BCS and Beersmith?

Describe your system and processes, and post your config file.
el_hombre
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BCS and Beersmith?

Post by el_hombre »

Has anyone tried creating a tool that would take a recipe export from BeerSmith and create the steps for running a brew off it? It would be kind of slick if we could create ladder logic that had variables in it that are populated from a BeerXML file. For example:

1. Open ball valve
2. Idle for 5 seconds
3. Start heat to [Var1]
4. Hold for [Var2]

etc.
BREWMASON
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Re: BCS and Beersmith?

Post by BREWMASON »

That's a great idea!!! Sky is the limit as this product grows. Keep up the great suggestions and lets see if "Brewers Hardware" can take the BCS to the next level. :D
clearwaterbrewer
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Re: BCS and Beersmith?

Post by clearwaterbrewer »

Already posted in roadmap and feature requests:
http://www.embeddedcontrolconcepts.com/ ... f=11&t=622
dennisda
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Re: BCS and Beersmith?

Post by dennisda »

I actually have a beta of this that works.. its not release quality, but I got tired of changing recipes and then crawling through all the programming.

So it basically parses the XML into a tree, and then goes through and systematically interprets it. However, its hard-wired for my brew setup, so its not overly flexible yet.

If people think this would be useful, I'll see what I can do to pllish it up over the next few weeks....
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SamIam
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Re: BCS and Beersmith?

Post by SamIam »

I have a program that I wrote a while back that brings in recipe information from BeerSmith and updates my BCS. The way it works is you create a map within the program telling where specific data (sparge temp, strike temp, mash time, etc..) goes. For example, in my setup strike water temp is set in Process0 State3. So using some drag and drop functionaliy you create a map between those data points and where they are set in your process/states within BCS. Once you create your map it can be save and dosen't need to be changed unless you make a process change in BCS.

Once you tell the program where your BeerSmith Recipe.bsmx file is located all your recipe names get loaded. Then you just select your recipe and post an update to BCS and your programmed.

I've been using it for a few months now and it seems to be working good. I think JonW has been playing around with it as well. If anyone is interested I can post up some screen shots. I need to do a little more work on it so it can be deployable to someone else but if anyone is interested in doing some testing I'll see what I can do about getting a copy out.
BREWMASON
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Re: BCS and Beersmith?

Post by BREWMASON »

SamIAm, I would love to see some screen shots of it. Thank you very much.
JonW
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Re: BCS and Beersmith?

Post by JonW »

Here are some screen shots of the program that SamIam has done:

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bbrally
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Re: BCS and Beersmith?

Post by bbrally »

This is brilliant. The main impetus for me writing my own graphical interface was what I thought was a cumbersome and lengthy programming process. This sort of program would have solved most of my issues.
BREWMASON
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Re: BCS and Beersmith?

Post by BREWMASON »

SamIam, this is a very handy tool you have put together. There are a lot of robust features included in this application. You have bridged the gap between BeerSmith2 and the BCS-460! Very nice!
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SamIam
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Re: BCS and Beersmith?

Post by SamIam »

Thanks everyone for the kind words and thanks Jon for posting up some pics. Over the next couple weeks (or as soon as I have some time) I'd like to make some minor tweeks and then package it up so I can send it out for others to use. In case anyone wants to try it out or do some testing, I'll post back here when it's available.
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