# First BIAB in progress



## acarey (16/3/13)

After heaps of reading and advice from guys on this site, I took the plunge and started my first BIAB tonight.

I bought a Little Creatures clone from Marks Homebrew and am using Brewmate software. 

I must say, so far it has been fun.

Firstly, one needs sustenance to brew beer so I made a pide (also for the first time). Hope the beer turns out as well as this did.





Secondly, bag'o grain





Get water to strike temp



Bag in 



Forget to take photo after adding grain
......

Insulate



Insulate more



After raising to mash out temp




Get rid of bag after squeezing the hell out of it



Boil



This is where I'm at now. 90 minute boil, added hops and waiting until 10 minutes left to add more hops and brew bright.

I've also been partaking of a kit wheatbeer I made a while back the whole time.... probably too much.

More photos to follow.


----------



## givemeamash (16/3/13)

looks good


----------



## bum (16/3/13)

Bloody hell. You haven't even burned yourself yet! Better get on to it. Not long left.


----------



## Bada Bing Brewery (16/3/13)

You are doing it wrong. There is not one beer in any of the photos. Lift your game 
Carry on
BBB


----------



## acarey (16/3/13)

Bada Bing Brewery said:


> You are doing it wrong. There is not one beer in any of the photos. Lift your game
> Carry on
> BBB


haha, look closer at the third one :drinks:


----------



## acarey (16/3/13)

bum said:


> Bloody hell. You haven't even burned yourself yet! Better get on to it. Not long left.


 I have, but thought i'd keep that quiet.....


----------



## Bada Bing Brewery (17/3/13)

acarey said:


> haha, look closer at the third one :drinks:


Your brew night cheery is complete - I stand corrected. Noice.........
BBB


----------



## bruce86 (17/3/13)

good one bbb u dick head! although you use of pegs is a bit up market mate ! who can afford pegs these days


----------



## acarey (17/3/13)

Well, Its done and in the cube.

I'm glad I wrote everything down due to the fact it took 6 hours from start to finish and my wheat beer took a substantial hit.

Anyways...

Missed the OG by a couple of points, aiming for 1.058, hit 1.055.

Missed the volume into the fermenter by quite a bit, aiming for 23L, hit 20. Probably about 1.5 litre of crud in the bottom of the birko.

Main point: do it in a more ventilated space next time. By about 20 minutes in, the roof was sweating and dripping everywhere. Glad the missus was in bed, she painted the room 3 weeks ago and probably would have been slightly unimpressed with the amount of moisture condensating(sp?) on her nicely painted surfaces.

I was going to calculate volumes etc by measuring the height of the liquid in the urn at different stages. I wrote down the measurements but will calculate tomorrow as my brain isnt up to it ATM re: wheat beer.

All in all, an OK first attempt I think. Would have loved to get a bit more in the fermenter but oh well. Its tastes great anyway.


----------



## acarey (17/3/13)

bruce86 said:


> good one bbb u dick head! although you use of pegs is a bit up market mate ! who can afford pegs these days


I invested in the pegs because I couldn't get my cat to hold it in place.... paid for themselves I recon


----------



## angus_grant (17/3/13)

acarey said:


> haha, look closer at the third one :drinks:


There's also a sneaky one in pic 5. :beerbang:


----------



## acarey (17/3/13)

angus_grant said:


> There's also a sneaky one in pic 5. :beerbang:


christ, I cant even see that one.


----------



## jaypes (17/3/13)

Nice work

I remember my first grain brew, missed every expected level but the beer tasted great!


----------



## angus_grant (17/3/13)

acarey said:


> christ, I cant even see that one.


Nahh, I am just joking, I can't see a beer in that picture..  h34r:


----------



## wbosher (17/3/13)

You get to do yours inside?! I'm banished to the garage to do mine.

Anyway, well done mate...a lotta fun innit.


----------



## JDW81 (17/3/13)

There is one critical piece of equipment missing, you don't have a milk crate anywhere to be seen. It is a well know brewing fact that you can't make decent beer without a grey milk crate. Blue is ok, but grey is better. 

A brew dog also results in better beer, but they can be a bit more trouble than a simple old milk crate. They do help you to clean up spills though.


----------



## bum (17/3/13)

wbosher said:


> You get to do yours inside?! I'm banished to the garage to do mine.


Seriously, outside in the best place to brew. Bit hard to hose the kitchen down when you spill some. You also avoid the nasty situation that sometimes occurs when SWMBO wants to use the kitchen for something during a 4 - 6 hour period.


----------



## acarey (17/3/13)

wbosher said:


> You get to do yours inside?! I'm banished to the garage to do mine.
> 
> Anyway, well done mate...a lotta fun innit.





