First Brew Day (BIAB) with a handful of questions/concerns/observations

[tysonzane]

Well I’ve just finished my first brew day!

I purchased a used Peco Boiler, BIAB, false bottom and cooper immersion cooler (basically a HBC starter kit). I got all of this for a cheap price delivered to my door from @dweb. Once I purchased the rest of the bits and pieces needed for brewing, the whole BIAB setup owes me a bit over �£100 which I thought was pretty good value. The Thermopen was possibly my best purchase (I didn’t count this in my overall cost since I’ll be using this for cooking meat!).

It has been my first brewing experience and I basically started researching the whole process a couple of months ago with the idea that I would brew a ‘kit’. Well it started with that, and that quickly graduated to extract brewing, followed by extract with steeped grains and then naturally that turned into ‘well I may as well be doing a full BIAB’. I did consider going to a full all grain setup with a mash tun but the less time and equipment of BIAB and the process in general appealed to me a bit more.

For ingredients I turned to HBC for an ‘Exceedingly Good IPA’ AG kit with Cascade Hops. The kit looked well formed and ingredients fresh enough. The instructions were a bit basic but its not the type of kit that a first timer would typically be using.

I’ve had mixed reports on London water so I went down to Tesco for a bunch of their cheap water. I’ve got the mineral stats from the back of the bottle if anyone can tell me if it is suitable for this IPA? Water has been one element of my research where the more you know the more you realise you don’t know.

I’d love to talk through my brew day process to talk about some of the observations and mistakes I made along the way to get some advice for next time.

We started by bringing the water to the prescribed temp of 67*. I decided I would take it to 69* since there would be a drop in temp over an hour. As soon as I put the grains in it dropped approximately 4* so I turned on the boiler to bring it up to temp while I stirred the grains and got rid of any clumping. Once the water got to 67* I left the BIAB bag pulled over the edge of the bucket (rather than draw string pulled and sitting in the bottom of the bucket ��" is this ok?) and put a lid on the bucket, wrapped it in a blanket and left the boiler on for a further 2 minutes (I also had the bucket sitting on thick layers of cardboard to reduce heat loss through my kitchen bench). Leaving the boiler on for a further 2 minutes while wrapped in blankets might have been a mistake because after half an hour I gave the grains a stir (what are BIAB brewers thoughts on doing this? Should I just leave it for the full hour?), I found the water and grains were now sitting at 70*! Was this too hot? After an extra 30 minutes (once the hour was up) the water finished up at 68.5*. I am happy I experienced little heat loss but I’m also worried that the water may have been a little bit too hot for the grain?

From there it was time to lift the BIAB and grains out. Wow it is heavy and those grain soak up a lot of water! At times we had the BIAB lifted quite high above the wort, creating a decent amount of splashing. After finishing this I found a note that I had read online that it isn’t ideal to create lots of splashing and it is best practice to leave the bag as close to the top of the wort as possible to minimise splashing. Is this correct? I’m hoping the boil would boil off any unwanted oxygen or bad air introduced at this point as a result of my mistake.

We drained as much out of the BIAB as possible while the wort was slowly heated to a boil. At times we grabbed the bag to give it a good squeeze when it was cool enough to do so. We then poured approximately another 3 or 4 liters of 80* water through the grains with a soup ladle to get some more of the grains juices and also top up the wort to approximately 27 liters. Near the end of doing this the water was running very close to clear through the grains, so I felt confident we had done a good job with the grains.

We then reached the boil with the wort, added the prescribed hops at 60, 15 and 0 minutes. At zero minutes I literally put the hops in, turned off the boiler, turned the cold tap on for my cooper cooler and stirred ��" I take it this is how you do it? At 10 minutes I put in a full Whirlfloc tablet and then put in the cooper cooler to sanitise from the cooler during the boil.

Once the boil was done we managed to cool the wort down to 24* in a bit over half an hour which seems like a pretty good result.

As is commonly reported the tap on the Peco Boiler is pretty poor at best and despite my false bottom it started to clog up. Eventually we poured the wort straight from the bucket into the FV. We poured the wort slowly through a large siv to filter out the hops but also aerated the wort a bit. How much of the wort should I pour into the FV? Once it got a bit darker and mixed with the hops I stopped. Is it a good or a bad idea to put the boiled hops in the FV? We then aerated the wort for a good 10 minutes stirring as aggressively as possible with a stainless spatula.

I put the yeast in, put the lid on (with a bit of Vaseline around the seal) and whacked in the airlock with Star San. From there we lifted the FV into a big bucket with a fish bowl heater to control the temp. Anyway, the mistake was when we lifted the bucket, it flexed and sucked in the Star San. It wasn’t much but there is still a small amount of Star San sitting in my brew ��" how much of an issue is this going to cause? I’ve read that the yeast will have no problem eating this up.

While the wort was boiling I rehydrated the yeast with 30* water that had been pre boiled. I then added a teaspoon of kitchen sugar that had been boiled in a small amount of water. After sitting in a Pyrex for over half an hour there was very little yeast activity so I was starting to worry that I had dead yeast.

