Brew In A Bag - first attempt advise

[sion]

Hi,

I would like the try the Brew In A Bag method, for the first time.

At the moment, I have a 'Burnley Homebrew Old Speckled Hen' mash-kit that makes 40 pints / 22L, including the following ingredients:
- Maris Otter Malt, White Sugar, Crystal Malt, Black Malt, Yeast Safale s-04, Challenger Hops, East Kent Goldings Hops & a Protofloc tablet

To start with, I would like to make a smaller batch (e.g. 20 pints / 11 litres).

I have few links to the technique. However, I have the following questions (to start with):

1) is there a particular link to BIAB instructions that chaps on this forum recommend

2) what size of stock pot would I need to brew 20 pints / 11 litres

3) what type of mashbag / material would you recommend

4) how can I accurately measure the ingredients, the duration and temperature required to brew half the amount - will this be difficult for a first attempt!

Any advise would be much appreciated.

Thanks.

Sion

 

[Leon103]

1) is there a particular link to BIAB instructions that chaps on this forum recommend
There are so many ways. No sparge, dunk sparge etc. What kit do you have? Give us an idea and someone can help.

2) what size of stock pot would I need to brew 20 pints / 11 litres
About 33l for a 23l brew so around 18l would be ok.

3) what type of mashbag / material would you recommend
I have a BIAB bag from homebrew company. Other use muslin, get a proper bag to fit your pot.

4) how can I accurately measure the ingredients, the duration and temperature required to brew half the amount - will this be difficult for a first attempt!
Not really sure what you are asking. Were there instructions with the kit? Can you just divide by two?

 

[braziliain]

4) how can I accurately measure the ingredients, the duration and temperature required to brew half the amount - will this be difficult for a first attempt!

So for quantities, if your original kit is for 22L and you want to brew a different amount, then divide each quantity by 22 then multiply by the amount you want (in this case 11). Do this for all grains, all hops and all water quantities.

Temperatures and timings all remain exactly the same.

 

[Simonh82]

I'm not sure you will need a 30L pot for an 11L brew. I would have thought you could get away with an 18L pot.

Mash kits are a good way to start but they tend to come with all the grains mixed together. If this is the case, make sure you mix the grains well before dividing it in two. If you don't you could end up with all the black malt in one portion and none in the other. This would give two very different beers.

 

[wfr42]

If the grain is mixed, i wouldn't try and split it, as mentioned you can't be sure of an equal split.

Was looking for the 15litre pot i used for my 2 stove top brews using the simple ag thread method and found these

Almost positive they are similar to the 15litre pan that i now use to collect sparge water for and paid around £18 for...

I also bought a sieve and brewed without a bag, straining the grain against the lid (with assistance of oven gloves) and through the sieve, prior to sparging and repeating prior to boiling.

With the linked pans you could mash in either the 15 or 18l, and collect wort and boil in the other.

The smaller pans could be used to collect sparge water...or....i'm getting carried away here but you could possibly convert one of them (with the help of a drill) into sort of grain basket.

Good luck with it - the other option of course is to buy a BIAB starter kit (peco boiler etc) from geterbrewed or the homebrew company (usually around £100 with a grain kit before forum discount) and go straight to full batches.

 

[sion]

OK - here is a picture of the ingredients I have.



I was thinking of getting a 20L stock pot, like this:

http://https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/172046284572

From the comments above, I understand that I will be able to divide the separate ingredients (e.g. kit amount = 22L, therefore divide each quantity by 22, then multiply by the amount I want to make.

Temperatures and timings all remain exactly the same as instructions.

I plan to follow the instructions provided and the brew technique below:

http://http://homebrewmanual.com/brew-in-a-bag/

The kit I currently have are:

- 33L Fermenter Bucket
- 23L Pressure Barre
- Thermometer
- Hydrometer
- Siphon tube
- Long Handle Spoon/Paddle
- Steriliser/Cleaner

Additional kit that (I think) I need ... is there a anything else?

- Stock Pot
- Muslin bag
- Steel colander

Cheers for all the advise, so far.

 

[cheapbrew]

It looks like everything is bagged serarately so you can just half everything, one other point is how will you be cooling the wort after the boil?
ice and cold water in the sink, or a wort chiller, or no chill cube.

