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Inventory questions

nostalgia

Apprentice
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Mar 29, 2009
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Is there any way to tell if I've already removed a recipe from inventory? I can't remember if I did it for a couple of recipes.

I've also noticed that if I've brewed a recipe and removed it from inventory in the past, the next time I try to remove it, I will get a warning that it was already removed. Is this normal, and will it be fixed at some point?

While I'm at it, it would be nice if there was visual confirmation that a recipe was removed. Right now it's completely silent after I press the button.
 
This is the one issue that keeps me from using the inventory feature of BeerSmith.  I keep a spreadsheet to track usage and inventory (as well as current pricing from different suppliers).  I there were a way to flag a recipe when in brew log to indicate the ingredients were 'removed from inventory' it would improve the inventory control function greatly.
 
nostalgia said:
Is there any way to tell if I've already removed a recipe from inventory? I can't remember if I did it for a couple of recipes.

I've also noticed that if I've brewed a recipe and removed it from inventory in the past, the next time I try to remove it, I will get a warning that it was already removed. Is this normal, and will it be fixed at some point?

This is where the proper use of the Brew Log comes in.

If you keep a folder of recipes or even several folders, when you're ready to brew one, use the "Copy to Log" function. Then, in the log, make any needed adjustments for that brew session and give it the date of the brew session.

You can have any number of identical recipes in the log, but they'll sort by brew date. Now, only the latest one to be added should be removed from inventory.  No real need to remember because you'll get the warning you described, if you have.

There is one bug, though. If you don't have enough of an item in inventory and follow the prompt to NOT remove the rest of the items, you'll get the "already removed" warning when you do remove items.

While I'm at it, it would be nice if there was visual confirmation that a recipe was removed. Right now it's completely silent after I press the button.

Yep. I 100% agree.
 
Thanks. I do use the brew log like that, but I still often forget to take the recipe out of stock, then realize it after I've finished another one.

Right now, for example, none of my inventory matches what's in stock. I'm trying to reconcile my past few brews with it, and there's just no way things will match up. I have no idea where it went wrong, and no paper trail from the software to be able to see what's happened.

Here is what I would LOVE: a record of actions. Just dump it to a file.

Code:
11/25 Removed from Inventory: Better than Pants best bitter
11/26 Added to inventory: <list of items>
11/28 Brewed: The Great Porter
11/28 Removed from Inventory: The Great Porter

I would weep with joy to have a text file like that. Now I'm weeping with sadness that I have to re-weigh my entire grain room and hop freezer, which I just had to do a month ago for this exact reason.

Yes, in a perfect world I would enter everything correctly and in a timely fashion. In the real world of being a solo brewery owner/operator, that does not happen, and having a paper trail would be fabulous. I would GLADLY pay extra for it.
 
nostalgia said:
Thanks. I do use the brew log like that, but I still often forget to take the recipe out of stock, then realize it after I've finished another one.

Hmmmm... That doesn't sound like normal BeerSmith operation. If you haven't taken a recipe out of inventory, it should let you without any popup, unless you're short on an ingredient. In that case, the bug noted previously applies.

I agree that an activity log would be helpful and the archive function does that for recipe changes. Adding functionality for other parts of BeerSmith would be welcome. However, that never changes the fact that inventory counts are just a part of the brewery business. From ingredients to yields to kegs to bottle caps, it all has to be counted.

As a solo brewery owner/operator, you're probably missing a lot of growth and business opportunity. Brewing is a team sport, not a solo one. There are more benefits to hiring someone than costs. Basically, every batch of malt you mill or grain out is time you could be spending finding new accounts. If you hire someone even part time to do that, you also have the hands to do all the inventory (and keg wash  :D). That's win-win!

 
One of the issues with removing the inventory once you copy a recipe to brew log is that I use the calendar function to plan brews in advance.  Currently, I have the next 5 months of brewing scheduled out and in the brew log.  That's currently 29 recipes.  Since I use the movement to the brew log to add the ingredients to the shopping list, I cannot at the same time remove the ingredients from inventory (being as they are often not yet in inventory).

My typical brew day is extremely busy with notes, testing and recording results, and dividing my time between running a farm and brewing (among dozens of other distractions).  Having a simple record or denotation of a recipe being removed from inventory would vastly improve the functionality and convenience versus my current spreadsheet.

Other aspects which are lacking in BeerSmith inventory management, such as price averaging or FIFO inventory control, can be managed to some extent.
 
Oginme said:
Currently, I have the next 5 months of brewing scheduled out and in the brew log.  That's currently 29 recipes.  Since I use the movement to the brew log to add the ingredients to the shopping list, I cannot at the same time remove the ingredients from inventory (being as they are often not yet in inventory).

Makes sense but sounds more difficult than it has to be. I have an annual calendar plan of specialty recipes and a 60 day projection of core recipe needs. I just load the log with a month's worth of recipes and purchase off of that. At the end of each month, I try to have nearly zero malt inventory. That makes inventory and reordering much easier.

Other aspects which are lacking in BeerSmith inventory management, such as price averaging or FIFO inventory control, can be managed to some extent.

True and both of those needs are outside the expectations I have for $20 recipe design software. By contrast, there is a budget-minded integrated brewery management package that does inventory and planning beautifully, but doesn't allow for much recipe information to be recorded. So, it dovetails pretty nicely with BeerSmith.

The only brewery software I know about that does all of the brewhouse record keeping, inventory management and production forecasting, that gets regularly talked about in this forum, has a starting subscription price of $500/month. It takes a certain production volume and staff to make that package work.
 
I'm new to BrewSmith, and pretty much of a computer illiterate, so I have lots of questions. One question is:
How do you update the prices for the stuff you have in inventory? Is there a button in here somewhere or do you just have to go thru the stuff one by one and do it by hand?
I guess I actually have another question too atm: when you add a grain or hop to the inventory, where do you get the info like moisture content, Potential SG, Yield, etc?
Thanks for any advice you can share ;)
JP
 
I'm a fairly new user of BeerSmith and can't seem to find how to (if possible) move "my entire brewery" between my desktop PC i use for keeping inventory, designing recipes et c. and the laptop I use when brewing. I have no problem at all exporting recipes and with a little trial and error I found out how to move any equipment changes made but I cant't find a way to export/import my inventory. Is there one (besides manually keeping the ledger on both machines?
 
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