# Brew In A Bag And Equipment Questions



## BreathingHeat (13/12/10)

Upon my AWESOME girlfriend buying me a brewing setup for my 30th, I did my first BIAB batch the weekend before last (20 liters of American IPA




). All things considered, I think it went fairly well. 

Definite mistakes:

Left the lid of the pot on for most of the boil. Needless to say, we didn't boil off as much shit as we should have.




One of the hoses popped off of "Copper Cobra" (homemade wort chiller) during chilling. We then reverted to an ice bath, which took a few hours. We did not have the top of the fermenter on during this time, but it was inside.




When racking from the pot to the primary we accidentally added some of the sediment at the bottom of the pot. It was being passed through a wire mesh strainer that caught most of the nasty shit.




Forgot to take the OG




The primary got up to 23 a few hours after we pitched the yeast. It was bubbling like all hell by the time we got up. It has been at a steady 19-21 ever since




 One question is that I noticed the temperature outside of the grain bag was roughly 10 degrees higher than the temp in the bag. For instance, during mashing when the temp was 65 on the built in kettle thermometer (outside the bag), it was only ~55 in the bag (checked with a electronic probe thermometer). Both thermometers are calibrated, so that's not an issue. Also, my bag is large enough to fit my 46 liter pot in it. I assume I should only rely on the temperature taken inside the bag during mashing/mash out/etc? My false bottom is about 4 cm tall, which might be a bit too tall. As in too much liquid outside of the bag at the bottom achieving a higher temperature. 

Equipment questions-

I am preparing to buy a kegerator and a couple cornie kegs. At this point I can go in the direction of ball locks or pin locks, as I will have to buy the connectors for the kegerator lines. Are there advantages to either? I'm thinking that ball lock cornie kegs are more common. Suggestions?

Where is a good place to buy a Co2 gas bottle? I do not want to hire one. 

Kind of siphon to rack the beer from the fermenter to the keg? Where to buy?

Thanks for the help!!!

Here are some brewing pictures:

Key ingredients
















Super fresh New Zealand Cascade flowers.


----------



## BreathingHeat (13/12/10)

Weighing out the ingredients. Corn sugar.











Adding gypsum to harden up the water


----------



## BreathingHeat (13/12/10)

11 lbs 2row, 1.5 Vienna, 0.5 Crystal, 0.5 Dextrose. Milled twice.






Hop additions (Centennial pellets, Cascade flowers) and Wyeast 1272.






Strike temp for step mash


----------



## BreathingHeat (13/12/10)

Mash out at 170






Draining the sweet wort






Sparging the grain


----------



## BreathingHeat (13/12/10)

reintroducing the sweet wort






Lining up the additions. 60, 30, 15, 5, 0






2 hop socks during the boil






Chilling the wort


----------



## BreathingHeat (13/12/10)

Hop aftermath






In to the fermenter






Pitching the yeast at 21






Jack Daniel's in the airlock


----------



## BreathingHeat (13/12/10)

Fermentation time






7 days later. Time to dry hop.






preparing the dry hop addition


----------



## BreathingHeat (13/12/10)




----------



## flano (13/12/10)

> AWESOME girlfriend



correctamundo!!!!!


----------



## Barley Belly (13/12/10)

:icon_drool2: 



BreathingHeat said:


> Super fresh New Zealand Cascade flowers.


 :icon_drool2:

Brings back fond memories on popping the packet of another member of the cannabis family.

Being a family man, hops is the closest I get nowadays. :huh:


----------



## bcp (13/12/10)

Great job. My wife is supportive, but doesn't exactly come out and help me. 



BreathingHeat said:


> One question is that I noticed the temperature outside of the grain bag was roughly 10 degrees higher than the temp in the bag. For instance, during mashing when the temp was 65 on the built in kettle thermometer (outside the bag), it was only ~55 in the bag (checked with a electronic probe thermometer). Both thermometers are calibrated, so that's not an issue. Also, my bag is large enough to fit my 46 liter pot in it. I assume I should only rely on the temperature taken inside the bag during mashing/mash out/etc? My false bottom is about 4 cm tall, which might be a bit too tall. As in too much liquid outside of the bag at the bottom achieving a higher temperature.


You've got me curious.

Were you adding heat during the mash? If so, you need to give the grain a pretty good stir, because it operates a little like insulation, slowing down natural circulation of water.

