How do you organize?

[Dougan]

I've finally started getting into a rhythm and sort of have the 'pipeline' going but I've discovered that in a midst of a bunch of experimental recipes and somewhat random brew dates (not 'every sunday' or something like I would imagine most of the more organized people do it) that it's very difficult to keep everything straight. I mean, if you're doing the 1-2-3 rule at one batch a week, that's still 6 'active' batches at any given time, although half are in bottles. No kegs for me.

What do you guys do to keep everything straight? How do you organize what batches pair up with what recipes, what dates to do what and what bottles are from what batch? What I think I'm going to do is number it, have a calendar that has like, "Bottle #8 on this day, bottle conditioning for #8 done on this day" and put the number on the bottle caps and have a key somewhere saying what numbers are what. It'll certainly be more organized than before, but maybe you guys have a better idea?

 

[Brewmasters Warehouse]

I have a calendar with the brew dates and dates to rack and keg/bottle. I also put some blue painters tape on the carboys/kegs, and write the name of the brew and the brew date on them.

 

[Revvy]

Do you use brewing software??? A lot of the info for each beer is stored, whether you add the info yourself or not..meaning in beersmith, the day you brewed shows up, plus you can make notes on specifics on the beer, and I believe if you start calculating the sugar for priming, it automatically saves the day you bottled...

Then I just use a sharpie on the cap with a code for the batch..mine aren't fancy..for example my brown ale is called "old Bog Road" So my code is OBR...if it's a beer that I brew multiple batches of like that I usually write the number below that...so my cap would say

OBR
3

Hope that helps!

 

[ShortSnoutBrewing]

BeerSmith has a handy calendar function that can map out your beers for you. Primary, Secondary, bottling day, etc. I'm totally unorganized and pretty much get to things when I get to them regardless of how hard I try to have a schedule.

 

[Dougan]

BeerSmith has a handy calendar function that can map out your beers for you. Primary, Secondary, bottling day, etc. I'm totally unorganized and pretty much get to things when I get to them regardless of how hard I try to have a schedule.

Yeah, I figure that's how I'm going to be. I'm not so much concerned with getting things done 'on time' as I am bottling something after it's been in in fermentor(s) for like 10 days because I confused it with another batch.

I'll have to look into those software options. I've quickly looked at both programs but I don't remember calendar stuff, which I attribute to spending < 5 minutes on that.

Scott

 

[Yunus]

When I brew I print out the recipe and mash info from Beersmith. On the second page there is plenty of room for notes. I write down all the gravity's and dates I do stuff to it and such there. Then I tape those 2 sheets to the fermenting bucket and later to the keg. I can at a glance know when I brewed, what the gravity was, date I kegged it and the recipe. If its a really good beer then I have a folder which I keep all my favorite recipes in once the keg is kicked.

For bottles, I have access to those avery labels at work and I just print the name of the beer and date bottled on it.

 

[Kilgore_Trout]

Chalk board paint on my fermenters and kegs works wonders!

 

[ajwillys]

I use the Beersmith calendar religiously. As mentioned, it will do primary, secondary, tertiary, and aging. If I end up leaving it in primary for 20 days instead of 21, I will go back into the recipe and change the number of days to keep it lined up. I can tell when my pipeline is getting low by checking the calendar. If there is less than say four things on the current day (primary, secondary, secondary, aging for instance) then I know I need to get brewing.

For future beers, I set it as a date that I think I will do it and then change it when I know I will do it. If I'm just formulating a recipe, I set the brew date as something several months in the past so it doesn't show up on the calendar at all.

 

[TeufelBrew]

Notebook from SWMBO with original kit as brew diary. Now have promash, but I still use diary for quick reference and can walk around the house to each location and check without having to go back to computer and Promash.

Made small chalkboards with nylon cords that I hang on primary, secondary and keg to ID Batch #, Name, Date Brewed, OG, FG and ABV when finished. Don't like the easy erasability of the chalk boards, so I'm thinking of toe-tags and sharpies.

 

[Beerthoven]

I have BeerSmith but I don't use the calendar function. I do use the BrewLog to keep track of brewed recipes, and I maintain a spreadsheet with detailed information on each brew in table format for easy searching and making comparisons across beers.

As for following beer through the process, I normally only have 1 or 2 batches fermenting/clearing at any one time, so its easy to keep track in my head when they need to be racked or bottled. I put a piece of tape on the fermenter with the beer name and brew date, mostly so I don't rack or bottle the wrong batch. I also don't worry about it too much, either. If I don't get around to bottling this weekend...well, I'll do it next weekend.

When I do bottle, I put a sticky note on one of the case boxes listing what the beer is, brew date, bottle date, and ABV (for the missus). This way I can look at my beer stack and see how old a batch is and how long it has been in bottles. I put a code on the cap with a sharpie so I can tell the bottles apart in the fridge.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I stole an idea from (I think) Homebrewer_99. Every batch gets a 5 digit ID number consisting of the last 2 digits of the year, and the batch #. The last batch I did in 08 was 08051 and the first batch in 09 will be 09001.

I make sure to enter the date brewed on the recipe in beersmith, and enter the batch number into the comments field. I put a piece of masking tape on each fermenter when I pitch that follows the beer all the way to keg (or to the box of bottles) that looks something like this:

080048 - Black Pale Ale | Brewed 12/01/08 OG - 1.052 | Racked 2nd - 12/19/08 OG - 1.008 | Kegged 12/30/08

 

[SkinnyShamrock]

All my bottles get labeled on the caps, a number and a letter. The number is 1-48, order in which it was bottled within the batch. The letter is a letter that somehow relates to the style (K- Kolsch, E-English Mild etc) and is written down in a key on the very front page of my notebook. I've only ever had two fermenters going at once, so it's easy to keep track of what's fermenting. But I imagine I'll probably start labeling them with masking tape if I ever get going crazy.

Oh, and just tried the first bottle of my English Mild, the "wine" scent went away, yay!