A Guide To All-grain Brewing In A Bag

[eric8]

Top work Kingy :beerbang: . Now you just have to wait for it to ferment and you can taste the spoils of your labour.

 

[jimmysuperlative]

Champion effort Kingy! :chug:

...Looks and sounds like you had a great day!

 

[PistolPatch]

Congratulations to you Kingy! Great to see your post and the pics! (Slightly dissapointed that Mrs Kingy's three sisters aren't in the photo but it was your first AG so it's quite understandable that you made one major error )

Really pleased to hear it all went well. Skyhooks are good eh? I finally got to use one on Friday for the first time.

By the look of your bag, your mother-in-law (I think it was her?) has done a splendid job - that's a damn good bag. I noticed that yours has a V in it. My neice had to put one in mine as well and said it was a ******* to sew but I can't understand why.

I need to sew two new bags up pretty quickly so any feedback you can get from your mother-in-law would be greatly appreciated.

SpillsMostOfIt (nice blog mate) would probably like hearing any bag advice as well seeing as he is the bag prototype pioneer!

By the way, what do you guys reckon about using Spills sleeping bag shape but also having a zip at the base for easy grain disposal?

Anyway, lots has been happenning and I could write more but for today, I reckon nothing could beat Kingy doing his first AG!

Bunyip is proud of you Kingy and we both know where you live. I often pass your way when in NSW so start telling Mrs Kingy's sisters that PP owns his own brewery and make sure you gently lead them to assume I must therefore have a lot of money. We can deal with the fallout from false assumptions later

Hey, I'm not sure you told us what you actually brewed? Do we have to wait one or two weeks for the taste test?

Well done mate,
Pat

 

[poppa joe]

HEY PP....
This is a beer forum ....
What u need is MATCHMAKERS.com
Cheers
PJ :beerbang:

 

[PistolPatch]

Ah Poppa!

I've been dying to write to the BOAB thread for ages. Maybe I'll have a crack tonight if I can think of something appropriate. I saw your logo a while back - how good is that?

InCider threatened to put my pic and some fictitious story on one of those things you were talking about and I had to threaten him with bottle bombs.

Crikey!
Pat

 

[poppa joe]

PP..
Cant remember what i was talking about..????????? :excl:
Was it the $2.00 ..22 LT Pot.from the recyclers...Ex Maccas I think..Heavy Duty pot..?
Been doing a Tafe course on Paint Shop Pro....Just have to learn how to reverse text in a circle ..
To do another Logo..
Cheers
PJ

 

[Kingy]

thx guys i couldn't have planned for a better day.
Cant get hold of my old lady but ill try again later i think shes just sewed it normally then double stiched it again. and the seems are on the outside of the bag.

The recipe was based on TL's yabba dabba do dortmunder in the recipie section with a few changes.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Yabba Dabba Do Dortmunder
Brewer: KINGY
Asst Brewer:
Style: Dortmunder Export
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (35.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 23.00 L
Boil Size: 38.00 L
Estimated OG: 1.045 SG
Estimated Color: 8.5 EBC
Estimated IBU: 31.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 69.9 %
Boil Time: 75 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
4.00 kg Pilsner (2 Row) Ger (3.9 EBC) Grain 83.3 %
0.50 kg Munich Malt (17.7 EBC) Grain 10.4 %
0.30 kg Cara-Pils/Dextrine (3.9 EBC) Grain 6.3 %
35.00 gm Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [3.70%] (60 minHops 15.9 IBU
40.00 gm Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [3.70%] (30 minHops 13.9 IBU
15.00 gm Hallertauer Mittelfrueh [3.70%] (5 min)Hops 1.4 IBU



cheers kingy
p.s cant wait to sit around and watch and smell boiling beer again.Cant brew this weekend going backpack camping in the mountains.. Unless i do it friday night .yea im brewing friday night lol

 

[Hashie]

Good on ya Kingy. This BIABing is addictive

 

[PistolPatch]

Evenin' Fellow BIABers!

Need your feedback on what areas of BIAB you might like to explore next.

I think I mentioned that I did my first brew in a spacious environment the other day (i.e. not in an apartment) and it was also my first side by side BIAB brew. Here's a few pics...







So, thanks to one of my 7 sisters (how's that Kingy?) marrying a brew lover, we now have some good testing facilities available. The question is, "What should we do with it?"

Do you want...

Batch versus BIAB?

I can pull out my batch-sparging gear and do Batch versus BIAB brews. Pulling the batch gear out will be a PITA and batch-sparging compared to BIABing requires a lot more effort but, in saying this, I'm very interested in doing these tests at some stage anyway so doing them before the below tests will make no difference to me personally.

