Here's one home brewer's "wish list" of various bug fixes and enhancements I'd like to see made in the next release of the BeerSmith desktop software:
Extract-specific
1--> For extract batches, on the the Vols tab, it is calculating water amounts in the protected fields of the mash section (sparge volume and a grain absorption amount, for example). The problem is that the grain absorption amount is being included in the calculation of "total water needed." Amounts in the mash section should not be calculated, nor used in the total water needed for an extract batch.
2--> Please consider adding the volume of LME or DME in a recipe to the post-boil volume calculation. (See this thread for more info: http://www.beersmith.com/forum/index.php/topic,9547.msg39410.html)
Partial Mash-specific
3--> For partial-mash batches, extract added DURING the boil is being included in the calculation of estimated PRE-boil gravity on the Mash tab, and it should not.
Yeast Starters: Recipe Tab, and Tool
4--> Within a recipe, it would be helpful to display the Brew Date (which is currently available on the Design tab) on the Starter tab, as well. This would clear up the confusion that some people experience when examining the viability information. It's unclear, at first, whether the viability is "as of today" or "as of the brew date". Placing the Brew Date on this tab would make it more clear that the latter is correct. It would also give the opportunity to adjust the brew date from this tab, if desired, to change the viability and starter data.
5--> On the Yeast Starter Tool itself, it would be nice to have a "projected brew date" or "usage date" field, in addition to the Production/Harvest Date. That way, the user could test viability & starter size based on different usage dates, rather than only seeing viability as of today's date. I realize that the production date can be "backed up" to mimic a gap between given production/brewing dates, but that is not intuitive and can get confusing.
6--> I have suggested in the past a re-evaluation of the yeast viability algorithm (see this thread for specifics: http://www.beersmith.com/forum/index.php/topic,7584.msg30390.html). I'll mention that again here. I feel that the BeerSmith calculation is a bit too "optimistic" for older yeast packages. I prefer a more pessimistic (or realistic) view, and it would be great to be able to rely on BeerSmith as the "single source of truth" for all brewing calculations, rather than having to go to other sources to get what I feel are more accurate viability numbers.
Carbonation Tool
7--> On the Carbonation Tool, please consider providing carbonating entries for table sugar (sucrose/cane sugar), and honey, in addition to corn sugar and DME.
8--> On the Carbonation Tool, it would also be nice to show the required amounts in dry volume measures (tbsp, tsp) in addition to weight, where applicable.
General usability suggestion
9--> If possible, it would be nice to have all "measured" versions of fields default to equal the "estimated" versions of the same fields, unless/until the "measured" values are manually changed. For example, when creating a recipe, make the Measured OG/FG values always match the current values of Estimated OG/FG, until the user "overrides" the Measured values. It can be confusing to see defaults in the Measured fields that have no connection to the recipe being formulated.
10--> In the list of fields available to customize the design view on the recipe design tab, I think it would be more logical to rename fields so that they were grouped by data item rather than characteristic. For example, the alphabetized list currently groups all of the "Estimated" fields together, all of the "Measured" fields together, all of the "Primary" fields together, then "Secondary" fields together, etc.
My suggestion is, instead of this:
Est Bottling Vol
Est Mash Eff
Est Pre-Boil Gravity
. . .
Measured Bottling Vol
Measure Mash Eff
Measured Pre-Boil Gravity
The preferred sort (IMO) would be:
Bottling Vol, Est
Bottling Vol, Measured
. . .
Mash Eff, Est
Mash Eff, Measured
. . .
Pre-Boil Gravity, Est
Pre-Boil Gravity, Measured
Feature addition/improvement suggestions
11--> Idea for a new feature: a Diastatic Power calculator -- either as a standalone tool, or preferably, as a field on the Recipe Design tab. This would come in handy when formulating an all-grain or partial mash recipe, to ensure that the grain bill has enough diastatic power to convert.
12--> Sean Terrell has done some good work recalculating refractometer FG formulas. Incorporating this information into BeerSmith would be beneficial, IMO. See http://seanterrill.com/2011/04/07/refractometer-fg-results/ and http://seanterrill.com/2012/01/06/refractometer-calculator/ for information.
