Phases, steps and checkpoints

A recipe is more than its ingredient list. The method lives on the formula too, structured so it can be printed on a recipe sheet and checked off during a run.

Phases and steps

Group the work into phases: Ferment, Blend, Bottle. Each phase holds steps, and each step is one instruction (“Reduce on medium heat”). A step can carry parameters:

• Temperature
• Active time (hands-on) and Wait time (the pot doesn’t need you)
• RPM, or a free-text Speed (“low”, “medium”)

Notes, hygiene and critical steps

Under a step you can add three kinds of guidance:

• Notes: anything the next pair of hands should know.
• Hygiene / safety: “Sanitize the vessel first”. Printed with the step.
• Critical control point: the CCP flag for steps your food-safety plan watches. It stands out on the sheet and during runs.

Checkpoints

A checkpoint turns “check the acidity” into a measurable gate. Click Add checkpoint on a step and set:

1. A metric: pH, salinity, temperature, whatever you measure.
2. A comparator: ≤, ≥, = or a range.
3. The target value, with its unit.

From a hot-sauce line: pH ≤ 3.8 before bottling, temperature ≥ 82 °C at fill, salinity between 2.0 and 2.5% during fermentation. During a run, the operator records the actual reading next to the target, so “it was fine” becomes a number you can look up a year later.

Step equipment

Attach equipment to the step that uses it with Add equipment. The recipe sheet then collects everything into one “Equipment to gather” list, so the blender is out before the mash is hot. Equipment records also carry acquisition costs and amortization; see equipment, units and offers.