The last week of the month
Someone, often the owner, sits down with brew sheets, packaging notes, the canning company's run report and a spreadsheet that was last tidied in spring. They work out what was packaged, at what strength, in what container, and what was lost along the way. There is always a batch where the packaged volume does not match the brew, and an evening goes on working out why.
The duty paperwork itself is not the hard part. Finding and reconciling the numbers is.
Why the figures are never in one place
Production data is created in several places by different people. The brewer records the brew. Whoever packages records the packaging, on a separate sheet or in the canning partner's report. Losses, dumps and samples are rarely written down at all. Strength is measured in the lab or estimated, and the result sits in a notebook. Nothing joins them together until the month end.
- Brew volumes are on the brew sheet; packaged volumes are on another sheet.
- Strength readings live in a lab notebook or on a phone photo.
- Mobile canning reports arrive as a PDF or email.
- Dumped or lost beer is often not recorded with a reason.
- Different beers use different container sizes, so totals are calculated by hand.
What the scramble costs
Days of senior time each month. Figures that are only as good as the person reconciling them. Anxiety when a query arrives about a batch from months ago, because the record has to be rebuilt. It also means you cannot see production totals during the month, only after it.
And the knowledge is fragile. If the one person who knows how the numbers fit together is off sick or leaves, the next month end starts from nothing.
Your records obligations, and how the figures are used, are for you and your adviser to decide. What we can fix is the gathering.
One ledger, filled as you work
- Each batch opens a record at brew day with volume and recipe.
- Strength results are entered against the batch when measured, with who measured and how.
- Transfers between vessels record volumes in and out, so losses show where they happen.
- Each packaging run, in-house or by a mobile canner, records container type, count and batch, with the canner's report attached.
- Dumps, samples and write-offs are logged with a reason and approval.
- A month-end report assembles packaged volumes by beer, strength and container in the format your adviser asks for, with every figure traceable to the batch.
- Where your brewery system already holds some of this, we pull from it and fill only the gaps.
| Figure | Where it came from before | Where it comes from now |
|---|---|---|
| Brewed volume | Paper brew sheet | Batch record at brew day |
| Strength | Lab notebook | Batch record with method |
| Packaged volume | Separate sheet or canner PDF | Packaging run on the batch |
| Losses | Worked out at month end | Recorded when they happen |
| Monthly totals | Built by hand | Report from the ledger |
Month end without the dig
The figures exist before the month ends. Whoever prepares the paperwork reviews a report instead of building one, and questions about a batch are answered from its record. You can see production by beer week by week. We make no promises about any return, but the numbers behind it stop being a weekly guess.
Is this your month end?
- Production figures take days to gather each month.
- Packaged volumes rarely match brewed volumes without detective work.
- Losses are only worked out after the fact.
- Canning reports are retyped from PDFs.
- One person is the only one who knows how the numbers are put together.