Planning first AG BIAB brew thoughts advice please.

[treebeard]

Hi all. I have been brewing Festival kits for a while now and I think it's time to move on to AG. So I'm planning to do it in the next two weeks.
My equipment is a new 30ltr Ace boiler with false bottom and bazooka filter, my fermenter is SsBrewtech Chronical 7.

I have found this recipe for a Beavertown Gamma ray clone. The batch size is for 23 litres. (see below)

Grain bill
5kg Maris Otter Pale - UK
0.4kg Caramalt Malt
HOPS
g Variety Type
5 Bravo Leaf Boil 60*min
5 Amarillo Leaf Boil 10*min
5 Citra Leaf Boil 10*min
10 Amarillo Leaf Boil 5*min
10 Bravo Leaf Boil 5*min
10 Calypso Leaf Boil 5*min
10 Citra Leaf Boil 5*min
10 Columbus Leaf Boil 5*min
20 Amarillo Leaf Hop Stand 10*min
20 Calypso Leaf Hop Stand 10*min
20 Citra Leaf Hop Stand 10*min
10 Bravo Leaf Hop Stand 10*min
10 Columbus Leaf Hop Stand 10*min
50 Amarillo Pellet Dry Hop 5*days
50 Calypso Pellet Dry Hop 5*days
50 Citra Pellet Dry Hop 5*days
50 Columbus Pellet Dry Hop 5*days
50 Bravo Pellet Dry Hop 5*days

Mash in 66 - 60 minutes
Mash out 75 - 10 minutes

Ferment 18 degrees C

Safale US05

As it is my first attempt does anyone have any thoughts or advice please. I think I may have to do a smaller batch or top up to full volume in the FV?

I'm quite excited but at the same time a little nervous, if I can produce a couple of half decent brews then I plan to move to a Grainfather at Christmas.

Thanks everyone.

 

[mcphail]

I've just done my first AG biab with one of those 30l burco/cygnet boilers. I made a small batch of a dipa, aiming for 10l. I took the recipe from the Morton book and scaled it in beersmith for my equipment and boil off rates. I'd really recommend doing a small batch first. I hadn't realised how unwieldy and sticky the grain bag would be. Generally things went well and I more or less hit my targets.

Go for it :) . The smell of mashing barley is lovely. You can get decent volumes in a 30l boiler if you sparge your bag, but 5kg of grain is surprisingly difficult to deal with when wet.

 

[henteaser]

5 Bravo Leaf Boil 60*min
5 Amarillo Leaf Boil 10*min
5 Citra Leaf Boil 10*min
10 Amarillo Leaf Boil 5*min
10 Bravo Leaf Boil 5*min
10 Calypso Leaf Boil 5*min
10 Citra Leaf Boil 5*min
10 Columbus Leaf Boil 5*min
20 Amarillo Leaf Hop Stand 10*min
20 Calypso Leaf Hop Stand 10*min
20 Citra Leaf Hop Stand 10*min
10 Bravo Leaf Hop Stand 10*min
10 Columbus Leaf Hop Stand 10*min
50 Amarillo Pellet Dry Hop 5*days
50 Calypso Pellet Dry Hop 5*days
50 Citra Pellet Dry Hop 5*days
50 Columbus Pellet Dry Hop 5*days
50 Bravo Pellet Dry Hop 5*days

Go for it!

My only suggestion; maybe be a little more conservative with the hops. I know it's exciting to try and replicate your favourite beer, but if (touch wood it doesn't) but if it's a disaster there's like 400g of fairly expensive hop varieties you might be waving goodbye to.

If it was me, being a massive chicken, I'd keep the same grain bill, but use just one the dual-purpose varieties to keep it simple/cheaper e.g.

Citra: 10g @ 60 min
Citra: 20g @ 15 min
Citra: 20g @ 5 min
Citra: 20g @ Flameout
Citra: 30g @ Dry hop

 

[fourbob]

Good luck on your AG journey, Mr Beard!

I've recently invested in one of the Ace boilers after many having done many 10-12 litre stove top AG brews. So in some ways I was familiar with the process to begin with.

I found it useful to do a couple of simple half length brews to get used to the new boiler, so that I could check things like how accurate the internal thermometer is (not bad....) and how to use the different heater elements to get up to and hold mash and boil temperatures. At my first attempt I was all over the place with my mash temperatures and my efficiency was hopeless. Still, a 3% quaffing ale isn't the worst thing in the world.

My method now (which has survived the mighty test of two full (22l) brews) is to get it up to mash temperature, dough in the grain and leave it on the lower power element only for the mash - it seems to hold the emperature pretty well and the element only kicks in occasionally. Dunk sparge, while both elements are on to get it up to boiling, and top up during the boil as required to get the desired brew length. Once its reached a boil, I find that the single higher rated (1600w?) element is sufficient to keep it rolling.

I've introduced the dunk sparge stage (using my trusty Wilkos stockpot)which I think helps efficiency, but I don't have any stats to back this up.

