Ingredients

Ingredients are the raw materials and supplies used in beer production, for example malts, hops, yeasts and packaging supplies. With ingredients you

• define the amounts of raw materials needed in recipes,
• keep track of ingredient stock balances and purchases, and
• calculate the ingredient costs of recipes and production batches.

Stock accounting records the price of every purchase batch. The prices are used in the cost calculation of recipes and of completed productions.

Ingredient properties

• Parent class: the ingredient class the ingredient belongs to. Only an ingredient class (not a brand) can be chosen as the parent class.
• Type: either
  • ingredient class: a generic name for a raw material whose supplier or brand does not matter (e.g. "Pilsner malt"), or
  • brand: a specific, usually commercial product (e.g. a particular manufacturer's malt).
• Name: the ingredient's name. The name must be unique: there cannot be two active ingredients with the same name. The name of a deactivated ingredient can be given to a new ingredient.
• Unit of measure: the unit in which the ingredient's amounts are handled in stock and in recipes. The unit of measure cannot be changed after creation.
• Minimum stock: the stock level below which the shopping list suggests buying, see Minimum stock.
• Marketing name: an optional name that can be used e.g. on labels.
• Notes: internal notes.

The units of measure are:

• piece: piece counts are stored to a precision of one hundredth, so fractional pieces (e.g. 0.5 pcs) are possible.
• volume: the amount is given in cubic metres, litres and millilitres. Volume is stored to a precision of one millilitre.
• mass: the amount is given in tonnes, kilograms and grams. Mass is stored to a precision of one gram.

Ingredient classes and brands

Ingredients can form a hierarchy: subclasses and brands can be created under an ingredient class. For example, a recipe can use the ingredient class "Pilsner malt", and production can then reserve and consume the brands created under it according to what is in stock (see Production batches).

A subclass or brand always inherits the unit of measure of its parent class, and only an ingredient class with the same unit of measure can be chosen as the parent class.

Creating a new ingredient

1. Open ingredients from the main menu and press register new ingredient.
2. Select the Parent class if needed. If the ingredient is a top-level class, select No parent class.
3. Select the Type: ingredient class or brand.
4. Enter the Name.
5. Select the Unit of measure (only if no parent class has been selected; otherwise the unit of measure comes from the parent class).
6. Press Add ingredient.

A subclass or brand can also be created directly from an ingredient class's page with the button create subclass / brand for this, in which case the parent class is already selected and brand is selected as the type.

Creating an ingredient is recorded in the event log.

Ingredient list

ingredients in the main menu shows all active ingredients as a hierarchy. For each ingredient it shows

• Ingredient: the name. Brands are marked with a © icon.
• In stock: the stock balance across all warehouses and shelf locations. The cell is highlighted in yellow if there are more reservations than stock. Clicking the balance takes you to the ingredient's stock movements.
• Reserved: the amount reserved for production batches. Click the cell to see which production batches the ingredient has been reserved for.
• Incoming: the amount that planned (unconfirmed) production batches will need according to their recipes. Click to see a breakdown.
• Unit cost / Actual: the sum of the purchase prices of the purchase batches in stock divided by the amount in stock, i.e. the average unit cost of your own stock.
• Unit cost / Estimated: the estimated price you have set yourself.

With the option Hide ingredients not in stock you can hide the subclasses and brands that are not in stock.

Once the account has suppliers, each ingredient's suppliers are shown under its name, and the supplier choice narrows the list to one supplier's ingredients or to the ingredients with no supplier (No supplier). Group by supplier shows the ingredients in a table per supplier: an ingredient with several suppliers appears under each of them, and the ingredients with no supplier come last.

Setting the estimated unit cost

The estimated unit cost is used in the cost calculation of recipes (see Recipes).

1. Click the ingredient's Estimated cell in the ingredient list or in a recipe's ingredient summary.
2. Enter an amount in the ingredient's unit of measure (e.g. 25 kg) and the Price for that amount, excluding VAT.
3. Press Set.

BrewOS calculates the unit cost from the amount and price given.

Ingredient page

Clicking an ingredient opens its page, which has the tabs:

• Home: the ingredient's details. You can change the name, parent class, minimum stock, marketing name and notes and save them with the button Save changes. As the parent class you can choose a top-level ingredient class with the same unit of measure, or no parent class. The type and unit of measure are shown but cannot be changed. An ingredient class's page also shows its Subclasses / brands.
• Warehouse: the ingredient's latest stock movements in all warehouses (date, warehouse, amount and value) and the balance before and after the movements shown.
• Purchases: the ingredient's individual purchase batches (date, warehouse, amount, price and unit cost). Purchases at estimated prices are marked estimate, and with the option Only estimated prices you see only them, together with the ingredient's current reference price. Clicking a purchase takes you to the warehouse's purchase page, where the amount, price and supplier of the purchase can be corrected.
• Suppliers: the suppliers the ingredient is bought from, see Suppliers.