If not, that's a very big temp difference, and since heat loss occurs to the outside, it should if anything be marginally warmer on the inside. Was the grain refrigerated? I stir in the grain as it goes in, so in theory the temp difference shouldn't be much. 

Next time it'd be useful to lift the bag and stick the probe thermometer in and see if it's reading the same. I've heard that built in thermometers can give different results in some cases.


----------



## Brewme (13/12/10)

G'day BreathingHeat

It looks like you're pretty well set up with your gear.

Ever thought of trading in that grain bag for a decent esky with a tap.

Then make a copper manifold for it.

No more lifting heavy bags of wet grain. No more draining/squeezing the bag to get all the goodness out. Twice.

You got the boiler. I'm sure you got a pot or two for the hot water. The initial strike water can be heated in your boiler.

I done 1 BIAB and found it too cumbersome. Hanging the bag over a bucket to collect the drips. Soaking the bag in more hot water and hanging it up again to repeat the procedure. Squeezing the bag to extract all the goodness from it. No guarantee that all the goodness has been extracted as the grain is compacted in the bag.

IMO an esky is easier to use than a bag. When you're not using it for brewing, it can be used for parties, picnics, camping/shooting trips and even keep your ice cream and meat cool from the shops to home.

My 2c worth.

Cheers


----------



## Gretschem (13/12/10)

Barley Belly said:


> :icon_drool2:
> 
> 
> :icon_drool2:
> ...



lol, the ol stick ???

Awesome brew day mate, and the pictures are great, well done.

I'm doing an all grain JSAA Clone real soon,

Regards


----------



## BreathingHeat (13/12/10)

bcp said:


> Great job. My wife is supportive, but doesn't exactly come out and help me.
> 
> 
> You've got me curious.
> ...



Thanks for your time. Thinking about it again, the 10 degree disparity was while approaching my mash out temp, so I think it was the grain acting as insulation. The heat was on full blast at that time and the grain hadn't been well circulated. I will need to take more reads with the probe while brewing next time.


----------



## outbreak (13/12/10)

Brewme said:


> G'day BreathingHeat
> 
> It looks like you're pretty well set up with your gear.
> 
> ...



I don't get why people think draining the bag is hard... I seriously lift bag after 10min at mashout temp, wait for it to drain (usually 30 seconds) then twirl it to form a ball and put it in my 12litre pot with a colander under it. I have been getting 80% efficiency into the kettle. Dam site easier than cleaning out a mashtun..... 

Anyhooo, nice work Breathingheat. I have one of those metal plunging paint stirrers that i use when heating to mashout temps it seems to work fine. You're lucky the Mrs helps out so much!


----------



## felten (14/12/10)

A pulley and a bit of rope makes it easy work, you don't have to hold anything up, just lift and tie it over the kettle (or the cake rack like in the pictures above). A sparging step is also unnecessary unless you're having difficulty fitting all the grain and water in the pot, sure you probably leave some extract behind in the grains, but there is only a small amount retained compared to other methods. You should be looking at around 80% in the kettle for your average size grain bill.


----------



## jakester (14/12/10)

Nice setup mate, as for answering one of your questions goes, i bought some silicon hose from Craftbrewer a while back and use it for transfering all my wort. I use it straight from the kettle after the boil, straight into my no chill vessel then it comes back out at racking time and again at kegging time. It fits right over your fermenter taps so no fittings needed. Simple piece of equipment that i cannot go without these days.
Oh and the corny kegs, in my experience ball locks seem the most popular, have not come across too many pin kegs, so it depends on where you are buying them from. It also helps to put in your location so people can recommend where to buy the gear as well.
Im no expert though, just my two cents woth. Cheers.


----------



## flano (14/12/10)

my only piece of advice would be...put some bloody shoes one will ya.  

100 dgr wort onto sandaled feet would suck arse.



cool looking setup though.


