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 |
o | You 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 |
o | Ability 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. |
o | You can match a water profile directly from the water tab using “Match a Target Profile” |
o | Old “water volumes” tab is still available as a button “Detailed water volumes” at the top of the water tab. |
o | You 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. |
o | This 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 |
o | Also 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 |
o | I 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
o | Support 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 |
o | Better Recipe Editing (see below) with focus and keyboard shortcuts |
o | Added 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 |
o | Corrected a variety of focus issues so keyboard focus is saved as views/dialogs are changed |
o | Water can now be priced, inventoried and added to the shopping cart |
o | Added 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. |
o | Added 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 |
o | Increased custom field display to 26 fields in Design view (up from 13) |
o | Can now lock/unlock recipes to prevent them from being changed (currently desktop onlY) |
o | Late sugar and extract additions now work properly for all grain, and partial mash recipes |
o | Significantly modified late extract calculator to more accurately estimate IBUs as gravity changes over boil |
o | You can now navigate folders via the title bar when viewing subfolders of My Recipes |
o | Added 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 |
o | Allow override of "Another copy is running" error to account for case where crash on Mac creates stale lock file |
o | Added 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%) |
o | You can now record detailed fermentation gravity and temperature and graph it against age profile planned on session tab |
o | New "Recover from Backup" command (File menu) lets you view or recover from automatic backups made |
o | Mac version has better support for Retina devices now |
Recipe Editing:
o | You can now add multiple items when adding ingredients by choosing the "Add Ingredient Without Closing" button from within the add dialogs |
o | Added duplicate button to duplicate ingredients in recipe design view |
o | New Hop Adjust button lets you adjust individual hop IBU contributions all at once |
o | Ingredient 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 |
o | Flexible sizing of recipe design view - now allows wider ingredient list on wide screens |
o | Undo 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 |
o | Added 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 |
o | You can now cut/paste ingredients within the design view - use Ctrl-c (copy), Ctrl-v (paste), Ctrl-x (cut), Ctrl-A (Select All) |
o | In-place editing of ingredient amounts from within recipe editor (Windows) |
o | Fixed focus issues so focus remains on ingredient list as adds/deletes are done |
o | Ingredients can now be multi-selected for delete/duplication and incrementing/decrementing |
o | New field for carbonation based on measured final volume is below the carbonation estimate (based on est final vol) |
o | Altered formats on recipe design pages to allow ingredients, notes, mash to expand with window size |
o | Added brew date to starter page and also calculator to estimate Dry Malt Extract needed for starter (tool and starter tab) |
o | Corrected discontinuity in mash temperature adjustments to FG estimates - now handles mash temps < 144 or > 159 properly |
Lesser Features
o | Disabled undo button when dialog editor is open - was causing confusion for many users |
o | Enter/Escape key now saves/cancels most dialogs and there is a look/feel option to allow closing of tabs also |
o | All dialogs make better use of wide screens now - larger fields and graphs scale |
o | Corrected "Ctrl-z" to undo edits within a field (previously it did not work properly) |
o | Buttons can now be activated using the space bar keyboard shortcut |
o | Corrected bug when adding mash step from recipe mash tab that could cause crashes |
o | Corrected bug in cloud that could cause errrors on cloud account above its recipe limit |
o | Allow "not fermentable" to affect FG for all grain types (previously was sugar, extract, dry only) |
o | Adjusted color schemes to be more neutral |
o | Added "color" indicators and recommended ranges for water ions to water profile tool |
o | Corrected bug in water profile tool where selecting a water profile (base, dilute, target) did not update totals |
o | Add of a folder in My Recipes now has an "undo" button |
o | Corrected minor math error with boil cool percent that could throw off pre-boil volume for very large cool percentages |
o | Fixed '&' bug on Mac where using an ampersand in the recipe name could cause a crash |
o | Corrected Water Avail from Mash to reflect tun deadspace (previously not reflected in displayed value) |
o | Program now gives you an option to upgrade your cloud space (if desired) when cloud space fills up |
