My aim is to produce a record – a sort of scrapbook, if you will – of the various experiments and tweaks that I make to my beer. It could be changes to the recipes, or equipment, or brewing process. In fact, anything at all really!
I like to keep records of everything that I do, so that I can figure out what I am doing right and what I am doing wrong. Sometimes, this means I end up recording information without really understanding why! It may seem irelevant now, but who knows what could be important in the future! It doesn’t cost anything to record it, so why not write it up!
So here’s what I record:
Hop/Malt register
It is a simple spreadsheet that contains an entry for each of the bags of hops or malt that I use. Each has a unique number and I keep a record of what hops/malts go into which brews. Once the hops/malts are used up, I transfer the record to another worksheet. This means I have a record of what I have in stock an what I have used.
Brew Day Sheet
This has the basic details on it from the brew day. I also use it to record the hydrometer readings (which I take every other day). I fold the brew sheet in half and tuck it in the handle of each of the fermenters. I staple the packaging from any products that I use to this sheet (e.g. yeast packet, label off the hop packet). This way I have a record of batch numbers etc.
Grainfather recipe sheet
I use the Grainfather.com website to produce my recipes (this means that I can transmit them to the G30 using Bluetooth. It predicts ABV, IBU as well as SG and FG. And a whole bunch of other things. I print the recipe out (just export as a PDF) and keep it with the Brew Day sheet above. This way if I change the recipe on the website, I still have a record of the exact recipe that was used for this brew.
Tasting notes
I haven’t been too good at doing this, but it is something that obviously needs to be done. Once the beer is drunk, who knows what it tasted like! I try to keep records of clarity, taste, carbonation etc. The problem is after 2-3 bottles, I forget to write up the notes!!