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BeerSmith2 - Initial Feedback and Questions

Post #1 made 14 years ago
by Pat
An information thread on BeerSmith2 can be found here. Please subscribe to that topic as new information posts will be added there regularly.

Please use this thread for now to give any feedback or ask questions on BeerSmith2. (Before asking questions, study the information thread above first.)

Cheers,
Pat

Also please note the following important posts...

Please set 'Mash TUn Specific Heat to Zero
Last edited by Pat on 11 Jun 2011, 00:16, edited 5 times in total.
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Post #2 made 14 years ago
by BobBrews
I tried to download at the appointed hour and the site was frozen. It was on it's butt!. I thought that would happen so I had a plan "B". I had a beer and took a nap. I have been using plan "B" a lot. I fact I find it better sometimes to go straight to plan "B" rather than fiddle with plan "A". SHMBO has a list that is named plan "A". I will try to download again. If I fail I can always go to Plan............

EDIT
Bad news, I downloaded BeerSmith2! Now I have had too much plan "B"! Oh well I guess I will play with it tomorrow!
Last edited by BobBrews on 11 Jun 2011, 04:16, edited 5 times in total.
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tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV

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Post #3 made 14 years ago
by hashie
I'm impressed with BS 2, I especially like the sliders in the recipe design. A nice easy way to se if your beer is within style :)
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #4 made 14 years ago
by WhiteRhyno
Looks great so far.
Have had to spend a little bit of time getting my grain profiles right, and the fact I couldn't find an easy way to import my current inventory from v1 was a bit of a pain.
It is great to see clear definitions on everything, makes setting up your equipment so much easier. :thumbs:

Post #5 made 14 years ago
by PistolPatch
It's turned out really well. I think some of you know just how long it takes to convert recipes from unknown or dubious sources to suit your own equipment. This is going to save me hours :lol:!

For those of you who own 'Brewing Classic Styles' by Jamil Zainasheff and John J. Palmer, here's an equipment profile you can use to enter recipes from the book and then scale them to your own equipment.
Brewing Classic Styles Converter - All Grain.bsmx
To Install the Profile

1. Make sure BeerSmith2 is closed.
2. Open the file above. This will open up BeerSmith2.
3. Copy the profile (it might be hidden behind your main window depending on how you have BeerSmith2 set up) and paste it into 'Profiles' / 'Equipment'
4. Close the program but no need to save changes to 'Brewing Classic Styles Converter - All Grain.bsmx'
5. Re-open BeerSmith2 and you should see 'Brewing Classic Styles Converter - All Grain' in the same window as the other equipment profiles.

To Convert a BCS Recipe

1. Click 'Add Recipe'.
2. Select 'Brewing Classic Styles Converter - All Grain' as your equipment.
3. Type in the ingredients and amounts exactly as they are in the book.
4. Use the 'Scale recipe' button to scale it to your own equipment.

As mentioned in the description, the book uses a different bitterness formula (closely related to Rager) as opposed to BeerSmith2's default of Tinseth. So, don't get confused by the IBU's reading differently. The hops will have been scaled correctly.

I've tested this on three recipes and it's scaling very well but when I get some time, I'll try a few more and see if more fine tuning is possible or needed.

Cheers,
PP
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Last edited by PistolPatch on 11 Jun 2011, 13:01, edited 5 times in total.
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Post #6 made 14 years ago
by stux
Neat
Fermenting: -
Cubed: -
Stirplate: -
On Tap: NS Summer Ale III (WY1272), Landlord III (WY1469), Fighter's 70/- II (WY1272), Roast Porter (WY1028), Cider, Soda
Next: Munich Helles III

5/7/12

Post #7 made 14 years ago
by WhiteRhyno
Cheers PP, I am sure that converter will get a thrashing in my household, just purchased the book not to long ago and am loving it :drink:

edit: interesting to note that as soon as I changed the IBU calculations to Rager, it hit Jamils IBU's bang on :champ:

Post #8 made 14 years ago
by PistolPatch
Glad to hear it WR :).

It would be interesting to hear what recipes you (and others) try and see the difference in gravity and bitterness (using Rager) so as we get a good idea of how well it does work.

I've done the following three recipes though sometimes I had to substite a different grain as they weren't in the standard BeerSmith grains...

American Pale Ale (P. 134): Book = 1.056 OG & 40 IBU. BS2 = 1.057 & 38.8

Blonde Ale (P. 96): Book = 1.050 OG & 20 IBU. BS2 = 1.051 & 20.3

Flanders Brown (P. 224): Book = 1.070 OG & 21 IBU. BS2 = 1.069 & 21.8

Cheers,
PP
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Post #9 made 14 years ago
by Yeasty
WOW !!!

