# Mr B's All Grain Adventure



## Mr B (5/10/14)

Hey All

Been reading this site for many months, and planning to make some beer. May as well make this the spot to tell my story and ask questions along the way. By the way, the site is excellent and peoples seem great, informative and entertaining.

I quite like beer, and the nature of making it, which involves chemistry, stainless steel stuff, valves, pumps, water etc is right up my alley. I have never done it before, as homebrew my mates have made always tasted like homebrew. That nasty twang. About a year ago, a fellow brought a keg of his all grain brew to a social gathering. Very tasty, and so I started to do some research.

I have a converted keg and burner stand with three ring burner. I have some other stuff which I could make into a 3v rig, which sounds interesting, however decided to start simple.

Yesterday, making of wort actually happened.

Dr Smurtos Golden Ale, BIAB 20l batch.

The brew went quite well, however a couple of questions have arisen which I would appreciate clarification on.

I ended up with a SG of 1.042, where target was 1.047 (calc), and 18l in the fermentor (target 20l). 

The fermentor is a bunnings 30l square drum, and has about 1cm of crap in the bottom. This is after transferring to a cube (20l jerry) which I tipped into the fermentor totally (without tap on it - so just a tip) At the end of the boil (after putting 1/2 whirlfloc in at 5 mins), I gave it a good stir/whirlpool. Left for 10 mins or so, but convection seemed to take over from the whirlpool. Should I wait for it to cool down a bit before whirlpooling? The trub was evenly over the bottom of the keggle, and I obviously sucked some of it into the no-chill cube. Any suggestions on how I can improve this aspect?

I don't really understand how I ended up with 18l in the nochill/fermentor (especially considering the SG - surely it should be higher??). I used Brewmate to calculate strike volume etc. Ended up at 65.3 degrees at end of mash (in kettle with sleeping bag around it). 22l at end of boil, and 2l lost to trub (included in calcs and measured with a measure jug from the kettle during cleaning). My measurements must be off somewhere (btw, no beers during the process). Dipstick used to measure - marked by filling with 2l jug into kettle, maybe this is off.

What does the SG value vs predicted tell you? What could I do better/went wrong? What does this mean for alc content? Low? What do I adjust in brewmate?

I have favored coopers sparkling for the last couple of years, so this wort was interesting, quite hoppy. I also got a James Squire Hop Thief and Fat Yak today out of interest. After smelling and using Hops (Amarillo, but I also have some Cascade) I found these very interesting to drink. Very hoppy.

Anyway, a bit of a ramble, but appreciate any pointers. Going to brew again tomorrow as have enough grain for another Smurto. And it was quite fun


----------



## Yob (5/10/14)

Losses can be tricky to track down, did you do a water run through to test your systems inherent losses? ie losses to kettle below pickup tube?, keep in mind also that grains will absorb 1lt and if you didn't allow to 'fully' drain, this number will be larger. 

Can take a few runs for things to settle down but as a start, add the liters you were short to the next run through. 

Efficiency is even harder to track down.


----------



## JasonP (5/10/14)

DiD you mill your own grain? That's the most likely culprit for low efficiency. Did you stir during the mash period? 1.042 is still an ok starting gravity. The beer should still be ok. Might taste more bitter than you planned.

What was mash temp at start of mashing?


----------



## Mr B (5/10/14)

Didn't do a water boil run through, but did a kettle drain to see how much would be left below the pickup - 2l should be pretty true.

Drained the bag for 5 mins or so, gave it a squeeze, and put it in a pot and tipped a hundred or so mls which came out back in the pot. 

I seemed to lose the ltrs during the boil, but the SG (if I have it correctly) was low - where if I lost eg more to evap it should have been high? Appreciate confirmation on this.

Method:

According to Brewmate - 28l strike.

26l end of mash (raised temp to 77 before removing grain, and squeezed for a bit).

22l end of boil. 2l trub.

And, 18l into nochil/fermentor (based on fermentor level). Accept there would be a little shrinkage, but not that much.


----------



## Mr B (5/10/14)

Full Pint Grain, so expertly milled. Stirred at end of mash a couple of times (in bag) whilst raising temp to mashout.

I'm all good as to what the taste is, trying to get my head around what I have done and what I could do better - though it would be less of a mind bender....

Hence, expert opinions appreciated


----------



## JasonP (5/10/14)

Not necessarily expertly milled. What was the grain bill and start mash temp? Did you sparge? How much and what temp?

