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What's New in BeerSmith 3

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BeerSmith 3 has been redesigned from the ground up to make it easier to navigate and use.

 

New in BeerSmith 3.0

Major Features:

·Wine, Mead and Cider Support Added
·Support for Folders in the Cloud (and on BeerSmith 3 Mobile) as well as “unlisted” recipes
·Secure SSL/https data connection to cloud for data integrity
·Water profile tools and mash pH adjustment now integrated in the recipe builder
·Streamlined user interface including smart dialogs that hide unused fields for current task
·Temperature can now be specified for whirlpool hop additions
·A ton of new data – support for fruits, juices, honey, wines, new hop products, new add-ons…
·Boil altitude adjustments to adjust utilization for high altitude brewing
·Dozens of new features and fixes for brewers of all types
·New licensing system – tied to your cloud account lets you flexibly manage activations

Mead, Wine and Cider Support

·Recipe builder supports mead, wines and cider types and dynamically adjusts session data
·Mead, wine and cider style guides are now included with the program
·Report system customizes report to style of beverage brewed
·Support for juices, fruits, honey as native ingredients and most are preloaded for use
oYou can add new ones knowing just their brix value
·Equipment profiles for popular mead, wine, cider sizes as well as scaling support
·Support in the cloud for mead, wine, cider recipes and sharing
·Color icon system lets you choose color for mead, wine, cider
·Support for TINOSA and TONSA-2 mead nutrient system built into recipe yeast tab, along with GoFerm needed for dry yeast hydration – also available as separate tool
·Mead nutrients adjust down proportionally when using large fruit proportions
·Support for Brix as a gravity measurement – can be set in Options->Units
·Yeast tolerance field added for yeasts to provide accurate FG estimate for high gravity beers, wines, meads
·Backsweeten tool to add in backsweetening ciders, meads or dessert wines
·Added “none” as a carbonation profile option for still meads, ciders, wines
·Fermentation profiles updated to include extra stage for extended aging

New Beer Brewing Features

·You can now specify a temperature with each whirlpool hop addition for more accurate IBU estimation during the whirlpool/steep
·A more accurate utilization model has been added to carry forward boil hops into the whirlpool – check the “Estimate Boil Hop Util in Whirlpool” box in your equipment profile to enable it
·Altitude adjustment for hop utilization is available – set “Boil Elevation” in Equip profile
·New Water tab supports directly building a water profile in the recipe builder
oAbility to either include or exclude water agents using “Don’t include water agents” on water tab – to account for cases where water profile itself may already include water agents.
oYou can match a water profile directly from the water tab using “Match a Target Profile”
oOld “water volumes” tab is still available as a button “Detailed water volumes” at the top of the water tab.
oYou can now exclude gypsum as an addition in water tab or water profile tool
·Mash PH adjustment support for lactic, phosphoric and acid malt is integrated into the mash tab now so you can directly record acid ingredients and see effect on mash pH.
oThis allows you to make an “up front” pH adjustment in recipe as well as measure the mash pH to make a final adjustment
·Full support for juices, fruits, honey built into program now – adding a new juice or fruit is as easy as taking its Brix or gravity value and color and using it
·New “Use in” field for fermentable ingredients lets you add fermentables during steep, mash, primary, secondary and also supports new fruit, juice and honey types
·Yeast starter tab has been simplified and made dynamic so it only shows fields needed based on yeast type used (dry or liquid).
·Volumes for extract as well as water needed is now calculated for extract brewers
oAlso volumes for honey, grains, juice also shown so you can manage water needed
·Alcohol tolerance for yeast strains incorporated into the FG estimate for high gravity beers
·Refractometer tool now available as a pop-up in session dialog to make measurements easier
·Age profile now supports 4 stages for extended barrel aging
·Import tool to import BeerSmith 2 data on startup (also on File menu)
·Entire add-on feature reworked to show add-ons by type, and many new add-ons included
·Add-ons can be added from ingredient and profile “choose” dialogs to make finding new data easier
·Revamped fermentation readings section (session page) use current date and also allow for easy export to a CSV spreadsheet if desired
·Extract grain steep temperature field now added for extract brewers (session tab)
·Water additions, steep volumes, extract volume now shown for extract brewers (session tab)
·New mash profiles added for RIMS/HERMS brewers
·Notes, design and session tabs now show batch age in days for easier session management
·Support for display of multiple individual beer style guides at once
·Corrected bug in FG estimation that underestimated attenuation of yeast when working with a mash profile that incorporated steps at both low and high mash temps.
·Corrected bug that showed whirlpool hop additions in reverse time order on some displays
·Can now use “SG” as a data entry value for refractometer adjustments
oI recommend Brix or Plato if possible as some SG scales are not terribly accurate
·Added table sugar as an option in the carbonation tool