 

[sion]

It looks like everything is bagged serarately so you can just half everything, one other point is how will you be cooling the wort after the boil?
ice and cold water in the sink, or a wort chiller, or no chill cube.

I was thinking of iced water bottles and ice coolers in the sink or bath.

 

[cheapbrew]

Whatever method you use it will cool quicker if you stir the wort to increase movement beteen the cold outer walls and the midle of the pot. :thumb:
I hope it all goes well for you, keep us posted.

 

[sion]

OK - I now think that I'm all set for 'brew-day' at the weekend.

As this is my first attempt, I have produced my own basic instructions (in terms that I can understand), including advice and tips from you guys.

1. Prepare The Brew Pot
a) fill the brew pot with approx. 28 pints / 15.4L of water
b) heat water to approx. to 71°C
c) line the pot with your brew bag

2. Add The Malt
a) mix all of the grain ingredients well
b) add the grain to the water - ??all grain this stage, or gradually in batches??
c) let the grains gently sink into the water
d) stir the mash, very gently - until the grains are submerged and wet

3. Mash
a) check temperature - maintain at approx. 67°C
b) if too hot, add more heat - OR if too cold, add cold water
c) put lid on and leave for approx. 90 minutes - keep checking the temperature
d) slowly lift the bag from the pot into the bucket, holding close to the beer’s surface
e) leave in the bucket for approx. 20 minutes
f) take the pot off the heat
g) remove the bag - do not need this anymore
h) pour the remaining beer at bottom of the bucket into the pot

4. Boil
a) return heat in pot back to the boil ?? temperature ??
b) add the hops to the beer
c) leave for 90 minutes, with the lid off
d) add the protofloc tablet and leave for an additional 10 minutes

5. Cool the Wort
a) fill sink with cold water, iced bottles etc.
a) place the pot in a sink
b) gently stir the pot
c) the wort should cool to 20°F in about 30 minutes
d) once the beer is cool transfer it to the fermenting bucket

6. Pitch the Yeast
a) pour it several times between the bucket and the brew pot
b) sprinkle the dried yeast straight into the wort
c) put the lid on the fermenting bucket and leave for two weeks

Ingredients:
- Maris Otter Malt (1.93kg) - GRAIN
- Crystal Malt (200g) - GRAIN
- Black Malt (15g) - GRAIN
- Challenger Hops (17g) - HOPS
- East Kent Goldings Hops (7g) - HOPS
- Protofloc tablet ( ½) - OTHER
- Yeast Safale s-04 (6g) - OTHER


There are still a couple of points I remain uncertain about (highlighted in red).

Let me know if you recommend any final tweaks to my plans.

Thanks

 

[Simonh82]

Well done o thinking all this through and being so prepared. I'm sure you were an excellent scout.

A couple of points. In my opinion it is best to add the Malt to the water gradually and to stir it well rather than slowly. You want to avoid dough balls (clumps of grain that stick together and don't get properly wet). I use a balloon whisk and whisk the grain in as a add it.

Also you only need to mash and boil for 60 minutes each. I think most people would say 90 minutes isn't necessary and more and you will cut an hour off your brew day.

Good luck.

 

[wfr42]

OK - I now think that I'm all set for 'brew-day' at the weekend.

As this is my first attempt, I have produced my own basic instructions (in terms that I can understand), including advice and tips from you guys.

1. Prepare The Brew Pot
a) fill the brew pot with approx. 28 pints / 15.4L of water
b) heat water to approx. to 71°C
c) line the pot with your brew bag

I line by boiler then add and heat the strike water. Maybe swap b and c

2. Add The Malt
a) mix all of the grain ingredients well
b) add the grain to the water - ??all grain this stage, or gradually in batches??
c) let the grains gently sink into the water
d) stir the mash, very gently - until the grains are submerged and wet

Think I read a kilo at a time while stirring is a good amount to avoid dough balls - break any up ASAP I'd you spot them forming. A mug or jug to scoop from a grain tub has been my most successful method. As soon as you're happy all the grain is wet and not balling up add more until it's all in

