cmbrougham
Grandmaster Brewer
Hey Brad--had a couple ideas for some features that I don't think would be too hard to implement. Of course, I'm not a coder, so what do I know? ;D Anyway...
One thing that has always bugged me is how difficult it is to modify an existing recipe to reflect ingredients you have on hand. This occurs whether I'm re-brewing one of my own recipes, or modifying an imported recipe from another brewer.
I'm pretty anal about keeping my inventory up-to-date with what I actually have in stock. I use the brewlog and "Remove From Inventory" features religiously. Many times, I'll open up a recipe that calls for an ingredient that I don't specifically have, but I will have a close substitute. For example, a recipe will call for Briess pale malt, and I use Crisp Maris Otter. What I have to do now is take a note of the amount of an ingredient that's used, click the "Add Grain/Extract" button, select the ingredient I want to use, specify the amount I want to use, OK it, and then delete the original ingredient. Too many steps. What I've always wished for is a "Replace" or "Substitute" button that would take me to the inventory screen, where I could select the ingredient I wish to use, and then BeerSmith would replace the ingredient and (by user preference) keep the total ingredient quantity or change the quantity to maintain the gravity. The same feature could be applied to hops, as well.
The second suggestion hinges on the first, but would also leverage the power of the "Convert Recipe" function. Already, you have a database of ingredients that serve as replacements for one another, depending on one's style of brewing. I think a great feature would be a master "Replace Ingredients" function that would compare a recipe's ingredients to what you have in-stock, and then make suggestions toward suitable replacements. Not many ingredients have perfect replacements, but there's usually something close that would work.
Anyway, enough rambling. I hope this makes sense--post if I need to elaborate more. I think the first suggestion would be easy enough to implement, and would be a really great feature. The second suggestion would just be icing on an already really great cake.
Thanks for reading!
colin
One thing that has always bugged me is how difficult it is to modify an existing recipe to reflect ingredients you have on hand. This occurs whether I'm re-brewing one of my own recipes, or modifying an imported recipe from another brewer.
I'm pretty anal about keeping my inventory up-to-date with what I actually have in stock. I use the brewlog and "Remove From Inventory" features religiously. Many times, I'll open up a recipe that calls for an ingredient that I don't specifically have, but I will have a close substitute. For example, a recipe will call for Briess pale malt, and I use Crisp Maris Otter. What I have to do now is take a note of the amount of an ingredient that's used, click the "Add Grain/Extract" button, select the ingredient I want to use, specify the amount I want to use, OK it, and then delete the original ingredient. Too many steps. What I've always wished for is a "Replace" or "Substitute" button that would take me to the inventory screen, where I could select the ingredient I wish to use, and then BeerSmith would replace the ingredient and (by user preference) keep the total ingredient quantity or change the quantity to maintain the gravity. The same feature could be applied to hops, as well.
The second suggestion hinges on the first, but would also leverage the power of the "Convert Recipe" function. Already, you have a database of ingredients that serve as replacements for one another, depending on one's style of brewing. I think a great feature would be a master "Replace Ingredients" function that would compare a recipe's ingredients to what you have in-stock, and then make suggestions toward suitable replacements. Not many ingredients have perfect replacements, but there's usually something close that would work.
Anyway, enough rambling. I hope this makes sense--post if I need to elaborate more. I think the first suggestion would be easy enough to implement, and would be a really great feature. The second suggestion would just be icing on an already really great cake.
Thanks for reading!
colin
