Journaling is a great thing. If you didn’t know that, it might be be too late when you do.

Journaling is basically taking notes. It’s not a diary, though a diary is a type of journal. Journaling is great for anything important to your life over a long period of time because the whole point is to at some later date, go back and read what you wrote. As such, journaling subjects are usually things that you are passionate about. Things that you are passionate about don’t just come and go. If you are like me, you are probably passionate about several things… beer is just one of them.

Now, if you are a home brewer and haven’t realized that a keeping a journal of your brews is a good thing, well, then you probably haven’t made your second brew yet. Every time I brew, I re-read many of the procedures (and mistakes) I made in previous brews. I don’t get to brew that often, so the journal reminds of things I never can seem to remember, like the right proportion of bleach to water to sterilize. I’m glancing through my journal right now it also reminds me to name my beer AFTER I taste it.

For each brew, my brewing journal contains:

• Dates and times of each step
• Ingredient list
• Procedures of everything from mash, to boil, to fermentation
• Notes of color, aroma and taste before, during and after fermentation
• Any problems that happen along the way

Some other “for instances”: On September 27, 1997, my “Autumn Amber” came out a bit hazy; my notes on September 6 tell me I forgot to add the Irish moss at the end of the boil. Another time, I noted that my Hoppy Porter just needed an extra month of conditioning to go from not-too-good to excellent! All good lessons learned. You may also ask yourself what you what you liked and disliked about a brew, and what you would change next time.

Serious brewers take serious notes, down to computerizing absolutely everything. For us at home, we don’t have to take it that far. As you can see, my Blackberry/Palm/PDA is actually good old pen and paper. Whatever you do, don’t let journaling get in the way of keeping it fun.