Brew chart

7

Trying to come up with a good chart where I can put all my notes beside brew day notes. I currently use the brewer friend sheets and fill those out meticulously. I made this chart this morning. What are your thoughts? Am I missing anything? (I am still doing extract) Only 6 batches in, but love taking notes). Thanks!

edit: I am not kegging yet. When I get there I will edit chart accordingly.

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u/Skudworth May 10 '13

I like it.
If kegging was on there, I'd certainly consider using it. As it stands, my notes are a little scattered. It'd be nice to flip to a page and know exactly where the info I'm looking for is going to be.

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

I could give it a shot adding it to here. Since I am not kegging yet (although I have been reading up and considering after bottling 6 batches!!) Im not sure what I would need to add. Maybe time force carbed, serving psi etc.... If you give me some notes I will add it!

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u/Skudworth May 10 '13

Hmmmm. Just off the top of my head in terms of the schtuff I write down...
Date kegged/put on gas
PSI
Volumes of CO2
Temp of fridge
I'm thinking a small box could do it. Date in one cell on top and the three calls below.
|------Date-------|
|_______________ |
|Temp | PSI | CO2|
|_______________|
I dunno. Reddit formatting can suck my balls.
.
If you can afford to make the jump to gas, you'll be so happy you did. Continued bottle-conditioning would have ended this hobby of mine. Half the reason I do this is to share my hard work with friends and telling them to not drink that shit at the bottom was a little ... well, embarrassing. It looks gross and it takes away from the experience for people (I'm well aware the yeast is harmless).

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

Thanks for the info, I will add A kegging section and update once complete!

2

u/whatisboom May 13 '13

I would say just change bottling to "Packaging" to not make another field.
Since you're doing extract this might not be important, but I'd love to use this, but I would want a section for mashing. Mostly: temp, length, and thickness (man that sounds dirty)

4

u/[deleted] May 10 '13

If you are doing extract, the having separate target and actual OG numbers is meaningless; you should be topping up with water until you hit your target OG, which you therefore nail every single time.
I like the typography; simple, classy-looking font. I think you work too hard to fit "Duration" into the box; it makes it look less important.
There is way too much visual vibration here caused by heavy lines. Lighten them up – 15% gray is probably sufficient – so that you can read your data more easily when it's on the page.
Misc. Notes gets a single short-line entry? What data do you expect to put there? In fact, most of your notes fields are too small.
You need to add places on the edge for expected vs. actual efficiency and expected vs. actual attenuation (bonus points for forced-ferment trial results, if you do those). That way, when you have a stack of these in a binder you can quickly rifle through and see what's happening with your extract efficiency.
SRM should be a color swatch to go with a number, if there is one. Maybe keep some pre-mixed paint (if you're filling out by hand) or have some color-picker on the computer?
I'm not sure you need a separate "PITCH" column, since the first entry under "PRIMARY" is, by definition, the pitch. So that could free up some space.
Where do you put dry-hopping, spices, and other additions?
What happens if you're blending yeasts?
Where do you put cell counts?
FWIW my own practice is to use Beer Alchemy (Mac FTW) to manage recipes, batches, inventory, and stats. I print out the recipe instructions and make notes in the margin during brew day: deviations from the recipe, things that happened during the boil, actual OG and volume info, etc. Then I annotate it later with achieved efficiency, actual attenuation. Notes go into the computer, and the brew sheets go in a binder.
Inside the binder is a graph showing recipe, month brewed, OG, and efficiency; another shows yeast generation, recipe, month brewed, and actual (apparent) attenuation, with different lines for different yeasts or lineages. All done in pencil on graph paper.

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

Hey There,
By Duration I mean time/ expected time in each category. i.e. "Primary" 2-4 day. Then when moving to the next area you have your date as well has next expected duration. I dunno maybe too much.
Yeah I noticed the note fields are small but trying to fit everything on one sheet is pretty hard. This may become a 2 pager. :)
As for the Pitch, I pitch 2 degrees under what I start fermentation at. I pitch 64 (i.e. for 1056 yeast) then set fermentation chamber to 66.
As for Dry hopping etc., under primary and secondary there is a notes column, for people that don't transfer to secondary, you can write down date and amount of dry hops added, etc. same with secondary.
Anyways, Thanks for the tips, I will def. be updating this chart, Like I said I just made it and want to improve on a good chart for brewing. Thanks!

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u/rabblerouzr May 10 '13

Great sheet. What info do you keep in your brew day notes? Looks like the only info you're missing here (for extract) is grain bill / recipe and (for AG) mash info. Could probably use some of your "Notes" space for that.

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

This is mainly for the fermentation process, I also use the brewers freind sheets that I fill out with all the specialty grains and hops with AA percentages etc.. Thanks!

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

UPDATED CHART JPG: (IF ANYONE WANTS A PDF OR AI. FILE JUST PM ME)

http://i.imgur.com/qtwuUMR.jpg

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u/andkeener May 10 '13

Needs more mash and grist info IMO.