3. Mash
a) check temperature - maintainadjust to at approx. 67°C
b) if too hot, add more heat some boiled water - I put the kettle on as I start to dough in - OR if too cold, add cold water
c) put lid on and leave for approx. 90 depends on the recipe minutes - keep checking the temperature
d) slowly lift the bag from the pot into the bucket, holding close to the beer’s surface
e) leave in the bucket for approx. 20 minutes
f) take the pot off the heat DON'T KEEP THE POT ON THE HOB AT ALL DURING THE MASH. Move it onto a towel and wrap it up to keep as much heat as possible. Above 63° is fine, obviously the less heat lost the better
g) remove the bag - do not need this anymore
h) pour the remaining beer at bottom of the bucket into the pot

4. Boil
a) return heat in pot back to the boil ?? temperature ??
as it says boiling so above 100° you'll know when you are there
b) add the hops to the beer
c) leave for 90 minutes, with the lid off
d) add the protofloc tablet and leave for just the last 10mins,so 80mins into the boil an additional 10 minutes

5. Cool the Wort
a) fill sink with cold water, iced bottles etc.
a) place the pot in a sink
b) gently stir the pot
c) the wort should cool to 20°F in about 30 minutes
d) once the beer is cool transfer it to the fermenting bucket

6. Pitch the Yeast
a) pour it several times between the bucket and the brew pot stirring or whisking for approx 2mins also works well and maybe easier....
b) sprinkle the dried yeast straight into the wort you can also rehydrate the yeast in 10 times the amount of boiled and cooled water to at 30° to help it out
c) put the lid on the fermenting bucket and leave for two weeks

Ingredients:
- Maris Otter Malt (1.93kg) - GRAIN
- Crystal Malt (200g) - GRAIN
- Black Malt (15g) - GRAIN
- Challenger Hops (17g) - HOPS
- East Kent Goldings Hops (7g) - HOPS
- Protofloc tablet ( ½) - OTHER
- Yeast Safale s-04 (6g) - OTHER


There are still a couple of points I remain uncertain about (highlighted in red).

Let me know if you recommend any final tweaks to my plans.

Thanks

Think I've added my additions (not gospel) to your method in blue above.

 

[sion]

Well done o thinking all this through and being so prepared. I'm sure you were an excellent scout.

I'm a Project Manager ... which is a bit like a grown-up scout leader .. and just as annoying (for others).

 

[sion]

wfh42 - thank you so much for your comments.

Adding the grains gradually, to avoid lumps, was something I missed.

I'm all set now.

 

[Jakeyboi]

Don't forget your hop additions

 

[sion]

Don't forget your hop additions

Is that adding the Challenger Hops & East Kent Goldings Hops, 10 minutes before the end of mash?

 

[Jakeyboi]

Is that adding the Challenger Hops & East Kent Goldings Hops, 10 minutes before the end of mash?

No the hops are added to the boil at different intervals to give bitterness and hop flavours and aromas. The earlier they are added to the boil the more bittering they will add. I've only done a couple of simple ag batches so don't really know enough to tell you when and how much u want to add, I'm sure someone else will tell you though.

 

[Covrich]

The reicpe should have some hops marks for start of the boil (probably 60 mins) so as your wort starts to actually achieve a rolling boil start your timer and chucking in your 60 min hops.. then add the other hops at the times specified so if some hops are 10 mins you add them 10 mins from the end (not 10 mins from the start)

THe time in minutes specified on the hops is for how long they need to be boiled for..

 

[Simonh82]

Just a couple of additional points.

I always recommend squeezing your grain bag thoroughly. This gets the most wort out of it and helps improve your efficiency.

Depending on the volume of water you are mashing with and how much you want to end up with you should consider a dunk sparge, where you soak the grain in a few litres of extra water. This will was hot more of the sugars from the grain and again will help to improve efficiency. It isn't always necessary, especially if your boiler can hold the full volume of water needed and the grain but it can help.

Finally, the recipe calls for 6g of yeast. That is about half a standard package. If you sprinkle directly onto the wort I would definitely ignore that and add the full packet. Even if you rehydrate the yeast I would use the whole packet. For a half size batch like yours you would probably be over pitching slightly, but utterly it will help get it off to a good start.

 

[Honk]

b) if too hot, add more heat - OR if too cold, add cold water
s

You might need to rethink this step :)