Appendix A: Home-brew Journal
One way to keep up with your home-brew recipes and to record your successes and failures is to create a home-brew journal. You can buy journals at a bookstore, but it is just as easy to copy the next page and make one of your own. You even can create a virtual version that you can keep on your computer. You can paste a copy of the label on the page.
Name of beer:
Rating of this beer (scale 1-10, 1 being worst ever, 10 being best):
Date it was begun:
OG:
Yeast type:
FG:
Ingredients:
Instructions:
Hydrometer readings:
Date _____________ Reading ________________
Temperature readings:
Date _____________ Reading ________________
Acid readings:
Date _____________ Reading ________________
Hydrogen sulfite reading:
Date _____________ Reading ________________
PH reading:
Date _____________ Reading ________________
Notes:
Problems:
How I fixed it:
Changes in future batches:
Reviews of beer:
Date was first tasted:
Where it was first tasted:
This is just a template; you can be as creative as you want to be. However, you may want to take some steps to waterproof your journal. You can wrap it in food wrap or place it in a plastic zipper bag when you are using it on home-brew days. You also can use a cookbook stand. If you are using a virtual version on your laptop, you can buy screen protectors and keyboard protectors. You also can place your laptop in an extra-large plastic bag and put a rubber band around it to make it snugger.
You can add some photos of your home-brew process and even photos of you and your friends drinking the home brew. A journal can be fun to create, but it can also contain all of your important home-brew recipes and secrets.