Keeping Records

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Prime

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I am just curious what you guys keep track of for each brew. I am only doing extracts right now, so I am sure you need to track a lot more. So what should I put into my journal?
 
Everything!

Times, temps, quants, measurements, moon phase, pee breaks, etc.....

So that when you decide you want to duplicate a particular brew you can get really upset that you can't find your notes, especially when you took such good ones.
 
Prime, I am not being flippant, but everything.

Maybe I overdue it, but I right out all this instructions in a journal and then I take notes during the process. I record temps, times, gravities, everything I can. I am only about 10 batches in, but this has helped my brewing tremendously. My first few brews, something seemed to always happen that would really worry me. I was able to eliminate those things everytime I brewed again.

Another option is to use a brewing worksheet. I found some very good ones on this site:
Brewer's Lair

Under the make beer section, go to worksheets. They have ones specifically for extract, extract with steeping grains, partial mash and all grain.

This is a really good start to the minimum stuff you should recording.

Hope this helped and good luck!
 
Thanks.

The notes from my first brew are very sparse. I didn't keep track of things as well as I know I can. I have an idea of some things I can do differently next time. Just want to make sure I am not leaving anything out.
 
When I started I kept track of absolutely everything. Now I only keep track of things which vary from brew to brew (which isn't much once you have a consistent process going) or when something deviated from my typical procedure.
 
I only keep track of my numbers. 98% of brewing is repetition, and after a while, it is like clockwork. I just make sure I hit the right numbers.
 
I generally speaking can keep track of what I did for long enough to taste the final product before I forget. If it's worth making again, I write down everything: ingredients, procedure, temperatures, etc. If it's not, I don't bother with it. It helps that I usually am using a recipe and procedure I found online, so if my memory is fuzzy (as it sometimes is after trying the final product) I can go back to that and double check.
 
I use BeerSmith to keep track of my recipes, and print out a "brew day sheet" each time I brew. This gives me a sheet to write on, and then stick in the brew binder. I record the following metrics that are not provided by BeerSmith:

  • 1st Runnings Gravity
  • Final Runnings Gravity
  • Pre-Boil Gravity
  • Gravity into the Fermenter
  • Total volume into the fermenter
  • Start/End times for boil, mash, sparge, etc.
  • Gravity for samples along the fermenation process
  • Date and Gravity when racking to keg
 
Just looked up Beersmith. Looks like a nice program. I will have to keep that in mind for when I start to ramp up my operation.
 
+1 to beersmith. I used to write notes on my printed recipe sheets to keep track of gravities and boil times and any changes I made. Now I just set up the recipe in BS and keep notes about mash temp, gravity readings for runnings, boil volumes and in the file. I open my laptop while I brew and make changes on the fly if something changes or i have too much volume or whatever. Anything not included in the software forms I just put into the note field.
 
I keep track of times and what I added when etc.. all the normal stuff. I mostly do extract batches.

I did buy beersmith today and will start to use that.
 
I record many measurements and take notes on a sheet I created. Looking back at brews, I generally wish I had even more info. I'm getting my process dialed in, but until I have it very well understood and optimized I will continue to record a bunch of info.
 
Meh. I tried keeping track off everything my first beer or three.

But I also found it a waste of time. I keep the recipe in Beersmith and if I do some technique out of the ordinary, I'll make note of it. But all that record keeping is just one more thing people worry about IMHO.
 
Another option is to use a brewing worksheet. I found some very good ones on this site:
Brewer's Lair

Under the make beer section, go to worksheets. They have ones specifically for extract, extract with steeping grains, partial mash and all grain.

This is a really good start to the minimum stuff you should recording.

Hope this helped and good luck!

Marko- Thanks for sharing this brew site. It's got some really cool info, and the worksheets will definitely come in handy!!!

axr
 
I've noticed that my notes get shorter with each batch I brew, since I don't need to write down the usual stuff, just what differs.

Here's my standard formula (obviously some of this info is filled in after bottling):

Page number, Title, brew date
bottling date, number of bottles and sizes, cap code
Page number for longer notes, like for tasting or weird stuff I did
Ingredients, including @time if necessary

Any special instructions

Expected OG: ###, Actual OG: ###
Expected FG: ###, Actual FG: ###

For my one AG batch, I also measured gravity and volume on my runnings and used that to calculate pre-boil gravity and volume.


That probably wasn't as helpful as I'd been hoping... Oh well, take what you will from it.

The bit about the page # for notes is because I'm trying to separate the recipe and procedure from each instance when I brew it. Obviously, there's still some info on the recipe page that needs to get moved to the notes page, but I haven't fixed my habits yet.
 
It was one of my brew year's resolutions to keep track of the details of every brew I made this year. Didn't do so well. I'll usually print out the recipe then write down the OG. If I remember where I put the sheet, I'll jot down the FG. Usually I lose the sheet before I have a chance to transfer the info to Beer Tools.
 
I use beersmith as well and if there is anything noteworthy about the brew I add it to the "NOTES" box on the bottom of the recipe screen. In that same box I put gravity sample values and dates.

Noteworthy items include using a different yeast or a grain produced by a different company (very important not all grain is alike)

I would be screwed if my Computer failed !!!

-Jason
 
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