Run a batch through its stages

A batch is the thing you're actually making — one run, from start to finish. You start it, log each stage as it happens (mash, ferment, spirit run, and so on), move it through its lifecycle as it progresses, and keep the record it builds along the way.

Batches live under Batches in the left-hand navigation, in the Production group. The list and the batch page refresh every ten seconds, so state changes show up while you watch.

View your batches

1. In the navigation, choose Batches. The list shows every batch with its Code, Vertical, State, and when it Started.
2. Narrow the list with the controls above the table:
   • Vertical — All verticals, Brewery, Winery, or Distillery.
   • State — All states, Planned, In progress, Released, or Archived.
3. Choose Load more to fetch the next page if there is one.
4. Choose a batch's row, or the View button on that row, to open it.

A new workspace shows No batches yet with a New batch button.

Start a batch

1. From the Batches list, choose New batch (top right), or use Start a batch from the Home dashboard.
2. Choose the Vertical for this batch. (You're only offered the verticals your workspace is set up for.)
3. In Batch code, either enter your own code or leave it blank to auto-generate one. If you leave it blank, Brewstiller assigns a code for you when the batch is created.
4. For Recipe, either pick one of your recipes or leave it on Ad-hoc (no recipe) to start without one. (Only recipes that have a saved version are offered.)
5. Choose Create batch. On success you're taken to the new batch's page.

Commercial plan: a commercial workspace also shows an optional Federal permit field. You can associate a covering federal (TTB) permit now, or leave it unset and add one later — a permit isn't needed to create a batch, only when you file its TTB or state forms. Hobby workspaces don't have permits and won't see this field.

If your plan's active-batch limit is full, Brewstiller tells you so instead of creating the batch — complete or archive a batch (or upgrade) to start another.

Understand the batch page

Opening a batch shows its Code and a State badge (Planned, In progress, Released, or Archived), its vertical, and:

• A Lifecycle card with the Started, Completed, Released, and Archived timestamps.
• A Lifecycle actions card for moving the batch along (below).
• A row of tabs — Stages, Lineage, Quality, QC tests, Tasting notes, and Changes. The Stages tab is the day-to-day one; the others hold the batch's lineage graph, quality events, quality-control test results, your tasting notes, and the history of corrections made to logged stages.

Once a batch is finished (released or archived), a Share what I made button appears in the header — see Story pages.

Write a tasting note

The Tasting notes tab is the batch's tasting log: dated notes in your own words, with an optional rating and a note of who tasted. Notes build up over batches into your own record of how a recipe evolves.

1. Open the batch and choose the Tasting notes tab.
2. Write the note in Tasting note — aroma, flavour, mouthfeel, how it compares to the last one. This is the only required field.
3. When you tasted it defaults to now. Change it to log a tasting from an earlier day — the date and time you enter is the one the note is filed under, not when you typed it.
4. Optionally pick a Rating from 1 to 5, and fill in Who tasted it — free text, so they don't need a Brewstiller account.
5. Choose Add tasting note.

Notes are listed newest tasting first, with Show older notes at the end of the page.

Each note has Edit and Delete:

• Edit opens the note with all its current values filled in. Everything in the dialog is saved as the note's new content, so clearing the rating or the taster removes it from the record — the dialog says so too.
• Delete asks you to confirm and can't be undone: the note leaves the batch's tasting log for good.

Your most recent note for a batch can also be shown to visitors on that batch's story page, if you tick Tasting notes under that page's exposed fields — see Create and publish a story page. Nothing here is public until you do.

Beta — tasting notes. This tab is new and can be switched off per environment, so if you don't see it on your batches it isn't turned on for you yet. Notes are your own producer record; the consumer-facing "leave a tasting note" surface on story pages — where a visitor writes one — is a separate feature that isn't built.

Log a stage

Stages are how you record what actually happened, step by step, on the Stages tab.

