Adding Items To Your Inventory

Adding Items to Your Inventory

Your brewery inventory is where you keep track of the raw materials and supplies you use to make and package beer: malt, hops, yeast, cleaning supplies, can lids, labels, empty can sleeves and keg shells. This guide shows you how to add an item, how BarSight's three units of measure (UOMs) work together, and how that affects counting and purchasing.

Looking for your packaged kegs, cans and bottles? They aren't here. This page is for raw ingredients and supplies only. Finished beer that is ready to sell lives under Brewery → Packaged Products. Once you package a batch, the beer shows up there automatically and the cans, lids and labels used are taken out of this inventory. See The Packaged Products Page.

Before You Start

Open your inventory from Brewery → Inventory.
Switch to the facility that holds the stock. Each facility counts its own inventory.
If you buy items in bags, cases or other special units, it helps to set up those units first (see below).

[SCREENSHOT: The Inventory page showing items, their types, stock levels and the toolbar buttons]

The Three UOMs: Main, Display and Purchase

Every inventory item has three units of measure. Each one answers a different question, so you can count, read and buy an item in the unit that makes the most sense for each job, while BarSight handles the conversions.

Default UOM (Main UOM)

This is the unit BarSight uses to store the item. Recipes use it, batches use it, and your inventory is counted in it. Choose the unit you measure in most often, such as kg for malt, g for hops, or ea for can lids.

Only standard weight, volume and each units can be used here. If you change it after the item has been used, BarSight asks whether to update your existing recipes and batches to the new unit as well.

Display As (Display UOM)

This is the unit your team sees. It changes how stock is shown, nothing more. If your malt is stored in kg but your brewers think in pounds, set Display As to lb and the stock shows in pounds. Nothing about how the item is stored or used in recipes changes, and you can switch it at any time without recounting.

Purchase Units (PU)

This is the unit you buy the item in. It can be a standard unit, or a custom unit such as a 25 kg Bag, Case of 24 or Pallet. When you order or receive this item, you enter the quantity in purchase units, and BarSight converts it to your Default UOM for you.

Making a Custom Purchase Unit

On the item form, click New Purchase Unit in the Item box header.
Enter a Title (for example 25 kg Bag) and an Abbreviation.
Choose what it is Equivalent To and the quantity. For a 25 kg bag, choose kg and enter 25.
Save. The new unit is selected for you as the item's Purchase UOM.

You can also manage your units from Brewery → Settings. Once a custom unit has been used, its equivalency can't be changed.

How the UOMs Affect Counting

When you count or adjust stock, you can enter the quantity in whichever unit is easiest and BarSight stores it in the Default UOM. The unit view buttons in the header of the Inventory Items box (and the Counts box on each item) pick which unit quantities are shown in:

Stocked/base UOM shows the Default UOM.
Preferred display UOM shows the Display As unit.
Packaging/purchase UOM shows the Purchase Unit.

The setting is saved for you and applies across the inventory pages and the count forms. For example, if you have a stack of malt bags in the warehouse, switch to the purchase view, count 6.5 bags, and BarSight records 162.5 kg. If you walk the floor with a scale, switch back to the display view and enter pounds.

How the UOMs Affect Purchasing

The Purchasing Settings box on the item sets up how you buy it:

Preferred Vendor lets you build purchase orders quickly. The Vendor SKU prints on the order so your supplier recognizes the item.
GL Account matches the purchase to the right account for your bookkeeper.
Purchase Price is the default price you pay.
Price Per Unit tells BarSight what that price is per. This is the setting that makes your costs accurate.
Taxable and Purchase Tax Code set the default tax.

Example: Malt Priced by the kg, Sold by the Bag

Many malt suppliers quote a price per pound or per kilogram, but only sell the malt by the full bag. If you price it per bag, you have to do the math yourself every time the supplier changes their quote. Instead:

Set the Default UOM to kg.
Set the Purchase Units to your custom 25 kg Bag.
Enter the supplier's quote as the Purchase Price, for example 1.60.
Set Price Per Unit to kg.

Now when you order four bags, BarSight knows you are buying 100 kg at $1.60 per kg, so the order is $160.00, and the cost of every lot of malt in your inventory is tracked to the cent per kilogram. When the quote changes, you only update one number. The cost flows through to your recipes and batch costing.

If your supplier does sell at a flat price per bag, set Price Per Unit to Same as Purchase Unit instead, and enter the price of one bag.

If the Purchase Unit is a standard unit (such as lb), BarSight suggests setting the Price Per Unit to match. Custom units are where the Price Per Unit choice really matters.

[SCREENSHOT: Item form with Default UOM kg, Display As lb, Purchase Units 25 kg Bag, and Price Per Unit set to kg]

For more on costing ingredients, see Setup Raw Ingredients with Price Per Unit.