And mash length?


----------



## Mr B (5/10/14)

JasonP said:


> Not necessarily expertly milled. What was the grain bill and start mash temp? Did you sparge? How much and what temp?
> 
> And mash length?


4.25kg grain total, 28l strike vol.

Strike at 69 degrees, target 66, after 60 mins mash was 65.3 so probably pretty good there.

No sparge, but a squeeze and mash out at 77


----------



## DU99 (5/10/14)

Was the grain milled for BIAB


----------



## JasonP (5/10/14)

I don't biab but would have thought a lot of sugar still retained on the grist without sparging. Do biab'ers sparge?


----------



## Mr B (5/10/14)

Wow, this is like million dollar minute 

Appreciate the help though

Not specifically milled for BIAB.

They may sparge sometimes, but some guys get quite high efficiency without that. I thought the 77 degree mashout should contribute to 'fairly' high efficiency

I squeezed the grain too.


----------



## Yob (5/10/14)

28 strike - 4 - 2 leaves 22l

A 4 litre evaporation from the boil isn't unreasonable. 

I think your volume issues are right there.. For a few missing point, add a handful or 2 of grains. 

Have you worked out your evaporation rate?


----------



## philmud (5/10/14)

Strike volume sounds low to me. I usually make 23L batches & have around 36L strike water. Worth considering that your efficiency may have been even lower if your volume was bang on. I set my software at 65% & occasionally do better.


----------



## Mr B (5/10/14)

Yob said:


> 28 strike - 4 - 2 leaves 22l
> 
> A 4 litre evaporation from the boil isn't unreasonable.
> 
> ...


So you assume that 4kg of grain takes 2l water? (ok ,software assume 0.6l per kg =2.4 (not second guessing, just putting for reference)?

Don't know evap rate apart from above. 60 min boil (from 1 boil) = 4l

So should be on track. Software predicted 25.4 pre boil and 22.8 post boil. Actual was 26 and 22 (not as accurate though).

You mean vol or % issues?




Prince Imperial said:


> Strike volume sounds low to me. I usually make 23L batches & have around 36L strike water. Worth considering that your efficiency may have been even lower if your volume was bang on. I set my software at 65% & occasionally do better.


Software set at 70%.


Ok so I seem to have have low efficiency (which is ok, just want to know). Software set at 70%. I change the % to 65 and it doesnt change the strike water vol? Should this be less?


I don't really understand what I need to adjust to hit desired parameters - which could be down to inaccurate measurements,, but maybe more/other than that?


----------



## philmud (5/10/14)

Sorry, I just meant that your efficiency would have been even lower if your volume targets were met, efficiency settings won't alter strike volume - they were two separate observations. What software are you using?

Edit: sorry, I see it's brewmate. Did you enter in things like kettle diameter etc? This will affect the expected boil-off & therefore strike volume. Try entering the same details into the BIAB spreadsheet that's hosted on AHB & see if it suggests the same strike volume.


----------



## wombil (5/10/14)

I find that predicted results from software,(I use brewmate too),are not exactly what you get.
There are a lot of variables in gear ,process,etc.
In this case I would just increase the water a few litres and add 200 gm of base malt and see how it goes.
You just have to adjust things to your own system when starting out.
Cheers,
Hope this helps a bit.


----------



## Yob (6/10/14)

Grain absorbs 1 Lt/kg, least that's the figure I've always used.


----------



## contrarian (6/10/14)

It's pretty hard to draw any meaningful conclusions from one brew. Unfortunately the only way to get things sorted out is more brewing and measuring things as accurately as possible along the way. 

On a simple system you should have it sorted in 4-5 brews!


----------



## Spiesy (6/10/14)

Mr B said:


> 4.25kg grain total, 28l strike vol.
> 
> Strike at 69 degrees, target 66, after 60 mins mash was 65.3 so probably pretty good there.
> 
> No sparge, but a squeeze and mash out at 77


Hey Mr B.,

Our mill default setting is a 1.3mm gap. I BIAB myself, and I generally hit just above 70% efficiency on my system - depending on the grain mash ratio and mash temp.
If I mill a little finer and mash for a couple of hours, I can get up around 75%. 
I don't squeeze my bag and I don't mash out.

