Log book suggestions?

[RedRockGirl]

I'm brand new and trying to get and keep organized. I'm a bit of a spreadsheet junkie, so I've created (plagiarized) 3 things to help me. I'd like advice on what information I'm missing or should add/remove. My husband laughs at me and thinks I'm a little obsessive, but my nerdy OCD self likes it. Mostly I'm trying to keep busy so I don't walk to the lab obsessively to see if anything is clearing yet.
1. Carboy tags that I print on cardstock, laminate and use a dry erase marker on. I tested and getting them wet does not run the writing. They have to be wiped hard to come off.
2. The batch log where I keep the basic overview of all batches.
3. The 2 sided log sheet where all the details are written. This will be printed and hung around the carboy until I'm done, then I'll type it all up and add it to the 3 ring binder that has my million recipes to try.

I've harvested the information and templates from what I found here and online. Suggestions?

View attachment Carboy Tag.pdf

View attachment Batch Log Book.pdf

View attachment LogSheet.pdf

 

[Floandgary]

Just fill in the blanks!! Should be able to duplicate a batch at any time (providing you like the first one and subsequent grapes are the same).

 

[dralarms]

Those are nice.

 

[Boatboy24]

I like! I have a very similar spreadsheet that I use with a log for each batch, then a summary that I can filter, pivot, etc. Each batch is its own tab, so the summary sheet is very helpful, now that I have so many batches.

 

[JohnT]

Here is what I do..

I do not work out of a log book.

The problem that I had in the past is that I might have the same wine in more than one container. Once separated, each container needs to be considered as a separate batch. To compound the problem, the containers change at each racking. It made keeping track a real pain.

Instead of using a log book, I came up with a "Vessel Tag". This is a full sheet on stiff card stock where I record everything about the wine. I insert these sheets into waterproof, clear plastic envelopes that I then hang on each tank or demijohn. I also put the fermentation log, and fermentation chart into the envelope at well.

Whenever I do a measurement, racking, adjustment, or tasting, I record my findings on this sheet. If I rack, then I just simply hang the vessel tag on the new container.

Once a wine is bottled, I then "3 hole punch" the vessel tag and put it into a 3 ring binder "history archive".

I have found this to be far more efficient. Every couple of weeks, I do my "rounds" where I visit each tank, taste the wine, and review the vessel tag. Got to love this hobby!!!!

 

[cmason1957]

I do mostly what JohnT does. Recipe into page protector, around neck of carboy. One difference is I mix like carboys at each racking, some from each into the next ones.

 

[RedRockGirl]

Jim, That's just how I have the spreadsheet set up. A master tab, and then numbered tabs for each batch.

JohnT, Thanks for the suggestion! That makes a lot of sense, and something I hadn't considered about splitting batches. At this point, I don't know, what I don't know. I'm going to have to rethink my system a little to account for that.

 

[Double Daylo]

I use google drive to host all of my batch logs. I like you love spreadsheets and went a little crazy. I like using the drive as I can easily pull up all recipes and info from my phone or computer from anywhere.

I went a little further with my spreadsheets and made it so everything that I add has a cost attached to it. I like keeping track of every dollar I spend and what a bottle costs down to what a cup of sugar and what a single campden tablet used in a batch costs. My spreadsheet does all the math for me. I attached a pdf of the sheet I use. I have a master sheet and just make a copy for each new batch and enter the info of that batch into it. It does the math and tells me cost of batch and per bottle. It also tells me when the next rack date is. When you enter in when you racked it calculates out the new rack date and displays it. I then put it in my google calendar so I don't forget to rack.

One thing I used for carboy tags is this. I bought little clear id badge holders and cut them down a little. I then use little wrist lanyards to put them on the carboys. Very cheap, and efficient. When we rack we can easily just switch the tag to the next carboy. Beauty behind using this system is when the wine is bottled it you can easily remove the lanyard and put the tag on the wine rack where the wine is. When I have to open up bigger sections of my rack and move the wine I can easily move the tag. Each section has a little nail that you can hang the tag.

Carboy table showing tags hanging, tag, and cellar. Excuse the messy cellar. Had a bottle of homebrew beer explode on me that day. No fun lol.







View attachment batch sheet.pdf

 

[BernardSmith]

Hi Redrockgirl, In my opinion the key idea is to enable you to make notes each time you touch a carboy or fermenter... and then to be able to gather those notes and make use of them for any next batch. So, for example, I see that in your third logsheet, you listed nutrients in the ingredients but there is no note about when you added them to the primary and how much you added each time... That failure to record may be because it becomes too clunky to keep computerized notes rather than handwritten notes on a template that is simpler to record on and one that does not require a laptop or mobile device.

 

[RedRockGirl]

So many great ideas. I love it! Thanks for sharing your batch sheet. I've already updated mine using a few ideas from yours. I do have it all calculated to job cost each batch. I didn't on the SP, because I made these after the fact. Mine is also hosted on Drive. I also love the badge holders idea. Nice cellar

I use google drive to host all of my batch logs. I like you love spreadsheets and went a little crazy. I like using the drive as I can easily pull up all recipes and info from my phone or computer from anywhere.