Cloud Integration Improvements

·Cloud now supports folders on both mobile and desktop – lets you manage recipes online
·New ‘Move to folder’ and ‘Copy to folder’ buttons simplify moving recipes or entire directories between cloud and local
·Secure connection (SSL/HTTPS) on both mobile and desktop for data and password security
·New sharing option for “unlisted” recipes that don’t show up in search results but can be located by your friends using a recipe id or sharing link
·You can rate recipes found online directly from the program now
·Cloud search now lets you find and share meads, wines and ciders
·BeerSmithRecipes.com site revised to support mead, wine, cider types as well as sharing

User Interface/Usability Improvements

·New neutral styling/color scheme to get away from 1990’s blue
·Simplified editing dialogs for ingredients/profiles to reduce complexity
·Recipe pages (i.e. design, session, etc) are all customized to recipe type now to show most important data fields relevant to extract, all grain, cider, mead, or wine brewing
·Other dialogs such as equipment editor, ingredient editors, etc…are all now dynamic as well and will display only fields needed to complete the current task based on data types
·Redesigned bookmark bar at top to feature most popular functions used
·Revamped many ribbon and tool bars to make it easier to understand/manage data
·You can now add new ingredients on the fly when choosing a new ingredient
·News feature shows important update announcements (a few a year)

Data Improvements

·New add-on system improved to make it much easier to manage add-ons by type (File->Addons)
·Wine, mead and cider style guides are added as default additions
·Basic fruit, Knudsen juices, cider apple varieties available as fermentables by default
·A large number of new misc items added as defaults to support beer, wine, mead, cider brewing
·New add-ons for cryo hops, hop powders, hop extracts, new fermentables, much more
·Revamped equipment profiles added to reflect most commonly used beer, mead, wine, cider types for brewers
·New mash profiles for RIMS/HERMS brewers included by default
·New carbonation profiles for “none”

Licensing/Activation Management

·Activation system was redesigned to support quick online activation via cloud account rather than retaining a key
·Licenses can be activated and deactivated from your cloud profile page
·Ability to have both permanent licenses and subscription licensing which will lower entry price point as well as options for professional feature
·New subscription options will give users free access to major upgrades plus cloud space
·New system will also support additional online recipe editing capability for the future

Bug Fixes/Stability Improvements

·Added extensive data checks up front to detect cases where users may have moved/deleted data external to the program
·Corrected resource leak that could cause problems when adding or editing a large number of new items
·Corrected bug in printing of shopping list that could cause crashes
·Most simple edits are now “modal” dialogs for profiles/ingredients which resolves a crash bug on some platforms and also simplifies user interface.
·Fixed issues with title scaling and close box on tabs for high resolution screens

 

New in BeerSmith 2.3

Major Features

oSupport for above HD window scaling and 200% font size on windows
o New "Session" tab consolidates overlapping data related to a session, and session data can be reset so you can track which data was entered for a given recipe
oBetter Recipe Editing (see below) with focus and keyboard shortcuts
oAdded mash pH estimator (based on water profile and grain bill) as well as a pH acid adjustment feature (for lactic, phosphoric or acid malt) based on measured pH on the Recipe mash tab
o  -- Also added a separate stand-alone mash pH adjustment tool
oCorrected a variety of focus issues so keyboard focus is saved as views/dialogs are changed
oWater can now be priced, inventoried and added to the shopping cart
oAdded water profile stats to water profiles including recommended brewing ion levels, Residual Alkalinity, hardness, chloride/sulfate ratio, bitterness profile of water - now available for all water profiles.
oAdded field for Mash Water Addition to equipment profile to allow for equipment that may have a significant recoverable volume under the mash screen and need more mash volume
oIncreased custom field display to 26 fields in Design view (up from 13)
oCan now lock/unlock recipes to prevent them from being changed (currently desktop onlY)
oLate sugar and extract additions now work properly for all grain, and partial mash recipes
oSignificantly modified late extract calculator to more accurately estimate IBUs as gravity changes over boil
oYou can now navigate folders via the title bar when viewing subfolders of My Recipes
oAdded options in equipment profile to allow carry over of remaining boil hops to whirlpool (for utilization)
o  -- This feature can also be used for "no chill" as it does a hop-by-hop calculation of IBUs added while cooling
oAllow override of "Another copy is running" error to account for case where crash on Mac creates stale lock file
oAdded support for CO2 Hop Extract as well as Isomerized Hop extract in recipes (in ml)
o   -- CO2 extract should be boiled - use alpha content for alpha percentage (typically 35-70%)
o   -- Isomerized extract need not be boiled - use iso-alpha percentage as the alpha percent for hops (typically 40-60%)
oYou can now record detailed fermentation gravity and temperature and graph it against age profile planned on session tab
oNew "Recover from Backup" command (File menu) lets you view or recover from automatic backups made
oMac version has better support for Retina devices now

