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Inventory quirk

mayzerbrau

Apprentice
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Jan 29, 2014
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Clayton, NC
This is not a bug but more of an operational quirk.  If you have multiple instances of an ingredient (such as a variety of a hop from multiple years with different Alpha) in inventory you must be very careful when adding to the shopping list or removing from inventory.

For the shopping list it will combine the hops under the same name and it will only use the inventory amount for one of the instances.  This isn't that big of a deal because when you are buying hops you usually only have one year available.  However it may give you an incorrect amount needed because it used an inventory amount you may not have anticipated.  Here is an example:  I have 3lb of Saaz that are 2.2%AA and 2lb of Saaz at 2.0%AA  I need to use 4lb of Saaz so I add 2lb of the 2.0 and 2lb of the 2.2 into my recipe.  I am using 4lb out of the 5lb available.  When I add this recipe to my shopping cart it combines them into needing 4lb of Saaz 2.0%.  However it incorrectly says I have 3lb of 2.0% available and tells me I need to by 1lb of Saaz hops when I have all the hops needed in inventory.  You could end up buying ingredients you don't need.

For the inventory issue it appears the software tries to match the Alpha in the recipe.  If the recipe shows Saaz 3.0% but the inventory shows Saaz at 2.2% and 2.0% it will tend to match whichever comes first in the list.  When you remove the inventory it may match the wrong item.  Make sure to adjust the recipe to match a specific inventory item.

My work around has been to add the harvest year to the hop name.  My Saaz2017 have 2.0% and my Saaz2016 have 2.2%.  This minimizes confusion in the inventory and shopping cart.  However I still make sure my recipe matches actual inventory names by substituting the correct hop as the 2016 inventory dwindles and I start using the 2017 crop.

 
Yes, indeed! The databases are driven by the item name, so each has to be unique. The additional fields don't seem to count as far as making the item unique. The same issue exists with fermentables and misc.

I've created unique names for each fermentable and hop ingredient. I use the source, year and AA% in an abbreviated code. I have a 2 to 4 letter code for the origin and source then the last two digits of the year, then the AA% as simply a 3 digit number.

It formats as: [Hop Name] OR SRCE yr:aa.a

The entry then looks like: Cascade US YCH 17:05.5 for 2017 US Cascade bought from Yakima Chief.

The advantages are
BeerSmith now sees each name field as unique.
If you buy from the same crop and supplier, the inventory updates.
If you have multiple crops or suppliers in your freezer, you know which one you specified for the recipe (inventory rotation).
You can have different prices for each.
You can better calculate the HSI for each item.

You will need to create a line for each hop before adding from the shopping list. You may need to change the shopping list name to match where you want the item to land in the database.

Over time, you may find yourself with several inactive hops in the database, which could get hard to sort. I simply delete the expired entries or update to a new crop & AA%. This doesn't effect anything in my log, since that represents what I actually used. For accuracy, I simply update new recipes in my log, as needed. 
 
Oh no! Are you telling me that in a mead recipe for example, if I have 4 entries of 3g Fermaid O on day 1, 2, 3 and 7 and Remove Inventory, it will only remove 3g instead of all 12g used?? If that's the case my inventory must be getting all screwed up, just think of the duplicate entries for brewing salts, multiple entries of hops at different times and dry hop. I HOPE that's not what it's doing.
 
NO.  He is saying that if you have several entries for a certain ingredient, such as hops, which have different properties, like %AA, that the program treats them as the same item if they have the same name and will remove the sum of all of them from inventory if you click on 'remove inventory'.  If you create a shopping list, they will show up summed up as one entry.

SO, for your Fermaid K, the program will treat the all as the same item with regard to shopping list or inventory removal.

It does create some thought to entering your ingredients to keep lots and variants of the same raw material separate for purposes of inventory management.
 
Yep.

To expand on Oginme's reply, a recipe points to items in your ingredient databases. In short, create an item in the ingredient database, using a unique name. Then add the item to a recipe. If it already exists, substitute the recipe item for the one named in the database (even if they're the same) so that BeerSmith can map the item for inventory.

BeerSmith will sum the items in a recipe for both inventory updates and the shopping list.
 
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