New to brewing and BeerSmith. Have questions

[KennyB]

Hi guys, I'm new to brewing and BeerSmith. I finally got on here, but now what?  I have a RoboBrew and friends told me that I need to set my profile buy putting in RoboBrew as what I'm using. Where would I go to get all this setup?
  I also was given a recipe for a American Brown Ale before I came on here and bought the ingredients. How do I go in the numbers and will it start telling me the times and temps once I have that done?

Sorry about all the questions. Want to get started today if I can.

Thanks

[Oginme]

The first thing, as your friends correctly guided you, is to set up an equipment profile based upon the process you want to use.  There are tutorials for setting up your system in the BeerSmith blogs and on YouTube.  A quick search brought up the following listing: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=robobrew+beersmith+profile.  Watch through these and take notes on the information you will need to have to set up your own. 

Once you have a grasp on the type of data you need, start by clicking on 'profiles' > 'equipment' which will open up the library of profiles that are already in BeerSmith.  These are just templates for people to look at and modify to their needs.  You can add a new equipment profile by clicking on 'add profile' on the ribbon bar.  This will bring up a blank profile and will also allow you to use the 'profile wizard' to step you through the process of what the program needs for information.  The more accurate the information to begin with, the faster it will be to get the software accurately predicting your outcome for any brew you make.  That said, if you don't have the information readily available, the closer you can set the parameters to what you think they should be the better off you will be in the short run.  I also recommend stepping through gathering the data for your specific system as you will then have the understanding of where the numbers came from when you need to make adjustments in the future.

[KennyB]

Thank you, I'll take a look and hope I can get to that page again. I did get to that page where you go to equipment, but I don't see RoboBrew in there like it shows in that video.  Thanks for sending me that Brown Ale Info .

[Kevin58]

You should be able to navigate to the profiles on the left side of the screen. The top pane has your recipe folders and the pane under that has a directory of various tools. Expand the one that says Profiles and then select Equipment.

If you don't see a Robobrew profile in the list you may have to use the Add Ons feature to get it. There should be an icon at the top of the screen that looks like a puzzle piece called Add Ons. Click that and then you may need to click the button that says show Plugins For and find the appropriate category in the drop down menu. I don't recall which one you want but it is probably called Profiles or perhaps Equipment. If you find Robobrew on the list just click it to highlight it and then click the arrows pointing toward the window on the right. Just like that you have added the Robobrew equipment profile to your main list.

Close the Add On tool and go back to the previous step and select your new profile. Then follow Oginme's advise and take your required measurement to customize that profile to match you and your system. Remember, these profiles that are provided were designed by someone else to match not just their system, but the way they personally use it. Your Robobrew may be slightly different than theirs. The way you use it most certainly will be different. Measuring accurately all of you losses will make your use of Beersmith much more enjoyable.

Best of luck and happy brewing.

[KennyB]

Thank you very much guys. The start hasn't been easy, but I'm just once I get my first brew under my belt, it will get easier and more fun. I'll try those things out and I'm going to try start brewing today. Hopefully I can figure things out as it goes on.

Thanks again.

[Oginme]

Good luck with your first brew.  Remember the basics of sanitation, sanitation, sanitation and even if things don't work out perfectly, you will still have beer in the end!

[KennyB]

Thanks guys...  lots of questions and I keep trying to find videos. Just mashing now.