Brewtarget 2.0 Update

[mikfire]

Download load link doesn't work for me. Getting a "Page can't be displayed" error message.

Which download link are you using?

The ones I tried seemed to work from http://www.brewtarget.org/download.html

Or are you using the sourceforge link in the sticky on this section? I've asked for that to be changed, but it looks like it is still incorrect.

Mik

 

[mikfire]

Need help my brewtarget stop working. I cant use

I can try, but I am really going to need more information. Your operating system, version of brewtarget, any details you can provide about error messages, behavior, etc.

Mik

 

[pazmanuelo]

I can try, but I am really going to need more information. Your operating system, version of brewtarget, any details you can provide about error messages, behavior, etc.



Mik

I have win 8 and brewtarget 2.1.0.

The problem happens when i try to select any parameter on the program. The program stopped and then it's close himself. I was deleted the program and reinstall and to the first open he flashes a multiple data base message

 

[Wyrmwood]

I use ubuntu 14.04 on one system and Windows 8.1 on my other system and they share a database for brewtarget using the "directory" option and Dropbox. Works well on both, even on my hidpi monitor (which a lot of other java programs do NOT handle very well). I suspect your issue is java/configuration related and not brew target.

 

[Wyrmwood]

Thanks for the feedback.

We are aware of the restore/rollback problem and trying to find a solution. It is a tough nut to crack because it only seems to happen when you've installed brewtarget, not when running it from a build dir like most of the developers do. This is my top priority at the moment.

The high resolution display is another problem we know of, but I don't think any of the developers have a hires display to test on. It is hard to solve a problem we literally cannot see rocketman is looking into this, but I cannot promise anything beyond that.

I wish I could provide more than "Yup. Working on it" but that's all I have at the second.

Mik

I think I know what is the cause of this. There are probably two separate issues here.

1) The confirmation dialog is at the lowest Z-order for some reason. This is an easy fix on my Ubuntu system as it has a fixed monitor configuration (see #2). If I just minimize other windows, I can usually find it.

2) On my laptop, which I use with 3 monitor configurations (laptop alone, laptop with external monitor and laptop with docking station and 2 external monitors), I suspect the issue is #1, plus java remembering the coordinates which may be on a non-viewable space (like a monitor that isn't connected). I've seen this with other java programs.

At any rate, an easy fix would be to have a checkbox, "save on close" and then dispense with the secondary dialog. It is nice to rollback when you decide the changes aren't what you wanted, but I think the frequency of this is very limited, and if you could uncheck it and say no, you'd be fine. On the other hand, the lion's share of the time, you want to save your changes.

 

[Hermit]

Edit: Forced a reinstall and it seems to be acting better now.

Question on boil gravity and OG. I haven't used the new version much because of time constraints. I recently switch from BIAB to a mash tun. I thought my efficiency dropped way down. I have always had about and 8 to 10 point rise in my SG post boil. Brewtarget on the last batch calculated an 18 point expected rise? Boil off is set to 1.25 gal/hour. I get slightly more. These numbers were always close in the last version

 

[MT2sum]

You have to import your recipes. Just point Brewtarget 2.0 to your 1.2 folder/files.

It did import my (one) custom equipment file though.

Speaking from a computer illiterate point of view; How do I "point" BT 2.0 to my 1.2 files?
TYVM!

 

[masskrug]

It is probably in My Computer>C:>Program Files>Brewtaget>data>

HTH

 

[dunnright00]

Is there a tutorial for this software somewhere?

I really don't use brewing software too much, but I like using this one for forming recipes.

Everything seems to be pretty straight forward, except for the mash tab.
I really don't understand where & how I'm supposed to enter the info for the mash.

Someone showing a step by step example would be great!

Edit: I found a YouTube video, from an older version but I think it explained it enough for me to move on...
I didn't realize the "Mash Des" button is how you get started. Seems like that should be more obvious as a "Start Here" type of area.

Anyhow, the video is here, mash step starts at about 2:40
https://youtu.be/BEdkZIUkvA4?t=2m40s

 

[jbenuniv]

Hi Everyone.

This is using SQLite, right? So there shouldn't be an issue with committing the folder containing the DB to git for recipe version control, correct?

 

[Hanglow]

My database appears to have dissappeared. I had maybe 100 recipes on it and now its decided to just go back to the basic one. Any ideas?

And my equipment.

 

[Hanglow]

Bueller?.....Bueller?...Bueller?....

Sad to say but after four years or so of BrewTarget I am done after this farce.

I'm going to switch to Brew cipher as i can save individual worksheets for each recipe and its more accurate over a number of parameters. And it won't decide to **** my entire recipe database off for no reason whatsoever.

