Another BIAB newbie!

[HopAssault]

Hey fella's, recently i've upgraded my rig and made the leap to AG from partial, and am looking to do a brew this week as BIAB. Being my first run i've got a few question to ask!

Thanks to the legends at Cheeky Peak (cheers jezza) i've got the following new gear: 50L SS kettle with a thermowell and ball valve tap, stc1000 controller, 2200w SS element and a falsie with legs.
Tested it all and it all works a charm so i'm one step closer to brew day!

Before that though I have a few questions about the run sheet that was supplied, which i've attached:



Page one states the recipe is a single step infusion, however the second page goes on to say that there will be a batch sparge involved? That's got my pretty confused.

1. I am happy to do a sparge, however i'm unsure if its entirely neccessary? Will it give me better efficiency? I'm aiming for 65-70% which i think is pretty modest for a first brew.

2. Im worried if my efficiency doesn't hit 70% the FG is going to be low, hoping for around +4.5% ABV. Theoretically, if i use less water will it give me a better FG?

3. I've got a copper immersion chiller, how do I go about creating a whirlpool when that bugger is inside the kettle?

4. Should I be worried about mash pH? Or should I simply focus on getting everything right the first time?


I've put the recipe into Beersmith and modified it a little, this is what it popped out (also first time using beersmith):


Recipe: Smith's Gold TYPE: All Grain
Style: American Pale Ale
---RECIPE SPECIFICATIONS-----------------------------------------------
SRM: 11.5 EBC SRM RANGE: 9.8-27.6 EBC
IBU: 30.3 IBUs Tinseth IBU RANGE: 30.0-45.0 IBUs
OG: 1.046 SG OG RANGE: 1.045-1.060 SG
FG: 1.012 SG FG RANGE: 1.010-1.015 SG
BU:GU: 0.666 Calories: 427.1 kcal/l Est ABV: 4.4 %
EE%: 70.00 % Batch: 35.00 l Boil: 45.75 l BT: 60 Mins

---WATER CHEMISTRY ADDITIONS----------------


Total Grain Weight: 7.60 kg Total Hops: 120.00 g oz.
---MASH/STEEP PROCESS------MASH PH:5.20 ------
>>>>>>>>>>-ADD WATER CHEMICALS BEFORE GRAINS!!<<<<<<<
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4.29 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) US (3.9 EBC) Grain 1 56.5 %
1.43 kg Munich Malt - 10L (19.7 EBC) Grain 2 18.8 %
1.43 kg Wheat, Flaked (3.2 EBC) Grain 3 18.8 %
0.45 kg Carared (39.4 EBC) Grain 4 5.9 %


Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 50.40 l of water at 72.4 C 68.9 C 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 75.6 C over 7 min 75.6 C 10 min


---BOIL PROCESS-----------------------------
Est Pre_Boil Gravity: 1.039 SG Est OG: 1.046 SG
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
25.00 g Cascade [7.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 14.1 IBUs
20.00 g Perle [8.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 11.5 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 7 -
15.00 g Cascade [7.80 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 1.7 IBUs
15.00 g Galaxy [14.00 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 9 3.0 IBUs

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
10.00 g Cascade [7.80 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
10.00 g Galaxy [14.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 0.0 Hop 11 0.0 IBUs

---FERM PROCESS-----------------------------
Primary Start: 11 May 2015 - 14.00 Days at 19.4 C
Secondary Start: 25 May 2015 - 10.00 Days at 18.3 C
Style Carb Range: 2.30-2.80 Vols
Bottling Date: 25 May 2015 with 2.3 Volumes CO2:
---NOTES------------------------------------

Also, i haven't a keg system so i'll be bottling it all (woo.... :unsure: ), and am just planning on hitting it with carb drops. Still need to do a little homework regarding priming.

Anyway, sorry for the rant, and any help would be greatly appreciated! Looking forward to getting amongst it all!

Cheers!

 

[mxd]

IMHO if its your first start with a single/simple recipe, 4 to 5 kg of grain, work on 60% efficency, starting with a double in a 50 IMHO is asking for trouble.

4.5 kg of grain
36 ltrs of water

should give you 20 ltrs @ 4.5% to 5% beer

 

[motman]

Second that. If you try to boil 45l of wort in a 50 lt pot, you will have some distressing boil overs.. I speak from stupidly repeated experience. Shoot for a standard single batch. Consider adding gypsum to a calcium level of around 100ppm depending on your water. Have fun!

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Is wheat the new vienna...



Am I getting old.....

 

[Brew Forky]

Looking at your print outs from Brewmate, it hasn't been set to BIAB as default so sparging directions will be shown on the brew day print out. It would have been better for them to have changed it for you and it would have told you the correct amount of water to add initially to the pot without a sparge.

They also had the no chill box ticked, so the 28.6 IBUs stated would actually quite a bit lower if you use the immersion chiller instead of a cube. I have noticed though in your beersmith printout it is at 30.3 IBUs.

 

[HopAssault]

Okay no worries, that makes a little bit more sense. I was a little worried about trying to lift out 7+ kilo's of saturated grain out of the pot anyway haha.
For the record is a 36L batch classified as a "double"?

Thanks brew forky! I was thinking that was the case.

Whats the consensus on creating a whirlpool while the chiller is inside the kettle? Do I wait until the wort is chilled before I whirlpool?

Thanks heaps for the replies, been a bloody big help.

 

[HopAssault]

Alright so i'm half way through my mash, I set my strike temp for 71 degrees as per the recipe, upon adding the grain it only dropped to 70 degrees, it took a good 15-20 mins to get it back down to 65 degrees. The SS pot seems to have better insulation that I anticipated..
Is this going to affect my efficiency that much?

Its now stable at 65.5 degrees at 40 minutes.
I think i'll be going for a 90 minute mash to try and make up for it. Sound about right?

 

[luggy]

A 1o drop isn't much, what are you using to measure your temps? Also make sure you stir it well when you mash in, hot and cold spots can form which throws off the temp reading.
Extending the mash won't help, most conversion will take place in the first 15 minutes. If that's what your temps actually were the wort won't be as fermentable but will still make beer, chalk this one up to experience.

 

[HopAssault]

My system is electric, so an STC1000 is controlling it all, the probe is taking the reading from inside the thermowell.
I stirred the hell out of it while mashing in, the temperature was jumping a little though.

Hmm i see, i went with the 90 minute mash anyway. Took a pre-boil gravity reading and it was reading 1035.

Thanks for your help mate.