Batch versus BIAB testing will be of more interest to those considering AG or those who are BIABing now but would appreciate more info on BIAB versus batch or who assume that traditional brewing will give a better beer.

If I do set up the batch gear. the first test I'm going to do is Batz's Altbier because I keep getting that weird flavour. I'm not very confident that BIAB is the cause of the weird flavour because all my other beers are great and certainly equivalent to traditionally brewed beers but I've tried everything else! I need to find a reason why my Alt is not working and I'm more than happy for it to be BIAB. If it is, then we can do some more tests to work out whether it is certain yeasts, such as Nottingham (which does have some pecularities) that are sensitive to full-volume brewing or maybe even poor BIAB practices (oxidisation.)

or BIAB versus BIAB

I started writing here and then came to a full stop. Mmmm. What is there that we would like to test out with BIAB? Mash out versus no mash out is the only thing that springs to mind immediately and I think that we already have answered that question to a good degree though one or two more brews side by side with a triangular test done two weeks, three months and six months after ferment would be interesting.

The only other test I can think of is of ways to minimise the carrying of trub into the fermenter* but anything we discover here will apply to batch and fly-sparging too. They will not be unique to BIAB.

Can you guys think of any other BIAB versus BIAB tests?

What Do You Want Me To Do?

Writing the above has made me realise that I don't really care what I do first though I think the trub management issue should be dealt with first so as to create an even base between the BIAB and Batch.

So, are you guys interested in this? Can you offer any ideas on things I should measure or pay attention to? Even if you don't have any ideas, can you at least let me know that you would be interested in the results? I mean, I don't want to write the details up if no one is interested - lol!

Spot ya
Pat

P.S. Thanks for the update Kingy. A Dortmunder - cool! PJ - I'll get to thje BOAB thread eventually.

*Quite interesting and important this issue. Has a huge effect on 'real' efficiency

 

[Hashie]

Hey Pat. I'm very interested in any results from tests you get.

One I would like to see is a side by side;
1st, with all the grain tossed in at 66 degrees.
2nd, with the base malts tossed in at 66 and the specialty malts tossed in at mash out.

I am doing the mash out with specialty grains added then. But am un-able to do a side by side due to a lack of equipment.

Cheers Hashie

 

[PistolPatch]

That would be interesting for everyone I reckon Hashie. Good on ya!

Have you got any recipes in mind?

I just thought of another BIAB one too - a fine crush versus a coarse crush but will have to wait until BrissyBrew gets his mill on the market.

Thanks Hashie!

 

[Hashie]

You could do Aiden's Irish Red. This brew has only 3 malts.
Mash the Ale malt at 66 then add the Carared and Cararoma at mash out.

This would be a relatively simple beer to do a side by side on.

 

[Kingy]

Went and priced some copper today for an immersion chiller $ 230 for an 18 metre roll :angry:

so i gave it a miss and brought 3 bags of ice and and filled the bath up. It worked extremely well except when i drained the bath and found that because my pot dont fit properly in the bath it scratched the shit out of the tub while i was cooling.

Ive allready been in trouble for scratching the bath when cleaning kegs :blink: The missus is gunna kill me when she gets home bcoz these scratches are huge. and also bcoz i havent tidyed the house up but ive done a brew and my shed is spotless.

need help
kingy

 

[PistolPatch]

LOL Kingy!

To get the stainless steel sctraches out of the bath, buy a little microfibre foam block called, 'White Magic,' from your hardware. Costs about $5. This works on modern tubs and hopefully enamel ones too as the marks usually aren't scratches, more stainless smears.

Shame about the copper. Maybe the no chill guys here can give you a few tips?

Good luck with Mrs Kingy!
Pat

 

[blackbock]

I can vouch for the white magic too. Works wonders. %^&! I'm starting to sound like a SNAG here.

 

[Harry-Rmlbrs]

Patch,

After reading through the summaries and going through the guide I am even more excited about doing the brew this arvo!
I'll have the opportunity to brew with the founding father (or at least one of them) of BIAB!

See you at 2!

Harry

PS: I'll get my camera set up so we can document a double BIAB brew for the guide

 

[PistolPatch]

Welcome to AHB Harry and congratulations on your first brew - I think you may have set some sort of record...

You're the only person I've heard of whose first brew ever was an all-grain :super:

I don't think I've ever had so much joy from helping someone to start all-graining. Why? Because now I can probably start filling my fridge faster than it has been getting emptied lately - a problem that has only occurred since Harry has been dropping in for a 'quick' beer - lol.

We started at 4:30pm on Tuesday and Harry and his mate managed to get two 'staggered'brews chilled and into the fermenter in six hours. Great stuff.

You better add your name to the BIAB Brewer Register with 2 brews and 46 litres.

