BIAB school boy errors

[GHW]

I certainly don't do that or need to do that..

WHat is your setup.. what are you brewing in and how much ect

You don't need to do it no. I do, and I think it helps clarity and lessen loss of beer to trub, but it's by no means essential. It also adds time to the whole process, and remove some of the convenience of biabing.

It works for me though.

And what you'll find (I mean OP here, not you cov) as you do a few brews is that you'll settle on your own way, then find ways to improve aspects you're not happy with. That's how I arrived at my technique.

 

[Covrich]

Gareth is spot on and this is why I asked about your setup because everyones setup will vary and you will find what works for you. Unlike throwing a tin of extract in and mixing it which will be almost identical for every brew the viariables become huge once you're at this stage.. so no one size fits all with these answers.

Good luck anyway

 

[MyQul]

Be sure not to squeeze the grain bag too much as it will release the tannins ion the grain which will give your beer an off mouth feel. !

Tannin extraction from the grains is a chemical thing rather than a physical and you can squeeze the bag like it owes you money and it wont release tannins. If you however use sparge water that is too hot then you may get astringency from tannins

 

[clarkeuk]

Hi covrich
Iv a peco 33 liter boiler wort cooler n bag with a apa mash kit
As well as the usual fv's etc

 

[brumbrew]

I think the most awkward part of BIAB is draining the grain bag after the mash and any dunk sparge. If you get stuck at this stage, it could be very frustrating.

Some brewers have a pulley system in place

This is another use for SWMBO

 

[MyQul]

This is another use for SWMBO

I can just picture you yoking your missus up to some sort of tread mill pulley system :lol:

 

[Lesinge]

Gaining Expereince is key, you will learn a lot yourself no matter how much you read up.. bit like having kids in that respect lol.

One thing I would say is

1) Always give yourself plenty of time.. try to avoid being up until early hours of the morning trying to rush it. So if you can get it on early in the day you have plenty of headroom time wise.

2) I would try and make sure your thermometer is reliable and can be calibrated.

3) Write everything down or at least keep a log of what you did and your receipe.

Other things which may be helpful is try try and clean up as you go.. depending on your setup you can still make a hell of a mess.

Sound advice!

 

[Lesinge]

My brain dump:

Make a timing plan. It sounds like something you'd do when planning Christmas dinner but otherwise you'll forget something or time something wrong. If I don't do this now I always forget Irish moss or flame out hops or something.

Get everything you need out of wherever it's stored before you start faffing with weighing etc.

Label everything. It's easy to forget which hop additions are which once they're all sat in bowls on the counter top.

You don't have to squeeze the bag. It doesn't particularly impact on OG and creates trub. Also it's bloody hot.

If you're heating with the grain bag in, get a false bottom in the pan or you risk burning the bag and grain. i use a cake rack type thing that fits neatly in the pan.

Cover the pot when mashing to insulate. I use a duvet, it's basic but stops any heat loss and costs me nothing beyond my wife's displeasure. All the same, check mash temp half way through. Stir well before you take the mash temp. The bottom may well be hotter than the top and you might mash high by accident. Calibrate your thermometer too (read outs in boiling water and iced water) so you can take inaccuracies into account.

Don't be tempted to pitch your yeast too soon, cooling takes a while even with a decent cooler, but it's still worth waiting.

Don't be tempted to change you're recipe halfway through. It probably won't make bad beer but it'll make it harder to understand what effects your ingredient choices had.

Obviously the last few aren't biab specific, but hopefully helpful.

You'll be fine. Start with a smaller brew and build up. Smaller brews are much quicker with biab as you're heating less water. As covrish says, you'll learn as you go along, and chances are you'll make good beer even when you make mistakes.

More sound advice - I echo this and the other advice!

 

[GHW]

My hi tech bag draining system

Edit: it works by anti gravity, apparently

 

[Lesinge]

I think the most awkward part of BIAB is draining the grain bag after the mash and any dunk sparge. If you get stuck at this stage, it could be very frustrating.

Some brewers have a pulley system in place, which sounds like a great idea. I use a large Collander, but as this is not quite big enough to sit on top of a boiler, pot or FV, needs to have one handle balanced on a barbecuing utensil place across the vessel I am draining into. At this point, you also need thick, waterproof gloves - like marigolds, if you are going to squeeze the grain bag a little.

Thermometer with reliable calibration is important. I used a glass one that was about 4C too low!

My wife came out with a great idea. My mash vessel (a Buffolo boiler) sits on a table which is metal and is made up of metal rods crosses up and down, left and right in a lattice pattern. The square holes are big enough for the hooks from a bungy cord to pass through, so I pass a bungy cord under the boiler and attach the hooks on either side by hooking onto the BIAB handles. To achieve this the bag has to lift off the bottom of the boiler and helps to drain the grain bed. I then sparge with the bag lifted in this manner until the final drop (or as near to) is extracted from the grain. I don't squeeze it but may try to although it is pretty heavy after being used. BTW My wife brought me thick black rubber gloves about a year ago and they are still great...with the investment rather than using marigolds and having to replace them.

 

[clarkeuk]

with all your help n advice today iv done my first BIAB AG brew
made notes and kept a record of most things important ( I think )
but after using a strike water calculator I still found my mash temp 2 degrees low so used a litre of boiled water to try and up the temp but to no avail so in a panic just wrapped in insulation and mashed for 75 mins instead of 60 mins and was pleased to only loose half a degree in temp over the 75 mins all well and good but after the boil and transfer into fv I only ended up with 4 gallon instead of 5 ( due to me not really knowing how much loss I would have )
so my sg ended up at 1060 not 1051 so im looking at a strong beer around the 7 % mark which I could live with but would much prefer the 5.1 % it should be ( I think my efficiency is some where near ) any ways its all a big learning curve and Im sure itll be drinkable.
thanks again for the advice