I dont have a shed, so it was inside or out with the mozzies. Next time I'll definitely be with the mozzies though, hours of running around with a towel wiping the roof down so it doesn't drip everywhere wasn't much fun.


----------



## acarey (17/3/13)

bum said:


> Seriously, outside in the best place to brew. Bit hard to hose the kitchen down when you spill some. You also avoid the nasty situation that sometimes occurs when SWMBO wants to use the kitchen for something during a 4 - 6 hour period.


I'd pre negotiated access to the facilities, then she went to bed so that was fine. But you are right, next time its gonna be out the back for sure.


----------



## acarey (17/3/13)

Next day conclusions:

My efficiency wasn't as bad as I originally thought. There was almost exactly 3 litres of crap in the bottom of the urn, taking my post boil volume back to 23 litres, which was bang on target.

So 71% efficiency (according to brew mate) isn't bad for a first go I recon.


----------



## wbosher (17/3/13)

bum said:


> Seriously, outside in the best place to brew. Bit hard to hose the kitchen down when you spill some. You also avoid the nasty situation that sometimes occurs when SWMBO wants to use the kitchen for something during a 4 - 6 hour period.


Agreed. Also there's the small problem of bloody flies if you do spill some. Something I discovered for the first time on my last brew. I was lifting the bag with my rope and pulley, and somehow it slipped the knot and plunged back into my pot, leaving about 1/2 a litre of sweet stickyness on the garage floor...burning my arm in the process as I tried to catch it...won't do that again.

My Mrs would have gone absolutely ballistic if that had happened inside.


----------



## Bribie G (17/3/13)

Doing well. If you are a kit brewer up till now you'll notice that the wort is a lot less sweet than kit and kilo - the sugars are different.

So with my first BIAB brew I thought that the mash had somehow "failed" so I stuck a kilo of dex in to be on the safe side.

On tasting day, my buddy came round and we couldn't believe how good it tasted, so we had four or five pints each in the first hour.

He was staggering, and I was crawling around sobbing about Princess Diana - oh why did she have to die? 

Looks like you are right on track with that Birko, after a few brews some permanent marker lines on the sight tube will give you a good guide as to how you are travelling each time.


----------



## Ivonavich (17/3/13)

How is that wheat drinking now? Still camel arse? 
Otherwise well done man - now ive just got to one done


----------



## acarey (18/3/13)

Ivonavich said:


> How is that wheat drinking now? Still camel arse?
> Otherwise well done man - now ive just got to one done


Yeah, it's still fairly arse but I'm soldiering through it. Might have got a bit better or maybe it killed my tastebudes. It's all I've got left ATM.


----------



## Yob (18/3/13)

First AG is a great feeling, especially without major blowouts, congrats, don't forget tasting notes


----------



## acarey (19/3/13)

BIAB UPDATE UPDATE Update update (Echo effect)

So I pitched on sunday morning @1.055 and as at now, its at 1.029! smashing the fermentation!

Tasted better than I expected too. Quite a few floaties but I'll cold crash for a couple of days once its done to take care (mostly) of that.

Is this crazy fermentation or am I a noob? I used safale US-05 dry pitched @ 28C. Fermenting at 22. Never had it go this well with kits


----------



## wbosher (20/3/13)

Looks like millions of little white floaties churning around in the fermenter? If so, perfectly normal. I sat and watched it for about ten minutes the first time it happened to me, also first AG brew and using us05. Looks great doesn't it.


----------



## alimac23 (20/5/13)

wbosher said:


> Looks like millions of little white floaties churning around in the fermenter? If so, perfectly normal. I sat and watched it for about ten minutes the first time it happened to me, also first AG brew and using us05. Looks great doesn't it.


I loved seeing that on my first BIAB, it looks like a mini snow storm going on inside the fermenter!


----------



## motorhead (20/5/13)

Great read, loved the hugging photo, which I may be guilty of as well


----------



## The Beer Baron (23/5/13)

Have to ask, was this all performed in a hot water urn? and if so did you find it easy to control the temps?
I only ask as I'm extremely keen to try my first BIAB and that looks like an ingenious idea.


----------



## acarey (23/5/13)

It sure was! Since this post I've done about 6 and have been stoked with each one.

Temp control is easy as long as you have a digital thermometer, stiring device and patience. It takes a while to heat up. I wouldn't try doing a mash with more than one or two steps though. I've just been doing single step mashes with a mash out. It generally takes around 20 minutes to get to mash out temperature (constantly stirring). I also invested in a stainless colander from kmart for $8 that I put upside down at the bottom to stop the bag touching the element.

There is a BIAB urn guide on here somewhere that is excellent.

If I can help in any way don't hesitate to ask.


----------



## slash22000 (23/5/13)

The Beer Baron said:


> Have to ask, was this all performed in a hot water urn? and if so did you find it easy to control the temps?