One thing I will recommend is measuring your actual mash temp.
Once you've added your grain to your water, give it a good stir to break up any clumps (preferably with a mash paddle) and then take a temp reading, using a tried and tested thermometer.
With cheaper stick thermometers they often require immersion for quite a period of time before hitting their actual temp - this can be problematic, as many people don't wait the required time and end up thinking their mash temp is substantially lower than what it is. I suffered from this when I first started brewing, and ended up ditching the stick thermometer and getting something fast and accurate.

65% efficiency certainly isn't horrible, but 70%+ should be achievable. 
More important than a high efficiency is repeatability. If you can get both, you're on a good thing.


----------



## Mr B (6/10/14)

Thanks guys

I decided to repeat without varying anything - Just mashed in, actual temp is 67 - Using a stick digital thermometer. Not a bad idea to check its readings, I'll have to do that.

Any tips on the whirlpool to minimise trub into nochill cube? I plan to let it sit for 15 mins or so at end of boil and then whirlpool, let sit another 10 and then drain.


----------



## storeboughtcheeseburgers (6/10/14)

Mr B said:


> Thanks guys
> 
> I decided to repeat without varying anything - Just mashed in, actual temp is 67 - Using a stick digital thermometer. Not a bad idea to check its readings, I'll have to do that.
> 
> Any tips on the whirlpool to minimise trub into nochill cube? I plan to let it sit for 15 mins or so at end of boil and then whirlpool, let sit another 10 and then drain.


I bought a jiggle syphon a while ago and was like WTF am I going to do with this thing - but like many of my homebrew acquisitions it comes in handy.

For the first time yesterday, i stirred rapidly I ladled the first 21 Litres of brew into a ferm once it had settled in a few minutes (my usual practice) but this time I used the jiggle syphon for the residual 21L to the cube. Highly recommend - it sucked up virtually all the liquid and left all the trub and hop matter on the bottom of the boiler. Took me a while to get a handle on but.

I wouldn't worry too much about trub for your first few goes, as you'll be getting your system right. I never went the BIAB step, I went straight for the 3v esky mash tun, 70L SS pot, 3 ring burner setup. I can say I won't be changing my brewery as it is great for me and I've got my head around it.

It does get easier, once you weasle out the hiccups that need attention and the things you can relax a bit on, brew days are much easier. I usually start a mash low.. 64ish while I'm wetting the grains and slowly ramp it up to 65-66 - I keep a pan of 4-5litres 80-90 degree water on hand for this purpose.

Stick therms are fine - I started on Brewmate, but went and purchased beersmith, which I find to be a much better piece of software.


----------



## mofox1 (6/10/14)

Mr B said:


> Thanks guys
> 
> I decided to repeat without varying anything - Just mashed in, actual temp is 67 - Using a stick digital thermometer. Not a bad idea to check its readings, I'll have to do that.
> 
> Any tips on the whirlpool to minimise trub into nochill cube? I plan to let it sit for 15 mins or so at end of boil and then whirlpool, let sit another 10 and then drain.


I wrapped a stainless scrubbie around my kettle pickup tube for my last brew.

Worked a treat, but slowed down the cube fill quite a bit... probably because I tucked it under the tube as well. Next time I'll just wrap it around, so it can draw a bit better.

Not a bad upgrade for a dollar fiddy.


----------



## Mr B (6/10/14)

Ok, things went a bit better today. 

Importantly, I did find out that the kiddies have a 'special' doona that absolutely must not be used for brewing. It was somehow detected under another sleeping bag over the pot. 

Target SG end of mash was 1.043, I got 1.035. Hit target liters (25.5).

Post boil target SG was 1.046, I got 1.045. Liters also good at ~22.5.

I did squeeze and re-dunk grain bag during mashout temp raise (65 to 78 degrees), maybe this helped, and was the only difference between the two brews. There is something weird in the above figures (low end of mash SG and close post boil), but don't fully understand it yet.
'
My measure indicated 22.5l post boil, and 2l trub. So should be close to target of 20l. Maybe Bunnings square fermenter measurements are out, which gave me indication of 18l for previous batch. Today's cube weighed just over 20kg interestingly - on crap scales.

All in all, feels a better attempt. Feels a bit silly to put so much detail, but it might help someone else.

Thanks all for advice above, some of it I'm still rationalizing so apologies for no response - but appreciate your input, and any further comments/clarification.

Perhaps I'll try to verify my volume measurements initially.


----------



## Yob (7/10/14)

Do yourself a favour and get make yourself a measuring stick, I used a bit of dowell from the big green shed.. mark increments of 5lt in your kettle and then you can see pretty quickly if you are at volume.


