Have not opened BeerSmith since probably May, and ran update for new version. Some nice new changes I see on first glance.
Anyone have any likes / dislikes / bugs with the new software to report?
It’s been working fine for me, bit I really have not plugged any new ideas into it recently and only brewed once since May. I like the session aspect section and it populated all my older brew days with that info
Some stuff moved, but it could be for the better. I want better “cloud” support with auto sync across devices and computers.
Seems ok so far. I use only the very basic parts of it anyway most times . I’m sure I’ll look more in depth at it.
I like the changes a lot - it addresses some of my biggest nits. Adding ingredients to build the recipe is really improved without having to leave the malt/hop/misc windows. Adding new ingredients into the profiles is also nice.
Still not happy with the inventory tracking.
I will be sticking with Bru’n Water for water chemistry - the water profile and mash pH calculator is clunky in BeerSmith… and I am not seeing anywhere near the same mash pH predictions. Of course, I could be doing it wrong. I’ll keep banging at it - I am sure I will figure it out at some point.
Overall, however, the upgrade is a big improvement.
Maybe I’ll take another look at it.
So much this. I like it for the most part, but the water chemistry is still either grossly lacking, or I haven’t figured out how to use it properly yet.
After the upgrade, all my measured mash efficiency’s were off. The issue is with the field meas post mash gravity. It arbitrarily put in a value of 1.050. If I put the meas pre-boil gravity in the meas post mash gravity field it fixed it. Had to go through 50 + recipes to fix this
Oh yeah, forgot about that. I ended up making it match the pre-boil. That did suck
I see that…PITA for sure.
BeerSmith assumes that the selected water profile is the finished water profile and consequently ignores all salt additions. In contrast, Bru’n water uses the starting water profile and the added salts for its calculations.
Hope this helps.
That makes sense (that that’s what’s happening, not that that’s the way it works).
If BeerSmith’s mash pH calc worked the way that made more sense, I would upgrade to BS2 in a heart beat.
[quote]BeerSmith assumes that the selected water profile is the finished water profile and consequently ignores all salt additions. In contrast, Bru’n water uses the starting water profile and the added salts for its calculations.
[/quote]
I understand how it works, but don’t like the new process in BeerSmith, even though I welcome having the pH model integrated. It is not intuitive in anyway. I learned to brew using BeerSmith from the start - just seems a more simpler approach would work. AND it would allow a person to pick one or more pH models/curves. With the variation from Bru’n, Brewer’s Friend, Palmer’s spreadsheet, and a few others, a fit to a known and reliable model would be welcome.
On top of it… the water profiles are limited and somewhat dated. Certainly none that represent boiled or decarbonated profiles. To that end - I have also tried to match profiles from Bru’n Water - and the results are much different.
Like I said - planning to keep at it. But I am FAR more comfortable with Bru’n in terms of accuracy and my system results.
Same here. No reason to change when I get excellent, predictable results with Brunwater.
Exactly. Why would I assume that it ignores the acid and salt in my recipes and only pays attention to the water profile? I’m not going to make a separate water profile for every beer type/beer.