Just purchased BeerSmith 2.2....

[Jayhem]

I've used the trail software before but that was back when it was v.1.4 and I was new to brewing so it was still a bit confusing. Any tips or advice on making efficient use out of this software? Maybe things that are often overlooked by most users?

Thanks!

 

[Hello]

Get your equipment profile dialed in, that's the best advice I know to offer.

 

[stpug]

Yep. Equipment profile is very important to making efficient use of Beersmith.

 

[Jayhem]

I have a good handle on how my equipment works with temps, volumes, etc so I think I can tweak that pretty easily. I like the way beer assembles recipe reports and such.

How do I go about getting a mobile version and another copy on my lap-top of the software under the license I purchased?

 

[TimelessCynic]

I have tried to get my equipment dialed in but always fail. my OG is always off by about 5 points. I've sorta given up with it. I do however use the recipe section for every beer i brew and i like it for making recipes. But I am very disappointed that the upload and export functions don't work. Its good software that could be great if some aspects didnt behave in such a garbage way.


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[501irishred]

I suggest watching all the "how to" videos even if the title doesn't look like something you're interested in. you'll find that it will be easier to negotiate the program and will show you features that you didn't even know existed. I agree with the other posts that setting up your equipment profile correctly is priority one, but adjusting mash profiles, fermentation schedules, and ability to add your own ingredients are a few things I remember learning "after the fact" that would have been nice to know up front.

 

[stpug]

I have a good handle on how my equipment works with temps, volumes, etc so I think I can tweak that pretty easily. I like the way beer assembles recipe reports and such.

How do I go about getting a mobile version and another copy on my lap-top of the software under the license I purchased?

I believe that the beersmith license allows for installation on two computer systems. I seem to recall reading this recently.

As for a mobile solution, you would have to buy beersmith mobile in order to have beersmith on android or ios. I personally think the android mobile version is only so-so. I've also heard many folks on ios recommend ibrewmaster over beersmith. I'm sure beersmith will continue being developed for droid/ios so perhaps it will "shape up" in future updates.

 

[Jayhem]

I believe that the beersmith license allows for installation on two computer systems. I seem to recall reading this recently.

As for a mobile solution, you would have to buy beersmith mobile in order to have beersmith on android or ios. I personally think the android mobile version is only so-so. I've also heard many folks on ios recommend ibrewmaster over beersmith. I'm sure beersmith will continue being developed for droid/ios so perhaps it will "shape up" in future updates.

Thanks, I also just read that you can run the license on 2 computers. I plan to use my laptop during brew day anyway. I hate messing around on my smart phone on brew day.

 

[Homercidal]

My advice is to definitely dial in your equipment profiles. For some odd reason I am always coming up short on my volume, so I have adjusted the preboil gravity to compensate, but I really need to find the missing wort and make adjustments to the profile.

AND definitely go to their online support and read up or watch their help information. The program can seem confusing at first, but there are things that can help you use it better.

For a while I was using it on a thumbstick because I have 2-3 computers at home plus I wanted to use it on my work computer. It worked fine that way, but some of the saved files were not going along with the stick sometimes. Lately I've been installing on just my 2 computers and it's better. And I see there is a cloud option, which might be very handy.

 

[501irishred]

I have tried to get my equipment dialed in but always fail. my OG is always off by about 5 points. I've sorta given up with it. I do however use the recipe section for every beer i brew and i like it for making recipes. But I am very disappointed that the upload and export functions don't work. Its good software that could be great if some aspects didnt behave in such a garbage way.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

If your OG is always off about the same amount, just adjust your efficiency to match.

 

[RiverCityBrewer]

I have tried to get my equipment dialed in but always fail. my OG is always off by about 5 points. I've sorta given up with it. I do however use the recipe section for every beer i brew and i like it for making recipes. But I am very disappointed that the upload and export functions don't work. Its good software that could be great if some aspects didnt behave in such a garbage way.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

Using on Win7 and Ubuntu12 and export works fine... what are you running it on? Also, what is upload?

 

[PLOVE]

Using on Win7 and Ubuntu12 and export works fine... what are you running it on? Also, what is upload?

I'm on a mac (OSX) and I don't have any issue exporting as as beersmith file or an xml and sharing with other users (beersmith, brewtarget, etc.)

What's not "exporting"?