----------



## philmud (7/10/14)

storeboughtcheeseburgers said:


> For the first time yesterday, i stirred rapidly I ladled the first 21 Litres of brew into a ferm once it had settled in a few minutes (my usual practice) but this time I used the jiggle syphon for the residual 21L to the cube. Highly recommend - it sucked up virtually all the liquid and left all the trub and hop matter on the bottom of the boiler. Took me a while to get a handle on but.


Is this one of the jobbies with the marble in the inlet? I've considered using one of these, but how do you intend to clean it properly?

Edit: ducking autocorrect


----------



## rusty274 (7/10/14)

JasonP said:


> DiD you mill your own grain? That's the most likely culprit for low efficiency. Did you stir during the mash period? 1.042 is still an ok starting gravity. The beer should still be ok. Might taste more bitter than you planned.
> What was mash temp at start of mashing?


I have 3 biab under my belt. I've had the same issues as Mr B.

Is stirring a bad thing? 

I use a combo of a 3ring burner (for bringing water up to temp and boil) and a hand held electric element (for holding mash temp). If my mash temp drops I turn on my element and stir/jiggle the wort. The guys at G&G suggested doing it this way. Is this correct?


----------



## philmud (7/10/14)

rusty274 said:


> Is stirring a bad thing?


It potentially means your mash temps are less consistent & lots of BIABers believe it to be unnecessary. I stirred for a while because it was suggested at the G&G demo, but I don't anymore & my efficiency remains the same.


rusty274 said:


> II use a combo of a 3ring burner (for bringing water up to temp and boil) and a hand held electric element (for holding mash temp). If my mash temp drops I turn on my element and stir/jiggle the wort. The guys at G&G suggested doing it this way. Is this
> correct?


Would the element scorch the grain it's in contact with? Otherwise sounds fine, but if you insulate your pot properly, the element would be unnecessary.


----------



## nosco (7/10/14)

I have done 6 biabs so far using BIABicus. I reckon it's way better than anything else as far as biab is concerned. No bells and whistles, easier to use and very accurate. I use a $10 steel ruler to measure volumes and then enter into BIABicus or there is calculations you can use. For temps I use a digital (get one that measures to .1 degs) thermometer with a probe. Drill a hole in a heat proof food safe plastic bowl, put the probe through the hole and then float it on top of your mash for constant temp readings. I got a set of 2 bowl for $2 from bigw. A decent thermo will cost $30 - $50. 

Using a no chill cube and a auto, jiggler siphon is a good way to reduce trub into the fermenter but I've heard a little bit (not a lot) in the fermenter is a good thing. My first brew had the whole cube tipped in trub and all and it turned out fine so like cheeseburgers said don't worry about it too much.

I do 90min mash and 90min boil as recommended by BIABicus so the grain crush is not an issue. For my last 4 brews I have been getting 5 or 6 point over on OG but because of the 90 min mash I stir half way to raise temp a bit and then I stir at the end all the way to mash out. Yes overkill. It may or may not explain the extra OG. I have a kinda SS false bottom above my 5500W element so no danger of scorching but when the heat is on to bring up the temps it's down low and I stir like hell over the element. I would say stirring is good but with only 6 brews I don't have a lot of experience to back that up.


----------



## Mr B (7/10/14)

mofox1 said:


> I wrapped a stainless scrubbie around my kettle pickup tube for my last brew.
> 
> Worked a treat, but slowed down the cube fill quite a bit... probably because I tucked it under the tube as well. Next time I'll just wrap it around, so it can draw a bit better.
> 
> Not a bad upgrade for a dollar fiddy.


Interesting idea. I found that the trub settled into quite a fine layer, so maybe its not such an issue. I'll see how it goes over the next few brews and keep your trick in mind.



Yob said:


> Do yourself a favour and get make yourself a measuring stick, I used a bit of dowell from the big green shed.. mark increments of 5lt in your kettle and then you can see pretty quickly if you are at volume.


