BeerSmith 3 - worth the upgrade?

[f00b4r]

Just as an FYI, although there is a Bitbucket based issue tracker (bugs, features, etc) the Facebook reports referred to are on the official page and seem to usually be fixed and pushed to the cloud within 24 hours so the developer is pretty responsive and users are getting the updates without having to keep track and download them.

 

[t2000kw]

I upgraded to 3 for no particular reason. The upgrade cost was minimal. I do not care much for cloud storage and can use my own storage if I wish to do so. I don't care for the subscription model so I got the basic program that will not require any payments until there is a major version upgrade, and even then, version 3 should still work, so I can decide if it's worth upgrading to 4 when that happens.

I helped beta test the Mobile Beersmith 3 for Android also and bought it, too. It's a nice way to have it close by if you brew outside or your brewing space is cramped. It has many of the features of the Windows program we're discussing now, too.

I believe there is a Linux version ow will be soon, and it's available for MAC and iOS.

There's a 21 day trial version on the features page if you want to give it a try. If you already have versioi 2 I would install it in a separate folder in case you want to just stick with version 2.

I believe Bewersmith Lite will be going away (it may already no longer be available).

Donald

 

[t2000kw]

Just as an FYI, although there is a Bitbucket based issue tracker (bugs, features, etc) the Facebook reports referred to are on the official page and seem to usually be fixed and pushed to the cloud within 24 hours so the developer is pretty responsive and users are getting the updates without having to keep track and download them.

When there is a problem, Brad (the developer) contacts the beta team, which I am part of, and asks if we have time, to test the fix. The last fix put in place was to fix the timer feature.

It may actually take more then 24 hours, but it does not take very long, either.

And no, the beta team does not get a free registered copy of the final program. :-( However, you do get a little more consideration for feature requests.

Donald

 

[f00b4r]

When there is a problem, Brad (the developer) contacts the beta team, which I am part of, and asks if we have time, to test the fix. The last fix put in place was to fix the timer feature.

It may actually take more then 24 hours, but it does not take very long, either.

And no, the beta team does not get a free registered copy of the final program. :-( However, you do get a little more consideration for feature requests.

Donald

I was actually referring to the Brewfather app in case there is any confusion. I just wanted to make sure that people didn't get the impression it is a really buggy app, e.g. the starter issue related to US users using US gallons for everything but asking for litres to be used as their units for their starters (and I thought we had a cludge in the UK!).
I am also looking forward to Brewfather potentially coming out with recipe synch with Braumeisters soon now that Speidel are moving to HTTPS in the next few weeks, pushing recipes from my brewing software to the BM and having it record the be via my Tilt just would blow me away.

TBH I was about to buy a year subscription to Beersmith 3 when Brewfather came along (although I prefer to pay to own software outright I don't mind fairly set subscriptions for indie software where it will keep the developer focused and the program being maintained and improved).
The things that held me back with BS3 and it's earlier incarnation is the UI (it offends my senses coming from a tech background but I understand how it has come about, it's just a shame V3 didn't take the opportunities to undertake an overhaul of it) and the second class nature of the iOS app (this is apparently being addressed in the newer version when it gets released, although I have not seen it so couldn't comment further).

You can probably guess what ring I have put my hat in but I think it is a good idea for users to try out a few recommended brewing softwares and make their own mind up, sometimes the little things can be important to individuals and I think until recently Brad has had very little real competition in terms of software quality and hopefully the end users will benefit from both of them improving.

 

[lonte]

I did upgrade BS2 to 3 as I did want the cloud improvements so I could work on my PC and then have the most current versions automatically available on the brewery Android Tablet. Unfortunately, the Android Pie upgrade broke the BS3 timer in the Android app and so while waiting for it to be fixed I looked around and found Brewfather. Once I was able to write the module to get my tilt data from craftbeerpi3 to Brewfather I was sold and paid for the Premium subscription. I've used Brewfather exclusively since, even after the fix to BS3 timer came out. Brewfather is missing functionality BS3 has but the responsiveness of Thomas the developer and the pace of development I believe will catch up quickly.