Keeping notes!

Now, because im coming into brewing my own AG batches and everything, I know more than anything to document everything. That way, if it tastes bad, i wont do it again. And if its amazing, i have it all documented! My question is this: Do you have a notebook for this, or use a laptop? Just curious how you have your recipes/notes/tips organized?

Pen and paper during the brew day, but I store all my notes in BeerSmith.

Mongrel said:

Pen and paper during the brew day, but I store all my notes in BeerSmith.

Click to expand...

I do the same thing but I use BrewTarget and keep my files in Dropbox.

When I started I wrote down the whole process - point by point. This often keeps you from making those dumb mistakes. Also I keep a log of each batch. This makes it easier to tweak the recipe. You cannot make a subtle change if you don't remember how you did it last time. So yes, write stuff down...it makes a difference.

Mike

BeerSmith is worth the 30 bucks for many Reasons, but keeping notes on each brew and a log of your brews is one of its useful abilities.

I just use a notebook. I write every detail down.

I have a separate notebook for my job that I do that with also. One for reloading ammo and one for my guitar notes/songs, geez I have too many notebooks around here.

Another vote here for Beersmith. I never brew without it. Plus, it really helps with recipe formulation.

Yea Beersmith is worth every penny.

However on brewday I love my dry-erase board! I'm still relatively new to all of this so I love having everything written out in HUGE front of me and it's easy to add/remove/check-mark and organize things quickly and you definitively won't forget anything when you're in the act of brewing. In addition I take a digital picture of the board afterwards and keep a digital file of it...for whatever reason.

I record everything with a video camera.

On brew day I'm usually watching Netflix on my laptop so Beersmith is conveniently right there to keep track of my notes.

I have a binder and use Beersmith or hopville.com to print out recipes and put them in the binder with the receipt stapled to them. For notes I keep them stored on my phone using color note, then later write them on the back of the recipe sheet. I got a tab in my binder for styles I want to brew, equipment I need, recipes I have brewed, and BJCP score sheets for reviewing my beers.

Just a composition notebook with recipes, gravity measurments, dates and tasting notes of this is really good or this sucks. I really can't laugh at the guys with complex setups, you should see my training journal. There are probably Olympic level athletes/coaches that are not as detailed as I am.

I use beersmith to design my recipes. I print out the brew sheet and BruNwater adjustments for brewday. I write all notes on the back of the brewsheet. After brew day is over it goes into a 3 ring binder. If I enter it into competition, the scoresheets get placed in the sleeve with the recipe.

I learned the hard way that if you want to make good beer and really understand what you are doing, you need great notes. Early on, I made some great brews. Then started delving into new techniques and water adjustments, etc. Eventually all my beer was lackluster and because I made so many changes without writing it down, I had no clue where I strayed. Fast forward, I now take detailed notes on anything relatively important. I know some brewers are fine with being a bit lackadaisical on their practices, but that is just not for me. Or anyone who is a slight perfectionist.

I do a couple of things.

1- The primary records go into a bound comp book. the first 15 or so pages are for general things i found on the net. ie mcmaster part numbers to keg o-rings, recipe for pressure canning quarts starter wort. formula to correct for high or low og. next section is recipes i have found in the wild that i want to try, about a third of the pages- 15/20pgs. that leaves the last 2/3s for brew day notes. The brew day notes have the recipe and commentary about how the day went. any differences in what the calculated temps/volumes were vs actual. the point is to record enough information in a chronological order so that i can make batches repeatable and dial in the software.

2 software, I use brew target. Each version of a recipe get its its own entry. Also equipments, ie 90 vs 60 min boil, old small mach tun vs newer big mash tun.

3 china markers. Between friends coming over to brew and unpredictable work scheduled, i have lost track of buckets before. with a china marker from mc-master i write the dates, gravities and names on the buckets. makes things simpler.

I'm using Evernote for logging details about the brew day, any racking for secondary or flavour additions, and also for bottling/tastings.

I wrote a blog post with my process here: http://bertusbrewery.blogspot.com/2012/03/how-to-keep-better-brewing-logs.html

Pen and paper notes for everything basically. Although truthfully, now that I keep a blog updated, it's kind of redundant.