Overview

There are several steps which users should follow in order to make the most of BTP; doing so at the very beginning will save you frustration and enable you to begin to use the software to its full capacity as soon as possible. However, before proceeding with those steps, it might be useful to first identify areas of the program screen, and to then summarize how one typically uses the program from start to finish.

SCREEN LAYOUT (I am giving my own names to these areas of the main screen because it will be useful during explanations, and I haven't found where BTP does that.)

Menu Bar -- across top of window, and self-explanatory.

General Section -- the top one-third of the window (when viewed full screen); except when pop-up windows obscure it, this area remains in view regardless of which "Display" is selected or which "Tab" is chosen, and it contains fields for Recipe/File Name, Style, Author, Date, and other key information such as volumes, efficiency, and attenuation.

Display Section -- the middle one-third of the window which contains a 'Display' selection menu on the right side, top of the 'Display' section, which allows users to change the middle of the window to alternatively display "Ingredients", "Equipment", "Schedule", etc.

Tab Section -- the bottom one-third of the window which contains a series of tabs for "Style", "Analysis", "Schedule", "Carbonation", and "Notes".

Pop-Up windows -- a general term I use to describe the various 'Edit' windows, 'Browse' lists, 'Databases', and other various windows that BTP will open to display additional info and functions; they should each appear as a separate BTP window in your bar at the bottom of your screen.

SUMMARY OF TYPICAL USE

Upon opening BTP, you will be presented with a Session page showing either a completed recipe or the start of formation of a new recipe, depending upon how you have set your default, etc. The Session page always begins with an Ingredients display and Style tab, but before working on ingredients, it is best to start with the general section first, where you will insert information, as needed, to determine your batch size, and make some assumptions about how you brew (i.e., the efficiency, attenuation, and evaporation rate you estimate based on your experiences as a brewer or with assistance from BTP (e.g., calibration of your kettle and heat source, and the yeast 'Editor' which usually provides an attenuation range. Remember to make any necessary changes in the file name, too, so that you won't accidentally overwrite something you want to keep. Then, based upon the ingredients that you add using the browse button in the display section, or any modification of quantities in an existing recipe, BTP will indicate on the style bar-graphs, in the tab section, how well your 'recipe' fits into standard style-guidelines.

If you are an all-grain brewer, your next step will be to change your display to 'Schedule' to review your mash schedule; assuming that you have already calibrated your equipment in the 'Vessels' display, 'Schedule' will tell you the volume and temperature of any water additions to your mashtun, from mashin through sparge. Within 'Schedule', you can select either presets (and modify them as you choose), or create your own mashing schedule from scratch. After you've brewed your batch and fermentation is finished (including any secondary), you will reopen your recipe (hopefully you will have 'saved' it), and then choose the 'Volume Adjustments' display which will permit you to account for losses due to trub and raking, as well as the addition of primer.

Finally, you can then select 'Packaging' as your display and decide how you want to bottle and/or keg your batch. Assuming you took hydrometer readings before and after fermentation, you can compare those readings with what BTP predicted; if your initial reading was different than BTP, go to the 'Analysis' tab and insert your actual OG Reading and BTP will automatically display what your actual efficiency was. You can then insert your actual TG reading when all fermentation is finished, and BTP will automatically display what your actual attenuation was. When you are finished, BTP also displays information available regarding the nutritional content of your beer under the Analysis tab.