Hey, we’ve talked about taking notes to improve your beer brewing since the early days of the blog. Now, we have 5 solid tips to take better notes. Watch this video to get the info you need to know for adding this tactic to your pursuit of homebrewing greatness.

What Are Those Tips?

If you like to scan, here’s the plan, Stan.

Have a Note-Taking Goal

Before you start taking notes, you have a goal. If you are already taking notes, maybe now is the time to re-evaluate “the why” of your note-taking practice. What specifically are you hoping to accomplish by taking notes? It can be a good number of things like improving a part of your brew session. Whatever it is, take note of the goal and use it as a guide.

Know What Info You Want to Capture to Achieve Your Goal

Once you have your goal, figure out what you want to capture. Understand what you want to use in the future to fix issues or improve a future beer brewing session. There will be components that you want to write down or input into your notes to meet your goal(s). Once you have the items you want to capture, it’s time to set up the notes for success.

Be Consistent and Make it Easy

Note-taking is a practice and it needs to be a habit. You want to make the process easy so you can include it in every brew session. With your goal or goals set and the items you need to capture, you can streamline your note-taking. Based on what you’re trying to accomplish, you might not need to take down every little thing about your homebrew – and that’s ok. Make it easy and make it a habit.

Have a Back-Up Plan Your Note Storage

If you’re using notebooks, have an electronic copy. Better yet, save it to the Cloud so you can access it where you can get an internet connection. This tip may be overkill but if you’re going to put the effort into it, then you should take step to protect your note-taking investment.

Review Your Notes

Notes don’t have much value if you don’t look them over. Your goal should guide your ongoing review of the data you’re capturing. Since you’re working towards some outcome, the only way you will know if you have arrived is by checking your notes. Build a notes review before you start planning your next brew session, and you will be that much closer to homebrewing excellence.

Here’s an example of a brew sheet:

Hope this is helpful. As always, BREW ON!