 

[Estbrew]

updated to windows 10 and lost my recipes since february. Any help?

 

[beernut70]

My database appears to have dissappeared. I had maybe 100 recipes on it and now its decided to just go back to the basic one. Any ideas?

And my equipment.

Had that happen to me a few months ago. Luckily I had a backup and only lost a few recipes.

 

[stpug]

Database issues @Hanglow @Estbrew

Check out this post my mikfire a while back on the database location and naming scheme (also see the few posts following it). You may find your in a similar location or different depending on OS, and may need to manually point the software at your database. This is, of course, assuming it didn't get deleted/overwritten or other terrible tragedy like that. If you find what appears to be your database file then before doing anything with BrewTarget, make a backup of the file, then proceed with trying to get BT to work with what your recovered/lost database

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=5594647&postcount=136

 

[Hanglow]

Cheers for the help but they are all the same

 

[stpug]

That's a bummer. I wonder where @mikfire is lately. Has development stopped?

 

[nealm]

Have you ever done a backup of your database, then do a restore from this. If not then search your computer for a file called "database.sqlite", this is your database data. Open BT click File>options>directories tab and find out where this file should be, then close BT take the file you found and put it in this place restart BT and answer restore if the multiple files warning comes up. Always answer restore to this query.

NealM

 

[nealm]

Remember this annoying little glitch, well when I went over to Windows 10 it disappeared, so it looks like this was an issue with windows 8.

NealM

The temp database will always be created. Basically, when you open brewtarget we copy the db into the temp. At the end of the session, when we ask if you want to save your changes, if you say "no" we copy that temp db back. If you say "yes", we are supposed to delete the temp.

I am guessing we are not deleting the temp db. There was a change comitted a while back which "simplified" that portion of the code. I will need to go do some spelunking in the commit logs to find it but I suspect that simplification is causing the problems.

I have an almost impossible time keeping my Windows build environment stable/usuable and was really, really hoping this would go away. It hasn't, so I will attempt to get that thing working again.

Mik

 

[WI_Wino]

It's still an issue for me on Windows 7.

 

[WI_Wino]

Looks like 2.3 came out. Anyone using it yet?

 

[pricelessbrewing]

I downloaded it. Still using bs2 atm for recipe formulation. Sent my thoughts and comments on the update over to the lead developer.

I love one the open source nature of it and that they're open to ideas and suggestions. Love to see where they will go next to keep improving.

 

[WI_Wino]

I downloaded it and started to use it. I am not a fan of the new recipe scaling wizard. Previously I could choose to scale by efficiency or by batch size. Now I have to choose an equipment profile rather than typing a specific batch size. I use the same 15 gallon pot for all my batches and regularly bounce between 6, 8, 10, 13, etc. gallon batches. Creating an equipment profile for each doesn't make sense to me.

Big step backwards IMO.

 

[czucker]

I know this an old thread, but I am still seeing this in Mac v2.3. If I adjust the 'Kettle to fermenter' and 'Lauter deadspace' fields, then my gravity fields go down. . . . Is anyone else seeing this behavior?

Edit: I just checked and the same thing happens in the Linux amd64 package.

I was always coming up short on the OG when I entered recipes into BrewTarget from other sources where they define the OG, and other parameters. I always chalked this up to differences in the percent yields in the BT grains data base versus the data bases used to calculate the OG in the recipes. However, I found out that it is due to the inclusion of the kettle to ferrmenter parameter in the equipment profile. Apparently the program compensates for the loss in the BK to fermenter transfer by increasing the Pre-Boil volume by that volume thus diluting the gravity. So for a 5 gallon recipe entered with equipment parameters with “kettle to fermenter losses” of one quart, the recipe parameters are actually for a 5.25 gallon.

I don’t understand the reasoning behind increasing the pre-boil volume by the amount of the “kettle to fermenter losses.” To my mind this parameter is needed to calculate the brewhouse efficiency.
Can you explain?

NealM

 

[pricelessbrewing]

I know this an old thread, but I am still seeing this in Mac v2.3. If I adjust the 'Kettle to fermenter' and 'Lauter deadspace' fields, then my gravity fields go down. . . . Is anyone else seeing this behavior?

Edit: I just checked and the same thing happens in the Linux amd64 package.

No change with lauter deadspace. Windows, 2.3.0.