o | You can now set the number of digits after decimal (Precision) for the Currency under Options->Units |
o | Corrected rounding issue where values were sometimes shown as "x lbs 16 oz" when showing pounds and ounces |
o | Added feature to allow "lock file override" if the program has a copy that did not close properly. |
o | Improved mouse wheel propagation for dialogs (however if you use the scroll wheel in a list it will still scroll the list) |
o | Removed black background from style sheet that was messing up many people when printing |
o | Made BJCP 2015 Style guide the new default style guide |
o | Incorporated 2013 and 2016 yeast and hops add-ons in the default add-on |
New in BeerSmith 2.2
o | BeerSmith 2.2 has a simplified interface to make it easier to use and less cluttered |
o | A new Search All command was added to let you search all local recipes |
o | A new Cloud Search command gives you easy access to thousands of recipes others have shared on BeerSmithRecipes.com |
o | The 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 |
o | Added whirlpool/steep hop IBU contributions for steeped/whirlpool hops based on 90C/194F steep temperature and time/util |
o | Grains/Extracts/Sugars can now be marked as not fermentable (such as lactose) and will contribute more to FG now |
o | The 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. |
o | The large ribbon was made optional (now off) for a cleaner overall look and feel - it can still be turned on from the View menu |
o | The Check Updates command can now download the newest version of BeerSmith in the background and will prompt to install it when done |
o | A Gravity Adjustment tool determines how much dry malt extract is needed to hit a target gravity level if your original gravity is off |
o | CSS is now supported for custom reports (Mac, PC) and new cleaner CSS based recipe report and brew steps were added |
o | Fixed bug "Not enough space in cloud folder" that could occur with some non-cloud pastes |
o | Fixed printing from tool views, and printing in general is smoother and less confusing |
o | Brew Steps are now opened in a separate tab (better viewing) instead of a "small font" window |
o | The glass is now displayable in custom reports using the $GLASS tag |
o | Changed automatic backup file times so older backup files are kept longer without being replaced as often |
o | Better 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 |
o | Copy Local and Copy Cloud commands added to cloud and local views for easier transfer (also on cloud search) |
o | You can now customize columns in the the Inventory view and Ingredients in design view |
o | The short items "ioz", "iqt", "igal", "ibarrel" can now be used in any field to specify conversion of imperial units |
o | A new simplified startup screen to help you get started |
New in BeerSmith 2.1
o | BeerSmith 2.1 has two major changes as well as a number of smaller updates included. |
o | The 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. |
o | The 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
o | The entire program was rewritten from the ground up to support tabbed and windowed browsing - making it easier to work with multiple recipes and tools. |
o | You can open recipes, tools and other views in either a new tab or window |
o | A ribbon and integrated toolbars make all of the functions and tools more accessible |
Macintosh Support
o | BeerSmith 2 is now available for the Macintosh, and both versions have compatible file formats and are nearly identical |
New Recipe Design Tab
o | A beer glass shows you the color of the beer in real-time as you add new ingredients |
o | The style guide comparison includes graphical bars to show which items are in or out of style |
o | The expanded ingredient display can be sorted and now shows the current inventory of each item |
o | A 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 |
o | You can now adjust grain percentages using the Grain Adj button next to the ingredients list |
New Recipe Tabs
o | Within the recipe editor, we've added tabs to help you focus on individual pieces of the brewing process including extended session data |
o | The Yeast Starter Tab can help you estimate the right size yeast starter to use with your liquid yeast |
o | The Mash Details Tab lets you adjust and record details of your mash session - and includes a visual graph of the mash process |
Brew in a Bag Support
Profiles for Carbonation and Fermentation
o | BeerSmith 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
o | BeerSmith now uses *.bsmx format files, an extended XML format that is easier to extend and add to as new features are added to BeerSmith |
o | BeerSmith can still freely import and export BeerSmith 1.x (*.bsm) files as well as BeerXML open format recipe files |
New Tools
o | The Water Profile Tool now has a button that will calculate the ideal water additions to match a given target water profile |
o | A number of other tools have been updated, revised and improved |
New Add-ons
o | The new add-on tool lets you download and manage ingredient and recipe add-on packs from the BeerSmith website |