BeerSmith 3: Here it comes. Thoughts?

[Scottie61]

Overall, I've never had much of a problem with the interface, and have put BS to good use for nearly 50 brews since I started this hobby in 2013.

Could the GUI use an update? Sure, but it doesn't bother me. The program for me has always provided a great way to build recipes, keep records, and the organization and sequencing that helps out a lot during a brewing session. I haven't tried the updated water treatment section yet, so will probably hang with Bru'n Water for a while yet.

I have been making use of BS for wine and cider almost since day 1, and I really like the better functionality that BS3 provides for these recipes.

As far as the pricing goes, we all like to save money, but imagine how much more money I would have wasted on screwed up recipes and brew cycles without this handy software tool. Definitely worth it for me!

Scottie

 

[beernutz]

Overall, I've never had much of a problem with the interface, and have put BS to good use for nearly 50 brews since I started this hobby in 2013.

[snip]

As far as the pricing goes, we all like to save money, but imagine how much more money I would have wasted on screwed up recipes and brew cycles without this handy software tool. Definitely worth it for me!

Scottie

I imagine I've learned this same lesson many times, not necessarily wrt BS, but for some reason I keep having to relearn it periodically.

 

[Nagorg]

IMO the GUI if fine and I'm personally glad it didn't get trounced on. I've seen plenty of times where "improvements" killed the experience.

 

[rivetcatcher]

I wish they would add a setting in for hop absorption

 

[Stonemuzzle]

I'm not blown away by the changes, but mead support would be handy and I wouldn't mind keeping all of my recipes in the cloud folder rather than swapping them in and out for brew days. However, I tried getting the Gold subscription and it requires signing up for Paypal, so not going to bother with it.

 

[DU99]

how does it been compared to brewers friend

 

[Blazinlow86]

Ph adjustments are still off with no explanation on how to correct. Avoid the new version

 

[Nagorg]

Avoid the new version

I'd disagree that anyone should avoid the new version due to pH calculations. Use Brun'Water!

 

[Blazinlow86]

I'd disagree that anyone should avoid the new version due to pH calculations. Use Brun'Water!

Your missing the point. Of course we can use brunwater. That's exactly what most people were doing with bs2. Then the new version came out advertising about the water tools and alot of people upgraded SPECIFICALLY for that reason and that reason alone. Turns out it's not fixed and the maker of the software doesn't appear to have a explanation. So again don't waste your money on the new version. Use bs2 and brunwater. Hopefully they fix this later on as it seems like it should be a easy fix and in my mind is a very important part of the software. Baffling how it's not being addressed. It could have been the perfect all on one solution but they just can't for whatever reason figure this out. Disappointing to say the least

 

[Nagorg]

Your missing the point.

Dont think I'm missing the point at all. I still dont believe this is reason to not buy the software. If folks don't buy it then further development inst funded and improvements may not happen as a result. I upgraded to support Brad and to be on the latest build. Its a good piece of software that's trusted my many for their recipes. I have no problems using other tools for different parts of the process.

 

[Blazinlow86]

Dont think I'm missing the point at all. I still dont believe this is reason to not buy the software. If folks don't buy it then further development inst funded and improvements may not happen as a result. I upgraded to support Brad and to be on the latest build. Its a good piece of software that's trusted my many for their recipes. I have no problems using other tools for different parts of the process.

Out of curiosity what features did bs3 have over bs2 for you to upgrade?

 

[Nagorg]

"I upgraded to support Brad and to be on the latest build."

Edit: Not to mention that there are new features for Wine, Cider and Mead. Good to have should I decide to make those.

 

[Blazinlow86]

"I upgraded to support Brad and to be on the latest build."

Edit: Not to mention that there are new features for Wine, Cider and Mead. Good to have should I decide to make those.