Not OP, but yes, lots of people BIAB in electric urns. It's not hard to control the temps, although the temperature gauge on the urn itself is shit. I have to set mine to about 80ºC to get the urn to stabilise at ~69ºC for mash in.

...

Looks like OP had a bit of an easier time with his first BIAB than me. I had heard that the Craftbrewer BIAB bag was a pain in the arse to drain, but I figured "It can't be that bad". Had like 5.5kg of grain in the bag, Brewmate estimated 0.6L per kg absorption ... So what that is like 3 litres absorbed + 5kg of grain, <10kg piss easy lift right?

Wrong. The ******* thing wouldn't drain, at all. I ended up lifting like 10 - 15 litres of wort out of the urn along with the 5kg of grain, just about did my fuckin' spine in, and ended up with half the wort on the floor.

Was aiming for 1.052 (Brewmate default 70% efficiency), ended up with 1.055 with whatever wort that was actually left in the urn, ~74% efficiency (I think?) so the actual mashing part went just fine. After topping up the missing wort with water it was down to 1.047. Could have been worse, 1.047 is fine, I didn't burn myself or anything, but I could hardly move my arms the next day after holding 20kg of wort/grain in the air for who knows how long trying to get it to drain off. <_<

The moral of the story is, it was super easy, until the draining part. Now I'm in the market for a new brewing bag. :mellow:


----------



## acarey (23/5/13)

My bag drained fine. I helped it along by holding it over a bucket while the Mrs squeezed the hell out of it with her thighs two saucepan lids.

Re: getting to temp, I just crank the thing to max and hover over it with a thermometer


----------



## jaymzica (20/6/13)

fantastic thread! going to do my first BIAB next week! will get the mrs to start getting her thighs in good shape!


----------



## micbrew (28/6/13)

wow this may be what im after ... great read and thread

what size is you're urn by the way and is the element concealed ??

and how have you come to terms with draining ...

can you recommend a digital thermometer

thanks heaps micbrew


----------



## The Village Idiot (28/6/13)

Bribie G said:


> Doing well. If you are a kit brewer up till now you'll notice that the wort is a lot less sweet than kit and kilo - the sugars are different.
> 
> So with my first BIAB brew I thought that the mash had somehow "failed" so I stuck a kilo of dex in to be on the safe side.
> 
> ...


PMSL Even SWMBO is giggling......You idiot


----------



## Crusty (28/6/13)

micbrew said:


> wow this may be what im after ... great read and thread
> 
> what size is you're urn by the way and is the element concealed ??
> 
> ...


Weapons of choice for me,


Urn

Biab bag

Bag for hop additions

Thermometer

A roasting rack from Robin's kitchen to cover the exposed element.

Mash paddle

Too easy.


----------



## micbrew (28/6/13)

thanks crusty ! and others for youre wisdom and thoughts 

think youve pointed me in the right direction :beerbang:
now need to aquire these little gems ,and looking forward to the journey


mick


----------



## acarey (28/6/13)

Exposed element covered by an upside down staino colander from Kmart $8.

Digital thermometer from the bottom drawer in the kitchen (who knows before that).


----------



## acarey (28/6/13)

Exposed element covered by an upside down staino colander from Kmart $8.

Digital thermometer from the bottom drawer in the kitchen (who knows before that).


----------



## acarey (28/6/13)

Drain into a good food safe bucket. I have a wide one that the mrs was given for her baby shower (washed baby shite out first obviously). 

40litre birko


----------



## jared23 (9/7/13)

Im halfway through my very first homebrew brew and while I wait for it iv been franticly researching all I can as fast as I can, im interested in getting into partial brews(mini mash?)

just wondering is that just the wort that your making in the kettle? it seems pretty simple but you know what the fear of the unknown does to some people
whats the next step that you will be taking?

am very excited in getting right into homebrew, its a hobby with the best outcome.... beer!


----------



## bum (9/7/13)

jared23 said:


> Im halfway through my very first homebrew brew and while I wait for it iv been franticly researching all I can as fast as I can, im interested in getting into partial brews(mini mash?)
> 
> just wondering is that just the wort that your making in the kettle? it seems pretty simple but you know what the fear of the unknown does to some people


Have a look at this thread if you haven't already, jared23. http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/5393-partial-mash-starter/ It should answer many questions that you have about partials. Not just the initial guide but also the following comments. It's a decent primer on partials.


----------



## pist (10/7/13)

jared23 said:


> Im halfway through my very first homebrew brew and while I wait for it iv been franticly researching all I can as fast as I can, im interested in getting into partial brews(mini mash?)
> 
> just wondering is that just the wort that your making in the kettle? it seems pretty simple but you know what the fear of the unknown does to some people
> whats the next step that you will be taking?
> ...