----------



## argon (14/12/10)

Great setup mate... testament to the simplicity of BIAB. 
As for your "mistake"s, don't worry too much i'm sure you'll end up with awesome beer. But consider these points;

- Make sure next time you leave the lid off for the boil as you want to boil off the nasties and precursors to some detrimental flavours. If you'r not getting a vigorous enough boil with the lid off, try floating a food grade plastic bucket lid or SS bowl on the surface of the wort. This will cut down surface area, allowing a more vigorous boil.
- I like to make sure all hoses are silicone. PVC can leach off flavours int the wort, especially when hot. Silicone is great as it insulates nicely, holds firm under heat and doesn't leach anything.
- Don't worry much about the sediment into fermenter. If you're taking measures to exclude as much kettle trub and break material as possible. You're doing well enough.
- Measuring OG, something I forget on a regular basis. Your beer won't taste any better or worse cause you don't know it. So not really worth a worry.
- Starting at 23 then getting to 19-21 for 1272 is about right, if a little high. 18 is spot on in my opinion ... it will throw up a few fruity esters. But appropriate for an IPA. so you should be cool. Look into getting a ferm fridge if you can. Temp control is paramount in creating good repeatable beers.

Ball lock kegs... easily available. Kegging is awesome.

Cheers
:icon_cheers:


----------



## mwd (14/12/10)

Very Good pictorial guide of A-Z of BIAB. Don't know how you do it I make a big mess just doing K&Bits. Thanks for sharing.


----------



## katzke (14/12/10)

Need to push more hose on the copper chiller. I have a good 5 or 6cm pushed on mine.

Only explosion I have had was the fitting that goes on the garden hose.


----------



## Brewing_Brad (14/12/10)

BreathingHeat said:


> Jack Daniel's in the airlock



Really? Is it because the alcohol kills off any nasties that may get in there and thus providing another layer of protecting for the brew or are you just being decadent? Either way, I like the idea.


----------



## BreathingHeat (14/12/10)

I really appreciate everyone's feedback. Embarrassingly, I edited out a ton of pictures because I thought it was too over the top (we're kind of documenting the process for our friends and fam back home). Next time, I will post them all from beginning to end. 



Ivesy said:


> Nice setup mate, as for answering one of your questions goes, i bought some silicon hose from Craftbrewer a while back and use it for transfering all my wort. I use it straight from the kettle after the boil, straight into my no chill vessel then it comes back out at racking time and again at kegging time. It fits right over your fermenter taps so no fittings needed. Simple piece of equipment that i cannot go without these days.
> Oh and the corny kegs, in my experience ball locks seem the most popular, have not come across too many pin kegs, so it depends on where you are buying them from. It also helps to put in your location so people can recommend where to buy the gear as well.
> Im no expert though, just my two cents woth. Cheers.



It seems that ball locks are the best direction. Thanks for the guidance. 



argon said:


> Great setup mate... testament to the simplicity of BIAB.
> As for your "mistake"s, don't worry too much i'm sure you'll end up with awesome beer. But consider these points;
> 
> - Make sure next time you leave the lid off for the boil as you want to boil off the nasties and precursors to some detrimental flavours. If you'r not getting a vigorous enough boil with the lid off, try floating a food grade plastic bucket lid or SS bowl on the surface of the wort. This will cut down surface area, allowing a more vigorous boil.
> ...


 
Thank you so much for all of this tremendous information. I am ready to do it all over again this weekend and not make any mistakes.







katzke said:


> Need to push more hose on the copper chiller. I have a good 5 or 6cm pushed on mine.
> 
> Only explosion I have had was the fitting that goes on the garden hose.


 
Yeah, I learned that lesson the hard way. The entrance hose popped off of the chiller about 2 minutes after that photo was taken. I insisted on turning up the water pressure, even though my girlfriend said to keep it low  . I guess she was right :huh: . I have fixed Copper Cobra for our next brew day. 2 hose claps per side and about 4 cm on the copper. :super: 



Brewing_Brad said:


> Really? Is it because the alcohol kills off any nasties that may get in there and thus providing another layer of protecting for the brew or are you just being decadent? Either way, I like the idea.



I had heard of people using vodka for sterilization purposes. We love Jack Daniel's, so we deemed it would be appropriate for the maiden voyage. It was topped off with Makers Mark after dry hopping. A little for it and a little for me.


----------



## Strange Brew (14/12/10)

Just on your ice bath taking hours. Did you have the water level in your ice bath at least level with the liquid in the pot? This is just a mistake I found someone doing with thier ice baths because if the ice bath isn't up to at least the level in the pot then the ice will create a cold pool of water down the bottom and a hot pool will just sit at the top and not cool via the ice bath.

