Time for another suggestion box!!

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jeff
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Time for another suggestion box!!

Post by jeff »

It has been a while since we have been in touch with all of you so I thought it might be a good idea to have an open forum where you can express some thoughts and ideas about BeerTools.com. Your ideas really help improve the site and we value them, so feel free to share your expressions; we will check this topic periodically!
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I know what I would like to see ...

Post by Azorean Brewer »

Merry Christmas to you Jeff, and Lathe, and the entire Beertools Staff.

One thing that I know I would like to see is a delete "recipe" button, You could perhaps add this next to the "edit" recipe button. You of course would have a confirm response pop up and that allow us to make sure that we wanted to delete say "Delete Recipe ABC-123 YES/NO" ...

I have a few recipes in the database that I have made once and only once and did not like the results, and some that I have never made, and wanted to see what it would yield, but want them gone.

I am sure that I am not the only one. I am sure that other users like my self have added a recipe or two to the database and realize that it needed improving, or elimination all togther.

Of course the owner would have the write permission to delete the unwanted recipe and this might help to free up some server space, what are your thoughts fellow recipe generators ?

Paul.
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Another thought ...

Post by Azorean Brewer »

In regards to the "Edit" recipe button, when I go in to edit a recipe because the end result of what I brewed was not exactly what I wanted and I want to make some slight changes, after I edit it and hit the calculate button the generator takes me to a page that forces me to make another click to "view the results of your change", it also writes the changes to the database automatically.

How about something like this. I go in and edit my recipe and hit calculate, the tool generates the changes and brings me right back in to the edit session so I can see my new result specifications. Once I see the spec's etc, I can either make additional changes and recalculate or hit a button that says "save to database" with confirmation to over writing the original recipe as intended.

I hope that this makes some sense, I don't know if I delivered the intended suggestion consciously enough ... let me know if further clarification is needed OK?

Thanks for asking,

Paul.
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Aren't you sorry you asked :-)

Post by Azorean Brewer »

OK, sitting here thinking about what could make this a better website than it already is, (which is not an easy task) but ...

How about a chat room where we could log on and see if there are any other fellow brewers interested in chatting about any brewing topic ... Is this possible here ?

Paul.
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Good one

Post by jayhawk »

I second this motion....
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Glad you asked...

Post by Dr Strangebrew »

Jeff, Lathe, et al.,

Just so you know 'where' my ideas are coming from... I am an all-grain brewer. I brew a wide variety of beers from ales to lagers. At any given time I store a wide variety of hops- I travel out of town to get them. I have a large bin containing a wide variety of base and specialty grains, and herbs and spices... The yeast that I use is from a wide selection that I keep on hand and is sometimes kept for a few months before a starter culture is made. Lately, I have been sampling the seasonal offerings from whitelabs. There are two closely related things that I would really love to see.

1) I would love to be able to keep an inventory of yeasts, grains, hops, and extras. I know that I could do this on a seprate spreadsheet program, but I formulate many recipes here. It would be great if I could assign such variables as degrees lovibond, and extract potential for grain; alpha acid percentage, whole or pellet, for hops, amount on hand, etc. to the corresponding items in my inventory.

2) This is a logical extension of point one. After loading my inventory into beertools, when I go to actually formulate my recipe I could have the option of using your database of indgredients, or my own inventory which will already contain the appropriate variables, alpha acid percentage... for hops. Extract potential and degrees lovibond for grain.

I believe that this would be very convenient to brewers, all-grain especially, and really any brewer who keeps a 'large' inventory. I do not think that I am alone, but I may be, in that I keep many items on hand at a given time. I have found that if I buy just for a specific batch, I don't have much leeway on brewday if I get a wild hair... if you know what I mean. Think you for taking the time to read this. You do trully have a great site.

Nate
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Absolutely

Post by Sapper »

I agree.
I would like to delete my recipes if necessary.

Also,
Is there any way to insure which recipes are good? I know we can comment, but barring brewing the concoction and posting a comment, how can we know if it is any good????

The internet is a dangerous place to look for beer recipes.
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A few thoughts regarding a delete function.

Post by jeff »

Thanks for speaking up, we appreciate all your ideas. This is not the first time we have received this request.

The lack of a delete button is not an oversight, and here is why. The recipe library is public and intended to be a resource for the entire home brewing community. The recipe library is not the place to store personal works in progress and experiments, although many folks use it for that. A delete button would render the recipe library a temporary arrangement.

Since the library is public, many people have bookmarked recipes in the library. The author's least favorite recipe might be the absolute favorite of someone else. Deleting these recipes would make them unavailable as bookmarked links.

We do appreciate that there are probably some really bad recipes in there somewhere which deserve removal. I think there is likely a way we can work out a deletion request arrangement where staff can have involvement in the removal of recipes. We have already done this informally with some members who have requested that their recipes be removed.

What do you think of a form where you can check off the recipes you want removed and submit these to us, then we can process the request after evaluating the recipes?
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Might work.

Post by jeff »

I have thought about your post for quite some time and initially I had difficulty working out the logistics of the realization of the idea. From a programmatic standpoint, it can work, even in the public format of the site.

Programmatic issues aside, I think your thoughts on expanded inventory capabilities would require a good understanding of malt analysis on the part of the brewer. Recipe results are calculated based on such parameters as Dry Basis Fine Grind, Fine-Coarse Difference and Moisture Content. Also, all ingredients are assigned a category for use by the Recipe Generator. Inaccuracies regarding any of this data will dramatically affect the results of a recipe. I feel that many visitors to this site such as yourself are up to the task.

We will keep your ideas in mind for the next major upgrade to the software. I don't mean to make it sound a long way off, it's just that significant changes would need to occur to implement these functions. Thanks for your thoughts.
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I think this is the best I can do.

Post by jeff »

Live chat is beyond the capabilities of both my programming skills and the server configuration. Hopefully this forum will suffice, sorry. :(
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No Problem

Post by Azorean Brewer »

Jeff,

No problem on the chat room, just trying to throw out ideas and stimulate the gray matter of all in this great community.

Paul.
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That could work ...

Post by Azorean Brewer »

Jeff,

The submission form could work, I would just like a way of removing one or two of my "undesirable" :-) recipes ... Sounds like a plan

Paul.
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Good timing.

Post by jeff »

We have a current project building a central recipe management area and I will work this into the mix. Thanks again.
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Here, try this.

Post by jeff »

Consider yourself a beta tester. Visit http://www.beertools.com/html/my.php and take it for a test spin. You will notice a provision for deleting your library entries there; hope it fits the bill.
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Dang ! ! ! Now that's what I'm talking about ...

Post by Azorean Brewer »

Jeff,

ONE WORD ...

AWESOME ! ! !

Great job ... View,Edit,Delete, now we're talking bitniz ... All I have to do is figure out how to use "Favorites" and "Saved Recipes" :-)

Cheers, I have said before, no place like Beertools ...

Paul
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