BeerSmith 3: Here it comes. Thoughts?

[imasickboy]

It appears to be functional in Linux, using WINE. Some errors at the beginning, but seems to work fine if you ignore them. I'm not going to put any effort into it, since I bought it, and can definitely wait for the Linux version. BS2 is fine for me in the interim.

 

[FunkedOut]

Looks like a perpetual license is a thing of the past.
The ‘one time’ fee licenses you for 25 years.

Not sure what the online tools hold in store for us.
Looking forward to playing with the water more when I have time. The features read like you can easily separate mash and sparge additions. That’s been cumbersome in BS2.

 

[Pkrd]

Looks like a perpetual license is a thing of the past.
The ‘one time’ fee licenses you for 25 years.

My liver is only good for about 18 years.

My main reason for avoiding the fog subscription is if I duck out of homebrewing for a few years I don't want to keep paying during my brewing holiday.

 

[Nagorg]

IBut the pictures for the color of the beers, what the hell happened there?

I agree... Seems like a downgrade as the BS2 images are better...

 

[Nagorg]

... You can get the new images back!

Click "options" on the menu bar.

Then uncheck "Use New Beer Glass Icons".

You will now have the old beer glass and color representation!

 

[Bassman2003]

My liver is only good for about 18 years.

My main reason for avoiding the fog subscription is if I duck out of homebrewing for a few years I don't want to keep paying during my brewing holiday.

This is the big flaw for all software subscription models imho. You have nothing if you need to stop the payments. It is designed to be a win for the company.

 

[biochemedic]

All you folks who are against the cloud should go tell the kids to get off your lawn!

But seriously, I think it's a shame that every service has to have it's own subscription, cloud, etc. The comment a while back that the mobile version can't open a file independent of the cloud makes me even more irritated...that would've been one of the few things that would have gotten me to switch, would be to have a mobile version of my brewing software.

I want to like Beer Smith, and I've downloaded the trial a few times in the past, but couldn't get into it. I've been using ProMash forever, and now that I have my PM files on my OneDrive (which syncs a local version, too, so you can access it if you're ever offline, and then updates the cloud version later...), I'm not sure I have a reason to switch.

 

[aeviaanah]

I cant seem to get mash pH to align with bru n water. bru n water calculates 5.3 and measured 5.3 on a recent batch. Beersmith calculates 5.57. This particular batch did not require acidification. Anyone seeing this as well?

 

[mpmccann]

Downloaded mine today, played around with a recipe and the water addition stuff. Now I just need to brew a batch and see just how things turn out. I am hoping to find the time next week.

 

[Gameface]

Okay, something is fishy.

EDIT: User error. My recipe was imported from BS2 and it did not automatically use the changes I made to the equipment profile in BS3. Once I added them to the equipment profile in the recipe itself it gave me what look like valid numbers.

I live at 4373' of elevation. I was excited to have that factored into BS3.

My primary recipe, an English Strong Bitter, on BS2 says 59.7IBUs, on BS3 it now says 62.3IBUs. I have entered my boil temp in the equipment profile as well as imputing my elevation. My boil temp is 204f. I'm getting lower hops utilization and I know it. Why is BS3 telling me my already high estimate of 59.7IBUs is actually 62.3IBUs.

I overshoot on my IBUs because I know I'm not getting there. I was really excited the BS3 might give me more accurate IBU estimates. That doesn't seem to be the case.

 

[Gameface]

It looks like I will also continue to use bru'n water for my water adjustments. BS3 advertisement made it seem like water adjustment was seamless with the recipe builder. I'll play with the water adjustment, but I don't see it doing for me what bru'n water does for me.

Edit: I purchased the gold subscription, btw.

 

[sonic7173]

Okay, something is fishy.

I live at 4373' of elevation. I was excited to have that factored into BS3.

My primary recipe, an English Strong Bitter, on BS2 says 59.7IBUs, on BS3 it now says 62.3IBUs. I have entered my boil temp in the equipment profile as well as imputing my elevation. My boil temp is 204f. I'm getting lower hops utilization and I know it. Why is BS3 telling me my already high estimate of 59.7IBUs is actually 62.3IBUs.

I overshoot on my IBUs because I know I'm not getting there. I was really excited the BS3 might give me more accurate IBU estimates. That doesn't seem to be the case.

I'm in Ogden and was really hoping that this would be corrected and more accurate. I've been over shooting on all my recipes on the IBU's because of the altitude, and this really sounds like a bummer that this is so far off. That, to me, was the major draw in upgrading. I was dead set on upgrading but now I'm having second thoughts. Thx for the review

 

[Smellyglove]

Okay, something is fishy.

I live at 4373' of elevation. I was excited to have that factored into BS3.

My primary recipe, an English Strong Bitter, on BS2 says 59.7IBUs, on BS3 it now says 62.3IBUs. I have entered my boil temp in the equipment profile as well as imputing my elevation. My boil temp is 204f. I'm getting lower hops utilization and I know it. Why is BS3 telling me my already high estimate of 59.7IBUs is actually 62.3IBUs.

I overshoot on my IBUs because I know I'm not getting there. I was really excited the BS3 might give me more accurate IBU estimates. That doesn't seem to be the case.

Can it be that "hop carryover" after boil is checked by default in BS3, and you didn't check that box in BS2?

 

[Nagorg]

All you folks who are against the cloud should go tell the kids to get off your lawn!

