Brewer's Notebook

[TrubDude]

Hey HBT,

I come from a biotech background and love documentation. What do you guys use for a notebook, if anything? I got a Brew Journal for Christmas and love it. My notes are messy but
tell the story of each brew.

 

[helibrewer]

I print the Brew Steps from BeerSmith and take all my notes on that

 

[Jayjay1976]

I've been using a brew journal called 33 brews from 33book.com. The layout is logical and easy to use, the size is small enough to carry in a pocket, and once it's full I'll start a new one and put this one on a shelf for future reference.

 

[seatazzz]

I use Diesel Drafts for my software and all notes are kept in Open Office Word. I think better when I type rather than handwriting. I put down all kinds of stuff; grain bill, mash volume and temp, what music I'm listening to, mistakes made and fixed, weather, etc. It's fun to go back over and read them and see where I've been improving.

 

[mongoose33]

I use a spiral-bound notebook to keep my brew day data and recipes.

Over time what I record there has changed; as various parts of the process become standard procedure, I no longer record them. Oxygenating the wort for 60 seconds, for instance. I always do that.

Recipe details and times are usually recorded, as well as mash temps, pH, and gravity. I will also include notes on the bottom if I ran across anything interesting.

Here's an example: