September 2013 Release Live – Inventory and shopping list updates

This month we tuned up the inventory and shopping list features so the data flows more smoothly and gives more flexibility at the same time. This was based on user feedback in the feature request forum – thank you for the input!

Recipe Tools -> Add To Shopping List improved:

The Add Recipe to Shopping List screen now shows inventory levels, and allows changing the actual amount to add to the shopping list. Lines can be unchecked, which means they will not carry into your shopping list. Please note that hops require an exact match between hop name, hop AA, and hop form to line up.

Shopping List now groups related items and shows the total:

Shopping list lines for the same ingredient are now grouped together and the total is displayed. This works for brewers buying in bulk (for example a 50 pound sack used for several recipes), and brewers who plan to build up each recipe’s grain bill individually. I do it both ways. Sometimes at my LHBS I put the entire grain bill for a recipe into a paper bag, ready to mill on brew day. While other times I’ll buy a 50 pound sack of Pilsner or 2-row and use that over the course of several brews. Buying in bulk does save a little money though.

Shopping List -> Convert to Inventory screen improved:

The amount in your inventory is displayed and the amount purchased can be overridden.

For a given line on your shopping list, if you convert less than the full amount the line will be kept but the amount converted will be subtracted from the original amount. Eg – you wanted to buy 10 pounds of honey but they only had 4, so now your shopping list has 6 pounds of honey.

Ever been to the home brew store wanting 14.8% AA Magnum hops, only to come home with 16.4% AA? Everytime I buy hops the AA values are slightly different. The convert to inventory screen allows the actual AA value to be provided.

This screen is also a good place to compare what is in your shopping list vs your inventory.

Deduct from Inventory:
Deducting from inventory can now be done in a Brew Session after the Brew is created. Look for it on the Brew Session -> Edit tab. I often create my brew session when I make my yeast starter. For yeast starters I log the day I started it, the starter size, and the amount of DME (which the yeast pitch calculator tells me). However, at that point I’m not quite ready to deduct from inventory.

Other updates:

• Add Gervin English Ale Yeast – GV12
• Brew session page ‘back to …’ button improved so it understands where you came in from, instead of always pointing back to the dashboard.
• In the recipe editor, snapshot recipes now show a large banner above them indicating they are a snapshot and not a regular recipe.