Do you put dates on your bottles/caps?

When you put dates on a bottle what date do you use. Brew date or bottle date?

I am just curious to see. I personally want to grab a brew and know when I brewed it so I know a true age.

Niether... I use batch number.... I can always reference back through my notes to determine the brew and bottle date by the batch number.

I just use a code on the cap that tells me what is in the bottle, if I need to know the brewing or bottling date I look it up in my notebook.

I keep a log of every brew in Beersmith, I put the code in the notes section of each brew and on the cap.

My code on the bottle cap is just an series of initials based on the name of the brew and if I am brewing a variation of the recip0e, which variation of it it is...

FOr example my Brown ale is called "Old Bog Road" if I'm brewing the third variation the cap reads "OBR 3"

The date of the recipe and when it was brewed is in my beersmith notes.

I run mine through the printer. I get 5 lines using a size 8 font.

I use 1" round Avery labels, #5410, Template 5112:

Batch #
Beer Style/Name (whichever fits best)
%ABW
%ABV
Bottled date

I'm waiting for someone to say they use bar codes...

I use those same Avery labels!

ifishsum said:

I just use a code on the cap that tells me what is in the bottle, if I need to know the brewing or bottling date I look it up in my notebook.

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Yeah, that's what I do as well. There's not enough room on the caps for dates. At least not with my bad handwriting.

geez... you guys sound like a bunch of scientists here (myself included).

Yep, date every batch with a sticky on the cap and the date bottled.

Jeffro said:

Niether... I use batch number.... I can always reference back through my notes to determine the brew and bottle date by the batch number.

Click to expand...

Same here.

I'm more simplistic. I keep a notebook & assign a letter of the alphabet for each batch. I just use a sharpie to mark the bottle cap on each batch.

jpass00 said:

When you put dates on a bottle what date do you use. Brew date or bottle date?

Click to expand...

If you consistently stick to something like the 1-2-3 method the date of bottling is fine, but the length of time that my beer spends in a primary, secondary or bottled from keg varies. From what I’ve experienced so far, in most cases my beer is best after around 8 weeks from brewing. Bulk or bottle conditioning has some overall effect, but the rule to wait 8 weeks still holds. For this reason, brew date is what is important to me and goes on the label.

In the begining I used the number code on the cap method, but at some point it all becomes a blur. At least a minimalist label keeps me from looking too stupid when someone asks what’s in the bottle. I picked up a labeling program from Staples for $5.99 that uses 1 x 2 5/8” labels. They’re cheap, come off easy and fit nicely on the neck of the bottle.

Well thanks for the ideas. But I like the printed labels...that's a nice touch.

I use 3/4 inch Staples #166132 labels that go in the laster printer- template 5472. I can get 3 small lines- I use the bottling date and name of the beer. I only label the bottle itself if I'm giving it away, otherwise just the cap.

I just fill up old boxes/6 pack carriers with my finished bottles and put the name of the beer and date it was bottled. It's neat to watch the boxes get filled up with different batch names.

i'll put something like Red, APA, IPA and so on, and i put my bottles in six pack carriers, and one of the six bottles i'll also add the bottle date.

my brewdate is in beersmith, and i make a name up for every brew, and like others have said, i label the 6, or 12 pack they are in, along with the bottle date only.

fermentors get the name, and the brewdats in case i get confused, so i know when to bottle em, and/or move em to the garage to crash.

the labels are bad ass however.

I use colored dots/stickers from the dollar store on the caps of the bottles...each color is a different type of beer. When i run out of different colors, i use standard white dots/stickers and put a letter or initials..."A" was my apfelwein.. Anyways....on the front of my beer fridge in the basement, i have one of them small dry erase boards that's magnetic, all the different dots down the left side, with the name of the brew and the bottled date next to each. This is helpful when all your brews are mostly in the same type bottles...

homebrewer_99 said:

I run mine through the printer. I get 5 lines using a size 8 font.

I use 1" round Avery labels, #5410, Template 5112:

Batch #
Beer Style/Name (whichever fits best)
%ABW
%ABV
Bottled date

Click to expand...

This is npretty much what I do except for ABW ( don't really care about that.) I put the IBUs instead.

The bottle date is very important to me because I want to know at a glance if the bottle is eligible to be cellared, or pulled from the cellar and put into the fridge. Since I don't keep my computer near my beer to be able to check BS easily I want that info while I am browsing and organizing my beer.

Once I bottle I don't need to know when it was brewed.

I don't bother, beer rarely lasts longer than it takes to age.

I use an Avery label on the bottle.
Beer Name
ABV
Bottling Date

The Avery label is a minor PITA to remove, ususally requiring a few seconds of scrubbing even after an Oxyclean soak.

I also keep the ProMash file record.

raceskier said:

I use an Avery label on the bottle.
Beer Name
ABV
Bottling Date

The Avery label is a minor PITA to remove, ususally requiring a few seconds of scrubbing even after an Oxyclean soak.

I also keep the ProMash file record.

Click to expand...

I forgot to mention before. The 1" rounds fit perfectly on the caps of the bottle. Pop the cap no label to clean. I found the bottle labels a pita to clean also, especially after scrubbing to get rid of the original labels.

Then if I want to hand out the beer or give it away as a gift I use Revvy's bottle tags and design up some fancy schmancy tags.

I use the bottle date, I want to know the day I bottled it.

I use the batch number as well and then look at my notes on when it was bottled. I also take a 6 or 12 pack worth of some brews and put them on a shelf so I forget about them. Found some of my batch 5 the other day and I just finished brewing batch 21. Can't wait to drink those.