Recipe Editing:

oYou can now add multiple items when adding ingredients by choosing the "Add Ingredient Without Closing" button from within the add dialogs
oAdded duplicate button to duplicate ingredients in recipe design view
oNew Hop Adjust button lets you adjust individual hop IBU contributions all at once
oIngredient editing now uses simplified dialogs with detail buttons
o   -- This feature can be turned off (use old dialogs) from Options->Look and Feel->Simplified Recipe Editing box
oFlexible sizing of recipe design view - now allows wider ingredient list on wide screens
oUndo button below ingredient add buttons can undo last ingredient change in design tab
o   -- Also allows undo of scale, convert, adjust gravity and adjust bitterness functions when recipe open
oAdded key shortcuts to recipe design view (only when list has focus) - Del=Delete, Ctrl-h = Add hops, Ctrl-M=Add Misc,
o     Ctrl-Y=Add yeast, Ctrl-G=Add grain, Ctrl-W=Add water, Ctrl-D=duplicate, Ctrl-s=Substitute, Ctrl-A=Select All
o     +/-/==Increment/Decrement amount, Ctrl-z=Undo Last Item, [ or ] will decrement or increment time for item
oYou can now cut/paste ingredients within the design view - use Ctrl-c (copy), Ctrl-v (paste), Ctrl-x (cut), Ctrl-A (Select All)
oIn-place editing of ingredient amounts from within recipe editor (Windows)
oFixed focus issues so focus remains on ingredient list as adds/deletes are done
oIngredients can now be multi-selected for delete/duplication and incrementing/decrementing
oNew field for carbonation based on measured final volume is below the carbonation estimate (based on est final vol)
oAltered formats on recipe design pages to allow ingredients, notes, mash to expand with window size
oAdded brew date to starter page and also calculator to estimate Dry Malt Extract needed for starter (tool and starter tab)
oCorrected discontinuity in mash temperature adjustments to FG estimates - now handles mash temps < 144 or > 159 properly

Lesser Features

oDisabled undo button when dialog editor is open - was causing confusion for many users
oEnter/Escape key now saves/cancels most dialogs and there is a look/feel option to allow closing of tabs also
oAll dialogs make better use of wide screens now - larger fields and graphs scale
oCorrected "Ctrl-z" to undo edits within a field (previously it did not work properly)
oButtons can now be activated using the space bar keyboard shortcut
oCorrected bug when adding mash step from recipe mash tab that could cause crashes
oCorrected bug in cloud that could cause errrors on cloud account above its recipe limit
oAllow "not fermentable" to affect FG for all grain types (previously was sugar, extract, dry only)
oAdjusted color schemes to be more neutral
oAdded "color" indicators and recommended ranges for water ions to water profile tool
oCorrected bug in water profile tool where selecting a water profile (base, dilute, target) did not update totals
oAdd of a folder in My Recipes now has an "undo" button
oCorrected minor math error with boil cool percent that could throw off pre-boil volume for very large cool percentages
oFixed '&' bug on Mac where using an ampersand in the recipe name could cause a crash
oCorrected Water Avail from Mash to reflect tun deadspace (previously not reflected in displayed value)
oProgram now gives you an option to upgrade your cloud space (if desired) when cloud space fills up
oYou can now set the number of digits after decimal (Precision) for the Currency under Options->Units
oCorrected rounding issue where values were sometimes shown as "x lbs 16 oz" when showing pounds and ounces
oAdded feature to allow "lock file override" if the program has a copy that did not close properly.
oImproved mouse wheel propagation for dialogs (however if you use the scroll wheel in a list it will still scroll the list)
oRemoved black background from style sheet that was messing up many people when printing
oMade BJCP 2015 Style guide the new default style guide
oIncorporated 2013 and 2016 yeast and hops add-ons in the default add-on

 

