BeerSmith 2 - What am I missing?

[vtfan99]

I'm a fairly new (within the last year) BeerSmith 2 user. I switched from ProMash as it seems to be mostly dead software with no hope of upgrades or a mobile version. BeerSmith seems to do most anything I need it to do. My only complaint is how it doesn't seem to handle recipes vs. "sessions" (to steal from ProMash lingo).

I like have a recipe log, where I can keep all of my base recipes. From those, I want to create a "session" or log entry that is based upon my base recipe, where I can then make any tweaks or changes for that specific brewing session for that recipe. Unless I'm missing something, there is no easy way to do this in BeerSmith.

I have my recipes in "My Recipes". I have to copy it, navigate into the log, paste it, and then open it in order to get the recipe into my log. These seems simple but is actually a big pain. It really should be much simpler than this.

Am I missing something here?

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Sub'd since this has always thrown me off too and I feel like I have the program pretty well figured out at this point.

 

[govner1]

When I make changes to a basic recipe I save it under a different version number, i.e., v. 2.2


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[stpug]

Beersmith currently doesn't have the functionality you want but IIRC Brad recently said that was one of the features he's working on for a future release.

 

[atoughram]

I too am a ex-promash user... Before you brew, click on the recipe that you want to brew and click "Copy to Brew Log" or "Copy to Log". In you recipe folder, you will find a sub-folder called brew log with the recipe that you selected inside. The recipe in the log is independent from the original and can be modified to store such information such as OG and gallons in the fermentor.

At the beginning of the year, I create a folder within the "Brew Log" folder (2013 Brews) and put all of last years brew sessions in there.

Beersmith is structured differently than Promash - but now that I have that figured out, I really like it!

 

[vtfan99]

I too am a ex-promash user... Before you brew, click on the recipe that you want to brew and click "Copy to Brew Log" or "Copy to Log". In you recipe folder, you will find a sub-folder called brew log with the recipe that you selected inside. The recipe in the log is independent from the original and can be modified to store such information such as OG and gallons in the fermentor.

I didn't even see that icon hidden up there on the "ribbon". I will give this a try the next time I'm brewing. I would still like to see a feature as I have mentioned but this may be sufficient in the meantime.

Thanks.

 

[LLBeanJ]

At the beginning of the year, I create a folder within the "Brew Log" folder (2013 Brews) and put all of last years brew sessions in there.

This is very similar to what I do. I don't use the brew log, but at the beginning of every year I create a new folder with the current year as the name. Then I populate it with recipes as I brew them. If I need to check a recipe I brewed in the past, I open the folder for the year I brewed it and there it is.

 

[wbarber69]

I wish It was that easy on the mobile version.

 

[kenmcchord]

So I have a question about this, how does one move a recipe from one folder to another? Once a recipe is created in a folder I can't figure out how to move it to another folder which was frustrating the crap out of me last night.

It's probably operator error, I just couldn't figure out the folder structure or how to move items between folders.

 

[stpug]

So I have a question about this, how does one move a recipe from one folder to another? Once a recipe is created in a folder I can't figure out how to move it to another folder which was frustrating the crap out of me last night.

It's probably operator error, I just couldn't figure out the folder structure or how to move items between folders.

Drag and drop is how I do it

 

[Kingbogart]

I too am a ex-promash user... Before you brew, click on the recipe that you want to brew and click "Copy to Brew Log" or "Copy to Log". In you recipe folder, you will find a sub-folder called brew log with the recipe that you selected inside. The recipe in the log is independent from the original and can be modified to store such information such as OG and gallons in the fermentor.

This is the only way I've seen to do it. I think functionally it's the same as having sessions, it just puts it in a different location which is semi-annoying. It does let you have notes and numbers for each log recipe though, so you do have all the information you're after, just maybe not all in one spot.

 

[kenmcchord]

Drag and drop is how I do it

Hmmmmm, I tried that like a thousand times, figuring D&D ought to be the answer, but no luck. I don't know why but I find Beersmith completely unintuitive. But the truth is everytime I've gone into the program I've had a specific task in mind instead of giving myself a good tutorial.

