Notetaking

[AnDrew Brew]

Since I've started brewing, I have meticulously taken notes on all my batches, what I did, times, amounts, etc....Obviously, I want to keep record of ingredients and times and what not, but I am to the point now where I just want to whip up some beer and not really worry much about specifics.

This is kind of targeted to anyone with more experience than I...everyone, ha, but my question is what would you recommend be the minimum that I write down for each batch?

[vw addict]

I use my head to keep much of my notes, specifics such as times and temps and amounts get written down. Basically I'm not much of a note taker, I wish I was because they definately come in handy.

[MichaelM]

get some brewing software not only less you have to write but less you have to calculate too... fress you up to be creative or even change something on the fly and easily make a record of it.... I use beersmith and love it. but there is promash and the others out there too that all work great

[kilkil]

I agree with both the previous post, using brewing software to organize and develop recipes and I'm too lazy to actually take notes, I took notes on my first recipe and that was it, too much work. If my memory fails me, so what, it is beer. I'm the person that will almost never make the same exact recipe twice.

[dparsons]

I'd think you would certainly want to record the ingredients you used, some of the details of the making such as mash schedule (if you do all grain) and when various hops were added to the boil, yeast used & fermentation temp, as well as anything unusual in your process. Software is good for this kind of thing. It also helps you to figure out what you did later and either duplicate or modify it.

[Mad Scientist]

Yeah....I'm with the rest....software.

I used to keep anal retentive notes, but that really made it like being back in school, and after BS and MS.....school sucks, so I stopped taking notes, except what i put in beersmith

[Dry County Paul]

I'm not taking any stinking notes. Other than sanitation, I think I want a certain randomness in the process. If I wanted predictability, I'd buy cans of bud.

[BrewDog]

But, just as you have the predictibility of budwater, you also have the predictability of Stone Arrogant Bastard, Celebrator Doppelbock, Sierra Nevada Celebration, and Rogue Shakespeare Stout, or Grandpa Otis' Oatmeal Cookie Sweet Stout.

If you brew often enough, you'll soon forget what you did RIGHT in that batch of porter you made 2 years ago that you really liked.
And that's why we keep notes (of some kind - either on paper or on the computer).

[jstrausss]

Software is the way to go. get a crappy computer and set it up in the brew area.

Promash is the software I use. Very basic but dos what is needed.

http://www.williamsbrewing.com/PROMASH_SOFTWARE_P45C160.cfm

[Chubber]

Software will help, but I still take gravity readings at the end of the first runnings, at the end of the second runnings, at the beginning of the boil and at the end of the boil. It will help you get your efficiency set up right for your software.

I also like to note times so I know in advance about how long it will take to bring it up to a boil or cool it down again.

[MrNate]

Whatever you do, do it well and do it consistently.

I use a spreadsheet to figure out recipes, guesswork to figure out sparge volumes, and a notebook to write down what I did.

It's not a perfect system. I'm not an advanced brewer. I doubt I'll be able to replicate past brews with much success. But handing my collection of notebooks down to my kids seems more emotionally gratifying than granting them DB access.

[corkybstewart]

I use the software for creating recipes, but I also keep a logbook with grains(amounts),hops(amt,AA's),adjuncts(usually none),water temps and amt,hard or soft, and yeast. Then I record briefly any catastrophes or revelations about the process.
Lots of times there are changes between Promash in the living room and the brewery in the garage so the logbook has been very handy

[Dry County Paul]

Originally posted by BrewDog
But, just as you have the predictibility of budwater, you also have the predictability of Stone Arrogant Bastard, Celebrator Doppelbock, Sierra Nevada Celebration, and Rogue Shakespeare Stout, or Grandpa Otis' Oatmeal Cookie Sweet Stout.

If you brew often enough, you'll soon forget what you did RIGHT in that batch of porter you made 2 years ago that you really liked.
And that's why we keep notes (of some kind - either on paper or on the computer).

I understand why other people might want to keep notes regarding their beer--I considered doing it myself for awhile. But I'm approaching my brewing as an exercise in improvisation. The other analogy I could use is my approach to making chili--I make a mean chili, but I've never done it exactly the same way twice. (This, by the way, drives SWMBO nuts.) I don't want to make the same beer twice. That's what commercial brewers are for.

To be honest, I've only worked with kits so far, and plan to move on to assembling the ingredients myself from recipes for awhile to get feel for how the ingredients work together before I start experimenting. I do scrawl OG etc. on a scrap of paper somewhere and usually keep it near the fermenter.

But my brewing process will never involve any kind of laborious record keeping. I'm just not all that interested in consistency.

[BrewDog]

That's cool. Everybody has their own way. Nothing wrong with that if your comfortable with it.

[Mad Scientist]

Originally posted by Dry County Paul
The other analogy I could use is my approach to making chili--I make a mean chili, but I've never done it exactly the same way twice. (This, by the way, drives SWMBO nuts.)

Yeah, mine is never the same twice, but SWMBO likes that. Do you grind your own chili powder too?

[Chubber]

You may not want to make it the same way twice. Then taking notes will tell you what you want to change and what you have done in the past so you DONT make it the same way twice.

My brew log has two purposes: Know what works and what doesn't. It's that simple. I guess a nice side effect is to look at the book filling up and bask in my coolness. Get a nice hard covered spiral bound book and fill in each page as you brew. Software comes and goes, but that book will always be with my brewing.

[corkybstewart]

Originally posted by Chubber
You may not want to make it the same way twice. Then taking notes will tell you what you want to change and what you have done in the past so you DONT make it the same way twice.

My brew log has two purposes: Know what works and what doesn't. It's that simple. I guess a nice side effect is to look at the book filling up and bask in my coolness. Get a nice hard covered spiral bound book and fill in each page as you brew. Software comes and goes, but that book will always be with my brewing.

I keep mine in a binder for the same reason-I want to able able to remember what worked and what didn't. Too many years of substance abuse(food and alcohol mainly) have left my brain somewhat less than reliable when it comes to remembering details from previous brewing sessions. Some of my beers are good enough now that I want to replicate them every time, instead of constantly re-inventing the wheel.

[barleyburps]

I've always kept notes on each batch in a journal of all of the ingrediants that go into them, quantites, openning gravity, bottling gravities, yields, dates of brewing/bottling, kegging,
as well as any abnormal conditions or screw-ups on my part, whom I give bottles of each batch to, tasting notes, etc.

I also keep notes in seperate section regarding beer tasting notes(purchased), equipment changes, refills of CO2 bottles and prices, etc.

I like to be able to look back over time and see what happened . Often, I can't remember the end of a successful brew session!

As for times and temps during the brew session, I keep all of that on a chalk board in my brewery.

[MichaelM]

Originally posted by barleyburps
As for times and temps during the brew session, I keep all of that on a chalk board in my brewery.

Hey thats a good Idea think I might get me one of those dry erase marker boards to put up in my kitchen... and can use it for groceries when I am not brewing LOL