Keeping track of raw materials can get messy when the brewery is busy. You plan a batch, discover an ingredient is running low, make a substitution, and add something else during fermentation. Every change needs to find its way back into your stock balance.
Foambyte™ Inventory is now available to our 50 early adopters. This release brings ingredient stock and batch planning closer together, with tools to make adjustments throughout production.
Inventory will soon become part of our Plus plan. For now, our early adopters can put it to work and help us understand how it fits into everyday brewing.
Brewery Inventory That Starts With Your Ingredients
Before planning a batch, you need to know which ingredients you work with and what you have available. Those are related questions, but they serve different purposes: a catalogue describes the ingredients, while stock tells you what is on hand.
In Ingredients Catalogue, you can browse both Foambyte’s ingredients and the ingredients you have created yourself. That gives you access to the shared catalogue alongside the ingredients you use in your own recipes.
In Inventory Stock, you can manage your raw material quantities across four groups:
- Fermentables.
- Hops.
- Yeast.
- Other ingredients.
Keeping those records current gives you a clearer starting point for your next batch. It also makes inventory part of the brewing workflow, rather than a separate task you have to remember after everything else is finished.
Plan a Batch Around What You Have
A recipe is a starting point. Once you check your shelves, cold storage, and ingredient containers, you may need to make changes before brewing.
During batch planning, you can review your ingredients against your inventory and adjust the plan. From that same screen, you can:
- Add a planned ingredient to your inventory.
- Replace a planned ingredient with another.
- Remove an ingredient from the batch plan.
- Make the adjustments you need before moving into production.
For example, you might discover that you do not have enough of a planned hop. You can review an alternative and decide whether its characteristics fit the beer, then update your plan accordingly.
The goal is to make that decision with your stock in view. A substitution still needs brewing judgment: another ingredient may change the flavor, aroma, or other characteristics you are aiming for. Seeing what is available helps you evaluate the options before committing to the batch.
This connection between planning and stock also helps you make better use of materials already in the brewery. Sometimes a workable batch starts with reviewing what you have and building a sensible plan around it.
Choose Inventory Tracking for Each Batch
Not every batch needs to follow the same workflow. You might want detailed ingredient tracking for one production run and a simpler approach for another.
You can turn inventory tracking on or off with a switch in each batch. The choice stays with you.
Whichever option you choose, you can still make adjustments directly from the inventory menu. Turning batch tracking off does not remove your ability to maintain your stock records.
That flexibility lets you decide how to manage each lot while keeping a practical way to update your raw materials. You can use the batch workflow where it helps and make direct stock adjustments whenever you need them.
Record Ingredients Throughout Production
Ingredient use does not end when the brewday is over. Dry hops and other additions can happen later, and those materials matter to your inventory balance too.
With inventory tracking enabled, you can add ingredients during Brewday, Primary Fermentation, and Conditioning.
This lets you account for additions as the batch moves through its stages. If the production plan changes, you can record the ingredients used along the way instead of relying on the original plan alone.
Inventory also connects with the broader batch tracking workflow. The purpose is to keep ingredient decisions close to the production stages where you make them, so reviewing the batch is easier when it is time to close it.
Review Actual Use at End Production
Planning quantities and actual quantities do not always match. An addition may change, an ingredient may be replaced, or a final adjustment may be needed.
At End Production, you can review what you actually used and make the necessary adjustments to keep your raw material balance accurate.
This final review is a useful point to compare the plan with the finished production record. It gives you a chance to catch differences while the batch is still fresh in your mind.
An up-to-date balance also gives the next batch a better starting point. When you return to planning, you want your stock records to reflect what remains after production.
Available Now to Early Adopters, Coming Soon to Plus
Our 50 early adopters already have access to Inventory. Its wider release as part of Plus is coming soon.
Early access gives us an opportunity to learn from brewers using the feature in their own operations. We want to hear where it saves effort, where an adjustment feels confusing, and what would make the workflow more useful.
To our early adopters, who trusted us from the very beginning: thank you. As a token of our gratitude, we will keep offering you special benefits, like an extended period of free access once Plus launches. We’ll be in touch with all the details before then.
We are also working toward IoT device integration for real-time fermentation readings, complementing the manual readings already available. That integration is a future step; this release focuses on ingredient inventory and its role in batch production.
Help Us Shape the Next Step
If you are one of our early adopters, try Inventory on a batch and tell us how it goes. Positive feedback, problems, and suggestions all help us improve the tool for the way you brew.
New to Foambyte? Try Foambyte for free to explore the available brewing tools while Inventory’s Plus release approaches.
Cheers!