I'm going to take a few hours this weekend to dig into the software, I owe it to myself to give this a chance. Just so I've said it, I am very computer literate and normally can figure out most any program I encounter.

I'll get this, just got to make sure I save my beer until after I dig into it

 

[HumulusHead]

You have to drag and drop on the file explorer pane that is on the left side of the window. It's a pane that you can open/close so it may need to be opened. You cant drag and drop on the main window where you view your recipes. That messed with me for a while. I guess I dont get why you can't do it there, it should be changed so you can.


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[wbarber69]

I have beersmith save everything to my Dropbox folder. It's like having 2 cloud backups of my recipes

 

[murphyslaw]

I do the same as mentioned above. I have recipes in "My Recipes" and then sessions in my "Log" folder. Its not very elegant, but I don't know of a better way.

 

[atoughram]

I do the same as mentioned above. I have recipes in "My Recipes" and then sessions in my "Log" folder. Its not very elegant, but I don't know of a better way.

It's just a different way of doing it - we were all spoiled with Pro Mash with certain features but like the updated features on BeerSmith. I still have both software's loaded on my computer but used BeerSmith pretty exclusively.

 

[kenmcchord]

You have to drag and drop on the file explorer pane that is on the left side of the window. It's a pane that you can open/close so it may need to be opened. You cant drag and drop on the main window where you view your recipes. That messed with me for a while. I guess I dont get why you can't do it there, it should be changed so you can.


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Ok so the explorer pane to the left doesn't show actual recipes, it only shows the file structure. Next to the file is a number indicating how many files (recipes) are in that folder.

When I built the recipe (hop stoopid clone I got from this site) I didn't realize that I had the root file folder selected. It appears whatever file folder you have selected when you build a recipe is the place where this recipe gets saved. That's the part I am not sure of. What I think I am sure of is that I can't move this recipe to the "Ken's Recipes" folder, which is where I'd like it to go.

I'mn attaching a screen shot, maybe it's still operator error. I am after all having a beer while typing

 

[murphyslaw]

You should be able to select the "Hop Stoopid Clone" recipe in the window on the right, and drag it into the "Ken's Recipes" folder, either on the left, or directly above.

 

[stpug]

You should be able to select the "Hop Stoopid Clone" recipe in the window on the right, and drag it into the "Ken's Recipes" folder on the left, or directly above.

That's how I do it

 

[HumulusHead]

You should be able to select the "Hop Stoopid Clone" recipe in the window on the right, and drag it into the "Ken's Recipes" folder, either on the left, or directly above.

Yup that should do it. Beersmith is a ill quirky if you ask me. But I sure do love it!


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[kenmcchord]

You should be able to select the "Hop Stoopid Clone" recipe in the window on the right, and drag it into the "Ken's Recipes" folder, either on the left, or directly above.

I agree, I should, but doesn't work. The file I grab gets very faint as I'm moving it and nothing really happens. Tried to move it above to the folder, tried to move it to the left panel, same results...it doesn't move. I have a Mac if that makes any difference.

I'll give this a fair shot tomorrow, I really only played with it briefly after my bike rode today. Thanks for the help, maybe we'll get this figured out.
k

 

[kenmcchord]

Was able to cut then paste to a folder, which accomplished the same thing. Never could get the drag and drop to work, but it does appear I've found a work around.

So much more to learn. I do think that Brad Smith's tutorials are really pretty good, I'll be going through them all before too long. I still think this program can be somewhat unintuitive but it's quite powerful and I'll be using it exclusively for my brewing needs.

 

[HumulusHead]

I haven't fully grasped the program either. But I def am going to stick with it, I agree that it is a super powerful program and am gonna stick to it exclusively. Eventually it'll be just like running any program, once I get used to it


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[brettg20]

Go to beersmith.com and post on his forum, he is pretty good about responding to questions


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[HumulusHead]

I haven't fully grasped the program either. But I def am going to stick with it, I agree that it is a super powerful program and am gonna stick to it exclusively. Eventually it'll be just like running any program, once I get used to it


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