I saw the suggestion forum. But I'm not sure if some of these features aren't already there and I just don't know how to use them, or if the enhancements are actually needed.
- BeerSmith doesn't differentiate between a recipe and a brewing session. I shouldn't be entering my measured boil gravity, or measured kettle volume into the recipe. For one, it makes it impossible to go back to a previous session and see what my numbers were. Right now I keep track of my session numbers in a separate excel spreadsheet. Ideally, there would be separate sections in BS for recipes and for brewing sessions, so I can go back and look at a recipe for a beer I brewed six months ago and see what my numbers were. I shouldn't have to keep a separate recipe around for every brewing session if I want to record my numbers in BS.
- Tweaking a recipe is cumbersome. Let's say I want to brew a slight variation on a recipe, either because I'm forced or want to do a substitution. Right now I have to make a separate recipe. There should be a way to set version numbers on a recipe *and* keep all prior versions of the recipe accessible. I'm aware of the version feature on the recipe design page but it doesn't save the old versions. It just lets you identify which version you're currently looking at. Honestly that version field looks like a stub that was never coded.
- Making changes to my equipment profile doesn't change existing recipes. I understand this is probably by design, but it makes the software painful to use. If I brewed a recipe six months ago, and have changed my equipment profile since then, I now must go in and "re-attach" the equipment profile to the recipe. This kind of ties back in to my first point - there's no differentiation between recipes and sessions. If I'm going to brew a recipe again with a new equipment profile, why do I have to explicitly tell the software to use the new profile? Isn't it obvious that if I'm brewing today that I'm going to be using the equipment that matches my profile? The software seems to think I'd want to set aside my new equipment and use the old equipment because the profile is static.
- There should be a way to turn off everything style-related. Some brewers could not care less about styles, but I'm constantly reminded that my beer doesn't conform to such-and-such style. I could not possibly care less. I brew what I want to brew. If it fits a style, great. If not, I don't care. I shouldn't have a bunch of red flags thrown in my face when looking at a recipe.
- Can you please make the carbonation and fermentation fields part of a profile that I can set? Every single time I enter a recipe, I have to change the carboation method to "keg" and the fermentation to "single stage".
- BeerSmith doesn't differentiate between a recipe and a brewing session. I shouldn't be entering my measured boil gravity, or measured kettle volume into the recipe. For one, it makes it impossible to go back to a previous session and see what my numbers were. Right now I keep track of my session numbers in a separate excel spreadsheet. Ideally, there would be separate sections in BS for recipes and for brewing sessions, so I can go back and look at a recipe for a beer I brewed six months ago and see what my numbers were. I shouldn't have to keep a separate recipe around for every brewing session if I want to record my numbers in BS.
- Tweaking a recipe is cumbersome. Let's say I want to brew a slight variation on a recipe, either because I'm forced or want to do a substitution. Right now I have to make a separate recipe. There should be a way to set version numbers on a recipe *and* keep all prior versions of the recipe accessible. I'm aware of the version feature on the recipe design page but it doesn't save the old versions. It just lets you identify which version you're currently looking at. Honestly that version field looks like a stub that was never coded.
- Making changes to my equipment profile doesn't change existing recipes. I understand this is probably by design, but it makes the software painful to use. If I brewed a recipe six months ago, and have changed my equipment profile since then, I now must go in and "re-attach" the equipment profile to the recipe. This kind of ties back in to my first point - there's no differentiation between recipes and sessions. If I'm going to brew a recipe again with a new equipment profile, why do I have to explicitly tell the software to use the new profile? Isn't it obvious that if I'm brewing today that I'm going to be using the equipment that matches my profile? The software seems to think I'd want to set aside my new equipment and use the old equipment because the profile is static.
- There should be a way to turn off everything style-related. Some brewers could not care less about styles, but I'm constantly reminded that my beer doesn't conform to such-and-such style. I could not possibly care less. I brew what I want to brew. If it fits a style, great. If not, I don't care. I shouldn't have a bunch of red flags thrown in my face when looking at a recipe.
- Can you please make the carbonation and fermentation fields part of a profile that I can set? Every single time I enter a recipe, I have to change the carboation method to "keg" and the fermentation to "single stage".