Inventory won't update

I have searched for this and the lack of results makes me think this is an isolated issue but I can't seem to resolve it.

When I try to remove items from inventory, nothing appears to be removed from the inventory list.  If I go back and click "remove from inventory" from the recipe again, I get the dialogue telling me that I recently removed the items from inventory, am I sure I want to continue.  I click yes and then I'm told that I don't have enough items in inventory - which is true if the inventory was properly updated but, when I go to the inventory tab or simply look at inventory from within the recipe, the old numbers are still there.

For example - I recently brewed a chocolate milk stout, used 2 packets of s-04 yeast.  I had 3 in my inventory, entered into Beersmith.  I clicked "remove from inventory" and got the situation described above - the inventory tab shows I have 3 packs, the recipe says I have 3 packs in inventory but, if I try to click "remove from inventory" again, Beersmith tells me I don't have enough yeast in my inventory.  This repeats across all my ingredients, but the yeast is easy to track. 

It seems like part of the program is keeping an updated inventory but is not updating what I can view in inventory.  This is a real problem for me because I'm relying on inventory management as a core function of the software.

I'm running ver. 2.212 on a 2011 macbook pro running Mavericks, if that helps.

Unrelated, I've only used Beersmith on a single brew day and I hated the fact that the timer would not sound if the laptop screen went to sleep.  Any timer event should "wake" the screen and yell at me to get off my duff and get on my next hop addition.

I'll keep the screen from going to sleep if you'll tell me how to keep an accurate track of my inventory.

Thanks in advance,
Steve

Hi Steve

I had a similar issue with this at one time. I figured out that I had created multiple ingredients with the same name. BeerSmith was unable to separate these items based on the aggregate data inside the ingredient profile (source, manufacturer, AA%, etc). It seemed to only look at the ingredient name. 

I've since made sure to have unique item names for every ingredient and this resolved the inventory issue for me.

I'm not sure that's the issue I'm having but I appreciate the support. I haven't added much in the way of "custom" ingredients, opting for the inventory list already built into the software. In the yeast example, s-04 was already in there so it should be the same syntax in the recipe and inventory.

Also, it doesn't appear that *anything* from my grain bill was removed. I'm willing to allow that this is all some form of user error because this is the first time I've used the software. This part of the process seems pretty intuitive, though, so I'm not sure where the issue is.

I built up a moderate inventory based on the notion of being able to use beersmith to track what recipes I could make on short notice and build shopping lists for anything on which I was short. This issue is going to kill that functionality for me.

I did have to wipe my HD and reinstall beersmith, but I imported the old beersmith folder when I did so - is the problem related to that?

OK, let's work through this one layer at a time. I will probably cover some steps you've already tried. I use the inventory and shopping list extensively and it's accurate for me. I brew several times per week and order grain at the beginning of each month. I've noticed a couple of interrelated hiccups, but nothing like you're describing.

Are you using the Brew Log function? This will let you separately track each recipe produced from your master recipe. This includes changes due to ingredient availability, or just old fashioned tinkering. If you're not using it, you should.

With the exception of water, each and every ingredient should have an inventory count if you've added it. If it doesn't, you need to do one or both of the following.

In your Inventory view (not the same as the ingredient view), you should see all of the ingredients you have. You can sort by clicking any of the columns. If you don't see an item you know you have, click the appropriate add button in the ribbon. The popup window will be the entire ingredient list for that category. Find the item, highlight it, then input the amount you are adding to inventory. Incidentally, you can use negative numbers to subtract, too.

Open a recipe.

Check to see that each ingredient has an inventory amount equal or greater than needed for the recipe. If it's missing:

In the recipe design tab, go to the Substitute option on the right hand side of the ingredient box. Highlight an ingredient and replace it with the identical item from your ingredient list.

Do this for the whole recipe. You can use the search function and the Show Only Items in Inventory box to get to it quickly.

Once complete, use the remove from inventory function. Your inventory should be changed.

Brew Log - First I heard of it but it sounds like it fills a function I thought was missing but sorely needed.  The ability to track individual preparations of the same core recipe sounds awesome.  I'll have to dig more into that but I found enough information here: http://www.beersmith.com/forum/index.php?topic=37.0 to at least get me started.

I did go back to my first recipe and noticed that I had Carafa III listed but there are two versions in the Beersmith inventory - I had chosen the wrong one.  I fixed that (and a couple hop additions that had slightly different syntax), removed from inventory and BAM - success!  Did the same thing for the DIPA I brewed today and it worked just like it should.

I am getting turned around on Beersmith.  It's not an intuitive interface and the learning curve is steep - but I'm learning that it actually does have many of the features I thought it lacked - I just didn't know where to look.

Thanks so much for the help - I appreciate the time and expertise. 

Steve

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I need to spend more time in the "Tips" forum.  There's stuff in there that I didn't even know I was searching for - just assumed it wasn't there...