Interesting. I don't know Brad personally so to buy something just to support him wouldn't be a good enough reason for me to be satisfied with a flawed product. I feel buying something in hopes that will cause the maker to correct flaws in said product is more a tail wagging the dog way to think about it. Somebody said the same thing in the brewie thread. that in there opinion it was best if people kept buying them or didn't return there defective one because if they didn't the company will go bankrupt and breeie would never get it fixed. We all know how that turned out.cheers



PS I really like beersmith but this issue still being there in the new build is unacceptable. If it's a case of "your holding the phone wrong" as Steve Jobs famously said at the iPhone 6 or whatever release at least tell us how to hold it to make it work

 

[ba-brewer]

I was using the previous version and I really dont need most of the new features, maybe all of them, but I upgrade to the stand alone version anyway. I got my moneys worth out of the previous version so I decided to upgrade before I had to. The price is reasonable for a product that pretty much gets the job the done.

I dont expect any software to be defect free, but I do expect the more you pay the less there should be. At $25 a copy my expectation are pretty low.

"flawed product" sounds like a good nickname.

 

[Nagorg]

I don't know Brad personally so to buy something just to support him wouldn't be a good enough reason for me to be satisfied with a flawed product.

I don't know Brad either. But I do listen to his podcasts and use his software and generally appreciate what he does for the community. I dont know any of the open source developers either that I've contributed money to for use of their tools.

You are entitled to your opinion and if pH calculation is what you are after and if it doesn't meet your needs then don't buy it. The tool does way more than that though so for others its a good buy. It works great for me for how I use it. It's $25.00, not $250.00 or more...

 

[Blazinlow86]

I don't know Brad either. But I do listen to his podcasts and use his software and generally appreciate what he does for the community. I dont know any of the open source developers either that I've contributed money to for use of their tools.

You are entitled to your opinion and if pH calculation is what you are after and if it doesn't meet your needs then don't buy it. The tool does way more than that though so for others its a good buy. It works great for me for how I use it. It's $25.00, not $250.00 or more...

I'd love to get my money back but that's not possible. In my case I was so excited to NOT have to use additional software like brunwater I purchased my key the moment it was available for pre purchase. I had activated before it became common knowledge that the ph tool hadn't been fixed. I'd rather Brad just acknowledge that alot of people are having issues with the ph tool and offer some kind of explanation. Either that hes aware it's not working correctly still and WILL correct it or if he disagrees at least explain what the users are doing incorrect so we can use what should be a all in one solution as intended. I don't think that's unreasonable to ask. It could be the perfect all in one solution. Why not just correct this small but very important thing?

 

[passedpawn]

I'd love to get my money back but that's not possible. In my case I was so excited to NOT have to use additional software like brunwater I purchased my key the moment it was available for pre purchase. I had activated before it became common knowledge that the ph tool hadn't been fixed. I'd rather Brad just acknowledge that alot of people are having issues with the ph tool and offer some kind of explanation. Either that hes aware it's not working correctly still and WILL correct it or if he disagrees at least explain what the users are doing incorrect so we can use what should be a all in one solution as intended. I don't think that's unreasonable to ask. It could be the perfect all in one solution. Why not just correct this small but very important thing?

I think you can assume that if there is a flaw, it'll get fixed in an update. I wonder why you're suggesting it wont. It was only released about 45 days ago.

 

[Blazinlow86]

I think you can assume that if there is a flaw, it'll get fixed in an update. I wonder why you're suggesting it wont. It was only released about 45 days ago.

because it was like that in the previous version and im unaware of it ever being acknowledged as a flaw 45 days after release. To me ph is a very important part and completes the software. I genuinely hope it's just a flaw or something I'm doing incorrectly as otherwise it's awesome.

 

[ba-brewer]

because it was like that in the previous version and im unaware of it ever being acknowledged as a flaw 45 days after release. To me ph is a very important part and completes the software. I genuinely hope it's just a flaw or something I'm doing incorrectly as otherwise it's awesome.

What do they say about it over on the beersmith support forum?

