Tried a 10l BIAB brew - disappointed with times.

[ian_r]

On Sunday night I tried to make a 10 litre brew using my HBC BIAB starter kit to see how quickly this could be done. I was hoping to do this in around 3 - 3.5 hours so I can use the evenings to do some brews.

A 23 litre brew using this kit takes me about 5.5 hours and eats into the family time at weekends a bit.

However, it took over 4 hours to do this brew which I found a bit disappointing as people on here talk about doing smaller batches in around 3 hours.

The recipe was the 60 minute IPA recipe from Greg Hughes' book and quantities scaled down..

17:30 - 14 litres of water into boiler and turned on
18:00 - Water @ 72 degrees and 2.75kg of Maris Otter added to the bag. Temperature dropped to around 66 degrees
19:00 - Bag out, drained, squeezed and sparged with approx 3 litres of water at about 76 degrees in the FV.
19:05 - volume in boiler was 14.5 litres. Boiler turned back on.
19:25 - Boil reached and hops (Northern Brewer in place of Chinook, Cascade and Amarillo) added at specified times.
20:25 - Boiler turned off. Left then for 35 minutes whilst I had my tea. 11 litres remained in boiler
21:00 - Last hops added
21:05 - Immersion chiller connected and placed in the boiler
21:30 - Temperature down to 20 degrees.
22:15 - Wort drained into the FV. Left with 9.5 litres. All tidying up done.

Has anyone else tried to do smaller BIAB batches with the kit from HBC (approx 30 litre boiler, wort chiller)?

Interested to see what I can do to reduce the time it takes to brew 10 litres.

 

[mike77]

Difficult to shave time out. Perhaps use a kettle to get water up to temp quicker at the start. If you had chucked the hops and the chiller in before tea you could have saved 35 mins. You could also cut the mash time down a little. Ive done 30 min mashes a few times with no issue.

Also read up on "no chill". I don't do it but loads do without issue. Just let it cool naturally overnight and then pich in the morning. That would save 45 mins.

 

[clibit]

I do similar amounts and reach the end of the boil in 2.5 to 3 hours. I cool in the sink down to approx 30-40C and then transfer to FV, and leave it to cool before pitching. So I see the main job as being 3 hours max. I'm cleaned up by then pretty much, it's just waiting for it to cool then chucking it in the FV.

You could cut the mash down to 30 mins, I've done that with no efficiency loss.

 

[ian_r]

Thanks, some food for thought.

The 35 minutes wasn't included in my timings because I knew that was my tea break.

Think for the time being I'll stick to 23l batches. Luckily the wife drinks the output so she is supportive of this hobby.

 

[Sandimas]

Your experience mirrors mine, about 5 hours per BIAB brew no matter what the volume

- 0.5hr up to mash temp
- 1hr mash
- 0.5hr up to boil temp
- 1hr boil
- 0.5hr hop steep
- 0.5hr cooling

So that's 4 hours just with the process alone, and not including all the faffing about. Interesting that you can do a 30min mash (or overnight), but it'a the warming-up and cooling-down that eats into the time.

 

[Leon103]

I hope to do a smaller Brew in the next week and I will time that. I do most of the cleaning whilst it is chilling using the warm water coming out of my chiller.

 

[GHW]

I can do a 10 L in about 3.5 hrs, start to finish.

To speed things up:
Heat mash water but start with hot tap water. It's going to have all the oxygen boiled out anyway so I can't see the issue. Warm the pan a bit first too so you don't lose heat to cold metal.

I can get 15L to strike temp in about 20m then.

Do all your hop weighing, sterilising etc while the mash is on. Don't bother sparging if you do a full volume mash.

Get your wort on the boil and add hops. My chiller at this time of year takes about 20m to hit pitch temp. I can also trust my burner to hold a constant temp so I don't need to stand over the boil all the time (I leave it after 10m or so and keep an occasional eye on it), then you can get other stuff done, say rinsing out fv sanitizer or whatever.

