BIAB - Guidance req

[Hitman]

G'day,

I have been dormant on this forum over the last twelve months as I continued to happily k&k along and drinking steadliy.

During that time though I have been able to have the Old Man construct a brew pot out of a 'found' CUB keg. Add a ring burner and a trip to Lincraft and I think I can make BIAB a reality.

However I have spent the last few days trawling for topics and threads that could help with recipes/making sense of Beersmith 2. Some of the pdf's seem to be gone and/or moved.

If anyone could link me something that could assist, then you're a legend.

I have read the 'How to BIAB' type stuff, my biggest hurdle is making sense of terms (IBU? Efficiency %) and how to use software to make this a reality.

Thanks in advance, I understand this question(s) have been asked ad nauseum.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

OK - it seems you are in need of some of the really basic info regarding brewing other than via K&K, the things you mentioned are brewing in general questions, not specifically BIAB ones and it suggests to me that you dont need a few tips from AHBers, you need an instruction book. So.... Go here

http://www.howtobrew.com/

Hit the enter button and read the whole thing from start to finish. After you've done that, re-read the BIAB guides you have already looked at, and have a bit more of a play with beer smith. That should keep you occupied for several days at least. Things will be much clearer to you and what you'll be left with is some specific questions.

You can most likely answer those questions through liberal use of the search function here on AHB - and for whats left. Pop back into this thread and ask away.

TB

 

[wbosher]

Check this thread out - http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/38674-move-to-all-grain-for-thirty-bucks/

Nick has done a great job in introducing newbies to AG brewing. I'd almost go so far as saying that this thread alone is probably responsible for converting a lot of kit brewers to BIAB. Definately worth a look.

It won't help you with Beersmith, but will give you a good run down of what BIAB is all about.

 

[Bribie G]

Seeing as you are going full volume using a keggle then my "BIAB in an electric urn" article might help you - just pretend your keggle is an urn. It's ended up in the Partials forum at the moment since the forum upgrade, ,but it's actually All grain.

Also to keep it really simple, you don't really need a bag. In the last 18 months I've just gone over to using a big circle of voile from Spotlight (or Lincraft of course) that I gather up like a Chinese "money bag" and hoist it.
Far stronger than a stitched bag and dead easy to clean.

For beginners and vets alike I actually recommend BrewMate rather than Beersmith. I have both but BM is free so won't cost you anything if you decide later that BeerSmith is for you.

Thirsty Boy's suggestion to read "how to brew" from cover to cover is brilliant, taught me everything I needed to start off and most of the information can be applied to BIAB.

Happy brewing.

 

[stux]

I'd suggest reading v3 of how to brew cover to cover, well skip building a mash tun

Better than reading v1, although v1 is free

 

[lukiferj]

Agree with what everyone here has said. I picked up a copy of How to Brew from Amazon for around $10 plus postage. Very easy to read and follow.

 

[Nick JD]

Download BrewMate and open one of the sample recipes that comes with it.

Play around with the ingredients and the "style nazi" thing.

Check out the IBUs of your favourite beers. Check the colours that different malts provide.

You can learn a lot from simple software. BeerSmith will confuse the hell out of you at this stage.

 

[Hitman]

Cheers blokes!

Looking forward to the reading, lucky I still have a week of paid hols left!

Gotta love the life of a school teacher (well, outside of school hours anyway).

 

[Amber Fluid]

Biabrewer is a good site for BIAB info too.