Another 'first BIAB' help Dr Smurto's Golden Ale

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

eresh666

Well-Known Member
Joined
8/2/13
Messages
46
Reaction score
6
Location
Adelaide
Guys,

Anxiety is creeping up on me the days of kit & kilo are behind me how badly can I stuff this up?

50L SS keg with welded tap & brew/mash thermometer about 3 inch off the bottom
italian Spiral burner from Beer Belly

Total Water 26L (BIAB brewmate setting)

No chill method I'm leaving in keggle over night (moved to the laundry once cool enough with a pot lid and glad wrap to create a vacuum (or should I put it straight into the fermenter once its down to say 60 degrees celcius? Starsan on coopers ferm bucket and any other 'utensils' not worrying about the keg due to boil temp.

Finings in after fermentation to clear everything up to be added 2 days before bottling.

Any pointers? One thing I'm not too sure about is once I hit my strike temperature and then mash temp after 60minutes to a raise the temp again 'mash out' before boiling or don't I need to do that for BIAB?



Golden Ale
Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 20.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.250
Total Hops (g): 55.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.047 (°P): 11.7
Final Gravity (FG): 1.012 (°P): 3.1
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.62 %
Colour (SRM): 7.9 (EBC): 15.6
Bitterness (IBU): 46.9 (Average - No Chill Adjusted)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 70
Boil Time (Minutes): 60
Grain Bill
----------------
2.400 kg Pale Ale Malt (56.47%)
0.800 kg Munich I (18.82%)
0.800 kg Wheat Malt (18.82%)
0.250 kg Caramunich I (5.88%)
Hop Bill
----------------
15.0 g Amarillo Pellet (8.6% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.8 g/L)
20.0 g Amarillo Pellet (8.6% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Boil) (1 g/L)
20.0 g Amarillo Pellet (8.6% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Boil) (1 g/L)
Misc Bill
----------------
Single step Infusion at 66°C for 60
 
I dont see why you couldnt leave it in the keggle overnight?
The only thing with that is Oxidation. Thats why no chills are usually put into airtight containers. But if your gonna put into a fermenter straight away with the lid on? It could work.... Id be getting a Water jerrycan or something and putting the hot wort into that with the lid on to cool. Its pretty easy to transfer with a hose and gravity. Then you can keep your fresh wort for ages before fermenting it.
Otherwise get or make a chiller.
See how it goes it could be fine with just a lid on it overnight.
Otherwise. Go for it!
 
looks good mate.

with brewmate and its initial settings, don't be surprised if they're not 100% accurate (with boil off %s, losses to trub etc) as you'll need to write down your losses and record them so you can input them into brewmate for future brewdays. your first few brews might be off slightly as you get used to all your figures and set up but after a few you'll be killing your target figures all the time.
 
26l water seems a bit low to me.....I use more than that for 14-16litre batches.
As Fletcher says you can make adjustments in your brewmate settings after this batch, keep a good record of all your numbers and volumes for later changes.
 
I'm assuming your thermometer is protruding into your vessel by at least 50mm. Be careful not to catch your sack on it when pulling your voile. It's not a good feeling. Seed will go everywhere.

Not sure from your post if you're doing step mash or single infusion at 66. You might want to consider sticking to single infusion for your first BIAB.

I think you'll be fine with glad wrap over your keggle overnight.

Apologies if this is too late to be useful (i.e. you've already brewed).
 
1. Strike volume seems low for 20l. What is your boil off set to?
2. Mash outs pretty much are always beneficial with BIAB. Are you using gas or electric? For gas just stir the buggery out of it with the gas on at the end of the mash (60 mins +) till you hit above 75'C. Electric is basically the same deal; only you need to protect the element/bag.
3. I'd leave it in the keggle while it chills. If you lid on as soon as (or not long after) you'll pasteurise the headspace and has a much lower chance of oxidising the wort than transferring to the fermenter. Assuming you believe in such things.
 
I use the same set up as you mate and just put it roughly in on beersmith and came up with 29.9L inital boil, I did the exact same thing as you and started with too little and had to water it down because it was too strong.
 
Be careful not to catch your sack on it when pulling your voile. It's not a good feeling. Seed will go everywhere.



This sounds painful.
 
well I thought it went to plan hit temps ok did a mash out to 75 degrees for 15minutes while stirring. however my OG is way too low 1030 (I have stirred the wort/mix etc I think maybe I didnt have the bag and grain freely positioned yet secured in the keggle restricted the grain?).

I guess it will be awesome to drink yet not enough alcohol perhaps a little watery?

I went with 27L as noted a few people had commented it total water was a little low.

:D
 
What are you measuring gravity with?
 
did you make sure you tested gravity and adjusted for the temperature of the wort?
 
If it was a hydrometer 1.030 at 75 deg corrects to 1.054
 
I just plugged your recipe into Beersmith and it said to start with 35L of water. That's on my gear, so yours will be a little different, but still shows that you were probably well under.
 
Thanks again guys I see the problem once it cools the OG is picking up I'm going to cool a 'sample and give it another go'. If its going to be too high I will add some boiled water to bring it back down.

testing it with a coopers kit hydrometer and a cheap one from brewcraft.
 
If you know the temp of the sample, you can convert it. Or if you're quick, I can check in Beersmith while I'm still online.

Also, have you calibrated your hydrometer? Coopers ones are known for being out until you calibrate them.
 
RhiZ1mN.jpg



money shot... first guy on the forum to do it sideways...
 
1.034 @ 50C is 1.044
1.020 @ 83 is 1.049

This according to Beersmith, and assuming that your hydrometer is calibrated to 1.000 at 20C.

Looks to me like you may be ok. :)
 
Thanks

wbosher said:
1.034 @ 50C is 1.044
1.020 @ 83 is 1.049

This according to Beersmith, and assuming that your hydrometer is calibrated to 1.000 at 20C.

Looks to me like you may be ok. :)
Thanks for checking... BTW kia ora (I grew up in Auckland :)).
 
We hate bloody Aucklanders down here in Welly town ;) I guess you could compare it to QLD vs NSW sort of rivalry.

Anyway, good to hear your 1st BIAB is on track. :)
 
Back
Top