Beersmith V1 V's Beersmith V2

[Wolfy]

I've been using BeerSmith (v1) for a while now, and it does everything I need it to, but in a simple and easy to view/edit/use way, most especially it displays ALL the recipe and all the info in 1 nice little screen (grainbill, yeast, fermentation temps, notes etc).

But I thought I'd give BeerSmith (v2) a trial - and so far I totally hate the layout, and while its obviously much more complex, I'm not sure what has been added that is actually useful.
However, I know lots of people have purchased it so I'd like to know what everyone thinks is so good about it ... and especially why is it better than v1?

I hate how it spreads individual brew-information is spread over 5 tabs*, I can't see my 'notes' on the first page and adding 'Selected Fields' gets cumbersome** when you have more than a few bits of info you want to see.
The 'Yeast starter' tap could be cool, but despite its overly complex setup, does not allow the use of washed slurry***, stepped starters, a different pitching rate for different types of ales**** or simply a 'starter cell densiity'*****.
The mash/fermentation graphs look pretty, but don't really do anything useful.
The cost information might be useful, but I can't see it as something I want to know or care about.

... what else have I missed that should make me interested in this new version, or am I just grumpy and like simple and old-fashioned software?

*This might be different if you print stuff rather than just use it on your computer like I do.
** I've got about 14 things there - mostly what BS1 would display on 1 page - but it only puts them all in a column down the page.
*** 'Yeast starter options' has a bit about slurry but on the 'Design' or 'Yeast Starter' tabs there is no way (that I could find) to select that you're using slurry.
**** Using x0.5 for English ales for example ... unless you change the generic rate.
***** I don't mean growth factor, I mean cell density in the starter eg: '100billion cells/ml'.

 

[bignath]

I completely agree with you Wolfy, i preferred the more simplistic layout of V1.

the nice colour schemes look all nice and modern, but i don't use it anymore....

Once Rob added the no chill option for Brewmate, i've been using it exclusively ever since.

The one thing that has always pissed me off about beersmith, is the lack of alarms. I'd have thought when so much of our hobby is worked around timing, that alarms would have been a pretty important feature. Love the brewmate alarms...

Not trying to turn this into another Brewmate vs Beersmith vs Beertools Pro vs Pro Mash vs Beer Alchemy argument, just trying to back you up mate, i don't get the new version and wished i'd saved my money.

I'm sure if i was running a brewery (commercial) then i'd need the extra features, but in the words of a well known brewer from QLD:

"Beersmith is like driving a B Double to the shops when all you need is milk." Couldn't agree more....

 

[felten]

I find the yeast tab useless. And the graphs are useless. And there is more clicking involved to get into tools/ingredients, and the print outs are a PITA.

The grain pct button is useful, as is having rager and tinseth IBU # on the recipe screen at the same time. Inbuilt BIAB features are handy if you're a BIAB'er, though I still rely on the BIAB spreadsheet for all my volume numbers in that regard.

But other than that it's basically got all the same info that v1 had, it takes some getting used to, but not better just different IMO.


I should add, I do not regret buying it at all, and would do so again.

 

[vykuza]

I've abandoned BeerSmith 2 altogether. I use BS1 occasionally (multi step mashes), and I use Brewmate now as my primary brewing app.

BS2 is clunky, hard to use, has terrible UI and layout and in no way makes brewing or my brew day easier. At its core it's got some amazing utility, but it's a nightmare to use. It's a step back IMHO.

 

[Carboy]

Me also,

After using V:1 for two years, its only taken V:2 two months to make think about moving to Promash.

V:2 is so clunky that I don't even use it on brew day anymore.... Personally I think they could have added V:2 extra features to V:1 without destroying its simplicity. Just my 2 worth :icon_cheers:

 

[WarmBeer]

Beersmith 2 doesn't crash when running it via Wine on Ubuntu.

Beersmith 1 does.

Good enough for me.

 

[Phoney]

There's a few things that annoy me. Namely this:

On the mash details tab you have the following fields:

End of Running Gravity
Mash Pre Boil Gravity

Then on the fermentation tab you have:

Meas Pre-boil gravity (into the boiler)
Measured OG (into the fermenter)
Gravity after primary
Measured FG

I only measure my gravity twice. Once into the fermenter, once at kegging. Yet if I cant be bothered going in and entering it in 6 freakin times (not to mention entering volumes 4 times) it throws out my efficiency calculations. This wasnt a problem in BS v1.4

 

[felten]

There's a few things that annoy me. Namely this:

On the mash details tab you have the following fields:

End of Running Gravity
Mash Pre Boil Gravity

Then on the fermentation tab you have:

Meas Pre-boil gravity (into the boiler)
Measured OG (into the fermenter)
Gravity after primary
Measured FG

I only measure my gravity twice. Once into the fermenter, once at kegging. Yet if I cant be bothered going in and entering it in 6 freakin times (not to mention entering volumes 4 times) it throws out my efficiency calculations. This wasnt a problem in BS v1.4

You don't have to (on my setup, it might be different because I'm set to BIAB). On the fermentation tab, you can 'ignore gravity after primary' and 'preboil grav/vol'. The efficiency is calculated from the post boil OG and measured batch size AKA end of boil volume.

