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Keeping track of what is what and where

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MourneMead

MourneMead

NewBee
Registered Member
Nov 6, 2013
190
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Northern Ireland
Apologies for asking a very basic question but I wonder how people keep track of what is what when they have a range of containers (demijohns) filled with different meads at different stages of fermentation, aging etc?

I've noticed that it's fine sticking a label on the side of a jar and writing on it but when you rack that all changes, and the label probably gets wet and indecipherable. I have one spare demijohn so it's a juggling act to rack from one to another, wash and steralise it, then use the empty one for the next racking etc...

I'm thinking some sort of tie on label that can be threaded through the handle might be more effective - then this can be easily moved from one to another. Or else mark each demijohn with a big number in indellible marker and then keep good written notes.

Grateful to know what works best for you so I can ....borrow.... that idea

many thanks

MM
 
I use a black sharpie directly on the bottle. Sometimes a paint pen if it's a deep red mead (you can't read black on dark red mead)

I also use a code and store that code in a log book.
If you lose track, you can deduce what it is, from what it isn't. ;-)
 
I've been using card labels and a bit of string thru the handle. The labels are just cut up from the rigid card envolopes you get from Amazon, and I put a hole thru with a holepunch. They get wet, but seem fairly resistant to getting soggy.

I did buy some 'proper' labels, but they fell to bits in no time and cost a fortune.
 
I bought some dry wipe labels from Grogtag. Very happy with them. Obviously the writing can get wiped very easily, that's a pro and a con. But I don't handle my brews very often, especially once they're bulk ageing, and when I do it's almost always by the handles, so rubbing the writing off, isn't a problem and it's very easy to see what's what when they're all lined up on a shelf. One word of warning is that the carboy labels don't quite fit well on the 1 Gallon Carboys, but they still work fine, they're just not as neat.

Tony
 
I name and number the brew, E.g. I'll use masking tape and a marker to label a carboy Cherry Melomel 1 and maybe the last action like racking and oaking and what date it was performed on but the rest of the particulars I list in my brew book for a permanent log.
 
I do something similar. I've got OBD21-13, OBD47-13, PD21-13, P4600-13, BPD21-13, etc. and special mead get a name (Ariadne's mead, bochet-13, etc.). First letters are honey source (OB- orange blossom, P- palmetto, BP- Brazilian pepper) next the yeast, then the date of batch.
 
I cut the handles off of plastic grocery bags taking a chunk of the side, the handle goes over the air lock and the side panel is a great place to write on with a felt tip pen, plenty of room for name, date, basic recipe and notes. Easy to move to the next container.
 
I use 3"x4" shipping lables on string with info written on them on the carboys, recipes in chemistry log books, and clip boards with extra useful information - like taste batch 234 on Jan 30th again and see if it needs more backsweetening - hanging in the basement stairwell... gets harder to keep track the more stuff you have running/aging the and more stuff you have done over time...
 
I like Bob1016 inventory system. Nice. I print out my mead-in-progress log and tape it to fermenter or carboy. Every time I touch the batch to take a reading, taste it, rack it or whatever, I just handwrite it at the bottom of the page until it is time to update it in computer and get a clean print out. Very handy when you don't recall when this was stabilized, or that got super kleer.....

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
 
I've tried a lot of different things over the years (cardboard on a string, cardboard with a slotted hole that goes around the airlock, printed out cards with carboy cutouts) but because of ink fading or running, wind blowing cardboard away, strings falling off, and soggy cardboard, I finally settled on using the lick-and-stick labels from a wine kit turned upside down (they're dark on top and light on the bottom) and I write on the light part (the type of wine or mead and the date started as a minimum, occasionally racking info like dates and SG's and whether I've stabilized, fined or backsweetened), and I only ever lick and stick the side edges or the bottom so if I rip it while moving the label when I rack, the info is not obliterated and I've still got somewhere else to lick and stick whatever's left of the label after I remove it. When I run out of those labels, I'll either be ready for another kit or I'll just got to Business Despot and buy some lick-and-stick labels.

Then I have all the detailed info in my logbook (chronologically) and almost all recent batches also copied to a brewlog on Gotmead. I have an excel spreadsheet that's kind of an index to the brewlog (hard to remember when I did that second blueberry batch if I have to look it up by the date) and on that same document, I also keep a summary of info for each batch (start date, bottle date, final SG, %, yeast used, # and sizes of bottles left and where they're stored in the basement).

I also have a couple of dry erase boards where I try to write myself reminders about which batches need attention but I'm forever forgetting to update it, I also use coloured post-it flags in the log book to tag things that need racking, bottling or fining. I also forget to update those.
 
Chevette Girl said:
I've tried a lot of different things over the years (cardboard on a string, cardboard with a slotted hole that goes around the airlock, printed out cards with carboy cutouts) but because of ink fading or running, wind blowing cardboard away, strings falling off, and soggy cardboard, I finally settled on using the lick-and-stick labels from a wine kit turned upside down (they're dark on top and light on the bottom) and I write on the light part (the type of wine or mead and the date started as a minimum, occasionally racking info like dates and SG's and whether I've stabilized, fined or backsweetened), and I only ever lick and stick the side edges or the bottom so if I rip it while moving the label when I rack, the info is not obliterated and I've still got somewhere else to lick and stick whatever's left of the label after I remove it. When I run out of those labels, I'll either be ready for another kit or I'll just got to Business Despot and buy some lick-and-stick labels.

Then I have all the detailed info in my logbook (chronologically) and almost all recent batches also copied to a brewlog on Gotmead. I have an excel spreadsheet that's kind of an index to the brewlog (hard to remember when I did that second blueberry batch if I have to look it up by the date) and on that same document, I also keep a summary of info for each batch (start date, bottle date, final SG, %, yeast used, # and sizes of bottles left and where they're stored in the basement).

I also have a couple of dry erase boards where I try to write myself reminders about which batches need attention but I'm forever forgetting to update it, I also use coloured post-it flags in the log book to tag things that need racking, bottling or fining. I also forget to update those.
Click to expand...

Okay.... and where is your inventory of 400+ bottles of finished product? I STILL can't get anything close to that....
 
I've been using these for years. At first I was using repurposed VHS labels made out of the same stuff, but these are specific for food (wet environment) and supposedly survive in a dishwasher. They use Sharpies but are erasable.



http://www.containerstore.com/shop/kitchen/foodStorage/leftoversPlastic?productId=10009870

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