Looking forward to many great side by side brews with you and to drinking all your beer while doing so. Excellent!!!


Pat

 

[Doogiechap]

I had the pleasure of meeting Harry tonight whilst he was filtering his virgin brew into a Keg. What a way to start ! Riding the slippery slope at breakneck speed .
Welcome Harry may your beers be tasty and plentiful.
Cheers
Doug

Welcome to AHB Harry and congratulations on your first brew - I think you may have set some sort of record...

You're the only person I've heard of whose first brew ever was an all-grain :super:

I don't think I've ever had so much joy from helping someone to start all-graining. Why? Because now I can probably start filling my fridge faster than it has been getting emptied lately - a problem that has only occurred since Harry has been dropping in for a 'quick' beer - lol.

We started at 4:30pm on Tuesday and Harry and his mate managed to get two 'staggered'brews chilled and into the fermenter in six hours. Great stuff.

You better add your name to the BIAB Brewer Register with 2 brews and 46 litres.

Looking forward to many great side by side brews with you and to drinking all your beer while doing so. Excellent!!!


Pat

 

[Harry-Rmlbrs]

Thanks for the warm welcome Pat and Dougie,
Starting with AG is certainly a bit intimidating, thankfully only Pat lives about 100m away which is great if/when I get stuck.
I can't wait to try my first brew out, I hope I didn't bugger it up too badly! There is no way I could have survived it without all the help from Pat, he is a bloody walking encyclopedia when it comes to brewing! Especially when it comes to BIAB.

Hopefully now that I've started brewing Pat's Fridge may be able to survive without needing a refill for more than 3 days!

Cheers
Harry

 

[PistolPatch]

By my calculations Harry, if you do a brew every second day, that should keep your fridge topped up. Get rid of your mates and once a week should be fine

Batch versus BIAB with hughman666 and Norkell

This brew proves that you can not only have a great time brewing but also learn something in the process. We learned that if you put the three of us together, there is no possible way that you can do a side by side brew - lol!

The first major brewing error we made and probably the only real relevant one was the two hours of drinking we did before even mashing in. It's not like we were being lazy or anything, we had to crush the grain with hughman's Marga and this takes a long time!

There was an abundance of beautiful beer floating around so what is one to do?

Harry-Rmblrs came to pick me up at 7 which created a bit of a timing crisis in draining one kettle. I don't think we'll even go there :blink:

Suffice to say that if these two beers taste similiar it will be a miracle. The only measurements I remember of interest was that hughman's efficiency turned out higher than the BIAB's and norkel's wife looks very similiar to an old girlfriend of mine

A bloody top day though. Doesn't get much more fun than that! I think we brewed an APA or something.

Batch versus BIAB with Doogiechap

After Saturday, I was pretty keen on having a low alcohol brew day. Doogie and I managed that today and had a very relaxed time and even scored a few measurments whilst brewing our kolsch.

Here they are. (Batch figures first/BIAB second).


Mash plus Sparge Water: 40lts/37lts
Volume into Fermenter: 22.9lts/22.7lts
OG into Fermenter: 1.048/1.044
Sediment/Trub: 850mls/3300mls
Lost Wort: Zero lts/550mls
Actual Efficiency Into Fermenter*: 69.6%/63.3%
Final Efficiency*: 69.6%/64.8%
Losses to Grain Absorption: 3200mls/960mls1.04822.9

The batch went a little low at one stage during the mash and a little high during the mash out but not for too long. The BIAB was a gentler boil than the batch.

To even up the OG's we added 1300ml of water ot the batch brew (should have been more like 2lts but we didn't have any high tech software available at the time)

*Efficiencies above are based on 5kg of malt as I don't have the actual recipe with me at the moment and the 'final efficiency'figure excludes all sediment.

Summary

We had a few mishaps on the syphoning of kettles and a little variance in mash temp but it should be interesting to taste the beers. We'll find out soon enough. This brew sort of turned out the opposite of the first side by side with Brad where we had to dilute the BIAB by about 2 lts.

The measurement of trub and sediment we did plus the weighing of the spent grain indicates that BIAB's lower losses to grain is due to more particles from the mash getting through to the kettle. As we've seen from some articles linked above, this is not a negative. Obviously you don't want to be pumping all the extra trub into your fermenter, but monitoring the clarity of the wort running into your fermenter will avoid this.

I've been lazy lately and haven't been using my hop sock. I'm going to start using it again as it makes it easier to get clearer wort running into your fermenter and my measuremnets back then were far more predictable as well.

Thank you Doogie, hughman and Norkell. I had a top time on both days. Next time you buggers can load up all your gear and come to my place though. My brew at hughman's would have to be the most expensive brew I have ever done but that's another story.


Pat