The measured OG and measured FG calculate the alcohol %.

 

[stux]

Bs1 doesn't work on a mac, bs2 does, good enough for me

 

[seemax]

Obviously the biggest change is native Mac... but I tend to agree that it has become complex perhaps just for the sake it.

Maybe Brad felt if he didn't add a load of extra gadgets that (existing) customers wouldn't see it as a major upgrade, more of a v1.1 and wouldn't pay to upgrade.

Given I run a Mac in the house and a Ubuntu box in the brew shed it's been handy to formulate recipes on the Mac and use Dropbox to share them, plus as WB said it's more stable under Wine.

 

[joshuahardie]

I agree with you too Wolfy,

I love BS1, and assumed that BS2 would be an improvement.

While some things are better, 95% of my use of the program is to record recipes and view brewdays. For that BS1 is just easier for me.

BTW, this may have been covered elsewhere, but I use beersmith on a flash drive so I can move it between machines.
because in BS2 it stores all the files in a dedicated directory. For me this is F:/BeerSmith2

However if I move to a machine that reads the flashdrive as another drive letter, eg G: then all of my files cannot be read.

Is there a work around for this.

 

[dicko]

I have just done 6 years with Pro Mash but have recently changed to BS v2.

When I bought Pro Mash I had a good look at BS v1 and thought at the time that the Pro Mash was a lot easier to use.

Since using BS v2 and becoming familiar with how it works I enloy the prompting for ALL the information as it promotes exact repeatability with a brew.

I like the Brewsheet print out which I use in the brewery and it has provision for entering gravities and volumes and this info is easily transferred back to the computer program for future reference as well as being able to adjust for efficiencies etc.

It might be like driving an automatic truck compared to one with a 20 speed manual gearbox.
The auto is easy to drive but at times it robs the driver of the ability to be in the correct gear for the situation

I guess that this post is slightly :icon_offtopic: but I am enjoying using BS v2

Cheers

 

[Murcluf]

With all the moaning about BSv2 might be better to wait for BSv2 sp1 is released before upgrading from BSv1 or wait for BSv3. BSv2 is starting to sound like a BS ME or BS Vista story to me

 

[Cannibal Smurf]

I like the ability to open multiple recipes/tools in tabs, although I dislike having information for each recipe spread through multiple tabs...sure there's a lot more information available but it takes a bit of getting used to.
If Brewmate had a recipe list/preview screen like BS I would switch to that, however, I find it frustrating having to load recipes individually from files.

 

[Acasta]

I don't mind it.. To be honest, I was expecting more changes to it then there were. The layout takes some time to adapt to, but I find it works well because you can look at each section of the brew individually.

 

[hefejimbo]

I am one massive fan of Beersmith 2...

The ability to add grains via percentage makes life so much easier...

I have found that you can adjust settings to how you like, although they may be different to whatr you are used to..

The "add on" button will make life easier to add ingredients (once in the beersmith archieve)..

All in all, I loved beermisth 1, but know i love beersmith 2 even more!

Could not think of even contemplating a brew day without beersmith 2..

Cheers

 

[argon]

Whilst i like BS2... i don't find it all that much better than BS1. Sure the grain % and grain substitute are handy, but as Wolfy points out, spreading the info across many tabs is a bit naff.

Another thing that irks me is in the calender view it doesn't show the days of the week; ie Monday, Tuesday etc, just the numbers.

As with BS1 I still use Mr malty for yeast as i find the yeast starter tab/section pretty useless. Also, I still use EZwater Calculator as it's super easy to use and understand, giving me feedback on potential Ph etc. The BS water profiler doesn't really do anything for me. So these things weren't really addressed in BS2... that was probably my main disappointment in the BS2 release.

 

[drtomc]

Beersmith 2 doesn't crash when running it via Wine on Ubuntu.

Beersmith 1 does.

Good enough for me.

Really? I've been using BS 1 under Wine on Ubuntu for a couple of years. I've never had it crash.

Curious....

T.

 

[Pennywise]

BTW, this may have been covered elsewhere, but I use beersmith on a flash drive so I can move it between machines.
because in BS2 it stores all the files in a dedicated directory. For me this is F:/BeerSmith2

However if I move to a machine that reads the flashdrive as another drive letter, eg G: then all of my files cannot be read.

Is there a work around for this.

I'm having the same issues and would also like to know if there's a way around it

 

[joshuahardie]

I'm having the same issues and would also like to know if there's a way around it

This might work

I know I can change the assosicated drive letter in windows
this is under control panel --> Administrative Tools --> Computer Management
Then select disk management. right click on your flash drive and choose "Change Driver Letter and Paths"

You have to change the drive letter to the driver letter that the machine assigned the flashdrive when the application was first installed (i think)

It worked for me on my home PC, but it is a real pain keep changing driver letters, not to mention that on my laptop F:\ is assigned to a different drive. So to get around the problem, I probably have to reinstall BS2 to a different drive altogether. Maybe there is a better way?

Would be good if I could just tell the program to look in a folder inside the Beer Smith directory and it just looks for \\beersmith\reciepes rather than worry about drive letters.

If anyone has ideas I am all ears