Same here. I write down all my numbers on the recipe sheet and then key it into the brew log later. I’m too much of a slob to trust myself using electronic devices while brewing.
Or cooking.
I am yet another member of the paper brewing log and pencil crowd. It is not like we have to deal with partial differential equations and Laplace transforms. Most of the calculations that are encountered in home brewing are rather simple, even those that involve applied thermodynamics. I urge new brewers to learn basic brewing mathematics before resorting to using software. You may decide that it is an unnecessary expense.
I find that software is helpful for me to track what happened in the past and compare it to other batches. This is mostly because it does the math for me and I can’t lose it.
I find the pen and paper much more utilitarian in the moment…
My brewing log is more than a brewing log. It is used for everything, including, but not limited to, recipe formulation, brew day logging, media preparation, yeast bank maintenance (plating, subculturing, and propagation events), and collection of fermentation and sensory data. It is basically a combo brewing/laboratory log.
I found Excel supports this statement. In inputting the calculations for your own spreadsheet you are forced to learn the math in real time.
With that said, I long for a paper and pencil log and may have to just bite the bullet and start doing everything by hand or, at the very least, distill my current spreadsheet down to the essentials and streamline it.
When I started doing all grain I bought Designing Great Beers, and made a bunch of recipes using the formulas. I also put stored many of the equations in a programable calculator. So I have a good idea of what’s going on when I use the brewing software.
I tried quite a few and settled on Beersmith. For me it’s just the easiest. I don’t like it that there is no way to just input mash efficiency. I also don’t use all the different mash profiles, I just have one I use for every recipe and change the water to grist ratios and mash temps in each individual recipe. I batch sparge but just leave the sparge settings to continious sparge, because the software kept giving me directions like this “◯ Batch sparge with 3 steps (0.12gal, 3.16gal, 0.91gal) of 168.0 F water”.
On brew day I write the recipe into a note book, and keep all my notes. I have three recipe folders in Beersmith, unbrewed, brewed, and a Tried and True.
+1
Mine isn’t nearly this extensive but it does what I want it to do. Mine has notes about the brew day, what went wrong, and specifics of the fermentation and bottling.
For a more detailed log, check out this: http://horscategoriebrewing.blogspot.de Dave Janssen will be speaking at NHC—er, HomebrewCon–this year and I plan on hearing his talk on saisons and grisettes.
I use both Promash and pencil and paper. I don’t foind either of them alone sufficient.
I’m currently using a combo of Brewers Friend and pen and paper. I’m too sloppy of a cook to allow anything electronic near my kettle. I’ll write down the recipe in my notebook and jot down any notes on the fly as the brew progresses, then add it all in to BF at the end of the day.
I have to say I’m a bit concerned that someday BF might be gone and take all my stuff with it. I’m checking into more permanent options.
I don’t like the idea of any of my stuff being on the “Cloud”. At least in Promash, Excel and P&P, all of my stuff is on my computer or handwritten.
That’s why I’m sold on OneDrive. I’ve got a 1 TB drive on my computer that’s mirrored to OneDrive. Internet goes out? Those files still live on that drive. This is the first cloud solution that I’ve been happy to use.
I’ve got six weeks off from school this summer, I’m hoping to learn some of these equations then. Preferably before NHC, I’d prefer going to the conference with that knowledge in my head. I’ll still probably input the equations in Excel or something for normal use, but I’ll be much more comfortable brewing once I’ve worked through the equations that drive it all.
Is it bad I’m looking forward to my diffeq and Laplace/Fourier classes? 
Yes. You’re a savage.
I’m no fan of math classes, but these courses are going to answer so many questions for me.
There’s areal parallel between my work and brewing here. At work, and with my brewing, I’m relying on software to perform operations I don’t understand or know how to perform. At the same time, I’m trying to put the pieces together and make sense of that’s going on. Without the background math/equations, it’ll never make sense the way I need it to and be able to understand it.
Most recent file here: EDIT: PM for files
Nice. Thanks for that. I’m still playing with modifying a version for myself and my process/system. I really like many (most) aspects of your spreadsheet, and could see myself slowing on use of Beersmith for most brewdays.
It very kind of you to share your hard work with all of us for the super-low price of FREE! As I work through the spreadsheet, I’ll be certain to provide feedback on any bugs I find. Thanks again for everything!
I tried to contain most of the system specific stuff in the “System Settings and Losses” sheet. One note on that: changing the Kettle Radius input changes the values in the Volume table located in the summary.
Over the last month or so I tried to simplify the interface as much as possible: going to percentage based input, eliminating a clunky scaling ratio for batch scaling, etc.
Hey all, I’m trying to get a copy of this spreadsheet but I’m bumping up against some hurdles.
RPIScotty, I keep seeing references to a link in your sig but I don’t see a sig under your posts. I’ve been trying to send a message to you for a time now but I keep getting a “403 forbidden” error every time I try to send. If you have multiple messages from me in your inbox, I’m very sorry!
Anyhoo, I ended up just asking for the spreadsheet on google via the link you posted above. I hope that’s ok. Now I’ve got to figure out this forbidden thing when I try to send messages and post. ???
I have been using a program called Brew Mate for years. It is a recipe calculator only. As is it has everything that I need to do what I want. It’s clean, uncluttered and not full of tabs and menus that I don’t need. It’s a great recipe calculator, the rest of the stuff I do on paper. It doesn’t take me much brain power to do some quick math to find that I need X gals of water for mashing and Y gals of water for my sparge to reach a certain boil volume. Temperatures are also all based on experience and knowing my system. I know I like to mash in about 15* hotter than my mash temp to my pre-heated cooler mashtun. I know I need my sparge water in the 190* range for my batch sparge to get the grain bed up to 168*. That comes with experience on my sytem. Everyone has different needs, wants and likes when it comes to brewing software or programs. I have tried most everything that is out there. I hate the menus, tabs, and clutter of most them. Brew Mate does it for me.
So like a few others have said, I’m also 1/2 Brewmate, 1/2 paper & pencil.
Should be in your email. Just sent it to you.
I decided to scrub some of my personal info and links to my Gdrive because I check the forums at work and don’t want any issues arising from that. It’s definitely nothing against the members here.
Just PM me for the files (ProMash and Excel)