You never know what information about your beer is going to be important in the future. This is especially true when you first start brewing or when you are brewing a style of beer that you have never brewed before.
I like to focus on details; most of the time these small things can make a big difference. I record the basic information of my beer, the ingredients, the mash temp, the initial specific gravity and the times that I add hops to my boil, but have found some of the most useful information is small, seemingly important notes.
Some examples of these small notes are...
- Who I brew with
- If I filled my kettle with hot or cold tap water
- The beer I was drinking when brewing
- How long the whole process took
- The taste of the wort
It is there little things that are often the most important when I go back and review my brewing logs. Being reminded that I brewed with one of my close friends, that it was his first time brewing and that we both drank some Bell's Hops Slam is nice to look back on.
My hope is, that by recording small details that I will be able to solve a future problem I'm not aware of now. For example, is there a difference in my final beer taste is I use hot tap water to fill he kettle or if I use cold water. My cold water come from directly from the city supply, but my hot water comes through my hot water heater boiler. I'm not sure if this will make a difference, perhaps it won't, but by recording this information I may find a way to better refine my beer.
Download a copy of my brewing log here.