I went a little further with my spreadsheets and made it so everything that I add has a cost attached to it. I like keeping track of every dollar I spend and what a bottle costs down to what a cup of sugar and what a single campden tablet used in a batch costs. My spreadsheet does all the math for me. I attached a pdf of the sheet I use. I have a master sheet and just make a copy for each new batch and enter the info of that batch into it. It does the math and tells me cost of batch and per bottle. It also tells me when the next rack date is. When you enter in when you racked it calculates out the new rack date and displays it. I then put it in my google calendar so I don't forget to rack.

One thing I used for carboy tags is this. I bought little clear id badge holders and cut them down a little. I then use little wrist lanyards to put them on the carboys. Very cheap, and efficient. When we rack we can easily just switch the tag to the next carboy. Beauty behind using this system is when the wine is bottled it you can easily remove the lanyard and put the tag on the wine rack where the wine is. When I have to open up bigger sections of my rack and move the wine I can easily move the tag. Each section has a little nail that you can hang the tag.

Carboy table showing tags hanging, tag, and cellar. Excuse the messy cellar. Had a bottle of homebrew beer explode on me that day. No fun lol.

 

[RedRockGirl]

That's a great point. I do have the recipe/process on the back side of that 2 sided sheet. I plan to print that out as a template and take notes as I go, and then type it in when I get the time or are finished, because my handwriting leaves something to be desired.
Thanks for all the tips and advice.

Hi Redrockgirl, In my opinion the key idea is to enable you to make notes each time you touch a carboy or fermenter... and then to be able to gather those notes and make use of them for any next batch. So, for example, I see that in your third logsheet, you listed nutrients in the ingredients but there is no note about when you added them to the primary and how much you added each time... That failure to record may be because it becomes too clunky to keep computerized notes rather than handwritten notes on a template that is simpler to record on and one that does not require a laptop or mobile device.

 

[sour_grapes]

Carboy table showing tags hanging, tag, and cellar.

Wow! That is a nice rack. Way too nice to live in a cellar!

 

[Double Daylo]

Wow! That is a nice rack. Way too nice to live in a cellar!

Thanks! I also built in a 6 bottle rack into my kitchen cabinets. Ya...its an addiction. I've decided when I buy a new house and move(who knows when) that that rack stays put. Too much work to take it down. New house will get a bigger and better rack haha.

Can never have too much wine storage!! The rack holds 500 bottles.

 

[sour_grapes]

Thanks! I also built in a 6 bottle rack into my kitchen cabinets. Ya...its an addiction. I've decided when I buy a new house and move(who knows when) that that rack stays put. Too much work to take it down. New house will get a bigger and better rack haha.

Can never have too much wine storage!! The rack holds 500 bottles.

Yeah, I went for efficiency over aesthetics. This holds about 460 bottles in just under 6'x6':

 

[JohnT]

Double-Daylo...

I really like that rack! very nice!

One concern I have is the amount of headspace you seem to have in some of your carboys. My advice is to get them topped up..

 

[Boatboy24]

BTW: Here are some samples of my log sheet and summary:

 

[Double Daylo]

Double-Daylo...

I really like that rack! very nice!

One concern I have is the amount of headspace you seem to have in some of your carboys. My advice is to get them topped up..

Thank you! Built from basic wood with no plans. Just started making a frame and some boxes and just built on to it. Got lucky it turned out as perfect as it did hah! I do wish I would have painted the back wall before I built it. That sucker is in there and bolted to the walls with no easy way to move it or get at the wall bolts without tearing apart the whole thing. Buy my house and you can have it! haha

We do all fruit wines and I am not sure it has as big of an effect as grape wines do. We have alot of headspace on wines over the years and never once noticed a difference. We are slowly buying the headspace eliminators from Steve and will start using them on all of our batches now that we have his AIO pump.

 

[Dhaynes]

You guys are so organized you are making me feel bad I like the carboy tags. I may steal that. What we do right now is to buy yellow cardboard hanging tags with strings from the office supply store. We start out by hand writing the batch #, description start date, starting SG & temp on the tag and hang it on the primary bucket. Then each time we do something we write the date, what we did and the SG & temp. If we rack the wine we just move the tag to the new vessel. We can walk up to any carboy, take a quick look at the tag and tell immediately what is in it and last thing we did to it. We also maintain a hand written log book with a page for each batch that has more detailed notes. This log book is really convenient when you are sitting in the recliner with a glass of wine and want to review everything that is going on or if you want to look back in history at completed batches.

It got to the point that it was difficult to keep track of what to do next and when so I created a spreadsheet called "Wines in Process". See attached pdf sample. The purpose of this sheet isn't to keep a record of everything about the wine. It's main purpose is to keep track of what needs to be done next with minimal data entry. The spreadsheet just has a few key pieces of information about each batch plus the next step that needs to be taken and the due date for that step. When I make updates I resort the sheet by the Next Date to get everything back in calendar order.

The second spreadsheet named "Wine Cellar Inventory" is used to keep track of the wine after we bottle. The beginning columns are the same in both spreadsheets. When we bottle a batch I copy the row from the "In Process" sheet to the "Inventory" sheet and make a note of how many bottles it produced of each bottle size, where I stored them and a target date for when we can start drinking them. It calculates this "Ready Date" by adding the "Months to Age" to the "Age Date" (date when the initial clearing was completed and we rack into another carboy to begin bulk aging). This system has worked well for us and has minimized the amount of data entry required.

View attachment Wine In Process 010816.pdf

View attachment Wine Cellar Inventory 120715.pdf