brew day worksheet

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hedge_87

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So I am new to homebrewing. brewed my first batch a while back and obviously didn't do enough research because it turned out horrible. I have done a lot of reading since them and although there are different opinions on just about every little step in the process. one thing seems to be agreed upon by all seasoned brewers and that is to record everything in the process so you can isolate what whent wrong or remember exactly what was done right if some how you make the best beer ever. i was just wondering if anybody had any kind of organized worksheet for recording information on. or atleast a list of everything I need to keep track of. Any help would be much appreciated
 
Here's mine.

2shared - download grainmethod.docx

The step by step language steps are obviously customized for my equipment, and leave out some steps that are obvious enough to be assumed.

I come from a production floor background, so my key driver was time management. I'm trying to figure out what steps can be run in parallel, and what steps take up too much time - then seeing what can be done to optimize those steps.

This is what led me to buy a better burner and plate chiller, and also made me understand what steps are truly gating my total brew time, and which steps aren't.

To that end, you can ignore my notes, and just look at the time table on the 2nd page if you want...
 
If you're brewing one of the better kits,it'll have a worksheet with the instructions. Or one that's downloadable.
 
i keep a notebook and just write down time and details that I do each step

ie 1:10 start heating strike water;
2:30 start boil, add 1.5oz columbus 14.4%

then i keep track of each gravity and temp check while fermenting, dry hop additions/amounts, bottle/keg volumes etc
 
Thank you all for the replies. i have already added the brewers friend website to my favorites. it looks as though i will be using that as a refence in a lot of different areas. this should help me keep stuff organized.
 
I use Beersmith and usually adjust my water and all that. But half the time I forget to follow the brew sheet exactly, and I rarely make notes of my brew day.

But you guys have inspired me! I'm right now making a spreadsheet that will have all of the recipe information and notes so that I can look back and know exactly what I did right and/or wrong. I usually have questions about previous batches, and this will allow me to look back and see exactly what I did.
 
I scribble my gravities and volumes all over the brewsheet printout and put notes on the back of the sheet. Once I'm done with cleanup I sit down and put it all in to Beersmith, then throw the brewsheet away. If I've had a bit too much to drink I'll put the brewsheet on the keyboard so I remember to transfer everything in the morning.
 
I use Beersmith and usually adjust my water and all that. But half the time I forget to follow the brew sheet exactly, and I rarely make notes of my brew day.

But you guys have inspired me! I'm right now making a spreadsheet that will have all of the recipe information and notes so that I can look back and know exactly what I did right and/or wrong. I usually have questions about previous batches, and this will allow me to look back and see exactly what I did.

Grab a notebook. When it comes to notes you should record everything about your brew day and each brew. I even record the weather, and what i'm watching or listening to on the tv/radio.

You never know when you will hit that PERFECT brew and wonder what you did. Just reviewing notes a week, month, etc later can make you 100% better.
 
I've been making an online notebook using "Microsoft OneNote." It creates a digital scrapbook or notebook with tabs and pages. For each batch I create a new section with the recipe on the first page, followed by a subpage for Brewing Notes, where I put in notes about each step of the process, and then daily entries with observations on fermentation, temp, etc. Then a subpage on drinking and tasting with entries about how it turned out and how taste changed over time. I also created a section where I keep tract of ideas, recipes, websites on brewing, etc. You can also share sections of the notebook by entering other peoples email addresses and sending them a link. I have the ap on my iPhone, so I can enter notes on the fly or sit at computer and pull up the website.


An enterprising web programmer could add that sort of function to a website like this one.
 
That's pretty much what I do in my notebook. I also use a gel pen to make it bolder. Recipe first with dates & times. Date & time of day for additional entries.
 
Grab a notebook. When it comes to notes you should record everything about your brew day and each brew. I even record the weather, and what i'm watching or listening to on the tv/radio.

You never know when you will hit that PERFECT brew and wonder what you did. Just reviewing notes a week, month, etc later can make you 100% better.

Man, that is a great idea! I'm leaving lots of "memo" space on this spreadsheet I'm making, just to record the details. I wonder what it would read like....

December 24th, 2011

12:15 pm Mashed 11 lbs. of grain and 168F water. Stirred vigorously.

Closed lid and popped open a Beels HOPSLAM! Oh yeah! That's tasty!

12:30 Glass is empty. Pop open another Hopslam! Good, but not as good as before... Maybe a shot of bourbon, just to see what it tastes like together??

1:00 pm Forgot to start heating sparge water. Getter bet going on that.

1:05 pm Whew, catastrfy avoiddd. What now? read notes... Ok, begin lauter. where'es my pail thingy?

1:15 pm. Found thing and popped another Hopslam. lauter time!

1:25 pm beer is gooood! oh**** forgot sparge water!

1:35 pm. sparge water cooling now. was boiling! lauter compltee.. f it.

1:45 pm adding spgr water.

1L5 pm left valve open. stupid ber! he he

2 forgot to lauter. hard to type. WTF? always like this... f it. too tired to brew. must go on.

215 fire upbk! forggggg check gravity.

240 boil over. fogt hops. restart timr add hops fck id my mometer///./????

3:45 took nap. feel a bit better. Hope my thermometer is not in the BK. Skipping chiller. too tired. looks like it's another NO CHILL brew.
 
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