Finally after a few hours of the FV sitting in the heated water bucket I checked the water temp around the FV and it was sitting at 27* so I made an adjustment and turned the water down to 20.5*. Will I have done any damage to the brew having it sit at 27* for a couple of hours? Is 20.5* a good temp for the water to be at surrounding the FV? Should I check the temperature of the brew through the air lock hole or am I best to leave alone and accept that it will be very close to 20.5*?

Overall the brew day went well I thought and it wasn’t too hard. I was really pleased to wake up in the morning and find the FV air lock bubbling away quite quickly ��" beer is happening!!!

Now my next step is to buy some bottling equipment and wait a couple of weeks.

Anyway, on with the pictures.

 

[Toredan]

Awesome write up on your first BIAB. Everything looks good! I'm sure you've got a list of things you'd do differently next time but it seems you've got most of it right mate (from my experience anyway!). Some really clear wort there too, nice one! Did the wort end up at the SG you planned?

 

[Spapro]

Good Post.

Read most of it and sounds like the few 'errors' you made are all insignificant, your brew should be great - can't go wrong with cascade IPA:

A little bit of starsan in your brew will be fine - its no rinse and heard somewhere the owner of the company once drank a cupful on video to prove its harmless - wouldnt recommend drinking it though just to be clear !

Your brew sitting for a few hours at 27°C is fine - ideally pitching the yeast at 21-22°C then brewing at 18°C is what you are lookig for - can you drop the temp now to around 18°C ? this is an ideal temp for US05 yeast which will have come with the HBC mashkit.

I never see any activity in 20 mins from re-hydrated yeast - I dont bother to rehydrate yeast now, think its more important to give the wort a good thrashing so its well aerated to ensure the yeast gets off to a good start.

Good luck with it, let us know how it goes.

 

[clibit]

Sounds like a very successful first AG brew day. :thumb:

The temperature of the mash was a bit high, you had it right at 67, no need to further heat it. A drop from 67 to 65 would be ok. At 69/70 you will get more unfermentable sugars, so a higher final gravity and sweeter beer than you would at 65-67. But that can be a good thong, depends on what you like really.

 

[Brewdoug]

But that can be a good thong, depends on what you like really.

Think you're mixing up your hobbies here Clibit :lol:

 

[tysonzane]

Thanks guys! Its good to hear that I'm on track for a successful brew. Lets hope I can keep everything nice and sanitised and that bottling day goes well.

Did the wort end up at the SG you planned?

OG came out pretty much bang on against what the receipe called for 1.044 vs 1.045

Your brew sitting for a few hours at 27°C is fine - ideally pitching the yeast at 21-22°C then brewing at 18°C is what you are lookig for - can you drop the temp now to around 18°C ? this is an ideal temp for US05 yeast which will have come with the HBC mashkit.

I can drop the water that the FV is sitting in to 18*C. Will I have done any damage having it sit at 21-22 for a couple of days? Should I check the temperature of the beer in the FV or just accept that it will be reasonably close to 18*C?

The temperature of the mash was a bit high, you had it right at 67, no need to further heat it. A drop from 67 to 65 would be ok. At 69/70 you will get more unfermentable sugars, so a higher final gravity and sweeter beer than you would at 65-67. But that can be a good thong, depends on what you like really.

Ok, I'll keep notes of all the things that were a result of my higher mashing temp and then do things differently next time. Do you think my best practice next time would would be to get the water to 67, add the grains (which will drop the temp a couple of degrees), keeping heating while stirring the grains and then once it hits 67 put the lid on it, cut the heater and wrap it in a blanket for 60 minutes? Temp loss should be minimal so I imagine it would drop to probably 65 ish?

 

[clibit]

Most people heat the mash water to 'strike' temperature, which is the desired mash temperature plus a few degrees to account for the expected drop that mixing the grain in will cause. But most home brewers don't mash in a pot they can heat up with the grains sitting in the water. If it dropped 4C, you could heat the water to 71C, mix the grains in, check the temperature, and adjust if necessary. Mine tends to drop 7 or 8C.

I think, ideally, you want to hit the desired mash temperature asap after the grains are added. This can be done very quickly if the strike temperature is right. Conversion of sugars happens very quickly, mostly within the first ten minutes apparently, so if you take 5 mins adjusting the temperature a few degrees, you are not really in control of the mash temperature at a critical time.

So work out whatever system gets you to mash temperature for the recipe asap. Experience will enable you to predict the drop in temperature from adding the grains reasonably accurately, and from there you can decide on the strike temperature you need in order to hit mash temperature quickly.

As far as fermentation temperature goes, if you are using US05, then 21-22C will be fine. US05 it pretty stable up to about 25C. During the main fermentation period, in the first few days, the temperature inside the FV can be a few degrees higher than the temperature outside it, as the yeast activity raises the temperature of the beer. So it would be worth checking the temp of the beer, IMO. With the FV in water heat transfer might be quite efficient, so I'm not sure how great the difference will be.