I managed to cool a 9L batch in about half an hour with a single bag of ice and a couple of ice bricks. Got a great cold break forming out of it too, was quite surprised.


----------



## BreathingHeat (14/12/10)

Strange Brew said:


> Just on your ice bath taking hours. Did you have the water level in your ice bath at least level with the liquid in the pot? This is just a mistake I found someone doing with thier ice baths because if the ice bath isn't up to at least the level in the pot then the ice will create a cold pool of water down the bottom and a hot pool will just sit at the top and not cool via the ice bath.
> 
> I managed to cool a 9L batch in about half an hour with a single bag of ice and a couple of ice bricks. Got a great cold break forming out of it too, was quite surprised.



I kind of panicked when the wort chiller busted, so I quickly transferred the 50 degree wort from the kettle to a sterilized fermenter, to ward off contamination. The fermenter was plastic, so it took quite a while to cool down. I shouldn't have the same issue next time.


----------



## Strange Brew (16/12/10)

BreathingHeat said:


> I kind of panicked when the wort chiller busted, so I quickly transferred the 50 degree wort from the kettle to a sterilized fermenter, to ward off contamination. The fermenter was plastic, so it took quite a while to cool down. I shouldn't have the same issue next time.



Yeah I can just imagine  . Good article mate.


----------



## big78sam (16/12/10)

beernorks said:


> my only piece of advice would be...put some bloody shoes one will ya.
> 
> 100 dgr wort onto sandaled feet would suck arse.



That was exactly my thought!


----------



## BreathingHeat (16/12/10)

A couple quick questions.

1) This weekend I am transferring the beer from the fermenter to a corny keg and some bottles. Do I need to prime all of the beer or just the beer that's going to be bottled? Basically, do I need to prime the beer that's going in the keg?

2) I am going to let the beer in the keg condition for a week or two before drinking it. Do I need to apply gas to the keg during this time or can it condition without being hooked up to the C02? Which is best?

Sorry, in hindsight I should have started this thread on the beginners board. Guess I wanted to play with the big guns. 

but....we are brewing a Bell's Hopslam DIPA hybrid this weekend and I will post some pictures. 

Thanks!


----------



## boybrewer (16/12/10)

BreathingHeat said:


> A couple quick questions.
> 
> 1) This weekend I am transferring the beer from the fermenter to a corny keg and some bottles. Do I need to prime all of the beer or just the beer that's going to be bottled? Basically, do I need to prime the beer that's going in the keg?
> 
> ...




Just prime the bottles if you are going to keg and bottle at the same time . If not just pour it all in the keg let it condition and gas it up and then transfer to the bottles . Me not being a kegging person can't answer the other question . Perhaps someone with kegging experience can answer that one . Great tutorial .

P.S. Merry Christmas


----------



## Cocko (16/12/10)

BreathingHeat said:


> A couple quick questions.
> 
> 1) This weekend I am transferring the beer from the fermenter to a corny keg and some bottles. Do I need to prime all of the beer or just the beer that's going to be bottled? Basically, do I need to prime the beer that's going in the keg?
> 
> ...




1) There is 2 ways to carb a keg, with priming sugar, like a bottle [NB: this will cause sediment and most trim their pick up tube a few mm so not to serve it] and the second is with the C02 from the gas bottle. So if you are going to carb with the C02, you can either force carb [Search 'Ross Method'] or simply supply your keg a constant C02 feed at serving pressure for about 1 1/2 to 2 weeks, best done cold, and should be carbed.... Do some searching, you will work it out!

2) Depends on above, but once it is kegged bleed the air out with C02 and then you can let it sit either warm or cold but again depends on your above choice..

2c

Hope it helps.


----------



## BreathingHeat (16/12/10)

To be clear, I have a kegerator and will be using a C02 bottle to carbonate the keg while drinking it. I just need to know if the gas should be applied to the keg during the initial 1-2 weeks of non-drinking conditioning. 

Thanks for the help everyone.


----------



## Cocko (16/12/10)

BreathingHeat said:


> I just need to know if the gas should be applied to the keg during the initial 1-2 weeks of non-drinking conditioning.



So you would bleed the air out with c02 regardless. Then if 'conditioning' before carbing - then no, just as long as it is bled it will be fine, cold or warm.

Then carbing etc...


----------