 

[Blazinlow86]

What do they say about it over on the beersmith support forum?

Nothing conclusive. Usually gets off track and no solution found or most popular seems to be "just use brunwater".... After researching further I've seen a few responses saying Brad disagrees that there's anything wrong with it to further muddy the waters lol. Cheers

 

[MultumInParvo]

Flipped from the original to BS 3.0 about a month ago.

Not sure I needed anything that was added in the last decade, but figured I used that sucker so much that I might as well pay the guy that made it!

So far I like it. A little cleaner than the original.

 

[ba-brewer]

Nothing conclusive. Usually gets off track and no solution found or most popular seems to be "just use brunwater".... After researching further I've seen a few responses saying Brad disagrees that there's anything wrong with it to further muddy the waters lol. Cheers

well at least the issue sort of known.

When I started building water I used beersmith, brewers friend and brunwater and I thought they all came pretty close. It is just an estimate so I did not get too hung up on it. Not sure why I standardized on brunwater but it gives reasonable results so I am just going to stick with it. I like the donation version of brunwater as you can create a database of your brews, there maybe a few other things too but dont recall them.

 

[Radboud]

Holy moly, didn't know about BS3 being released or even being in the works. I don't like subscription plans so I'd go for the single-fee option but I need to be able to use it on 3 computers (home desktop, work laptop and brewery laptop) and I'd like for the water building tool to be rock solid which at this moment it isn't according to the posts above. So I'll hold on to my $34.95 and stay with BS2 for a while longer.

 

[mscroggi]

I am relatively new to BS.. but it appears you have the option of copying recipes to the cloud, but if you just create your recipe in the cloud arena to begin with, it is parked and managed there. It appears to be a flexibility to have recipes locally, in the cloud, or both.

I just preordered the continuious yearly thing. I don't need a cloud thing, especially if it means i have to "copy" recipes and stuff to the clould every time. I use chrome remote desktop on the laptop in my brewery, and phone (when I'm in the lhbs) to remote into my desktop which runs Beersmith, and all stuff is also synced on gdrive for recipe backups.

 

[murphyslaw]

I am relatively new to BS.. but it appears you have the option of copying recipes to the cloud, but if you just create your recipe in the cloud arena to begin with, it is parked and managed there. It appears to be a flexibility to have recipes locally, in the cloud, or both.

That's why I do. Everything is created and saved in the Cloud folder. No copying or moving around.

 

[mscroggi]

Why do I have to re-purchase this app to use it on my Android tablet? If I setup recipes etc on my computer and go into the brewhouse to do the brew, why can't I use the mobile app to walk through the execution of my recipe?

That doesn't seem right.

 

[kh54s10]

Why do I have to re-purchase this app to use it on my Android tablet? If I setup recipes etc on my computer and go into the brewhouse to do the brew, why can't I use the mobile app to walk through the execution of my recipe?

That doesn't seem right.

The PC version and the mobile app have always been separate items. I use the pc version on my laptop, then move the laptop to the brew area on brew day.

 

[murphyslaw]

What About BeerSmith Mobile?

For BeerSmith mobile, purchase and licensing will still be a separate purchase via the major app stores (iTunes, Google Play and Amazon). While I would prefer to bundle these with the desktop software, the terms and restrictions set by the major mobile stores don’t allow this. I do intend to phase out the “lite” versions of the apps in favor of the full BeerSmith 3 mobile app, as very few users are choosing the lite version.
http://beersmith.com/beersmith-3-licensing-explained/

 

[alestateyall]

My BeerSmith 2 Mobile iOS upgraded to BeerSmith 3 Mobile last week. That is free. You don’t have to buy again.

 

[mpmccann]

Mine upgraded also on my phone and tablet. I noticed my BeerSmith 2 app was missing from my home page and when I looked on my app page the new BeerSmith 3 icon was there. So I just had to drag it back onto my home page again.