Just downloaded it had a quick look and I love it. I'll have a good play with it tomorrow when I've got more time but from first impressions it looks like a real winner.

:clap: :clap: :clap:

Yeasty
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Post #10 made 14 years ago
by WhiteRhyno
The one I have in at the moment is the Munich Dunkel recipe on pg 77 Book = 1.054 OG & 22 IBU. BS2= 1.055 OG & 22.4 IBU.

Will enter in a few more and let you know how it goes.

Post #11 made 14 years ago
by wizard78
I had a bit of a play with it last night, It's certainly looking good. Downloaded a couple of grain add-on's, which was a lot easier than the old beersmith. Will test it on a brewday within the next week.
[center]"All right, brain. You don't like me and I don't like you, but let's just do this and I can get back to killing you with beer."
[/center]
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[center]K.I.S.S., B.I.A.B.[/center]

Post #12 made 14 years ago
by BobtheBrewer
SOS ...---...

I have been following the set up guide for Beersmith 2 provided on this forum. I have got to
C. Make a Copy of the Equipment File
and have hit the wall. I have gone to "Profiles/Equipment", clicked on the profile I wanted, clicked edit, copy then gone to Tools, Options and tried to paste. No go. Press OK or cancel I'm told. As you may have gathered I am no computer expert. Can somebody please steer me in the right direction? Thanks,

Bob

Post #13 made 14 years ago
by WhiteRhyno
BobtheBrewer wrote:SOS ...---...

I have been following the set up guide for Beersmith 2 provided on this forum. I have got to
C. Make a Copy of the Equipment File
and have hit the wall. I have gone to "Profiles/Equipment", clicked on the profile I wanted, clicked edit, copy then gone to Tools, Options and tried to paste. No go. Press OK or cancel I'm told. As you may have gathered I am no computer expert. Can somebody please steer me in the right direction? Thanks,

Bob
Hey Bob,
If I am following you correctly, you are getting ahead of yourself.
Right click on the equipment profile you choose and select copy, then paste it into the same folder (pressing ctrl v works the easiest I find) and then rename it something unique.
Now to set it as your default click on tools then options, then click on equipment profile in the brewing section and select your profile you want to play with.


Hope this is what you were wanting.
Cheers and good luck
Last edited by WhiteRhyno on 13 Jun 2011, 19:27, edited 5 times in total.

Post #14 made 14 years ago
by PistolPatch
Thanks Rhyno!

Added a few more recipes in and I think it all looks good. The last one is a 90 minute boil. Also have put correct starting boil volume in now.

Here's the results so far...

American Pale Ale (P. 134): Book = 1.056 OG & 40 IBU. BS2 = 1.057 & 38.8

Blonde Ale (P. 96): Book = 1.050 OG & 20 IBU. BS2 = 1.051 & 20.3

Flanders Brown (P. 224): Book = 1.070 OG & 21 IBU. BS2 = 1.069 & 21.5

Munich Dunkel (P. 77): Book = 1.054 OG & 22 IBU. BS2 = 1.055 OG & 22.4 IBU.

IPA (P 186): Book = 1.065 OG & 64 IBU. BS2 = 1.063 & 66.8 IBU

Schwarzbier (P 81): Book = 1.047 & 30 IBU. BS2 = 1.050 & 30.0 IBU

Imperial IPA (P 189): Book = 1.080 & 284 IBU. BS2 = 1.082 & 284.3 IBU.

Will attach a new file that contains two profiles, one for the 60 minute recipes and one for the rare 90 minute ones.

Cheers,
PP
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Post #15 made 14 years ago
by WhiteRhyno
Cheers again PP, started to do the 90min one yesterday, this saves me from having to complete it.
Have 13 recipes from BCS loaded so far, the plan is to do the lot so I will send them through to you when I am finished.
So far it looks to be working fairly well, it's only with the high AA hops that there seems to be a little bit of inconsistency, sometimes with a difference of up to 2 IBU's on one addition alone.
Cheers
Rhyno

Post #16 made 14 years ago
by PistolPatch
You de man!. I'll send you through the above now if that helps.

The discrepancies are tiny which is great. Gravity ones might be due to different grain potentials at time of writing. Couldn't believe that 284 IBU one came out exact :argh:.