Ingredient stock transfers and balance corrections are recorded through the warehouses, see Warehouses. Purchases can be recorded either on a warehouse's Purchases tab or on the Purchases tab of the Ingredients page.

Purchases

The Purchases tab of the Ingredients page shows the purchases of all ingredients in all warehouses, newest first (date, warehouse, ingredient, supplier, amount, price and unit cost). You can narrow the list to one supplier's purchases, and with Only estimated prices to the purchases at estimated prices. Clicking a purchase takes you to the warehouse's purchase page, where its amount, price and supplier can be corrected.

With the form Record ingredient purchase on the tab you can record a purchase for any ingredient: choose the Warehouse the ingredient is received into and fill in the other fields as in the warehouse's purchases (see Warehouses). The form remembers the warehouse chosen last.

Suppliers

You can register suppliers for ingredients. One supplier can have many ingredients, and the same ingredient can be bought from several suppliers. The Ingredients page has the tabs Ingredient list, Purchases, Suppliers and Shopping list. Suppliers are managed on the Suppliers tab.

1. Open the Suppliers tab and fill in the form Add a supplier: the Name and, if you like, Business ID, Contact person, Email, Phone, Website / web shop and Notes (e.g. how to order or the delivery time).
2. Press Add a supplier. The supplier's page opens.
3. Link ingredients to the supplier with the form Link an ingredient: choose the ingredient and, if you like, enter the Supplier's product code, the Package size (kg, l or pcs), the Pack price (excl. VAT) and Notes.

A supplier can also be linked on the Suppliers tab of the ingredient's page, where the links can be changed and removed (Remove supplier).

Each ingredient has one preferred supplier, which the shopping list suggests buying from. An ingredient's first supplier is always the preferred one; the option Preferred supplier changes it. An ingredient class is supplied by its own suppliers and those of its brands.

When a supplier is chosen as a purchase is recorded, the purchase is saved with the supplier, and if the supplier was not yet linked to the ingredient, it is linked. The chosen ingredient's preferred supplier is filled in on the form.

archive in the ⋯ menu of the supplier's page takes the supplier out of the choices and the shopping list. Purchases keep their supplier, and an archived supplier can be brought back with restore (see the archived ones with Archived too). Changes to suppliers are recorded in the event log.

Minimum stock

On the ingredient's Home tab you can enter a Minimum stock (kg, l or pcs) and save it with Save changes. The shopping list suggests buying when the stock left after production reservations falls below the minimum, even if no production needs the ingredient right now. An empty field removes the minimum.

Shopping list

The Shopping list tab of the Ingredients page shows what ingredients to buy, sorted by supplier. What to buy is worked out like this:

• Needed: the open ingredient reservations of confirmed production batches (consumed reservations are not included) and the ingredient's minimum stock. With Include draft productions, draft productions are included too: their reservations or, for a draft that reserves nothing yet, its recipe's ingredient amounts at the batch size.
• In stock: the current balance in all warehouses. When a recipe uses an ingredient class, the need can be met with the stock of any of its brands that is left over from the brand's own needs. A brand's need can only be met with its own stock.
• Shortage: the need that the stock does not cover.
• Order: the shortage rounded up to whole packs, if the supplier has a package size.
• Price (excl. VAT): the price of the packs or, without a pack price, an estimate from the ingredient's estimated unit cost or the average cost of its stock (marked estimate).

The lines are in the order the ingredient is first needed (Needed by); late means the need has already started. Clicking the need shows which production batches need the ingredient. On an ingredient class's line, the brand whose preferred supplier the class is bought from is shown, and also lists the other suppliers the ingredient can be bought from.

The time range (All needs, 14 d, 30 d, 60 d) narrows the list to needs starting within that time. Copy order copies the supplier's order as text to the clipboard, and Email opens an email to the supplier with the order lines written in. The ingredients with no supplier are last, under No supplier.

The shopping list is not saved but worked out again whenever the page is opened. When the ingredients you bought arrive, record them as warehouse purchases, and they drop off the shopping list.

Purchases at estimated prices

If an estimated price has been recorded for a purchase (e.g. the invoice has not arrived yet), a button … purchases at estimated price is shown at the top of the ingredient list. It opens the page Purchases at estimated prices, which lists all of the account's estimated-price purchases, oldest first, each with its reference price (Reference price now) if there is one. Click a purchase and record its actual price once the invoice has arrived. All costs calculated from the purchase's price are updated at the same time.

Deactivating an ingredient

The action deactivate in the ⋯ menu of the ingredient's page removes the ingredient from lists and searches. This happens immediately without confirmation, and a stock balance, reservations or use in recipes do not prevent it. Old recipes, production batches and purchases keep their references to the ingredient. The deactivation is recorded in the event log.