Interesting to me that so many use brewing software. I'll use EZ Water if I'm doing something new, to get the water right, but as for ingredients, timing, and so on, I just write it down.
There's a funny thing about this for me. I have background in Statistics and Research that would choke a horse. Measurement is one of my areas of expertise, and brewing is nothing if not about measurement.
Early on, I was all into the data. Temps, PH, gravity, if it could be measured I'd be trying to measure it. I'm trained as a scientist, so it came naturally that I would be trying to quantify and model all this.
But something happened on the way to the scientific method of brewing. More and more, I began to treat brewing as an art, and less so as a science. When I'm making up a new recipe or thinking of changing something, I just think really hard about it and then rely on my experience and intuition.
I have no doubt that this intuition was formed and is informed by all the data gathering I did early on. At some point I no longer felt the need to measure so much--I just KNEW.
I'm a big believer in intuition, gut feelings, and the like. It has worked for me in brewing. I'm up to 121 batches, and they've all been enjoyable to do.
* * * * *
One batch in particular. A new brewery opened here, and one of their ideas was to have local home brewers brew their recipes on their 1-barrel test system and sell it. I was the first one to try. They didn't have an Amber on tap, I have a good recipe and process for one, so I brewed my
Ambitious Amber for them.
I've long thought the only true measure of a beer's quality is whether people buy it, and then buy it again. Setting aside styles (I don't like Belgians, but I can tell you if it's a good one), my mantra is this: "Do they have another?"
And with Ambitious Amber, they did. People liked it, and had more. I was excited as I had 3 or 4 more beers I wanted to get on tap and see if the reaction was the same. The Amber isn't my signature beer--Darth Lager is--but it was a first test.
Alas, the brewery closed a couple weeks after my beer was on tap. A couple of friends were teasing me about that, but it had nothing to do with my beer. It's a long, long story, a cautionary tale about what NOT to do in opening a brewery, and maybe I'll post that somewhere else.
I wish I could find someone else nearby that needs a brewer to add variety to their taps.