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Improve Brew Timer

pleonber

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Oct 1, 2016
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I find the BS Brew Timer hard to follow.

I really like the timer in the Grainfather App.  At each setup it gives clear instructions and requires you to acknowledge each step before proceeding.  BS Brew Timer automatically transitions to the next step.  I prefer the acknowledge then proceed method.

I would be nice to add steps to the timer like.  For instance, I'd like to be able to add a step to "connect counter flow chiller".

It would be nice to have a way to immediately silence an alarm.  It seems to go on for a per-determined amount of time.

-Pierce
 
I hope someone at BS is Reading this f?rum...

Besides the features asked for on the main message, I would suggest that the timer is improved to:

1 - allow for the confirmation of a step finishing: a step should be confirmed before the timer advances to the next step
2 - a temperature raise step should be treated as a separeted step;
3 - a step could be confirmed as completed even if its planned time hasn't elapsed (good for temperature raise steps)
4 - miscelaneous steps should be allowed (to provide for actions like stiring, chiller connection/disconnection, tun change, etc.)
5 - the timer schedule should cover the entire brewing session, including boiling and chilling (no individual timers for mash/boil)
 
pleonber said:
...

I would be nice to add steps to the timer like.  For instance, I'd like to be able to add a step to "connect counter flow chiller".

...

-Pierce

What I did was set up that step in the miscellaneous section under ingredients. Add it to your recipe and then it will be included in the timer.
 
antonioplais said:
I hope someone at BS is Reading this f?rum...

Besides the features asked for on the main message, I would suggest that the timer is improved to:

1 - allow for the confirmation of a step finishing: a step should be confirmed before the timer advances to the next step
2 - a temperature raise step should be treated as a separeted step;
3 - a step could be confirmed as completed even if its planned time hasn't elapsed (good for temperature raise steps)
4 - miscelaneous steps should be allowed (to provide for actions like stiring, chiller connection/disconnection, tun change, etc.)
5 - the timer schedule should cover the entire brewing session, including boiling and chilling (no individual timers for mash/boil)

While I can understand that this appeals to some people, I would prefer that:

1.  the step movement from one step to another proceed.  If the timer halts between steps waiting for the user input, you lose track of actual time the step was performed.  Personally, I brew away from my computer and have the sound turned up to get the aural indication of the next step and then check off that step on the printed brew day sheet.  The times when I am occupied and miss a step, I want to mark the time that the step actually happened and not mess up the total boil time.

2.  Not quite sure what you mean by this.  When I have done step mashes with a temperature step, it appears as a separate line in the timer and the timer goes off to signal the time for that step to begin.

3.  OK, while I do it on my print out, I can see where this can be useful to many people.

4.  As Kevin58 has commented on, this can be done by including non-material steps as misc, items and adding them to the recipe.  A user would need to do something similar anyway to include these steps in the timer.

5.  Personally, I like the split timer.  I don't go straight from the mash to instantly boiling.  It takes time to drain the mash tun or remove the bag, let alone heating the kettle to a boil.  I allow the mash timer to run, which gives me a time for performing these operations and checking my consistency. 

Just my take on these suggestions.
 
I'm not sure there is a good solution here. People have different ways of operating, and no simple timer will work for everyone. Offering enough options to cover all the bases gets complex, and potentially confusing, very fast. Putting a modest effort into improvements and producing something that works reasonably well for many people is probably the best that Brad can do, but that will still leave a lot of people unhappy.

I recently wrote my own timer to make it operate just the way I want. It has REALLY BIG numbers (288 point font) so I can read it from across the room, and some other features that I like. On the downside, it requires a separate file listing the brew steps and I need to generate that outside of BeerSmtih. If Brad can make a new one that I like I might use it, otherwise I will use my own.

--GF
 
The larger font would be nice on the desktop version.  Maybe add a configuration option to put the mash timer and the boil timer on tabs similar to the mobile app.  That would  allow the fonts to be bigger and allow the user to switch back and forth.
 
Should be a simply manual setup and allow to go for next step, if You forget turn on the timer at the begining. It happend to me so, I need to use another stopwatch app to control late finnings/hops addition.
 
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