Heh, good idea and I have a nice shiny peice of alloy marked in 2l increments. I marked it by filling the kettle with a 2l jug. It should be accurate, but the volume in the Bunnings fermentor is about 18l going by the marks on that. Seemed a bit low in the willow 20l jerry no chill as well. I'll have to doublecheck the measurements as either my stick is off, or the containers are - which has an effect depending which is off. Both batches turned out pretty close in volume which is good 








Prince Imperial said:


> It potentially means your mash temps are less consistent & lots of BIABers believe it to be unnecessary. I stirred for a while because it was suggested at the G&G demo, but I don't anymore & my efficiency remains the same.
> Would the element scorch the grain it's in contact with? Otherwise sounds fine, but if you insulate your pot properly, the element would be unnecessary.


This is interesting, I will try a no stir etc in a couple of batches.



nosco said:


> I have done 6 biabs so far using BIABicus. I reckon it's way better than anything else as far as biab is concerned. No bells and whistles, easier to use and very accurate. I use a $10 steel ruler to measure volumes and then enter into BIABicus or there is calculations you can use. For temps I use a digital (get one that measures to .1 degs) thermometer with a probe. Drill a hole in a heat proof food safe plastic bowl, put the probe through the hole and then float it on top of your mash for constant temp readings. I got a set of 2 bowl for $2 from bigw. A decent thermo will cost $30 - $50.
> 
> Using a no chill cube and a auto, jiggler siphon is a good way to reduce trub into the fermenter but I've heard a little bit (not a lot) in the fermenter is a good thing. My first brew had the whole cube tipped in trub and all and it turned out fine so like cheeseburgers said don't worry about it too much.
> 
> I do 90min mash and 90min boil as recommended by BIABicus so the grain crush is not an issue. For my last 4 brews I have been getting 5 or 6 point over on OG but because of the 90 min mash I stir half way to raise temp a bit and then I stir at the end all the way to mash out. Yes overkill. It may or may not explain the extra OG. I have a kinda SS false bottom above my 5500W element so no danger of scorching but when the heat is on to bring up the temps it's down low and I stir like hell over the element. I would say stirring is good but with only 6 brews I don't have a lot of experience to back that up.


Good idea with the thermometer float, bit of a pain holding the thermometer in there. Thermowell sounds pretty good, just the bag snagging issue. Any comments on how much of a problem this is?

Do your calcs (strike volume) account for the 90 min boil? (I would assume so). I might try a longer mash next brew.


I pitched yeast into the second batch tonight, and also took SG of a sample I had sitting in the fridge at 18 deg C. Was a clear 1.050, where was 1.045 on brew day - Maybe a temp issue in my measurements - and first time using a hydrometer  I'll also do a bit of reading on accounting for temp differences.

I'm feeling a bit better about the process, and think I have some consistency between the two batches. Acknowledge I am a complete novice, and Only up from here.

I must say, its great fun


----------



## AntonW (7/10/14)

Just wait until to you try your beer Mr B. Then you'll know how good this hobby really is.


----------



## Mr B (7/10/14)

Yeeees...... I hope so..... :

Idly reading some stuff, and just realized I nochilled, and used the Dr Smurto Golden Ale recipe without taking that into account, so bitterness goes from ~33 to ~51 in Brewmate....

Whoops


----------



## philmud (8/10/14)

Mr B said:


> Good idea with the thermometer float, bit of a pain holding the thermometer in there. Thermowell sounds pretty good, just the bag snagging issue. Any comments on how much of a problem this is?


I'm about to start using a kettle with a thermowell & thermometer & was concerned about this, however plenty of BIABers use them and from what I've read it's a good idea to gather the bag from the opposite side first to avoid snagging. To be safe I'm going with a 3" thermowell (unless there's a good reason to go larger).


----------



## Mr B (19/10/14)

Bottled 94 stubbies yesterday - quite time consuming but somewhat therapeutic. The best part was that I bulk primed and volume of each previous brew was 18l - so volumes all good.

Brewed a Fatter Yak today.

Volumes all good but not hitting efficiency targets.

Using Brewmate set on 70% efficiency.

The post boil SG target was 1.057, but I got 1.050 - so I'm a fair few points off which is annoying. (Preboil target was 1.055 and I got 1.042, which seems to validate hydrometer readings) I acknowledge this is only my third brew, and looking to improve. Pure BIAB process.

I did a 90 min mash, checked temp at 60 mins and all good. Mash temps 68 initial to 67.3 at end of mash. Found an alternative to the kids 'good' doona, was closely watched when I was examining the linen cupboard.

I did a 'mash out' - raised temp to 78 and let it sit for 10 mins. lifted and dunked/squeezed the bag during this.

Hydro readings have been corrected for temp, measured at around 40 deg C.