I do see this happening with 'Kettle to fermenter loss'. Some quick math checking shows that the Efficiency (%) input cell is MASH efficiency, not BREWHOUSE efficiency. So kettle losses affect it linearly. More info on braukaisers wiki pages, and my blog post

• batch size = 5.5 gallons
• OG = 1.060
• kettle losses = 0 gal
• Efficiency (%) = 70%
• Efficiency (%) = 70% (BREWHOUSE)

When kettle losses are set to 1 gallon, it would become

• batch size = 5.5 gallons
• OG = 1.060 =>60 * (5.5 / (5.5 + 1)) = 50.77=1.058
• kettle losses = 1 gal
• Efficiency (%) = 70%
• Efficiency (%) = 59.23% (BREWHOUSE)

paging @nealm so he sees

 

[nealm]

I know this an old thread, but I am still seeing this in Mac v2.3. If I adjust the 'Kettle to fermenter' and 'Lauter deadspace' fields, then my gravity fields go down. . . . Is anyone else seeing this behavior?

Edit: I just checked and the same thing happens in the Linux amd64 package.

I've found that the kettle loses are variable from batch to batch dependent on the amount of hops. The way I've resolved this to my liking is to jack up my batch size to 5.25 gallon then zero out the lautering and kettle loses. This way I usually alway hit my OG and get at least 5 gallons of beer.

 

[nealm]

Anybody know what the timeline for the 2.4 rollout?

 

[nobadays]

I'm a eBIAB brewer who uses Brew Target for it's simplicity - or so I think. Apparently there are a lot of "tweaks" I am missing because I ALWAYS over shoot the calculated "boil SG" (assume this mean after mashing-before boil) and calculated O.G. I'm not really OCD about this because I'm brewing good beer. That said it would be nice to know more about Brew Target settings for BIAB.

I have my equipment profile set as follows: 5.5 BIAB, 1hr boil, evap rate 1.6gal/hr, grain absorb 0.650, hop util 80%, Mash Tun 9.5gal, Kettle to fermenter loss 1.25 gal. I usually always start with 9.5 gallons of water and go into the fermenter with 5.5 +/- a pint or two. I use a FastFerment conical so I like to leave as much trub as possible in the kettle.

So the last batch:

12.75lbs grain
5.7 oz hops
90 minute mash at 151
60 min boil

Boil SG calculated 1.038 - actual 1.048
OG calculated 1.046 - actual 1.054

I have changed nothing in the Mash Editor - because I don't know what should be changed in here to work with BIAB brewing - single infusion/full volume. I suspect this is where the discrepancy begins.

Any help appreciated!

Cheers!

 

[pricelessbrewing]

I have my equipment profile set as follows: 5.5 BIAB, 1hr boil, evap rate 1.6gal/hr, grain absorb 0.650, hop util 80%, Mash Tun 9.5gal, Kettle to fermenter loss 1.25 gal. I usually always start with 9.5 gallons of water and go into the fermenter with 5.5 +/- a pint or two. I use a FastFerment conical so I like to leave as much trub as possible in the kettle.

Your volumes don't line up. Your absorption rate or boil off rate needs to be adjusted, likely absorption rate should be raised to ~0.08 gal/lb. It's also likely due to you using a fixed volume, as more grains requires more water. Using a fixed volume will cause your OG predictions to be inconsistent.

OG is calculated based on the user input mash efficiency. Assuming ~92% conversion, your average mash efficiency SHOULD be ~80%. Brewhouse is ~60%. I'm working on creating this graphs automatically online via user input for my mash calculator. Once that's done, and brewtarget 2.4 is released, I'll be trying to integrate my formulas to brewtarget.

Nobadays efficiency chart

So the last batch:

12.75lbs grain
5.7 oz hops
90 minute mash at 151
60 min boil

Boil SG calculated 1.038 - actual 1.048
OG calculated 1.046 - actual 1.054

Any help appreciated!

Cheers!

Good news is, it looks like you're getting good conversion. ~95% or so. So the issue is just that your mash efficiency is higher than the efficiency you have input into the software.



@nealm sorry I do not known the timeline. I believe testing is still being done.

 

[nobadays]

pricelessbrewing...

Thank you so much for the response! Unfortunately I think I'm a little "thick" in the head when it come to brewing math. Just looking at my last brew and doing the math: 5.5+1.6+1.2 = 8.3gal. 12.75lb grain divided by the remaining loss of 1.2gal. = grain absorption of 0.094

Does it look right? Is there something that should be changed in the Mash Editor?

The calculated boil size has worked out pretty close - Brewtarget said 8.35 actual = 8.67gal. When I change the amount of grain each time I guess I don't know where I find how much water I need for a full volume mash... can you point me to where I would find that number?

~95% conversion...cool!

Thank you again!

Cheers!