Thanks Rhyno!
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Post #17 made 14 years ago
by WhiteRhyno
PistolPatch wrote:You de man!. I'll send you through the above now if that helps.
Cheers PP, that would be great as there are a few on there that I have not done yet. I am just starting at the front and working my way through it :ugeek:

Hopefully it won't take me too long to get it finished
Last edited by WhiteRhyno on 14 Jun 2011, 05:59, edited 5 times in total.

Post #18 made 14 years ago
by Pat
Hi there guys,

The next instalment of the Beersmith2 Guide for BIABrewers has just been posted. It's one of the most important areas to get your head around in BeerSmith2 so take some time to really absorb the info there.

Has anyone got stuck into the guide yet? Is it making some things easier to understand? Please let us know here and feel free to ask questions once you have studied it.

We'll steal PP's converter above for the next instalment so many thanks to him and rhyno for writing it and testing it out ;).

Thanks,
Pat
Last edited by Pat on 14 Jun 2011, 13:28, edited 5 times in total.
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Post #19 made 14 years ago
by stux
Regarding IBU differences between BS1 and BS2

Another major change is BS is now correctly calculating the different IBU potentials between flowers/pellets. This is a change worth 10% in the IBU figures
Last edited by stux on 15 Jun 2011, 15:30, edited 1 time in total.
Fermenting: -
Cubed: -
Stirplate: -
On Tap: NS Summer Ale III (WY1272), Landlord III (WY1469), Fighter's 70/- II (WY1272), Roast Porter (WY1028), Cider, Soda
Next: Munich Helles III

5/7/12

Post #20 made 14 years ago
by wizard78
Just a quick word to say thanks to BIABrewer for the Guide to Beersmith 2. Very helpful!
[center]"All right, brain. You don't like me and I don't like you, but let's just do this and I can get back to killing you with beer."
[/center]
[center]Homer Simpson[/center]
[center]K.I.S.S., B.I.A.B.[/center]

Post #22 made 14 years ago
by BobtheBrewer
WhiteRhyno wrote:
BobtheBrewer wrote:SOS ...---...

I have been following the set up guide for Beersmith 2 provided on this forum. I have got to
C. Make a Copy of the Equipment File
and have hit the wall. I have gone to "Profiles/Equipment", clicked on the profile I wanted, clicked edit, copy then gone to Tools, Options and tried to paste. No go. Press OK or cancel I'm told. As you may have gathered I am no computer expert. Can somebody please steer me in the right direction? Thanks,

Bob
Hey Bob,
If I am following you correctly, you are getting ahead of yourself.
Right click on the equipment profile you choose and select copy, then paste it into the same folder (pressing ctrl v works the easiest I find) and then rename it something unique.
Now to set it as your default click on tools then options, then click on equipment profile in the brewing section and select your profile you want to play with.


Hope this is what you were wanting.
Cheers and good luck

Thanks for that. Right clicking never occured to me, part of the having OFD I guess,

Bob
Last edited by BobtheBrewer on 15 Jun 2011, 17:42, edited 5 times in total.

Post #23 made 14 years ago
by Pat
Thanks for the feedback above. I added a few more instalments yesterday but will take a break today as I have been looking at figures for too long and my brain started to play tricks on me last night :P.

Cheers,
Pat
Are you a "Goodwill Brewer?" Pay forward and Buy Some BIPs ;)

Post #24 made 14 years ago
by Pat
I'm holding off on writing more posts to the guide as Brad will be bringing out a patch later this week which fixes a few things in the release version. These fixes will make the guide much easier to write. I'll probably change the layout of the guide as well so it is easier to work through.

So, until then, happy brewing!
Are you a "Goodwill Brewer?" Pay forward and Buy Some BIPs ;)

Post #25 made 14 years ago
by Pat
I have deleted any posts of mine in this thread that referred to problems prior to Build 40. Make sure you have this latest build.

In Build 40...

[center]Please Change your 'Mash Tun Specific Heat Figure to Zero[/center]

To gain a better estimate of strike water temperature please for each BIAB Equipment Profile...

1. Open the profile.

2. In the top right secion, third field down, change 'Mash Tun Specific Heat' to zero.

3. Click OK.

Repeat this for all BIAB Equipment Profiles.

I am writing some more tutorials at the moment but they deal with some complex areas so will take some time to fine-tune. I trust you are finding your way around though and finding new things to explore every day. Even I am regualrly finding 'extra' things on a regular basis!

Cheers,
Pat
Last edited by Pat on 27 Jun 2011, 23:36, edited 5 times in total.
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