Actual efficiency this brew was ~59% by Brewmate

Any ideas how I can improve efficiency? Please let me know if more info required.


----------



## Mr B (19/10/14)

Edited twice and my edists dont seem to be saving. Hmmm. Anyway, just worth noting that i am reading heaps, and cant understand why I'm so far off efficiency (sg) targets where my temps and volumes seem pretty good. Plenty of people get >70% with straight BIAB, no sparge etc. I must be dong something wrong?


----------



## nosco (20/10/14)

I have been getting 3 or 4 points over on my brews but i maybe over stir which could be it. I think the key is to take accurate records of every brew. Then after 5 or 6 or more brews if your efficiency is consistently under by the same amount then you adjust it in Brew Mate. If you try and improve your technique or eqipment to fix it try and change one thing each brew so you can pin point the problem.


----------



## contrarian (22/10/14)

One thing you will notice with BIAB is that as the grain bill gets bigger the efficiency will go down. A target SG of 1.060 is reasonably big so that could be the issue. 

I'm also assuming that when you talk about efficiency you are talking about efficiency into the fermenter rather than mash efficiency? The efficiency into the fermenter or cube is heavily impacted by how much trub/wort is left in the kettle. 

By your calculations it also sounds like you are getting a lower than expected mash efficiency. One thing to try is a larger starting volume and a 90 minute boil for bigger beers. 

I also found that by adding my grain more slowly an making sure there were no little dough balls at all that I picked up a few points, not sure if this could be it for you. 

There are a range of different things you can try to improve efficiency but while you are getting comfortable with the process it might be easier to adjust your efficiency down a bit in the software and add the extra few handfuls of grain that will make it up. If you go over you can always water down a bit in the fermenter!


----------



## Mr B (29/11/14)

Did a brew today, used a refractometer which showed 1.058 post boil.

I no-chilled, when I got to the trub on draining the kettle I stopped, and then ran some of the wort/trub into a measure. About an hour later (after cleanup/cooling) I put it on the refractometer and is showed 1,066.

Whats going on here? I would have thought the two readings should be consistent? I also double checked the second reading with a hydrometer, it gave the same. refractometer had been calibrated too.


----------



## Mr B (16/12/14)

Well, the adventure is going quite well, had some good brews, and will be doing a couple more in the next few days hopefully.

BTW, in reference to the question above, gravity turned out to be 1.061 before pitching yeast, quite happy with that, getting about 70 to 75% efficiency, some solid stirring seems to have made a difference (potential dough ball issue previously). Still a newbie though, sorting the technique 

Sooooo:

I have 2 x 23l in the fermenting fridge at the moment. I have a westinghouse fridge/freezer, approx 8? years old (so newish model).

For the first time I thought I might try a cold crash to clear the beer.

On Friday night I changed the STC from 18 deg to 2 deg. Today (Tues) it has got down to 5 deg. Probe is wedged in between the two fermenters - so should pretty much read liquid temp. Temp decline has been gradual/linear.

I guess the fridge thermo must be kicking on when the air temp gets down to 4 deg or so, and the beer takes a while to catch up?

Does it usually take this long to get down to temp?

Any changes I could make to improve the process?


----------



## Mr B (26/3/16)

Well, interesting reading over the early problems.

Some 30 brews down the road. Have been BIAB, and slowly accumulating gear to make a 3v.

I'm not quite there yet, but close, and in the interim made a new 1v mash tun today.

50l keg version (legally acquired).

I'll post some pics from the phone.

Quite an enjoyable day fabricating.


----------



## Mr B (26/3/16)

This will be a sort of 1v, made from a keg. False bottom made from the bottom of the keg.


----------



## Mr B (26/3/16)

Kegs are hard to drill, much better with the drill press than the cordless.

Move the press to the keg......


----------



## Mr B (26/3/16)

The actial tun itself. This will sit inside a 90l pot. Recirc back into it. Then pulleys to lift. Undecided on sparging or not, may have to whip up a HLT.


----------



## Mr B (26/3/16)

This holds the false bottom to the keg. A bit of stainless over the top (now bottom) fitting, and a fabbed long bolt to hold it.


----------



## Mr B (26/3/16)

Mmmmmm, finally a pump......


----------



## Mr B (26/3/16)

And the lifting tabs on the mash tun. It weighs about 12kg in itself, so have a 3 pulley reduction to lift it. Its going to be pretty bloody heavy.

