How to: Brew your first BIAB AG Beer

[calumscott]

Mangled by transition to new forum software and subsequently removed at author's request

 

[JimmyB78]

Excellent and very thorough guide Calum, great work! :thumb:

 

[PokeHer]

Well this looks awesome! After I have constructed my new shiny boiler, I am going to give this a go, will post updates here.

Thanks for this!

 

[rpt]

Empty volume = 21.5 x (44.5 / 2) X (44.5 / 2) x 3.14 = 32644 cubic cms.

There are 1000 cubic cms to the litre so that’s 33.241 litres.

Fantastic guide - really looking forward to my first brew with my new Buffalo boiler. But, isn't 32644cc = 32.644L? :hmm:

 

[calumscott]

Hahaha! I *may* have altered some values there but missed one...

Good spot, thanks!

 

[cwiseman77]

:thumb:

 

[lambert]

Wow! Very comprehensive and thorough guide :clap: :clap:

The biabrewer site also has got a very nice recipe scaler and water volume calculator, specifically for biab.

 

[eggman]

:clap: Great "How To" Calum :hat:
Given me a lot to think about :hmm:

 

[LeedsBrewer]

Well done mate, very good guide :thumb:

 

[calumscott]

Thanks guys!

I've just got to now go and edit all the equipment links seeing as we took on a new sponsor! :lol:

 

[Asalpaws]

Nice one, great guide!

 

[anthonyUK]

Cheers Calum,
A really useful guide.
A couple of questions if I may as this is where I want to go this year. I have been reading a bit on BIAB forum but UK experiences would be great.
I see you went for a larger volume but if you are happy with a smaller brewlength is there much saving from building your own boiler or buying a 40l urn (£90 +vat).
I'm guessing if you went for an urn the tap would need to be replaced?
Is the hop filter required or could you avoid this by using another bag (hopsock I think I have seen mentioned)?

 

[calumscott]

Hi Anthony,

A 50l pot delivered is about 40 quid.

You would have to replace the tap with a bulkhead connector, hopstopper and tap - exactly the same as the pot...

Then you either just pop your pot on the hob or fit a couple of tesco kettle elements (£10 maybe?) and away you go.

You can hopsock but there are disadvantages - a hopstopper does just that, stops hops against itself which turn into a filter for the smaller crud, break material etc in the wort. No free hops - no filter.

So I think you would make a good saving by building rather than buying. :thumb:

 

[Andyhull]

Just read your how to Callum, great howto and very indepth.

Thanks

:

 

[Lagerloverdude]

This is excellent. Just what I was after. Thanks. :clap:

 

[PokeHer]

So brewday was yesterday! Followed the guide to the letter and I now have 20 litres of BIABitter happily fermeting away :)

I made my brew kettle from a 70 litre stock pot, the same one that Calumscott has. Made it by following Vossy1's guide


Here is my home-made brew bag, considering that I have never used a sewing machine before, I'm really happy with it. It's ok to use a sewing machine, it's manly if it's for making beer!


Here's the mash:


The brewday spreadsheet is simply fantastic. I'm not talking about accuracy as I haven't tested that, but the flow and logic of the sheet is brilliant. I can see you have put a lot of work into this guide Calumscott.

I had just two problems, the first, I brewed inside, in my kitchen. I thought the smell would be the main problem but my wife actually said "oh that smells nice" with not a hint of sarcasm so that's good! Unfortunately, I found out my extractor fan is not the greatest and covered the whole kitchen, hall & utility with beer moisture! She weren't too pleased! Next time, I'm in the garage lol.

The second problem is volume. I ended up with 17 litres @ 1.049. I think I must have boiled too hard, I turned one element off but it didn't appear to be boiling enough, it was boiling, but just slightly. So I kept both element on for the boil. This led to a boil loss of 11.1 ltrs! Where it should have been 5.25. So, I have added 3 litres of fresh water to bring the volume up to 20 litres @ 1.041. Question for next time, should I a) use a single element to boil and aim for the guideline boil off rate or b) Add 6 litres extra for start volume to allow for the boil off?

One other note, you mention that the HomeBrew Company provide the hops in 100g packets, this has changed, I got the exact quantities required.

Overall, really happy, thank you very much for this great guide. Hope this is as helpful to others as it was to me.

Cheers
Poke

 

[calumscott]

Thanks for putting the guide through its paces, poke!

I still haven't quite got my volumes right six brews in so don't worry. It's best to get all the water in up front or at least before the boil but I don't mind liquor ing back afterwards if needs be. After all, I had no issues with tap water when making kit beer, why would it be a problem now?

Glad the spready was useful. :thumb:

 

[calumscott]

Oh yeah, and windows open is the order of the day... :lol:

 

[calumscott]

One other note, you mention that the HomeBrew Company provide the hops in 100g packets, this has changed, I got the exact quantities required.

Ah, I can see where the confusion is. I meant that the malt miller will send 100g packs when I said "they". I'll tweak that to make it obvious. Thanks for the heads up. :thumb:

 

[rich27500]

I'd increase your start volume by your shortfall and see how close you get to target volume after that. Tinkering with your system s all part of he fun!