Fermentation Logs and Tank Tracking in Brewery Software

A fermentation log is a dated list of readings for one batch. Software gives it a home beside the batch record, and it shows which tank the beer is in.

The readings

Gravity is the main one. It measures how dense the liquid is. A hydrometer is "an instrument used for measuring density or relative density of liquids".¹

Wikipedia explains why brewers log it. "By monitoring the decline in SG over time the brewer obtains information about the health and progress of the fermentation."² SG is specific gravity. The same page gives an example of a typical beer where original gravity (OG) could be 1.050 and final gravity (FG) could be 1.010.²

A log turns that into a line you can see. One reading means little. A run of readings shows a direction.

Temperature is the other reading brewers commonly log. Check the maker's documentation for how a program stores it against a batch.

Getting a reading onto the batch

One maker's recipe guide covers gravity, pH and temperature readings. It says "you can select whether this is passed on to the Analysis tab on the batch".³ The point is that the reading lands on the batch, not on a loose sheet.

A sheet taped to a tank can get wet, lost or read wrongly. A record on a batch stays with the batch. Whether a program can take readings straight from sensors, or only typed ones, is something to check in its documentation.

Which tank holds what

A tank view is a list of vessels with the batch in each. Moving a batch from one tank to another is a transfer. If nobody records it, the tank list goes stale.

Codes on the vessel help. The same maker (Breww) says that scanning a vessel's code "will open Breww to a mobile-optimised page".⁴ The page is for quick access to "cleaning & maintenance records, adding fermentation readings".⁴ That lets someone at the tank do the entry without walking back to a desk.

Cleaning tied to the tank

The same guide says a cleaning and maintenance process can be set to block a vessel: "you'll be unable to transfer into a blocked vessel, for example".⁴ Whether a cleaning record satisfies any rule you work under is a question for your regulator, not the software.

Habits that help

Pick a time of day for readings and keep to it. Write the unit next to every number, such as degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit, so nobody has to guess later. If a reading looks odd, note that it looks odd instead of quietly fixing it.

What to ask

• Does the program take sensor readings, or only typed ones?
• Can it keep every reading for a batch, or only the latest?
• Can you see a tank's history as well as its present contents?

Read the maker's own documentation for the answers. Back to the batch record, or on to packaging runs.