Hoping to do a brew on Monday, we'll see how we go with relos over tomoz.


----------



## Mr B (27/3/16)

Fixed pumps to a chopping board to hold them stable. Will eventually end up on a brew stand. Free handle included, noice.




Mash tun sits inside the 90l kettle like so



Lifted out




Bottom of mash tun




At the moment, I will likely run this on my NASA burner, quasi BIAB. Wrap it up for the mash, maybe recircing, maybe use gas to hold temps though it may be a bit fiddly.

In a couple of weeks I should have a PID controller and HERMS sorted. Just need to finalise a herms vessel, then will have a herms mash and gas boil.

Will move to 3v eventually, waiting on a couple of extra pots. May or may not come through, we shall see. Will be a sweet little 1v w/herms in the meantime.

Wont get to brew tomoz, but may get to do a leak test. Next weekend......

Edit: This is a good middle ground in the transition to a 3v. I can recirc 1v (using herms and/or gas with a wort flow over the primary heating area through the concentrated bottom output), and also use the mash tun part as either a HLT with an element through the bottom or just triclover it off, or triclover an output to the bottom and herms recirc. So it is either a 1v or 3v component. Love the making the bottom the top option.......


----------



## Mr B (4/4/16)

Did a 55l batch on the weekend. Sorted a functioning ramp/soak pid and learned how to program it. Got a Target kettle for HERMS - cant beat $7.50, but its not shiny.

Test setup. Kettle HERMS w/Herm-it coil. Need to get a couple of compression fittings for the coil, but hose fits anyway. I did manage to acquire a stainless thing that I will use to make a proper HERMS vessel

Heating to strike.




Pulley system for lifting mash tun. Worked well.




Just mashed in. Hose recircing outside tun for 5 mins, as I understand grain should soak for this long before recirc. Not sure how critical this is but taking no chances on first try....




Mashing away. I did a full volume mash. Not sure, will maybe use less strike water and do a sparge next time to get more head for flow through the bottom.

It coped with almost full flow from a keg king pump, but only just. There wasnt much mixing with the water between the two pots, not ideal. Later when mashing out I raised the tun a little with the pulley, this helped, might be the go. Undecided.




Temp lagging a degree or so behind set temp.




I was aiming for 1.057, ended up with 1.048, so not so good.

Could be the crush, as I opened the mill a little. Could also be the temp or the lack of mixing as above. Maybe less mash volume and a sparge.

Undecided as yet.

All good fun, will brew again this weekend as I have an order for the Godson's christening.


----------



## Mr B (4/4/16)

There were also a heap of little tail ends of grain, which I assume were from the malting process. Never noticed these before. Is this normal? Can see them floating on top of the mash if you look closely above.


----------



## trhr (5/4/16)

Interesting to see your journey, thanks for documenting.
Did you consistently fix your lower SG on your original BIAB?

I"m a novice BIAB with either a BIGW 19L pot, a 38L crab pot or a small urn and I always overshoot my SG by about 4 to 5 points.
I do stir a bit at the beginning to make sure I have no dough balls, then sparge and/or dunk sparge with a fair bit of squeezing at the end.
I personally think its the sparging that pushes it up?


----------



## Mr B (5/4/16)

Yep, got pretty consistent efficiency, probably a bit above 70% brewhouse.

So not super awesome, and that continued to bother me. Also the amount of trub as I stirred a fair bit. Just process improvements needed really.

I tried sparging of a sort (put the bag in an empty coopers fermentor w/tap, and sparge into that, but not many litres), didnt notice a real improvement but didnt really chase the process.


----------



## Mr B (16/4/16)

Family went away this week, so evenings afforded an opportunity for tinkering in the garage.

3600w HERMS complete. It holds a bit over 3 litres.

I was fortunate to come across a stainless item that suited the purpose, so took to it with the grinder and welder.

Should have a bitr more oomph than a target kettle.....












Small hole drilled in between the nuts to show any leakage.




Also upgraded the controller wiring to 15A and put a led element indicator. Will throw a RCD in it this week. Loooking looking for enclosures to make a nice one, add another pid for HLT, pump switches etc.




Cant wait to give it a run next weekend. Maybe a stout perhaps..

I'm also trying to source triclover fittings so the mash tun wont have to sit in the main pot. Looking looking. Will come out the bottom, through a ball valve etc. Really need a bit bigger tun though, its pushing it with a 50-55l batch.


----------