1. Open the batch and, on the Stages tab, choose Log a stage.
2. Choose the Stage type (the choices match the batch's vertical).
3. Fill in the start details. Most are optional; on a commercial workspace Operator is required for regulated stages (see the note below):
   • Vessel (optional) — the vessel the stage runs in. Choose it from the list (search by vessel name), or leave it on No vessel.
   • Cooperage (optional) — the barrel or other cooperage the stage runs in. Choose it from the list (search by barrel identifier), or leave it on No cooperage.
   • Operator (optional) — the workspace member who started the stage. Choose them by name from the list (search by member name), or leave it on No operator. On a hobby workspace this is optional. On a commercial workspace, once you pick a regulated stage type the field is marked required (its label drops "optional" and gains a red asterisk) and the Log stage button stays disabled until you choose an operator — see Operator on commercial workspaces below.
   • Started at (optional) — when the stage began.
   • Bonded / tax-paid — Not applicable, Bonded (in bond), or Tax-paid (determined). This matters for commercial spirits segregation.
4. Under Readings (optional), enter any that apply — mash temp, gravity, ABV, cut-point proof, gauge proof, temperature, volume, and so on. Fill in only the readings relevant to the stage.
5. Add any Notes.
6. Choose Log stage. The stage appears on the timeline, newest activity in sequence.

If something is missing or invalid, Brewstiller doesn't save the stage and shows a message telling you what went wrong. The wording comes straight from the form's checks and can read plainly rather than conversationally.

Operator on commercial workspaces

Commercial plan. On a commercial workspace, a regulated stage can't be recorded without an Operator. Brewstiller now tells you this up-front: as soon as you choose a regulated stage type the Operator field is marked required and the Log stage button stays disabled until you choose an operator, so you find out before you try to save rather than after. (If the requirement is only detected at save time — for example the workspace switched to commercial mid-edit — you'll see a plain message right under the Operator field asking you to choose the operator.) Regulated stages are the production, storage, processing, and release events TTB rules cover:

• For a distillery, that's effectively every stage — mash/cook, fermented wash, strip and spirit runs, maceration, filling, ageing, blending, proofing, filtering, bottling, and release.
• For a brewery or winery, it's Bottle, Release, and continuous-mixture top-ups.

Hobby workspaces have no operator-identification rule, so hobby users can leave Operator blank on any stage.

The Operator field is a searchable list of your workspace's members: click it and pick the person who ran the stage by name (start typing to filter). You no longer need to look up or paste a member id. (The Copy member ID action on the Members page is still there for other uses, but you don't need it to log a stage.)

The member you name as operator also needs a complete workspace profile — their full legal name and phone. If theirs is incomplete, Brewstiller refuses the stage with The operator's profile is incomplete. To fix it, open the Members page and choose Complete profile on that member's row, then enter their full legal name and phone (or ask an Owner or Admin, or the member themselves, to complete it — editing someone else's profile needs member-management permission), and assign them as operator. See Complete a member's profile in the Members, roles, and invites guide.

Each stage card on the timeline shows its type and sequence, its start and end times, any notes, and its Inputs and Outputs (what fed the stage and what it produced — quantities always carry their unit, and spirits show proof and proof gallons). Input and output quantities are shown in your workspace's preferred measurement units (see Settings → Measurement units); proof and proof gallons always stay in their required units.

Edit a stage

1. On a stage card in the timeline, choose Edit.
2. Update the Ended at time, the Readings, the Bonded / tax-paid status, or the Notes.
3. If you change a compliance-relevant value (the end time or a reading), a Change reason field appears and is required — enter why you're making the change.
4. Choose Save changes.

Beta — recording a TTB gauge. For commercial workspaces set up for TTB filing, each stage card can also carry a Record gauge control for logging an official gauge against the stage. This is currently in beta and switched off by default, so you may not see it yet.

Move a batch through its lifecycle

Use the Lifecycle actions card. Only the moves that are valid from the batch's current state are shown.

1. To advance a batch, choose the forward action offered — for example Start batch (Planned → In progress) or Release batch (In progress → Released). Forward moves take effect immediately.
2. To undo a saved state — Revert to planned or Reopen batch — Brewstiller opens a dialog asking for a Reason (reverting a lifecycle state is a compliance-relevant change). Enter a reason and choose Confirm.

If the batch's state changed elsewhere while you had the page open, Brewstiller reloads the latest state and asks you to try again.

Archive a batch

Archiving soft-deletes a batch — it's a tombstone, never a hard delete, so the record is preserved.

1. On the Lifecycle actions card, choose Archive batch.
2. In the dialog, enter a Reason (required) — for example, Duplicate batch created in error.
3. Choose Archive batch to confirm. You're returned to the batches list; the archived batch no longer opens from a direct link.