StrangeBrew Brewing Software

StrangeBrew 1.8 Release Notes

Upgrading:

If you are upgrading StrangeBrew from version 1.7, download the sb18_upgrade.zip file. Unzip this file into a temporary directory, and run the setup.exe file. This will install StrangeBrew 1.8 and the upgrade utility in your existing StrangeBrew directory. Run the 18upgrade.exe utility first to upgrade your database.

Note: I strongly recommend you backup your recipe database (in the /data/ folder) before upgrading.

For versions previous to 1.7, you can export your recipes to xml, then re-import them in 1.8. Some parameters (such as water treatments) will not carry over, and you'll have to manually re-enter them in the ingredient database.

New Features

Mash Manager improvements:

• Two new mash fields have been added to better model a mash: End Temp and Ramp Min, to represent cooling and ramping.
• See a colourful representation of your mash by clicking the "graph" button.
• Temp lost to tun is now saved with the recipe, rather than as a global option.
• There are two new water size calculations: "Misc losses" and a 3% wort volume shrinkage from chilling.
• You can now set the boil temperature for your area, which can affect mash step directions for infusions.

Batch sparge calculations

You can now have StrangeBrew calculate the water additions for two or three batch sparges, by adding them on the Mash Manager.

New dilution tab

Easily see the effects of diluting your beer to reach a target OG or IBU. You can add dilution information to your recipe report.

New HTML export

This feature saves an html version of your recipe, which you can publish on the web or print from a browser. Optionally select a CSS from the StrangeBrew directory to format your recipe.

New Refractometer Manager

Use this feature to perform various brewing calculations with your refractometer. Convert brix to OG, figure out the percent alcohol based on a final gravity hydrometer and refractometer reading, and more.

Evaporation

The evaporation factor is now stored per recipe rather than as a global constant. You can choose to calculate evaporation based on percent, or as a constant volume/hour.

Conversions

The Conversions screen can be kept open in the background. It now supports SG to Plato conversions.

New hops degradation calculator

Right click on a hop and enter the appropriate data to estimate how much alpha acid has been degraded over time.

New user-defined database feature

You can now use a database anywhere on your computer, which makes it easier to automatically back up your data for security. Use the Database tab on the Preferences screen to set this option.

New recipe sort order preference

You can now set the sort order for recipes on the Database tab of Preferences. You can sort by the old way (newest recipes last), by date, by name, or reverse order (newest recipes first).

User specified defaults

You can now set the default values for hop utilization factor, used in the Tinseth calculation. The number 4.15 is what Tinseth recommends, but you can set it higher or lower depending on the utilization you get in your particular brewery.

Misc improvements

StrangeBrew now remembers your screen size between sessions.

There's a new hop type for plugs.

Bugs fixed

• fermentables added to the kettle now appear correctly on the recipe timeline.
• xsl stylesheet updated so that Attenuation and Efficiency are not swapped.
  
• if a recipe has not been brewed, the current date appears on the recipe timeline.
  
• File->Delete now works.
  
• Program freeze on the message "There are no mashed or steeped grains-OG and Efficiency cannot change" fixed.
  
• Preferences now save correctly - you do not need to change preferences tab first.
  
• Misc ingredients - new ingredients are saved on import.
  
• Misc ingredients - you can now add more than one instance of the same miscellaneous ingredient to a recipe.
  
• Access Violation when a filter is selected without a folder selected.
  
• Enhanced alcohol estimation, which is more accurate at higher OGs.
  
• Malt percent now updates correctly when you first add a malt.
  
• Improvements to the import feature for forward-compatibility.
  
• Boiloff calculations are refined for longer boil times.
  
• Tinseth IBU estimate calculation is refined; the OG for each hop addition used to be the final OG of the wort. Now, the average OG for the span of the hop addition is used.
  
• Colour preferences not loading on program startup fixed.
  

Issues / Limitations

• When brewing a recipe, StrangeBrew will correctly convert from the current malt or hop unit to the units used to track stock. However, because the miscellaneous ingredient database supports *any* unit, conversion is not possible. Therefore, if you've selected a different unit for a miscellaneous ingredient than what is used to track that unit in the database, it will not be correctly tracked in inventory.

Last update: 24-Jun-2004