garbage that is the brewing calendar. Great idea. Horribly executed. Why would every recipe you write need to have a date on it that immediately puts it into the calendar? There should be a function where you can switch from a recipe to something you actually brewed that goes into the calender.

if you go into your main options, you can select which folders you want the calendar to display..why its defaulted to all is beyond me, but you can switch it to 'brew log' and you'll be square

 

[BeerSmith]

Hi,
The upgrade to 2.1 is free for anyone that has 2.0 already - just download the new version from BeerSmith.com -- also the basic account on BeerSmithRecipes.com is free - just go to that site and hit the register button.

If you want to make a backup before upgrading (not needed, but never a bad idea) just backup your Documents/BeerSmith2 directory.

Finally - the water volumes are calculated back from your batch volume (into fermenter). If you open a recipe and go to the volumes tab you then work your way up from the bottom you can see how it works. Basically it starts with the batch volume, then adds in losses (trub, boil, shrinkage, top up water) to get your boil volume. From there again you add the losses (top up to kettle, dead space, grain absorption) to get the total mash water needed. From there, using your mash profile, it calculates water needed for the mash and the rest is sparge water.

Brad

 

[stompbox]

Hi,
The upgrade to 2.1 is free for anyone that has 2.0 already - just download the new version from BeerSmith.com -- also the basic account on BeerSmithRecipes.com is free - just go to that site and hit the register button.

If you want to make a backup before upgrading (not needed, but never a bad idea) just backup your Documents/BeerSmith2 directory.

Great, thanks! Sorry for the newb question, but i did not see that an upgrade was included. Thanks!

 

[Jukas]

Hi,
The upgrade to 2.1 is free for anyone that has 2.0 already - just download the new version from BeerSmith.com -- also the basic account on BeerSmithRecipes.com is free - just go to that site and hit the register button.

If you want to make a backup before upgrading (not needed, but never a bad idea) just backup your Documents/BeerSmith2 directory.

Finally - the water volumes are calculated back from your batch volume (into fermenter). If you open a recipe and go to the volumes tab you then work your way up from the bottom you can see how it works. Basically it starts with the batch volume, then adds in losses (trub, boil, shrinkage, top up water) to get your boil volume. From there again you add the losses (top up to kettle, dead space, grain absorption) to get the total mash water needed. From there, using your mash profile, it calculates water needed for the mash and the rest is sparge water.

Brad

Brad,

Thanks for the reply and I did look again at the volumes tab. It actually seems pretty straight forward, except it seems to be calculating the grain absorption a tad high (I've always done based on .10gal/lb it seems to be doing .12gal/lb).

The problem I have still remains that if I simply go by BS water volume figures
I end up having with more volume into the pot prior to fully draining the mash tun on the sparge than the recipe calls for, sometiems as much as a gallon

I've attached my volumes sheet and my equipment profile. I watched all the videos and read the stickies on the BS site for setting up equipment. I'd really like to get the volumes correct so I can just use BS, if you see something asmiss I'd love to know.

 

[stompbox]

Brad,

Thanks for the reply and I did look again at the volumes tab. It actually seems pretty straight forward, except it seems to be calculating the grain absorption a tad high (I've always done based on .10gal/lb it seems to be doing .12gal/lb).

The problem I have still remains that if I simply go by BS water volume figures
I end up having with more volume into the pot prior to fully draining the mash tun on the sparge than the recipe calls for, sometiems as much as a gallon

I've attached my volumes sheet and my equipment profile. I watched all the videos and read the stickies on the BS site for setting up equipment. I'd really like to get the volumes correct so I can just use BS, if you see something asmiss I'd love to know.

As a beersmith noob, i have to say that my volumes have been off as well but i am just writing that off as dialing in the system for now.

 

[NA_Wreckdiver]

Thanks!!!
In my case with anything computer/software related...
It's outdated right after I buy it! I was bumming after I stumbled across this thread, to find I bought an outdated version!

 

[JeepDiver]

if you go into your main options, you can select which folders you want the calendar to display..why its defaulted to all is beyond me, but you can switch it to 'brew log' and you'll be square

You can only pick 1 folder, or all folders, not say 2 or 3 folders out for 4 or 5 total

 

[JeepDiver]

Brad,

Thanks for the reply and I did look again at the volumes tab. It actually seems pretty straight forward, except it seems to be calculating the grain absorption a tad high (I've always done based on .10gal/lb it seems to be doing .12gal/lb).
.

Go to Tools->Options->Advanced Options and set your Grain Absorption to what your rate is. It can vary by location/alittude/humidty levels, etc

 

[stompbox]

How do you adjust the water/grain ratio?

My current recipe I am formulating is a 10 GAL BIAB and is using a 3.531 qt/lb ratio so it is requesting a 54.02 qt (13.5 gallons). This only leaves the space of 2 gallons to fit the 15 pounds of grain.

I want to turn this down to atleast 2.5 qt/lb so that I have room for my grain.

 

[xeno]

I would like to chime in on stating this is an excellent upgrade. Thank you for the update.

//EDIT Just logged into recipe cloud... nice look at all those recipes!

 

[AllHopAbandon]

Brad,

Are there any plans of adding a search-by-ingredient function to the recipe site? For example, I want to see only the IPAs that use Maris Otter, or even better: IPAs with Maris Otter but no Simcoe. That would be a very powerful feature for any recipe site IMO.

 

[BeerSmith]

Yes,
I'm looking at a good way to add it. Its not completely trivial as it would require a new set of indexes, but it is on my to do list for the site as several people have asked for it.

Brad

 

[spongerob]

Best $20 I've spent on my brewing hobby. Thanks Brad for all the hard work, and keep it up.

 

[Slyko]

Well,

A few more brews under my belt & a few more months into this hobby & I can honestly say Beersmith is making me a better brewer!

I'm following the temperature suggestions, water volumes, & mash schedules & I'm getter better results.

I hit my OG number exactly & I'm now at 82% efficiency. I was NEVER that good.

Question: Why can't we attach .bsmx files to HBT threads? Who's decision was that? Sure there's a work-around but THAT was a poor choice for everyone in my estimation. Make life easy. Everyone will succeed as a result.

 

[CBelli]

Brad,

Can you explain the 'versions' option.... I assume it is a way to be able to save multiple versions of the same recipe, but I can't seem to figure out it's functionality??

Is it there for future use?

 

[BeerSmith]

Hi,
The version number is simply a way of marking a different version of a recipe - it does not automatically save a new copy however.

The way I use it is as follows - once I brew a beer, I fill in the data (date, notes, etc...) then use the "Copy to Log" button to save a copy "as brewed" to my brew log folder.

Then I bump the version and eventually the date for the next version of the recipe in my main working folder.

This way I have copies of all of the recipes "as brewed" in my brew log folder and can view them by date or version (customize columns on the view menu to show these).

Cheers,
Brad

 

[CBelli]

Hi,
The version number is simply a way of marking a different version of a recipe - it does not automatically save a new copy however.

The way I use it is as follows - once I brew a beer, I fill in the data (date, notes, etc...) then use the "Copy to Log" button to save a copy "as brewed" to my brew log folder.

Then I bump the version and eventually the date for the next version of the recipe in my main working folder.

This way I have copies of all of the recipes "as brewed" in my brew log folder and can view them by date or version (customize columns on the view menu to show these).

Cheers,
Brad

Thanks this helps a bit, but I have a few questions...

I have been all over the UI and cant find copy to log.
Where is "copy to log" and my "customize Cols" is greyed out?