Questions for 40L Buffalo Boiler Users

[Pinchy]

After my first brew 2 weeks ago as many of you guys I have been banished to the garage . So I went and ordered myself a 40L buffalo boiler from the nesbits sale on eBay .

I'm planning my 2nd brew day on Saturday and coming from a 33L stock pot BIAB I need some advice from you good people on how to use the Buffalo:

Going to use this guide to get it ready! viewtopic.php?f=30&t=36636

I plan on doing a full volume BIAB. So what volumes of water do you start with before the mash? I hope to end up with a full 23L brew in the FV. I'm hoping to do a 90min mash and a 90min boil.

Thanks in advance!
Regards,
Pinchy

 

[SpamNMash]

http://www.biabrewer.info/ has some excellent resources. Of particular note is the BIABacus: http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1869.

It's one of the most hench spreadsheets you'll ever see - basically loads of calculators rolled into one. You can put in your base recipe, boiler specs and desired final volume and it'll scale everything nicely, including spitting out the exact amount of strike water you need.

I've been using it this weekend to (seemingly) great success.

 

[Pinchy]

Thanks mate I used the BIABacus for my 1st brew with success too.
I will deffo punch the figures into the BIABacus but I wanted to know first hand from people what their actual figures are and what works well for them :thumb: . You can never be too prepared

 

[Dave1970]

I'm looking at about 30 litres to end up with 23 in the FV after a 90 minute boil. This would be a bit too much for a lightly hopped beer and not enough for a heavily hopped one because of the hops absorbing wort

 

[LeithR]

"This is only a question you can answer once you get to know what the "SPEC" of your boiler is. As a guide when BIABing the grain will absorb between half and 3/4 of its weight of water. you can recover some of this by letting it sit in a bucket and let the water drip out of it, I use a small colander which is perfect for this job, return it to the wart during the boil. Also I suggest you have a smaller 8 or 10 L boiler on the go at the same time as you are boiling the wart, this offers you the opportunity to liquor back to the target brew length.

BIABicus is at best a tool which will give you a little guidance - nothing more!

It might take 2 or 3 brews to get your brew to work out well and I hope you have much success. Good on you for trying :clap:

 

[Pinchy]

cool well i have my 1st AG brew under my belt so this one should go much smoother hopefully!

Cheers guys :thumb:

 

[Austrian brewing]

Hi. I've got the 40 litre buffalo and do Biab with it. I usually fill it to leave 4.5 cm headspace (cold). I use the Biab calculator too. It's very good. I usually get 25 litres into fermenter with no boil water additions and no sparge with a 1.040-1.045 strength brew. Before you dough in take a 2 litre jug of water out of the boiler. You can then dough in without the risk of it overflowing. If you have space left in boiler after doughing in you can put the water back in. remember to leave space for the rim of the lid. This is an ideal time to adjust your mash temp too. If mash is too cold you can some hot water from the kettle or if mash is too hot you simply add some cold water instead of your reserved jug of water. Hope this makes sense!