13--> This is more of a question, actually. I believe your ABV calculation is ((OG-FG)*131.25)/100. There are a few other calculations I have seen, which yield different results (varying up to .2-.3% ABV), and as a matter of curiosity, I'm wondering if you have considered the pros and cons of these other formulae before deciding on your particular calculation. Among those I've seen:
(76.08 * (OG-FG) / (1.775-OG)) * (FG/0.794)
(((1.05/0.79)*(OG-FG)/FG))
Extract-specific
1--> For extract batches, on the the Vols tab, it is calculating water amounts in the protected fields of the mash section (sparge volume and a grain absorption amount, for example). The problem is that the grain absorption amount is being included in the calculation of "total water needed." Amounts in the mash section should not be calculated, nor used in the total water needed for an extract batch.
2--> Please consider adding the volume of LME or DME in a recipe to the post-boil volume calculation. (See this thread for more info: http://www.beersmith.com/forum/index.php/topic,9547.msg39410.html)
Partial Mash-specific
3--> For partial-mash batches, extract added DURING the boil is being included in the calculation of estimated PRE-boil gravity on the Mash tab, and it should not.
Yeast Starters: Recipe Tab, and Tool
4--> Within a recipe, it would be helpful to display the Brew Date (which is currently available on the Design tab) on the Starter tab, as well. This would clear up the confusion that some people experience when examining the viability information. It's unclear, at first, whether the viability is "as of today" or "as of the brew date". Placing the Brew Date on this tab would make it more clear that the latter is correct. It would also give the opportunity to adjust the brew date from this tab, if desired, to change the viability and starter data.
5--> On the Yeast Starter Tool itself, it would be nice to have a "projected brew date" or "usage date" field, in addition to the Production/Harvest Date. That way, the user could test viability & starter size based on different usage dates, rather than only seeing viability as of today's date. I realize that the production date can be "backed up" to mimic a gap between given production/brewing dates, but that is not intuitive and can get confusing.
6--> I have suggested in the past a re-evaluation of the yeast viability algorithm (see this thread for specifics: http://www.beersmith.com/forum/index.php/topic,7584.msg30390.html). I'll mention that again here. I feel that the BeerSmith calculation is a bit too "optimistic" for older yeast packages. I prefer a more pessimistic (or realistic) view, and it would be great to be able to rely on BeerSmith as the "single source of truth" for all brewing calculations, rather than having to go to other sources to get what I feel are more accurate viability numbers.
Carbonation Tool
7--> On the Carbonation Tool, please consider providing carbonating entries for table sugar (sucrose/cane sugar), and honey, in addition to corn sugar and DME.
8--> On the Carbonation Tool, it would also be nice to show the required amounts in dry volume measures (tbsp, tsp) in addition to weight, where applicable.
General usability suggestion
My suggestion is, instead of this:
Est Bottling Vol
Est Mash Eff
Est Pre-Boil Gravity
. . .
Measured Bottling Vol
Measure Mash Eff
Measured Pre-Boil Gravity
The preferred sort (IMO) would be:
Bottling Vol, Est
Bottling Vol, Measured
. . .
Mash Eff, Est
Mash Eff, Measured
. . .
Pre-Boil Gravity, Est
Pre-Boil Gravity, Measured
Feature addition/improvement suggestions
11--> Idea for a new feature: a Diastatic Power calculator -- either as a standalone tool, or preferably, as a field on the Recipe Design tab. This would come in handy when formulating an all-grain or partial mash recipe, to ensure that the grain bill has enough diastatic power to convert.
12--> Sean Terrell has done some good work recalculating refractometer FG formulas. Incorporating this information into BeerSmith would be beneficial, IMO. See http://seanterrill.com/2011/04/07/refractometer-fg-results/ and http://seanterrill.com/2012/01/06/refractometer-calculator/ for information.
13--> This is more of a question, actually. I believe your ABV calculation is ((OG-FG)*131.25)/100. There are a few other calculations I have seen, which yield different results (varying up to .2-.3% ABV), and as a matter of curiosity, I'm wondering if you have considered the pros and cons of these other formulae before deciding on your particular calculation. Among those I've seen:
(76.08 * (OG-FG) / (1.775-OG)) * (FG/0.794)
(((1.05/0.79)*(OG-FG)/FG))