Taking notes?

[kyleobie]

Hey guys,

How do you record your notes? I'm going to start doing a more thorough job of this with the next batch. Most of my notes are from posts on this forum!

I can't yet 'afford' BeerSmith...not that it's expensive, there's just too many marginal costs for this hobby for me right now.

Does anybody have an electronic system of note taking that isn't propietary?

 

[arturo7]

Before I picked up Beersmith, I kept a log on an Excel spread sheet. Listed the ingredients, times, hydro readings, racking/bottling dates, session and tasting notes.

 

[blowmax10]

I tried putting all my notes into my pc but it was too much trouble - not to mention I never had the notes when I needed them

Now I use a notebook - works great for what I need

 

[QueenCityALER]

I recommend taking notes strongly. It's one of the easiest ways to improve your beers. The quality of your brews will eventually get better with good note taking, no matter what the means. I keep a record of all mine on my laptop and notebooks, and my beers have benefited as a result. Besides, when you finally formulate a masterpiece, you'll want to be able to replicate it. Without notes... tough to do huh?

 

[kyleobie]

True, true.

For those who take written notes, do you make a form for yourself to remember to track all of the variables?

I'm too cheap to buy BeerSmith currently, but my handwriting's awful

 

[blowmax10]

True, true.

For those who take written notes, do you make a form for yourself to remember to track all of the variables?

I'm too cheap to buy BeerSmith currently, but my handwriting's awful

I write everything down the same way every time - I guess you could call it a form

But I don't go out of my way to make it look pretty

 

[user 30639]

Right now I write everything down and have it in a three ring binder.

I've been looking into getting Beer Alchemy. I'd be a lot better off if I didn't have to try to read my own writing.

 

[Revvy]

before I got beersmith (which is only 20 bucks if you don't realize it) I created a ms-word document that I use to use to keep note on my beers...if you pm me your email addy I can send it to you as an attacment.

 

[Borisbbadd]

Besides, when you finally formulate a masterpiece, you'll want to be able to replicate it. Without notes... tough to do huh?

Been there-done that...........

 

[Kaiser]

I keep pretty extensive notes and more than 2 years ago I designed 4 pages per batch for a log book. They might be more than you need now but you don't have to fill in all the fields. The pics on this page are only previews. Use the PDFs for printing.

Keeping Log - German Brewing Techniques

Kai

 

[Notnice]

someone posted this alittle while ago http://brewyourownbrew.com/brewing_notes.pdf it is relay detailed and i like to use it

 

[BillTheSlink]

I USED to take notes only in Beersmith. Not anymore. I was in the process of building a new computer (the new i7 chips are awesome by the way) because my old one was starting to blue screen every couple of days. I had backed up all my data to DVDs for a day or two, only to discover when I loaded it back in the data wasn't writing legibly to disk and nothing would work. I lost it all: the three I had done, the several I was working on editing, and my inventory. Thankfully I hadn't gone too far down the road for it to be a real disaster, but those records would have been cool to have some twenty or thirty years down the road to pass on down the line and say, "This was Dad's/Grandpa's first brew. You want to try helping him make it again in your new setup I got for you?". I went to turn on the computer again to print hard copies but it was too late. Blue Screen of Death for the last time. From now on records kept in Beersmith get printed out and go into a note book at every stage; no exceptions!

 

[doghousechef]

I use Evernote. It's a website and an application. I paste whole recipes I research just by right clicking. My notes automatically sync with the website as well. I can see my notes on whatever computer I happen to be on. They can be accessed on my smartphone as well, so when I'm in the LBHS I can reference them. I try to take my notes while I'm watching the boil and record variations when I make them. Best of all, it's free up to a certain monthly level of use (I haven't even used one fourth of the traffic allowed per month)

 

[VTBrewer]

I use BrewBlogger - The Browser-Based Homebrew Logging Solution - Release Version 2.2 -- and I believe the author of that script is a member here. It's free, does most calculations, and easy to edit. You can see my version at the link in my sig. I prefer it over some other options because I can just send the link to whatever brew blog when I send/give somebody one of my creations.

 

[marubozo]

I'm not using computer tools for the same reason BillTheSlink mentioned. As much as I love technology and spend almost every waking moment on a computer, I just really don't like using it for things like recipes. Over the years formats change, software becomes obsolete, and there are always issues like data loss. So, just like all of my cooking recipes, I like to keep notes by hand. I still have some 30-50 year old recipe cards written by my mother and grandmother with some awesome recipes on them that I still use today. I'd like to think I will be eventually creating beer that I can pass down for a generation or more and I don't want to rely on a few 1s and 0s on a disk somewhere.

So, I picked up a nice leather cover notebook with some pretty thick pages for keeping all my brewing notes. It should be sturdy enough to stand the test of time and it would make a fantastic heirloom if it's filled with some solid beer recipes. If anything, it would be a cool conversation piece for the family.

That's not to say I don't use the computer, because I do still like to have digital records since it's 1. easier to type than write, and 2. I can access it anywhere. But I still like to have a tangible copy that will hopefully one day be used by someone other than myself.

 

[VTBrewer]

Totally valid argument, but there is hope. beer.xml is becoming pretty standard. beersmith, brewblogger and other tech solutions are using it which allows for importing from one to another. recipe.xml is actually pretty mature and many recipe sites use it.

Nothing wrong with putting it the notebook though...I just can't write legibly anymore due to lack of practice.

(plus..they print out nicely and go in a binder)

 

[marubozo]

I know what you're saying. I didn't mean to imply that something you type up or put into a program today would be unreadable in the future as I'm sure that with all of the pretty standard file formats out there there will always be a way to retrieve them.

Maybe I'm just a bit old school, but I'm tactile person by nature. I love to have and to hold something. I just cringe at the thought of 40 years from now having to email my grandson some file that has my decades worth of brewing information on it. There's just something a little extra special about handwritten items these days.

Since we're all moving digital, that's why I still use beersmith and keep other documents with detailed brewing information because it really is just easier and faster. But at the same time I take a few minutes to jot down everything again in the notebook just so I do have a permanent record since I don't know what the future holds.

 

[BillTheSlink]

I know what you're saying. I didn't mean to imply that something you type up or put into a program today would be unreadable in the future as I'm sure that with all of the pretty standard file formats out there there will always be a way to retrieve them.

Maybe I'm just a bit old school, but I'm tactile person by nature. I love to have and to hold something. I just cringe at the thought of 40 years from now having to email my grandson some file that has my decades worth of brewing information on it. There's just something a little extra special about handwritten items these days.

Since we're all moving digital, that's why I still use beersmith and keep other documents with detailed brewing information because it really is just easier and faster. But at the same time I take a few minutes to jot down everything again in the notebook just so I do have a permanent record since I don't know what the future holds.

That's how I'm going from now on. I love Beersmith and am just now trying to toy with Promash (haven't got a clue yet) but from now on as soon as a beer is done it gets saved on the computer AND a nice beer journal in ink.

 

[Boerderij_Kabouter]

+1 to Kaisers sheets. They are really great. I just started using them and like the professional feel of my records now. Especially the extract efficiency spreadsheet he has on his site, that is a good record to keep.

 

[Kaiser]

Especially the extract efficiency spreadsheet he has on his site, that is a good record to keep.

Thanks.

How is the spreadsheet working out for you? Do the losses and gains add up to close to 100% at the end? I had some brewers tell me that they are always 10-12% short and I cannot explain that.

This reminds me that I should add a conversion efficiency field somewhere on the 'brewday' page.

Kai

Kai