Hi guys, hope this one ain't too stupid. Do to logistics the only all grain I can do is one gallon Biab brews. I'm very happy with the results but was wondering how to make bigger batches. Would it be possible to make a strong wort and simply dilute it with more water to take the overall total to say three or gallons ? Has anyone tried this ? I have a 6.5 litre pot and that's the biggest I can get on my stove at home so what I'm thinking is to make a concentrated wort and pour in about eight litres of cold water once I've done the boil, pitch the yeast and get it in the fermenter. Any help would be great. Cheers
Biab concentrate
- Thread starter brydo
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Your problem would be getting enough sugar from the grain with insufficient water. I reckon your best bet is a partial mash beer. Make an AG quantity, then add DME and cold water. This works well. What is the volume of your mashing vessel? And how much can you boil?
Basically you can use an all grain recipe for the amount of beer you want to end up with. Then you replace some of the base malt with extract. I recommend using dried extract. You multiply the amount of grain you are replacing by 0.6 to calculate how much DME to use.
EG. Recipe for 10 litres contains 1.8 kg Maris Otter. You could use 1kg Maris Otter and replace the other 800 grams with extract. To work out how much extract to use you multiply 800 by 0.6. (= 480g).
So you mash 1kg of MO with the other grains in the recipe, crystal, Munich, chocolate etc. If there are any. Then you boilt the wort and add all the hops for the 10 litre recipe. At the end you cool the wort, add it to the FV, mix the dried extract in thoroughly, and top up the FV to 10 litres.
Boil as much as you can, around 6 litres in your case. Top it with boiling water from your kettle as it drops. This will help get all the hop juices out!
[You could use 800g Maris Otter and replace 1kg with 600g extract. This is easy to remember, replace every kilogram of base malt with 600g DME].
There are quite a few 10 litre AG recipes in the Completed and Brewed Recipes forum now. Either replace 1kg base malt with 600g DME, or use a 500g bag of DME to replace approx 800g base malt.
EG. Recipe for 10 litres contains 1.8 kg Maris Otter. You could use 1kg Maris Otter and replace the other 800 grams with extract. To work out how much extract to use you multiply 800 by 0.6. (= 480g).
So you mash 1kg of MO with the other grains in the recipe, crystal, Munich, chocolate etc. If there are any. Then you boilt the wort and add all the hops for the 10 litre recipe. At the end you cool the wort, add it to the FV, mix the dried extract in thoroughly, and top up the FV to 10 litres.
Boil as much as you can, around 6 litres in your case. Top it with boiling water from your kettle as it drops. This will help get all the hop juices out!
[You could use 800g Maris Otter and replace 1kg with 600g extract. This is easy to remember, replace every kilogram of base malt with 600g DME].
There are quite a few 10 litre AG recipes in the Completed and Brewed Recipes forum now. Either replace 1kg base malt with 600g DME, or use a 500g bag of DME to replace approx 800g base malt.
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MyQul
Chairman of the Bored
Just FYI to answer your original Q. What your asking is possible it's called Maxi-BIAB and is what I do. I make a concntrated wort and dilute in the FV. I usually end up with 17L from my 20L pot and dilute down to 23L (although sometimes I end up with more or less depending on my efficiency).
With your 6.5L pot you'd could make an 8L-9L brew length so, as I suspect you will be doing any way, go with doing a partial mash as clibit suggests, to get a 10L brew length
With your 6.5L pot you'd could make an 8L-9L brew length so, as I suspect you will be doing any way, go with doing a partial mash as clibit suggests, to get a 10L brew length
Brydo's problem, I think, is only being able to start with 6 litres max in the boil? So I reckon partial mash is the best solution. It'll be virtually AG quality, and easy to do. Simple mash and sparge, boil, cool a bit, add extract and cold water and get to pitching temperature quickly.
clibit is correct, its the constraints of the space i have and size of pot thats stopping me doing bigger batches. the partial mash route is the way forward. ive made some cracking biab brews so far but only getting 7 to 8 bottles at a time. i wanna build up a bigger supply rather having to buy commercial or going back to kits. thanks again for the help
Partial Mashes topped up with extract IMO actually make great beers and are virtually as good as AG.
One thing I know you did mention but are you sure possibly you couldn't get a 10 litre pot to fit. I know you said 6.5 is the max you can use but where is the limitation? width? height? disapproving other half?
I only say as a 10liter or even 12 would open up your options a bit, you could do 10liter AG perhaps using maxi or 19-20 say with partial mash
One thing I know you did mention but are you sure possibly you couldn't get a 10 litre pot to fit. I know you said 6.5 is the max you can use but where is the limitation? width? height? disapproving other half?
I only say as a 10liter or even 12 would open up your options a bit, you could do 10liter AG perhaps using maxi or 19-20 say with partial mash
One issue is my stove, it's an electric oven and four top and to be honest I think it would struggle to get a good strong rolling boil with that much liquid. It manages with the 6.5 but any more it would struggle I think. Truth be told it's just a small flat we have and every time an order for grain comes in she groans as well so more equipment would probably set her off. What I need is a shed
MyQul
Chairman of the Bored
The only advantage of doing a maxi biab over a partial mash would be the cost but at such a small brew length the difference wouldnt be a big saving so a partial would be the best solution especially as you say you stuggle to get a rolling boil with your cooker hob.
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