22/10/23: Fair Warning: I did this for a couple of months and then gave up. I just get experimenting and learning by doing.
If you are looking to improve the results of your home brewing, you might like to think about keeping a record of what and how you brew.
If you write down what you did, what you used, when you did it and why you'll have a good basis on which to make an honest assessment about your beer brewing failures and successes.
If you find that you've pulled off a stunner of a beer, you might be able to remember just exactly how you brewed that beer. It could be the difference between remembering that you used a certain kind of hops in your brew or used a 50/ 50 split of them.
Or that you left the spoon in the fermenter.
I just wanted to share how I keep my beer brewing records. I use Google Sheets.
It looks something like this:
This is basically an excel sheet that allows me to have a set of handy columns as below:
If you write down what you did, what you used, when you did it and why you'll have a good basis on which to make an honest assessment about your beer brewing failures and successes.
If you find that you've pulled off a stunner of a beer, you might be able to remember just exactly how you brewed that beer. It could be the difference between remembering that you used a certain kind of hops in your brew or used a 50/ 50 split of them.
Or that you left the spoon in the fermenter.
I just wanted to share how I keep my beer brewing records. I use Google Sheets.
It looks something like this:
This is basically an excel sheet that allows me to have a set of handy columns as below:
| Date Down | Brand of Malt | Mixed with | Date Bottled | Notes | First taste | Final thoughts |
Recording the date you got the brew down is hugely important because you need to know how long you've left the brew to ferment. Same for bottling. Has it been 12 days or three weeks?
I also like to know what brand of kit I used and whether it was an ale or pilsner. And of course, did I use a brew enhancer or just dextrose?
In my summary notes, I record my first taste experience and also final thoughts.
This is because I usually get stuck into the beer at the three-week mark but over time the beer will mature and take on different characteristics - that serves as a reminder to let the beer 'bottle condition' as much as you be patient for!
This is because I usually get stuck into the beer at the three-week mark but over time the beer will mature and take on different characteristics - that serves as a reminder to let the beer 'bottle condition' as much as you be patient for!
The beauty of using Google Sheets to record your beer adventures is that you can download the application to your smartphone.
This means you can quickly add records as you go (maybe you're just hiding in the shed?) and you'll reduce the need to remember to add notes to an exercise book somewhere else later on.
This means you can quickly add records as you go (maybe you're just hiding in the shed?) and you'll reduce the need to remember to add notes to an exercise book somewhere else later on.
This is just the way I do it, an exercise book is of course just a fine solution!
Once you are a more experienced brewer you might not need to record so much as you'll know everything.
Or will you?
Once you are a more experienced brewer you might not need to record so much as you'll know everything.
Or will you?