 

[steve2u42]

will this software work if i am doing the BIAB Method?

 

[stpug]

will this software work if i am doing the BIAB Method?

There are several default BIAB equipment profiles in BeerSmith which you could use to dial in a new BIAB equipment profile that suits your exact situation. I suspect that it will work fairly nicely for BIAB, and I suspect many BIABers use BeerSmith. I do, however, know of one soul who was pretty disgruntled with BS and he was a BIABer. Aside from that one person, I can't say I've heard many (if any) complaints about BS and BIAB. You could always install the trial version (27 days I think) and give it spin. It's easy to get confounded with all of the details and abilities of BS, but if you just stick to the basics to begin with then the rest seems to fall into place.

 

[unionrdr]

I completely agree,stp. Use the basics to start with & dial in your equipment profiles. I have one for AE & one for pb/pm biab that I now do most often. & make sure you don't "X" out the menu bar at the top of the BS window. You'll need that to hit the INGREDIENTS button to add hops,grains,extracts,etc to the lists on the build recipe page. Besides edit,tools,etc. You can use that to add individual ingredients,or goto ADD-ONS>PLUS SIGN & have a little window full of grains,recipes,extracts,hops,etc pop up that you can also add to your lists of ingredients/recipes. Even Cooper's cans & breiss extracts.

 

[Brewsncrabs]

Read all of the tutorials. I spent a few evenings figuring it out. It will work if you put the effort into learning it. I gave up once, and then forced myself a few months later. Now I love it. Take good notes for the first couple brews and tweak it. This link helped me as well.
http://sigginet.info/brewing/tools/equipment-profile-helper/
Once your profile is correct, its auto-pilot. Put in the effort and realize its not immediate success. Good luck.

 

[unionrdr]

Brews-n-crabs...dang,that sounds great! But yeah,it takes experience to learn Beersmith. It's not wax on,wax off...ya learn it by usin' it. I'm still learning & tweaking,asking Brad questions. but it's all worth it in the end.

 

[trefilov22]

I may have just gotten lucky setting up my profile, my first beer was in .001 of the specified OG... I couldn't believe it.. We will see what my second beer comes in relative in a few days when I brew again! So far I really like Beersmith, I have only been using the trial, but am about to purchase it. Glad I can use it on two computers.

 

[TimelessCynic]

Is efficiency in beersmith brewhouse efficiency? Or one of the other efficiency measures?


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[NeoBrew]

I'd love an answer to that as well. I think that the efficiency on the mash tab is post boil efficiency, and the one on the fermentation page is pre boil efficiency.

I've done two BIAB batches so far, and both times felt I needed to add DME because I was low on gravity...then found that after boil I was over my target. (Yes, twice. I'm a slow learner, lol)

But I think that's why I made the mistake. The "mash" tab should be pre-boil shouldn't it? Seems backwards to me that the fermentation page gives me a lower % than the mash page.

 

[stpug]

Beersmith like to keep that aspect a little confusing, so it provides:
User Provided/Estimated Brewhouse Efficiency (i.e. what you think you'll get into the fermenter)
Measured Brewhouse Efficiency (i.e. efficiency into the fermenter)
Estimated Mash Efficiency (i.e. what BS thinks you'll get into the BK)
Measured Mash Efficiency (i.e. efficiency into the BK)

Some folks will use their (measured) mash efficiency as their official "efficiency". Others will use their (measured) brewhouse efficiency as their official "efficiency". And, still, others will use their BK efficiency as their official "efficiency" (this one is similar to measured brewhouse efficiency above except you use the volume of wort in your BK instead of what goes into the fermenter). Keep that in mind the next time someone tells you they're efficiency - unless they tell you how they are measuring efficiency you should take their percentage with some salt

 

[NeoBrew]

ok, I think I got that. We'll see if it makes sense on my next brew day.

I'd like to slip another Beersmith question in here, what are the blue dots next to some of the fields? I can't seem to find any mention of them in the help resources.

 

[stpug]

ok, I think I got that. We'll see if it makes sense on my next brew day.

I'd like to slip another Beersmith question in here, what are the blue dots next to some of the fields? I can't seem to find any mention of them in the help resources.

The blue dots indicate a value that is considered "in range". When it's yellow it means borderline, and when it's red it means it is outside of the range.

 

[NeoBrew]

Ah, good to know! Thanks!


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