BeerTools Discussion Forum

joshi wrote:Presets and example equipment. Many many people use fairly standard sized equipment, such as a converted keg (keggle), turkey fryer burner, 5 or 10 gallon round cooler, etc. I know there is a thread in the forums where you can go see what everyone else tested and used, but it would be REALLY helpful if you could choose these things from a list when you are defining your equipment.

+1 on this!

It would be cool to have presets for B3's Italian kettles, Megapots, the Polarware stuff and more. It would make the scheduling area a bit less daunting.


Mark

It's really not that big a deal to set up a Schedule. Do it once and it will all be clear.
It's easier in v1.5, as well.

The cool thing is that, since you do the same kind of mash each time, you only have to set it up once. Do that and it will automatically adjust itself to each new recipe you enter! Even easier than opening the calculator window.

I'd be glad to help anyone who wants to get over the hump of getting started with the Schedule. You can PM me and I could formulate a Schedule for you, but maybe we'd help the most people with another "How to set up a schedule" thread.

mranes wrote:

joshi wrote:Presets and example equipment. Many many people use fairly standard sized equipment, such as a converted keg (keggle), turkey fryer burner, 5 or 10 gallon round cooler, etc. I know there is a thread in the forums where you can go see what everyone else tested and used, but it would be REALLY helpful if you could choose these things from a list when you are defining your equipment.

+1 on this!

It would be cool to have presets for B3's Italian kettles, Megapots, the Polarware stuff and more. It would make the scheduling area a bit less daunting.


Mark

100% agree. As long as you include name brands/sizes of cooler based mash tuns, they'll all have the same heat data making it much easier for folks to use. I think it would be great to have this piece of data modular in that it can be downloaded/imported into your local copy. For example, as a new set of pots come out, the data can be uploaded as people do the work to populate. If one person does the calculation for an uninsulated sanke based MLT with a false bottom, it only needs to be done once.

Hi,

Great product, btw.

I want to read the descriptions of various grains in the DB. I select Ingredient DB-->Grains.

I can only read a small portion of the description before it gets cut off with an ellipsis (...). To read the rest, I have to add it to my recipe and then double click on it (that's the fastest way I have found), or, I have to go to Window-->Info.

It would be better to have a pop-up balloon come up on mouse hover with the full text. Another option would be to add 'Info' to the ingredient's context menu or to allow the user to double click on the item in the DB without adding it to the recipe.

What I got:

"Dingemans Munich malt undergoes higher kilning temperatures than pale malt. The resulting malt..."

What I wanted to see (easily for many grains):

"Dingemans Munich malt undergoes higher kilning temperatures than pale malt. The resulting malt will lend a full, malty flavor and aroma, and an orange-amber color. This malt can make up to 100% of the grain bill, but low diastatic power makes this malt unsuitable for use with adjuncts."

slothrob,

I have no problems setting one up myself. And thank you for offering to help those that need help. However. my suggestion was to help make that type of help unnecessary. I am suggesting things so that the scheduler system is more intuitive for the first time user.

I've written a lot of software, including some for non-computer using type of people. Just offering some suggestions to make the scheduling part more easily adopted. First impressions are important, and mash schedules are an integral part of brewing software.

I like the software a lot and am just trying to help it succeed. There are still a lot of first-time users out there.

merlin_r68 wrote:Hi,

Great product, btw.

I want to read the descriptions of various grains in the DB. I select Ingredient DB-->Grains.

I can only read a small portion of the description before it gets cut off with an ellipsis (...). To read the rest, I have to add it to my recipe and then double click on it (that's the fastest way I have found), or, I have to go to Window-->Info.

It would be better to have a pop-up balloon come up on mouse hover with the full text. Another option would be to add 'Info' to the ingredient's context menu or to allow the user to double click on the item in the DB without adding it to the recipe.

What I got:

"Dingemans Munich malt undergoes higher kilning temperatures than pale malt. The resulting malt..."

What I wanted to see (easily for many grains):

"Dingemans Munich malt undergoes higher kilning temperatures than pale malt. The resulting malt will lend a full, malty flavor and aroma, and an orange-amber color. This malt can make up to 100% of the grain bill, but low diastatic power makes this malt unsuitable for use with adjuncts."

You might try using the Window->Info panel. This gives extensive data on each selected item.

Ok, I understand now. I need to just keep that Info window open at all times (I thought it was modal at first). It would be nice to add the "Info" option to the right-click (context) menu for quicker access when it isn't already open.

joshi wrote:However. my suggestion was to help make that type of help unnecessary. I am suggesting things so that the scheduler system is more intuitive for the first time user.

It would be nice to have a few sample schedules and some common equipment bundled with the program. Another option would be for us to update the BeerToolsWiki once v1.5 goes mainstream.

I am making a recipe just using the ingredient database and I have to drag and drop the ingredient into the recipe. This is getting very annoying. If you could just double click on the ingredient to get it to go from the database to your recipe, that would be great. But as of right now loving the new program.

edogbert wrote:I am making a recipe just using the ingredient database and I have to drag and drop the ingredient into the recipe. This is getting very annoying. If you could just double click on the ingredient to get it to go from the database to your recipe, that would be great. But as of right now loving the new program.

Double-click is reserved for edit, but you can right-click the ingredient and select "Add To Recipe" if dragging presents a problem.

I am using a mac so a right click is not always there. i think that you should make the right click the edit option and the dubble left click the add to recipe. now that may just be me.

edogbert wrote:I am using a mac so a right click is not always there.

On the Mac a "right-click" is performed by holding the Control key while clicking the mouse. However, the new MacBooks allow right-clicks to be performed by holding two fingers on the track pad while clicking (pretty nifty)

I would like to be able to exchange grain in the recipe for grain in my inventory by dragging and dropping the grain on top of the item in the recipe.

bludrgn wrote:I would like to be able to exchange grain in the recipe for grain in my inventory by dragging and dropping the grain on top of the item in the recipe.

You can also use the "Replace In Recipe" context menu item to replace an ingredient selected in the recipe.

mranes wrote:Basically, just let me set a quart/pound (or other scale) brewhouse preference and then have the basic recipe printouts reflect this in how much mash water I need.

Mark

Is it possible for you to send me a PDF of the print-out that includes the information you want so I have a point of reference?

Thanks!