New in BeerSmith 2.2

oBeerSmith 2.2 has a simplified interface to make it easier to use and less cluttered
oA new Search All command was added to let you search all local recipes
oA new Cloud Search command gives you easy access to thousands of recipes others have shared on BeerSmithRecipes.com
oThe Recipe Archive was added - it stores all of your recipe adds, moves, edits and deletes so you can easily access older recipes or altered recipes
oAdded whirlpool/steep hop IBU contributions for steeped/whirlpool hops based on 90C/194F steep temperature and time/util
oGrains/Extracts/Sugars can now be marked as not fermentable (such as lactose) and will contribute more to FG now
oThe shortcut bars are replaced with a simpler view tree on the left bottom sidebar, with the ability to store and use favorites.  Right click on any item in the shortcut bar to add a new favorite.
oThe large ribbon was made optional (now off) for a cleaner overall look and feel - it can still be turned on from the View menu
oNew Equipment Wizard to make it easier to create equipment profiles
oThe Check Updates command can now download the newest version of BeerSmith in the background and will prompt to install it when done
oA Gravity Adjustment tool determines how much dry malt extract is needed to hit a target gravity level if your original gravity is off
oCSS is now supported for custom reports (Mac, PC) and new cleaner CSS based recipe report and brew steps were added
oFixed bug "Not enough space in cloud folder" that could occur with some non-cloud pastes
oFixed printing from tool views, and printing in general is smoother and less confusing
oBrew Steps are now opened in a separate tab (better viewing) instead of a "small font" window
oThe glass is now displayable in custom reports using the $GLASS tag
oChanged automatic backup file times so older backup files are kept longer without being replaced as often
oBetter error handling for corrupted options files as well as data file error handling to avoid losing reg key or data if a file is bad
oCopy Local and Copy Cloud commands added to cloud and local views for easier transfer (also on cloud search)
oYou can now customize columns in the the Inventory view and Ingredients in design view
oThe short items "ioz", "iqt", "igal", "ibarrel" can now be used in any field to specify conversion of imperial units
oA new simplified startup screen to help you get started

 

New in BeerSmith 2.1

oBeerSmith 2.1 has two major changes as well as a number of smaller updates included.
oThe BeerSmith Cloud folder is the most significant change.  It allows internet connected computers to share recipes via a cloud folder - so you can work from more than one computer.  It also is tightly integrated with our new web site at BeerSmithRecipes.com so you can share a recipe with the community and search from thousands of recipes others have created.
oThe new Brewday Timer is the second major new feature.  It gives you a mash/steep and boil timer for brewing your beer.  It displays step-by-step instructions for these two critical stages with an integrated timer and alarm to tell you when to add the next major ingredient additions or steps.

 

New Look and Feel for 2.0

oThe entire program was rewritten from the ground up to support tabbed and windowed browsing - making it easier to work with multiple recipes and tools.
oYou can open recipes, tools and other views in either a new tab or window
oA ribbon and integrated toolbars make all of the functions and tools more accessible
oThemes allow you to customize the look and feel of the program

 

Macintosh Support

oBeerSmith 2 is now available for the Macintosh, and both versions have compatible file formats and are nearly identical

 

New Recipe Design Tab

oThe recipe design process was also redesigned from scratch
oA beer glass shows you the color of the beer in real-time as you add new ingredients
oThe style guide comparison includes graphical bars to show which items are in or out of style
oThe expanded ingredient display can be sorted and now shows the current inventory of each item
oA section is dedicated to user selectable fields - rather than fixing a few fields in the display we let you choose the ones you want most when designing a recipe
oYou can now adjust grain percentages using the Grain Adj button next to the ingredients list

 

New Recipe Tabs

oWithin the recipe editor, we've added tabs to help you focus on individual pieces of the brewing process including extended session data
oThe Yeast Starter Tab can help you estimate the right size yeast starter to use with your liquid yeast
oThe Mash Details Tab lets you adjust and record details of your mash session - and includes a visual graph of the mash process
oA Fermentation Tab helps you manage fermentation, bottling and aging details.

 

Brew in a Bag Support

oWe now have mash profiles to automatically support Brew-in-a-bag (BIAB) brewing

 

Profiles for Carbonation and Fermentation

oBeerSmith recipes now support profiles for both carbonation and fermentation, making it easy to select the perfect bottling and aging profile to match your beer.

 

New Data Format

oBeerSmith now uses *.bsmx format files, an extended XML format that is easier to extend and add to as new features are added to BeerSmith
oBeerSmith can still freely import and export BeerSmith 1.x (*.bsm) files as well as BeerXML open format recipe files

 

New Tools

oA new Yeast Starter Tool will calculate your yeast starter size
oThe Water Profile Tool now has a button that will calculate the ideal water additions to match a given target water profile
oA number of other tools have been updated, revised and improved

 

New Add-ons

oThe new add-on tool lets you download and manage ingredient and recipe add-on packs from the BeerSmith website