Overall its been a great experience and the last 2 brews have gone pretty well - with the false bottom and bazooka filter, transferring to the fv is a piece of cake. (I no-chill overnight in the garage).

Enjoy your new kit and I hope you make great beer!

 

[Fil]

+1 Go for it,,, But I would aim for 15l max and simplify the hop bill too. as suggested above you can achieve a very hoppy aroma with a single hop for a fraction of the current hop bill cost. perhaps save the james morton style hop bomb experiments for when your confident with the mash and are familiar with the limitations of a smaller 30l kettle.

for a comfortable boil, consider leaving at least 4-5cm of pot wall above the still liquid level, any less and you could well spend the whole boil chassing spils n splashes..

Consider how you will lift out and suspend the 15kg+ of mass your grain bill will represent when soaking post mash.


if insistent of attempting a 23l brew DONT DO IT IN THE KITCHEN unless you live alone, all the splashes and overspills from the brew will deposit invisible sticky patches all over your worktop and floor and even if you chase every one with a damp rag you will miss 50% and every one will be a problem if not discovered by yourself and dealt with over the next week or so.. TRUST ME!!

just my thoughts..

 

[treebeard]

+1 Go for it,,, But I would aim for 15l max and simplify the hop bill too. as suggested above you can achieve a very hoppy aroma with a single hop for a fraction of the current hop bill cost. perhaps save the james morton style hop bomb experiments for when your confident with the mash and are familiar with the limitations of a smaller 30l kettle.

for a comfortable boil, consider leaving at least 4-5cm of pot wall above the still liquid level, any less and you could well spend the whole boil chassing spils n splashes..

Consider how you will lift out and suspend the 15kg+ of mass your grain bill will represent when soaking post mash.


if insistent of attempting a 23l brew DONT DO IT IN THE KITCHEN unless you live alone, all the splashes and overspills from the brew will deposit invisible sticky patches all over your worktop and floor and even if you chase every one with a damp rag you will miss 50% and every one will be a problem if not discovered by yourself and delt with over the next week or so.. TRUST ME!!

just my thoughts..

Yes it's one of my worries the weight of the bag of wet grain. SWMBO is into home brewing so will be helping me. I think you are right I may reduce the volume.

Thanks for your thoughts much appreciated. :thumb:

 

[treebeard]

Good luck on your AG journey, Mr Beard!

I've recently invested in one of the Ace boilers after many having done many 10-12 litre stove top AG brews. So in some ways I was familiar with the process to begin with.

I found it useful to do a couple of simple half length brews to get used to the new boiler, so that I could check things like how accurate the internal thermometer is (not bad....) and how to use the different heater elements to get up to and hold mash and boil temperatures. At my first attempt I was all over the place with my mash temperatures and my efficiency was hopeless. Still, a 3% quaffing ale isn't the worst thing in the world.

My method now (which has survived the mighty test of two full (22l) brews) is to get it up to mash temperature, dough in the grain and leave it on the lower power element only for the mash - it seems to hold the emperature pretty well and the element only kicks in occasionally. Dunk sparge, while both elements are on to get it up to boiling, and top up during the boil as required to get the desired brew length. Once its reached a boil, I find that the single higher rated (1600w?) element is sufficient to keep it rolling.

I've introduced the dunk sparge stage (using my trusty Wilkos stockpot)which I think helps efficiency, but I don't have any stats to back this up.

Overall its been a great experience and the last 2 brews have gone pretty well - with the false bottom and bazooka filter, transferring to the fv is a piece of cake. (I no-chill overnight in the garage).

Enjoy your new kit and I hope you make great beer!

Thanks for that. Great information about the boiler :thumb:

 

[Slid]

I would really endorse all the suggestions on this thread. in particular the observations around the logistics of a BIAB approach, especially if you have not done a stove top brew at ~ 12L and 2.5kg of grain.

Very daunting prospect to jump straight into a large grain bill BIAB brew, especially if you are thinking of investing ~400g of rare and precious hops in a speculative brew!

I do hope the first few brews go well, as AG is indeed a revelation. The GF would indeed be a nice to have, for sure, but just doing some AG is the real deal.

 

[Duxuk]

Do you have a hook on a rafter or similar to hang your bag from? It's a massive improvement compared to holding a bag whilst it drains. I use my garage for this then ny spillage is much less important, if still a bit sticky!

 

[treebeard]

Thanks for all the advice. It's very much appreciated. As suggested I will aim for a 10 litre batch to see how I get on. So now to scale the recipe for ingredients and strike sparge water volumes etc.

 

[treebeard]

Do you have a hook on a rafter or similar to hang your bag from? It's a massive improvement compared to holding a bag whilst it drains. I use my garage for this then ny spillage is much less important, if still a bit sticky!

No unfortunately, also, we have very little outside space or a garage. It's our tiny kitchen or nowhere. I have rigged up a sieve arrangement that fits over the boiler to drain the grain and hopefully sparge.