Item Types

The Type in the Setup box controls what an item can be used for. This is for your raw ingredients and supplies. Packaged beer isn't an inventory type.

Ingredient: Used only in recipes and batches. Malt, hops, yeast, adjuncts and additives. Ingredients can have a Substitution (an alternate item BarSight can offer if you run out), and yeast can be set to Re-pitch.
Consumable: Anything you use up that isn't a recipe ingredient: packaging materials like can lids, labels, case trays and caps, plus cleaning supplies, filters and retail items like hats. Consumables can also be used in batches, such as a one-time filter.
Container: The empty vessel in a packaging group, such as can sleeves, bottles and keg shells. A container needs a Volume and unit (a 355 mL can is 355 mL) so BarSight knows how much beer each one takes from the batch. See Defining Packaging Groups.
Resale / Deposit: Items you add to customer orders, such as a jockey box or a pallet, where a deposit is charged and later credited when the item is returned.

The type can be changed until an item has been used in a recipe, batch, packaging group, purchase or order. After that it is locked to protect your history, so pick carefully when you create it.

Adding an Item

Click New Item on the Inventory page.
Enter a Title and optional Brand.
Choose the Default UOM, Display As and Purchase Units.
In the Setup box, choose a Category and Type. For a container, enter its volume.
Set your Warn Level and Alert Level. BarSight flags the item when your stock falls below them. See Set Inventory Warning & Alert Levels.
Fill in the Purchasing Settings as above.
Click Save & Back. The arrow beside it also offers Save & New and Save & Duplicate Item to speed up adding similar items.

The form remembers the type and units from the last item you created, to save you time when you are adding many similar items.

Disable Auto Select

By default, BarSight automatically picks the oldest stock when an item is used in a batch or packaged. Check Disable Auto Select on items you want to choose by hand, such as lots you need to trace carefully.

Variations

A variation is a version of the same item that you buy and stock separately but use interchangeably. In the Purchasing Settings box, add a variation with a Title and optional Vendor SKU.

Common examples:

Labels: one item, IPA Label, with variations for each print run or design.
Can lids: one item, Can Lid, with variations Black, Silver and Gold.

Because it is still one item, your recipes and packaging groups only ever need to point at one thing. You choose the variation when you receive a purchase or create inventory manually, and each lot in the item's Counts box shows its variation. When you package a batch and select stock, you can see which variation each lot is, so you can pick the right lid colour or label. Variations are available for ingredients and consumables.

Counting and Managing Stock

Once an item is saved, the Counts box on the item page lists every lot with its variation, lot number, facility, quantity on hand, quantity reserved, received date and cost per unit. From each lot you can:

Edit Stock Level to correct a count. You're asked for a note so there is a record of why.
Transfer to Location to move stock to another facility, or use Bulk Action to transfer several lots.
Lookup History to see where that lot has been used.

Use Manually Create Inventory to add stock that didn't come from a purchase, such as your opening count, and Import Lot Counts to bring in many lots at once. We recommend taking one opening count when you start, then entering purchases and transfers through BarSight from then on so your numbers stay accurate. See Fix Inventory Fast with Create Manual Inventory.

Importing Items from a Spreadsheet

On the Inventory page, click Import CSV.
Choose the facility the items belong to, and whether they are ingredients or consumables.
Select your file and click Upload.
Review the data on the next screen. At a minimum each row needs a Title, Stock # and Unit of Measure (such as ea, kg or lb).
Confirm to add the items.

Choose Download CSV from the same button to get a file with every available column, such as purchase price, taxes and substitutions, to use as a template.

For the full list of columns, a downloadable sample file, and help moving over from Ollie or Ekos, see Importing Inventory from a CSV File.

Cleaning Up

Merge Item combines duplicate items, or merges one into another as a variation. It can also convert an item into a packaged product if you added finished beer here by mistake.
Remove Item takes an item off your active list.

Tips and Best Practices

Choose your Default UOM carefully. Pick the unit you measure in most often and let Display As and Purchase Units handle the rest.
Set a Price Per Unit that matches how your supplier quotes, not how they ship. It gives you the most accurate cost.
Use variations instead of separate items when you only need to tell versions apart, so recipes and packaging groups stay simple.
Give each unit a clear name, like 25 kg Bag, so there is no guesswork when ordering.

Troubleshooting

Problem: I can't find my packaged kegs or cans in the inventory.

Solution: Finished, packaged beer is under Brewery → Packaged Products. The inventory only holds the supplies used to make it.

Problem: I can't change an item's type or container volume.

Solution: The item has already been used in a recipe, batch, packaging group, purchase or order. Create a new item with the correct settings and merge or retire the old one.

Problem: My custom unit isn't in the Default UOM list.

Solution: That's by design. Default UOM is limited to standard units. Choose your custom unit as the Purchase Units instead.