 

[Cwrw666]

Sounds to me like a good first brew and I'm sure the result will be really good. A lot of the finer details of the brewing method you have to arrive at yourself as you gain experience with your equipment. We all do the process slightly different, even though basically it's the same.
As to your water - Greg Hughes' book has some good advice. Basically if the water you use tastes good to you, then any beer you make from it will also taste good (probably because you're used to the underlying taste).

 

[tysonzane]

More good tips, thanks guys.

Figuring out my strike temp sounds like a good thing for me to master.

The water around the FV is now down to 18.5* and the bubbling has slowed down alot. I'm not sure if this is due to 4 days of fermenting or the reduction in temp.

Either way there is still action happening and on good advice from a friend I pulled the cap off the air lock to take a sniff - smells stunning!! Just like an IPA should. Hopefully the finished product has a similar aroma. I'll be stoked!

 

[clibit]

It will slow down after four days. :thumb:

 

[jeg3]

It's taken me 9 brews to get strike temp and mash temp where I want it. My biggest problem was not accounting for cold grain, it can easily drop the mash temp by several degrees.

But on the whole you will end up with good beer. And it's all the better for being home brewed.

 

[tysonzane]

I wonder if there are any techniques like leaving a grain bag beside warm heater over night to slowly raise their temperature a bit.

I guess its something you need to adapt to since different grain quantities are going require different strike temps.

 

[MyQul]

I wonder if there are any techniques like leaving a grain bag beside warm heater over night to slowly raise their temperature a bit.

I guess its something you need to adapt to since different grain quantities are going require different strike temps.

No need. there a calc for it, which I find quite accurate

http://www.jimsbeerkit.co.uk/calc.html

 

[jeg3]

Yep, for my brew yesterday I measured the grain temp, it was 11℃, beersmith then told me what the strike temp needed to be. Maintained 67℃ for 90 minutes!

 

[Redron]

It's taken me 9 brews to get strike temp and mash temp where I want it. My biggest problem was not accounting for cold grain, it can easily drop the mash temp by several degrees.

But on the whole you will end up with good beer. And it's all the better for being home brewed.

Yeah, me too. I am now onto my seventh BIAB kit from Worcester hop shop. I too struggled a bit with mash temps and efficiency but after a few adjustments I pitch the grain at 72 which gets me approx 68 when all the grain is added and I've given it a good stir. My pan is then wrapped with a foam camping mat and a large towel. It is still at 66 after an hour... Sitting on an insulated surface is a good idea, I use a 'Kingspan' foam builders insulation pad.
What I have found in a bid to improve my efficiency is that I lift the bag so it is not touching the bottom of the pan (I use gas) and tie a strap round the rim so it stays put, and stir for a good ten minutes whilst the heat is on to extract as much of the sugars as possible whilst I bring it up to the boil, I suppose you could call this a 'mash out' I guess, seems to have improved my efficiency up to around 66% which is much better than my first efforts... I remove the grain bag when the temp gets to 75 deg ( I too use a Thermapen , bit dear but bloody good !)
I don't sparge, just squeeze the living daylights out of the bag using heavy duty marigolds.

I am finding it ain't an exact science and you can tweek your own methods to suit.
My first BIAB's were quite intense affairs but now I am much more relaxed with the process, perhaps because I understand a bit more each time I do it...

:thumb:

 

[junior1]

Great report I was thinking of buying the grainfather but people saying it's a lot of cash that can be used in other ways. Great to see you brewing and looking forward to the report on how your brew turns out.

 

[dave_walton]

Sounds like it went well. There's no need for Vaseline, well not on the fermenter lid anyway.

 

[needabrew]

That cooling system for you fermentor looks pretty nifty. Can you give me some more details on how you set it up, what you bought from where?

 

[Joeyriles]

Sounds like a cracking first brew day. Your Sundays will never be the same again!

 

[Spapro]

That cooling system for you fermentor looks pretty nifty. Can you give me some more details on how you set it up, what you bought from where?

It will be a heating system, builders tub big enough to to take your fermenter, some water in the tub so your FV is sitting in a water bath, plus an aquarium heater to heat the water in the water bath, which in turn heats the FV when necessary to maintain a fairly consistent brewing temp.

The aquarium heater has a temp control on it so with a little trial and error you can set it to heat/hold the FV at 16, 18°C, 20°C etc. This works well where the room temp where your FV is positioned can become cooler than the required brew temp.

Something like this 100w aquarium heater should do the job - select 100W:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hidom-Sub...hash=item3a88036cfc:m:m5smSTNEq1wPiPBCRfdidxw

Cooling a is a different thing, probably requiring an old fridge you can pop your FV in, with the fridge being controlled by something like a STC-1000, so it cycles on/off - only switched the fridge on when the FV temp drifts up above a set temp.

Added note: you need a FV without a tap, so just a bucket type to stand it in the water bath without risking 'unsterilised water' or infection from entering the FV through a tap. With a bucket FV (no tap) there is no risk of infection from the heated water bath.