My first BIAB brew how did it go

[treebeard]

First of all I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone here whom gave me advice. I would have been a tad lost without it.

My recipe was for an American style pale ale using US 05 yeast.

Actually it went very smoothly. As it was the first time I have used my new boiler I had no idea about volumes, losses, dead space etc. I was aiming for 12l in the FV with an OG of 1.055, however, I managed 11.2 litres at 1.060 so overshot that a wee bit. Using Brewers Friend it calculates my brewhouse efficiency at 68% so very happy with that for a first time. Again with help from you folks on here.

So which bits went awry? I had some difficulty with the mash temperature, my temp probe (calibrated) seemed to show various temps throughout the grain so not sure about the stability of that. Secondly, the mash-out at 75 degrees, a similar situation really, even with a quick stir it seemed unstable. Something I will need to work on.

Overall I thoroughly enjoyed the day , except the clean-up! The resulting wort is a lovely colour and tasted great, so it shows some promise. It's currently in the fermenter at 18 degrees bubbling nicely.

So once again thanks to everyone for the help. :thumb:

 

[IainM]

You can always add 800ml of water to the fv to bring it up to 12L at 1.056, which is bang on what you were trying to achieve. Congratulations! No turning back now.

 

[chesters-mild]

Welcome to the darkside treebeard!
It will turn out fine, trust me on this!
As you brew more you will find you get so much better and more accurate, and I have to agree cleaning up is a bu**er I've mostly done mine for today's brew just let the cold break drop bang it in to the fermenter, pitch the yeast, then only got the boiler to clean.
I started a 0900 this morning! but I like to take things easy :thumb:
Cheers

 

[treebeard]

You can always add 800ml of water to the fv to bring it up to 12L at 1.056, which is bang on what you were trying to achieve. Congratulations! No turning back now.

I did think about that but I had no pre boiled cooled water handy at the time and I was a little nervous of perhaps just adding tap water in case of contaminating it.

Now I know I may go a little under and need to top up I will have some on stand by in future :)

 

[treebeard]

Welcome to the darkside treebeard!
It will turn out fine, trust me on this!
As you brew more you will find you get so much better and more accurate, and I have to agree cleaning up is a bu**er I've mostly done mine for today's brew just let the cold break drop bang it in to the fermenter, pitch the yeast, then only got the boiler to clean.
I started a 0900 this morning! but I like to take things easy :thumb:
Cheers

Me too, the brew-day was approx 6 hours. As you say though, I just took my time and really enjoyed it. :thumb:

 

[Duxuk]

Well done. As you persevere your efficiency will probably improve, not that it matters too much. Just start with a bit more water next time, obviously. I start with my water for the mash at a temperature fairly close to the mash temp I want to achieve. Because the water volume is high the grain doesn't cool it much. I just stir the grain in then leave it to do it's thing wrapped in a sleeping bag and a motorcycle jacket. Over 90 minutes the temperature will hardly move but I do tend to overnight, for convenience. Get the next one going soon:thumb:

 

[treebeard]

Well done. As you persevere your efficiency will probably improve, not that it matters too much. Just start with a bit more water next time, obviously. I start with my water for the mash at a temperature fairly close to the mash temp I want to achieve. Because the water volume is high the grain doesn't cool it much. I just stir the grain in then leave it to do it's thing wrapped in a sleeping bag and a motorcycle jacket. Over 90 minutes the temperature will hardly move but I do tend to overnight, for convenience. Get the next one going soon:thumb:

Thanks Duxuk. My grains were at 18°c so I had my strike water at 70°c once I had added the grains the temp dropped to 66°c then it seemed to fall further. My boiler is double skinned for insulation including the lid and the surface is not very hot even during the boil.
Next time I shall smother it in a sleeping bag as you suggest and just leave it alone. I guess I was just worrying too much. :)

 

[Slid]

I did think about that but I had no pre boiled cooled water handy at the time and I was a little nervous of perhaps just adding tap water in case of contaminating it.