Not against cloud at all when it makes sense and improves things. Its the pay monthly or lose it aspect that I have a problem with. I'd rather pay a larger price up front for a perpetual license and know that I can keep using the software if money gets tight. After all, one of the advantages of home brewing is the ability to make excellent beer at a lower cost per gallon than commercial options. The $14.00 six pack seems to be more commonplace these days...

And talk about telling kids to get off your lawn... ProMash??

 

[Gameface]

Can it be that "hop carryover" after boil is checked by default in BS3, and you didn't check that box in BS2?

That is probably it. I will deselect and see what it says.

Edit: Okay, my apologies. I set up my profile but this recipe was imported from BS2 and it seems it did not apply the new equipment profile settings. My IBUs went from 63 to 48 when I updated the altitude in the equipment profile in the recipe and then back up to 49.7 when I factored in hop utilization during whirlpool. So it seems it is working.

 

[biochemedic]

And talk about telling kids to get off your lawn... ProMash??

Hey, I'm starting to embrace some of my old manishness! Although I will indeed freak out a bit if the grey makes it's way any further south!

 

[aeviaanah]

Okay, something is fishy.

EDIT: User error. My recipe was imported from BS2 and it did not automatically use the changes I made to the equipment profile in BS3. Once I added them to the equipment profile in the recipe itself it gave me what look like valid numbers.

I live at 4373' of elevation. I was excited to have that factored into BS3.

My primary recipe, an English Strong Bitter, on BS2 says 59.7IBUs, on BS3 it now says 62.3IBUs. I have entered my boil temp in the equipment profile as well as imputing my elevation. My boil temp is 204f. I'm getting lower hops utilization and I know it. Why is BS3 telling me my already high estimate of 59.7IBUs is actually 62.3IBUs.

I overshoot on my IBUs because I know I'm not getting there. I was really excited the BS3 might give me more accurate IBU estimates. That doesn't seem to be the case.

Double check AA (if modified) has carried over. Also, there is some revisions to how beersmith calculates whirlpool hops. It now takes temperature of the whirlpool into consideration. Double check the hop addition if this applies.

 

[kevin58]

It looks like I will also continue to use bru'n water for my water adjustments. BS3 advertisement made it seem like water adjustment was seamless with the recipe builder. I'll play with the water adjustment, but I don't see it doing for me what bru'n water does for me.

Edit: I purchased the gold subscription, btw.

I found the new BS3 water tool to be very seamless. I created my base water profile using the results of a Ward Labs Brewers test of my water. I click the water button... add my base and the select a target profile for the style I'm brewing. BS3 will automatically determine which additions I need to match that profile and adds them right into the recipe.

 

[Gameface]

I found the new BS3 water tool to be very seamless. I created my base water profile using the results of a Ward Labs Brewers test of my water. I click the water button... add my base and the select a target profile for the style I'm brewing. BS3 will automatically determine which additions I need to match that profile and adds them right into the recipe.

I will give it a shot.

 

[Gameface]

Double check AA (if modified) has carried over. Also, there is some revisions to how beersmith calculates whirlpool hops. It now takes temperature of the whirlpool into consideration. Double check the hop addition if this applies.

It was user error on my part. I thought that because the recipe was using my equipment profile that when I updated my equipment profile it would push to it and all my other recipes that used it. That's not the case. You need to go to each recipe and update the equipment profile in that recipe in order to get results that consider elevation and whirlpool hops.

It's working now and I'm pleasantly surprised that I'm right on the upper edge, but within style guidelines in regard to IBUs, on all the recipes I've checked so far.

 

[mmmWord]

Do we have the final word yet on whether the new licensing method requires phoning home every startup, or just once? This is pretty much the only thing holding me back (mostly on principle, rather than for any practical reason, although I suppose I might want to design a recipe on my laptop when away from wifi).

 

[Derp]

Do we have the final word yet on whether the new licensing method requires phoning home every startup, or just once?

I just did a 10-second test and disconnected the Ethernet cable from my computer and it seemed to start/run ok. The cloud features were obviously unavailable.

 

[mmmWord]

I just did a 10-second test and disconnected the Ethernet cable from my computer and it seemed to start/run ok. The cloud features were obviously unavailable.

Sounds promising, thanks.

 

[alestateyall]

I am surprised the water screen only tells you the mineral content of your mash water and not your final mineral content after boil.

 

[Oginme]

I am surprised the water screen only tells you the mineral content of your mash water and not your final mineral content after boil.

Is there a program that does? I'd be dubious about it, since any program must make gross assumptions about the mineral content of the grains used and that can be highly variable depending upon where the barley/wheat/rye/whatever is grown.

 

[trav77]

I live at an elevation, so I like the fact that this release adjusts for that.

What are the adjustments for altitude? I'm at 1000 m so water boils at about 96 C here but I'm not sure what aspect of BeerSmith this would affect?

 

[Derp]

What are the adjustments for altitude? I'm at 1000 m so water boils at about 96 C here but I'm not sure what aspect of BeerSmith this would affect?

Hop utilization/bitterness, I would think. Perhaps boil off rate, too?

 

[Yeastieboy]

So I have to buy BeerSmith again?

 

[Derp]

So I have to buy BeerSmith again?

Only if you want the new features/functionality.

 

[EDF713]

I cant seem to get mash pH to align with bru n water. bru n water calculates 5.3 and measured 5.3 on a recent batch. Beersmith calculates 5.57. This particular batch did not require acidification. Anyone seeing this as well?

I played with it and saw the same. Did you ever figure out why BS3 and Brunwater are so different?