Clean up is relatively quick with biab as there's only one pot.

It also helps if you brew near water supplies etc, ie in the kitchen.

Do some research on shorter boil times. You may be able to do a shorter boil.

It's tricky though, I agree. My final tip is to mash in the evening and store wort in an fv til morning, then boil. I've done this and it was fine.

 

[Leon103]

Good shout with using hot water. May have to try that next time.

 

[Alan_H]

20:25 - Boiler turned off. Left then for 35 minutes whilst I had my tea. 11 litres remained in boiler
21:00 - Last hops added
21:05 - Immersion chiller connected and placed in the boiler
21:30 - Temperature down to 20 degrees.

Do you normally wait that long between flame out and wort cooling?
I immerse my cooler for the last 5 mins of boiling, then at flame out I open the cold water tap right away. With gentle stirring the wort cools down to 20 degrees in about 20 mins.

Adding hops at 21:00 - perhaps not precise for IBU calculation. Most would show 0 IBU if hops are added at flame out, which is incorrect.. But I think it matters less on an IPA :)

 

[Covrich]

Do you normally wait that long between flame out and wort cooling?
I immerse my cooler for the last 5 mins of boiling, then at flame out I open the cold water tap right away. With gentle stirring the wort cools down to 20 degrees in about 20 mins.

Adding hops at 21:00 - perhaps not precise for IBU calculation. Most would show 0 IBU if hops are added at flame out, which is incorrect.. But I think it matters less on an IPA :)

If you add them below 80ºc and have a hop rest they shouldn't add any bittering and mostly aroma / flavour only..

 

[Alan_H]

In theory, yes.. but they add some bitterness.. it's a plant, soaked in hot water, you brew your tea in the same way and if you leave it for too long it gets bitter, no? I tend to believe even cold-hopping adds some bitterness to the brew, not easy to calculate/approximate though.

 

[MyQul]

In theory, yes.. but they add some bitterness.. it's a plant, soaked in hot water, you brew your tea in the same way and if you leave it for too long it gets bitter, no? I tend to believe even cold-hopping adds some bitterness to the brew, not easy to calculate/approximate though.

I agree. I add my flavour additions by doing hop teas and also add the hop debris to the FV for the two weeks of fermentation. I definaltely think it adds some IBU's No idea how much though as, as you say it's not easy to calculate.

 

[jayjt29]

With all my BIABS i no chilled, transferring the boiling wort into a container leaving over night or 24 hours prior to transferring into a fermenter. Never done any of my beers any harm. This could save you time and less clean up afterwards.
Jay

 

[Alan_H]

And aren't your brews hazy or don't they have some sort of off-flavours..?
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/boiling-and-cooling/cooling-the-wort

 

[fourbob]

I don't chill. But I only do 10-12 l batches that cool down fairly quickly in a small fermenter in the garage. I'm only a novice when it comes to AG but my method has evolved from clibit's now legendary post, and no-chilling certainly hasn't resulted in any of the problems that article refers to. My most recent batches have been far clearer than any kits I've done, comparable with commercial beer and compacted really well. And tasted delicious.
Not saying my method is 'right', but it seems to work so far!

 

[louis macneice]

And aren't your brews hazy or don't they have some sort of off-flavours..?
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/boiling-and-cooling/cooling-the-wort

I do partial mashes or BIAB all grain; I almost always no chill and pitch yeast the next day.

Touch wood I've had no off flavours and the only clarity issues (which I actually don't have a problem with) have been associated with the use of rye...tastes great but doesn't want to clear.

I have an immersion chiller but have only used it on a couple of occasions when I have time to spare and have thought let's do this by the book. I couldn't tell any difference in the resulting brews.

Cheers - Louis MacNeice

 

[Leon103]

Did my small brew yesterday. About 13l in total took 4 hours so a lot quicker despite a few issues. Getting the temp up on the mash and chilling took no time.