Now I know I may go a little under and need to top up I will have some on stand by in future :)

The main downside to adding tap water is that it may contain some chlorine and this can react in the early stages of fermentation with phenols produced by the yeast in this first fermentation.

Risk of contamination is almost nil, and after a week or so, not much can hurt your beer either way.

Good to see that you stuck to your guns and went with your recipe first time out. :thumb:

 

[Slid]

Thanks Duxuk. My grains were at 18°c so I had my strike water at 70°c once I had added the grains the temp dropped to 66°c then it seemed to fall further. My boiler is double skinned for insulation including the lid and the surface is not very hot even during the boil.
Next time I shall smother it in a sleeping bag as you suggest and just leave it alone. I guess I was just worrying too much. :)

Yeah, everyone over-thinks beer. The pyramids were built by beer drinkers and I doubt their beer was made in boilers with double skinned insulation. (For instance - no archaeologist has found a 5,000 YO Grainfather either).

Really, you are just soaking some crushed grain in hot water, then boiling it to make sure. The yeast makes the beer, not us.

 

[AdeDunn]

Yeah, everyone over-thinks beer. The pyramids were built by beer drinkers and I doubt their beer was made in boilers with double skinned insulation. (For instance - no archaeologist has found a 5,000 YO Grainfather either).

Really, you are just soaking some crushed grain in hot water, then boiling it to make sure. The yeast makes the beer, not us.

You wouldn't have wanted ancient Egyptian beer, it came with lumps of bread floating in it as that's one of the things they made it with. They didn't have temperature controlled fermentation either, and could only preserve things by drying, covering in salt etc.... :lol:

 

[treebeard]

The main downside to adding tap water is that it may contain some chlorine and this can react in the early stages of fermentation with phenols produced by the yeast in this first fermentation.

Risk of contamination is almost nil, and after a week or so, not much can hurt your beer either way.

Good to see that you stuck to your guns and went with your recipe first time out. :thumb:

Thanks Slid. Taking what you have said, I usually batch prime just before bottling. Would you suggest that I could make a solution of dextrose with cooled boiled water at that stage to bring the ABV down a bit? depending of course what the FG reading is.

 

[Ciaran12s]

I've diluted a couple of brews at bottling time recently to bring the ABV down. I'm not sure what if any effect that's had on the beer. I've sampled one and it tastes good, good body and head so happy enough with that. Google brewers friends dilution calculator. Put in the volume of wort you started with, the OG and what you would have liked the OG to be and it'll tell you what volume to dilute by.
I used water straight from the tap for the one I've sampled, but bpiled and cooled water for the other batch. Don't ask me why, I just did.

The benefit of knowing your FG as well is that you can play with the figures until you get the exact (rough)ABV you want.

 

[BrewDan]

Good to see your first one went well, nothing like the first time you go AG, if you enjoyed the brew day wait till you try it!

Let us know how long you can hold out for before giving it a sample, I’m sure it will be great.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[treebeard]

Quick update. Bottled this Saturday. The aroma and flavour from the dry hops was incredible, well I had to have a crafty taste :) If it retains all that character when it's carbed and conditioned I'll be well happy. Now the most painful part... The waiting!

My next brew is this Saturday, going for a nice session English mild ale based around the David Heath 'Mild Man Ale' Grainfather recipe

 

[jeg3]

I brewed this morning outside at 1 degree and I knew from experience that to mash at 66 the liquor tank needs to be at 86 and to sparge at 75 it needs to be at 89 (I fly sparge).

Obviously in the summer the liquor tank temps are lower.

Also the temperature of the mash varies greatly between the centre and the surface. Usually towards to top of the grain bed or the tun wall it is a couple of degrees cooler.

All the worrying about .05 here and there and a few degrees somewhere else comes to nothing when the end product tastes good.

Glad it turned out well.