Brew Log Entries with active Brew Session

[RoadRoach]

Is it just me, or has anyone else bothered to make a Mash Complete Entry while boil timers were running? Probably been asked before, but couldn't find it. The entry page comes up, but, it won't let me edit any fields. IIRC, I went to the brew session and stopped all the timers on a previous brew, and it would let me, but even then, I'm not at all sure I actually was successful without stopping the active brew session, making the entry, then restarting the session. Any tips? Sometimes I do the steps, then hit the check boxes, but there are parts of the process that won't let me complete the log entries before having to move on, such as waiting for the pre-boil sample to cool to record Mash Complete gravity, etc.

 

[Sunfire96]

I always use the Brew Log entries throughout brew day, but I've never used the timers

 

[RoadRoach]

I always use the Brew Log entries throughout brew day, but I've never used the timers

I keep my laptop handy and let it bark at me with the timers for the long drawn-out things like mashing and boiling, and the reminders for flavor hopping and sanitizing the chiller. That way I don't have to keep an eye on the clock which tends to make the brewing experience less tedious. I haven't worn a watch since my 20's when I was nearly electrocuted by one, and I'm not as attached to a smart phone as some are. I have one, but willingly leave it on the night stand or out here in the tractor shed frequently. Occasionally I do a quick extract batch with my phone because there's no mashing, but mostly wit the laptop because I can see the screen better. I'm not super anal about mash or boil times, but I do use the timers as a reminder. I'm very subject to taking a nap or trying to do something else while I'm in the hurry-up-and-wait mode (such as cooling the pre-boil sample while I'm raising to boil temperature.) Particularly, I'm letting it log Mash Complete when I do the last step in mashing, then go back and edit the entry to add the gravity reading after I cool the sample, but while raising the wort to boil. THIS is what I'm having the issue with. I can't just continue on with the boil, and there really isn't a pause/save function for the brew session. I get it, once folks drag out the equipment and get started, they rarely stop. But what if I wanted to mash one day, and boil a different day because I have an equipment problem or a change in schedule? Splitting a brew day really isn't an option with the brewing tracker, but storing a wort overnight before boil can certainly happen. When you have as many people (non-driving people) in your home as I do, your schedule is rarely your own. There's ALWAYS something going on. It's worse than working a full-time job.

Once "Brew Day Complete" is set, I can do anything I want to the logs, add, edit, delete. But not until that flag is set. Sometimes, I trick it before I start the boil by just checking all the boil and cleanup steps, cool the pre-boil sample with ice (while slowly raising the wort temperature), then go back and turn all the steps back off again up to the boil timer start. Right now, I 'm using the log to track my temperature control experiment on Frankenbeer. I'm manually entering temperature data twice a day. One would think that there would be a way to edit any entry made in the log at any time, but the log appears locked until brew day complete is set. Is this the case?