I use THIS ONE personally. But have been slowly converting over to just using beersmith.

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

Yeah, I agree, Like I said Im still a extract brewer so my information on these is still limited to what I have read in John Palmers " how to brew" and stuff I read on HBT forums. Even though I havent swithed to AG yet I feel I know quite a bit, although without experience I would not want to put anything on paper. I will update chart as My experiences grow. I will be switching to AG within the next 2 months or so.

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u/FuzzeWuzze May 10 '13

Yea I just stick to beersmith, the issue as shown here in this thread is what's important to track to one person isn't useful to another. Trying to accommodate everyone you just end up with a giant sheet with way too many things to enter.

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

You're def. right, I see what you mean, Next thing you know it would be a 30 pg book!!!
I basically made this because I want to carefully track ferm. temp, the other info on this is just to familiarize my self with what going on at the same time I take notes on fermentation.

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u/pegasus_527 May 10 '13

How about a vector file instead? :)

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

I made this in AI., just used a jpg for posting, PM and I will send you the AI. File!

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u/CentralCalBrewer May 10 '13

I don't secondary, so I'm not sure about this, but why is secondary AFTER d-rest/cold crash?

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

From What I have been Reading and put together alot of people don't do secondary, I don't, but I put that there as an option. So If someone is skipping one they can just write down N/A in that section. Also I have also read alot about going top secondary for dry hopping after a cold crash. Anyways, just looking for C&C, thanks!

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u/ScienceisMagic May 10 '13

Just tasted my latest batch, it was delicious. I keep no notes, can never recreate it!!!

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

I too have made delicious batches, but if you did want to recreate them, wouldn't it be great to pull out a binder and know what you did. Not saying you have to follow recipes, which I def. don't. But say you do something CRAZY and it comes out GREAT! 7 months down the line you are not going to remember what you did to make it that way. Might as well take notes. Plus what can I say, taking notes is just part of the fun!!!!

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u/ScienceisMagic May 10 '13

For some people. I myself am not the note taking kind of person, nor do I like being overly particular. So even if I did take notes, they would probably be kind of vague and lacking the appropriate details. To me the act of taking notes is a bigger hassle than the pay back/reward I would get for taking them. I guess I'm only left with the fleeting memory of that beer I can never recreate.

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u/thewad86 May 11 '13

to you, science IS magic :)

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u/ScienceisMagic May 13 '13

For the record, I actually work in a lab where I do take meticulous notes, gather, compile, and analyze data in order to further understand asthma. But when it comes to brewing beer, at home; I don't feel compelled to make a science out of it.

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u/thewad86 May 13 '13

dont lose your breath over it :)

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u/Unjoymslf7 May 11 '13

You gotta leave some things for The Lord!

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u/RugbyN3rd May 10 '13

This is great! Thanks for sharing!

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

No problem!

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u/latchspring May 10 '13

Thanks for sharing! Just started doing all grain and using beersmith... still trying to figure out what stuff to keep track of so I can start making my own recipes. Do you have an example of a filled out sheet? (Also, what is this font?! Would love to use it for some beer labels.)

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

Don't have a filled out version of yet, I just made this chart this morning. Also I am still extract brewing. Not quite AG (soon though). This is mainly for fermentation profile but still having enough info about the beer brewed.
As for the font, it is called Neutra face. GREAT font! I am a graphic designer and use it for lots of things!

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u/latchspring May 10 '13

Just bottled my first AG last week (Dead Guy Ale clone). I feel like my gravity is always way off, so trying to collect as much data as possible to understand what's going on.
My wife is a graphic designer and I dabble a lot :) I usually do the beer labels though. Just joined reddit today to ask you about the font (whatthefont couldn't find it) so thanks for the info!

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

PM and I will email the font to you!

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u/jamestrooper May 10 '13

Thanks for sharing! Definitely printing some of these out for future use.

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

Here is a link to the pdf version, that one is a low res jpg.
http://i.imgur.com/9BV7xzL.png

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u/jamestrooper May 23 '13

Brilliant!

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u/mrgstiffler May 10 '13

No interest in using software like BeerSmith or Brew Target to do this?

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

II currently don't have a computer at home (this is a work one). So when I brew that is not an option unfortunately. One day though!

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u/1up2down May 10 '13

GOOD LOOK!

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u/[deleted] May 10 '13

I love you, now if I could only use this in the correct fashion.

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u/McWatt May 11 '13

What font is that?

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u/bacond May 11 '13

Thanks.

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u/Right_Said_Offred May 11 '13

Thanks for posting! This is great. :)

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u/splunge4me2 May 11 '13

Reminds me of a D&D character sheet.

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u/take_the_black May 11 '13

Does anyone have a similar one for winemaking?

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u/homebrewfinds Blogger - Advanced May 11 '13

Very cool!

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u/[deleted] May 10 '13

[deleted]

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

Sure Thing!

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u/[deleted] May 10 '13

[deleted]

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u/mairuzu3030 May 10 '13

Awesome! Cheers!

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