Jared,

With the Brew in a bag method, all your mashing and boil is done all in the kettle, to as you said, make the wort (extract all the sugars from the grains).

my 2 cents...id recommend just jump in and give a full batch a go rather than go to partials. I thought about doing this myself, and I figured if i'm going to go to that effort, i might as well do the whole thing. Ive just done the same LCPA from Marks Home Brew that acarey did, and it was so surprisingly easy to do. I also missed my SG by a few points but at the end of the day ive made beer from scratch and thats something I never thought i'd be able to do.

Theres a thread on here somewhere written by NickJD called 20L stovetop all grain aussie lager (should be able to find it using search function, if not google nickjd 20L stovetop all grain. This was a good read for me and was a big help getting familiar with what equipment i needed and a rough idea of what process i needed to follow. Lots of pics as well to help explain it all. In my opinion, its a good place to start for a beginner. To simplify things even further...most HBS will also crack your grain for you when you order it.

Cheers

Pist


----------



## acarey (10/7/13)

jared23 said:


> Im halfway through my very first homebrew brew and while I wait for it iv been franticly researching all I can as fast as I can, im interested in getting into partial brews(mini mash?)
> 
> just wondering is that just the wort that your making in the kettle? it seems pretty simple but you know what the fear of the unknown does to some people
> whats the next step that you will be taking?
> ...


Hey Jared, yeah it's super simple. At the end of the boil, you have the wort. All that needs doing after that is cooling and pitching the yeast. Done.

Some people use an immersion chiller and others (including me) just wack it in a cube and ferment it later. I have one in the cupboard for the last couple of weeks waiting for me to empty a keg before I ferment it. 

I used the BIAB urn guide(can't think if the exact name) on this forum to get me started.


----------



## acarey (10/7/13)

Here is the link to the BIAB Urn tutorial I keep talking about.


----------



## pist (10/7/13)

acarey, just for comparisons sake, I use a keg ive converted to a kettle...and heat that using a 3 ring burner. How long does it take you with the urn to reach strike temp? It took me about 30 mins with the burner...though saying that its not exactly cranking either as ive just got it hooked up to a bbq reg atm. It managed the whole job quite well...just took a while to get up to temp. If I had to do it again...id probably have gone with the urn. If you got a temp controller you can hook it up over night and have strike temp water ready to go the next day.


----------



## Lord Raja Goomba I (10/7/13)

Yep - if you're going to go partials, go the whole hog. It's not worth the expense or time to do it half done. Unless there is something really stopping you from getting some equipment (which I reckon the 2 pot stovetop AG with Lauter goes some way to fixing) to do full sized batches. It's cheaper as well than partials (extract plus grain plus hops plus yeast starts to get very pricey).


----------



## acarey (10/7/13)

Pist, It only takes about 10 or so minutes the way I do it. I just fill the urn via the hot water tap. This way the water is around 60 degrees to begin with. Before I had the bright idea to use the hot water tap, it would take about an hour.

My typical brew night is:
6:00pm feed, bathe and put child to sleep.
6:30pm heat water to strike temp
6:45pm mash in
6:46 start drinking

it gets hazy after that.

next morning: wake up with hang over, check brew notes to see how I went.


----------



## pist (10/7/13)

thats not a bad idea mate...thing for me is its just easier to fill it with the cold water. I guess im not doing too badly then for about 30 mins. Mark at Marks Home Brew was real helpful with getting my gear sorted, had everything I needed there to convert the keg. How did the LCPA style recipe turn out for you? I've got mine in the fermenter at the moment and the smell of the hops is fantastic!


----------



## acarey (10/7/13)

The one documented in this topic turned out really well. Loved it!

I've done it since then and my post boil volume was out leaving me with less wort but higher OG. I thought 'what the hell' and fermented it. Came out @ 7.2% but unbalanced and not that nice to be honest. Lesson learned, next time that happens I'll def be adjusting it back to the expected post boil gravity.

I also get all my stuff from Mark. The guy is a real character and really knows his stuff.


----------



## jared23 (10/7/13)

Wow, definately some food for thought. cheers guys


----------



## pist (11/7/13)

Yeah he sure is a character and definitely knows his stuff. I took a hydro sample yesterday to see how its going...and the nottingham has chomped through it already and has gone lower than i was expecting...this yeast is a monster! Downside is it has scrubbed out alot of the hops. Might have to stop in at marks this arvo and pick up a couple of t bags to dry hop it with. I wont be using this yeast with a hoppy beer again as it chews the aroma/flavour up too much lesson learnt. Ive always used us05 and never had that problem...he didnt have any in stock when i picked my grain up


----------



## acarey (11/7/13)

I find if I dry hop after vigorous fermentation has finished, the result it better. You could dry hop in secondary if you rack your beer (i don't).


----------

