Brewing records

[rsitzejr]

Ok, I don't keep records yet, have not worried about OG, if it tastes good, I don't really care about alcohol content. But now I want to start keeping good records. I made a porter for my second beer, it was out standing, unfortunatly it was a recipe put together my the place I buy my stuff from, and no one remembers what was in it. So it's time to start keeping better records.

What, besides ingredients and OG should I be writing down? All the spread sheets I find are for AG, and I'm not quite ready to start AG.

Thanks in advance

 

[andre the giant]

My situation is slightly different because I do all grain, but I think most of it still applies. I usually wright down the following"
Batch Number
Batch Name
Beer Style
Brew Date
Ingredients, amounts and any substitutions
Brand and strain of yeast used, size of starter
Mashing notes
Sparging notes
Boil time and notes
What times I added hops during the boil
Original Gravity
Fermentation notes, ("24 hours after pitching, bubbling like crazy." "5/23-Good Krausen" "6/1-Smells sulphury" "6/08/05-Gravity 1.014 Time to bottle.")
Bottling notes, how many bottles
Final Gravity
Bottling date
Problems I experienced
Theories on how to correct problems
A critique of the beer
Ideas on how to improve the beer for next time

That's a pretty long list. It may be overkill. But if you really like a batch, and you've got good notes, you know you can reproduce that beer. My Chocolate Porter recipie came from a Papazian book, but I made some changes and kept good notes. The second time I brewed it, I made a few more changes and MMMMmmmmmm.

One last note. Brewing notes are important. But they shouldn't get in the way of you enjoying the brewing process.

 

[tnlandsailor]

If you steep any grain, list the grains, amounts, and the time and temperature you steeped them. Type, alpha acid content, time of addition, and weight of all hop additions. Also note your final gravity before you bottle (or keg). Lastly, keep some tasting notes and objectively judge your beer so that if you want to try again, you have a benchmark to compare the next one to.

Prosit,

 

[Dude]

This link from Radical Brewing will give you a good start on something. It is biased toward all-grain brewing, but it can give you an idea of what to shoot for when considering what kind of notes you want to take.

I am goofing around with a spreadsheet that I'm keeping for each batch I do. When I read the Radical Brewing book I thought his idea was cool so I took some of those graphics and some of those ideas and decided to do one of my own. I've gotten it to where I can insert the OG and FG and it will automatically figure ABV/ABW, and other things.

Also, last month BYO magazine had a feature article on how to create your own brewing spreadsheet , so that gave me some ideas as well.
Hurry up and download those spreadsheet links if you want them because the new BYO is out in stores now and they will probably update the website with the new issue soon.

 

[rsitzejr]

This link from Radical Brewing will give you a good start on something. It is biased toward all-grain brewing, but it can give you an idea of what to shoot for when considering what kind of notes you want to take.

I am goofing around with a spreadsheet that I'm keeping for each batch I do. When I read the Radical Brewing book I thought his idea was cool so I took some of those graphics and some of those ideas and decided to do one of my own. I've gotten it to where I can insert the OG and FG and it will automatically figure ABV/ABW, and other things.

Also, last month BYO magazine had a feature article on how to create your own brewing spreadsheet , so that gave me some ideas as well.
Hurry up and download those spreadsheet links if you want them because the new BYO is out in stores now and they will probably update the website with the new issue soon.

Got that one, I'd be interested in the one your making if you get it done. I suck at excel.

 

[Dude]

Got that one, I'd be interested in the one your making if you get it done. I suck at excel.

I suck at EXCEL too, that's why I said "goofing".....
Mine is still a work in progress. I'll share it if I'm ever happy with it. I'm having real trouble with formulas right now.

I'd print out some of those Radical Brewing worksheets. That covers just about everything you'd need.

OT--you own a Jeep too? Post some pics in this thread.....

 

[rsitzejr]

OT--you own a Jeep too? Post some pics in this thread.....

Done. Links anyways. Much easier.