Record Keeping for Dummies

At brew time I put all my notes and quick chicken scratches in a little notebook. Then I have a binder of these pages (link) that I transfer my notes to after the fact. I stole the template for the page from John Palmer.

 

I use BrewCipher for my recipes and added some columns to the Brew Day Print me tab with times, temps, start and end of vorlauf, sparge, boil, etc, pH and gravities, as well as post brewday readings like gravity samples/day of fermentation, as well as final volumes packaged, date tapped, date the keg blows. I miss recording some info here and there, but get the really important stuff. I hang it on the front of my fermentation fridge with a magnet so I can jot down numbers as it progresses. Beyond that I use the blank space on the same recipe sheet for extra notes like "boiled off 1/2" gallon too much, added water before whirlpool" or "ran out of base malt on brewday and had to short the gravity".

 

During the brew session, I jot down quick notes like the exact mash temperatures and times, mash pH, the pre-boil and post-boil gravity, and that's about it. After the session, I build a narrative in my favorite software (StrangeBrew) explaining what went wrong and why, as well as any really good ideas I had during the session so that I can repeat them in the future. Otherwise I forget stuff. Lessons learned. If you don't care to learn anything from session to session, or if you're fortunate to have a photographic memory of every detail, then don't bother taking notes. My memory is so brief, I forget what I was doing 5 minutes ago, so I have little choice but to write things down as they occur if I want to remember or learn anything.

 

I use beersmith2 software to help formulate recipes and keep brewing notes. For recipe basics, it's nice, but the truth is, it is a very busy program and some of the details still elude me, after many years. That probably reflects my own shortcomings. I sometimes think that simpler would be better, like the Palmer template that @CarolusP links above.

 

I make a photocopy of the recipe and make notes that basically start with the scheduled timeline for each event during the process so that I'll have a reminder of when to perform each task, and then I'll note any deviations from those times or the amounts of ingredients, even if it's a tiny amount, and any substituted ingredients and yeast. The amount of liquid in the boil is another item that I note, any top-off water, and finally the OG and brew date. When I pitch yeast, I'll note the temp. When I bottle the beer I'll note the date and the FG. If anything seems awry when I begin drinking the beers, I'll have those basic notes to analyze to figure out what happened.

 

Yeah, but fairly close approximations. The inside of my boil kettle has graduation markings that I've equated to place a gallon amount with each tick mark. (I don't do full boils, but I'm in the area of 4 gallons or so for pre-boil.) I've also marked and calibrated my carboy that I use as my primary fermentor so that I can then approximate the top-off water needed to get up to the 5 gallon mark. The only unknown is the amount of hop trub that made its way into the carboy, which causes some displacement of the liquid. I'll rack off of this to the bottling bucket which is also calibrated, so the small amount of trub displacement becomes the amount of water that I boil with the priming sugar to get up to the final 5 gallon mark.

I should note that I started paying attention to this info after I failed to notice an early brew that got bottled with some amount less than 5 gallons, but bottled with an amount of priming sugar that was calculated for a 5 gallon batch. You can guess my motivation for paying attention after that incident, so this just forces me to pay attention by making notes.

 

I take meticulous notes during brew day and afterwards during fermntation, with time stamps, recording just about everything - even including how long it takes to boil a certain amount, strike temperatures, resulting temperature, volumes before boil, volume after boil, how much trub at each stage, volume and amount of trub after fermentation, amount evaporated during boil, outside temperature and wind conditions which might affect my boil and chilling, how long it takes to chill, when fermentation started, how often it bubbles at various times during fermentation, specific gravity readings, etc. I usually end up with about 10 pages of notes just for the process itself, but also pages of calculations - hop calculations, grain calculations, mashing calculations, strike water calculations, notes about the recipe, recipe variations, beer results, what to do different next time, etc. I think I might well be the most meticulous note taker of any homebrewer by far :-)

I keep a separate file folder for each beer I make, and keep all those files in a filing cabinet. I still have notes from when I made my first wine in the early 1970's! The notes have been extremely valuable in making all my own calculations for all aspects of homebrewing (I do have BeerSmith, but only use it for recipes).

I used to type my notes into electronic files, but it took too long, and I find that the folders work just fine.
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I have been worrying about this for quite sometime after my first brew. It wasn't until afterwards sitting down exhausted, and buzzing hard from excitement and of course, beer - that I re-read the chapter on bottling in "how to brew."

Needless to say we had way less that 5 gallons post ferment - and I totally added 5 gallons worth of priming sugar.

There are still some bottles left... but it was such a rough brew and under pitched yeast that I think my dangers are pretty null. Regardless, we have not given out ANY of them!

 

I'll usually build all of my recipes in a raw text doc, and print it out for brew day. I keep it with me on brew day, and everything that I observe is jotted down (mash temps, pre-boil volume, post-boil volume, gravity readings, fermentation temps, tastings, etc.). That way, the next time I go back to that recipe I'll know what to expect.

 

I used to keep a notebook for recipes but for the last couple years have kept my recipes on a google word doc. Comes in handy since I can pull it up on my phone when I'm outside. But I have to say my note taking is slim compared to most of you. On brew day I always edit my recipe afterwards to add my actual OG but sometimes that is it. If something goes unexpected (eg missed my mash temp, missed by expected volume) I will note that as well, but I dont have too many unexpected things happen these days. When I'm drinking the beer I will add notes later on about my overall thoughts and anything I would do different.