BIAB lager

[jburke]

Has anyone done a lager with BIAB and mind sharing the recipe and how they did it. Don't think you are meant to cube chill them are you though? Everyone says not to bother with larger but I'd love to just make a nice crisp beer.
Cheers guys.
Jase.

 

[Tony121]

Yep, did a BIAB no chill Helles for Christmas.

Recipe was mostly Wey Pilsner with a touch of carapils. Hops were Hersbrucker early and Motueka late. On the phone so can dig up actual details later if you wish.

My first Helles so not much to compare to, though went down extremely well.

 

[jburke]

That'd be great if you could find the other details. Even fermenting Temps and stuff. How long did you lager it for? I'm just fascinated with brewing them because everything you read says you can't hide anywhere in them. Every fault shows up.

 

[contrarian]

There's no reason you can't make a good lager biab and no chill. It is much more about getting the fermentation right.

The most basic lager would be 97% Pilsner 3% acidulated and any noble hop to 15-20IBU.

For fermentation what I do is buy a good liquid yeast and make enough wort to put 1L in a flask and another 3L in another flask. I then put the cube of wort and the flasks in a fermenting fridge at between 10-12C. Once the 1L is showing good krausen I add that to the larger flask and when it kicks off I pour the wort from the cube into a fermenter and add the now 4L starter.

Ferment at the same temp until there are about 6-8 gravity points left before target final gravity and raise the temp by about 3 degrees.

Once it has been at final gravity for a few days to a week depending on when I get to it I drop them temp to as low as the fridge will go (about 3C for one fridge and a bit lower for the other one) and leave for a week or two and then transfer to a keg, purge of O2 and then chill for as long as possible before drinking.

It will normally drop bright in a few weeks but if I'm in a hurry I either use gelatin or just live with a bit of haze. With gelatin it normally looks amazing within a week.

I currently have one in the fermenter where it was a similar grain bill but I did a decoction and only used styrian goldings at 60 and 15 to about 25 IBU and it tastes great.

Keep the grain bill simple, don't overdo the hops and ferment low and slow with a healthy pitch of a good yeast and you will make a beautifully clean beer!

 

[Chris79]

I have just done a BIAB Munich Helles on my gas stove top.

95% Pils
2.5% Acid malt
2.5% Melanoiden malt

Hersbrucker 12.7g (2.7% AA) @ 60min
Magnum (German) 6g (11.7% AA) @ 60min
Hersbrucker 15g (2.7% AA) @ 15min
This made about 17 IBU's all together

Whitelabs WLP838. Fermenting in my Keg King Kegerator at 13 degrees on the display, saw my fermentor in the fridge at between 12-14 degrees.

Cheers

 

[Tony121]

This is the full recipe. 18L Big W pot on stove as it was just prior to completing my keggle upgrade, therefore it was brewed with a higher OG then diluted before pitching yeast. Also used dry yeast as I am only just now getting into liquid yeast & freezing, etc. Fermented at 11 deg. C for about 5 days (until SG ~1.020) then increased 1 deg. C per day til 18 deg. C. After 3 days cold crashed for another 5 days. Transferred to keg and lagered for 2 weeks whilst carbing.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Hellesbound Bavarian Lager (1.0)
Brewer: Anthony Eastwood
Asst Brewer:
Style: Munich Helles
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 17.08 l
Post Boil Volume: 14.58 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 18.00 l
Bottling Volume: 17.00 l
Estimated OG: 1.049 SG
Estimated Color: 6.7 EBC
Estimated IBU: 19.8 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 60.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 66.7 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4.60 kg Pilsner Malt (Weyermann) (3.3 EBC) Grain 1 95.8 %
0.20 kg Carapils Carafoam (Weyermann) (4.0 EBC) Grain 2 4.2 %
10.00 g Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 10.1 IBUs
10.00 g Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 4 2.9 IBUs
10.00 g Motueka [7.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 5 5.0 IBUs
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 6 -
8.00 g Hallertauer Hersbrucker [4.00 %] - Steep Hop 7 0.7 IBUs
8.00 g Motueka [7.00 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 10.0 Hop 8 1.2 IBUs
2.0 pkg Saflager Lager (DCL/Fermentis #W-34/70) Yeast 9 -


Mash Schedule: BIAB, Light to Medium Body
Total Grain Weight: 4.80 kg
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 13.02 l of water at 72.7 C 66.0 C 90 min


Sparge: If steeping, remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
Notes:
------
Brewed 30/10/16 - No Chill
Steeped Hops = Cube Hops
Into FV 5/11/16
Pitched yeast 6/11/16 at 10 deg. C
Kegged 27/11/16

Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com

Hope this helps in some way.

Edit: Would probably mash lower next time and also up the late hops slightly (just for my own preference)

Tony

 

[Tony121]

Just because I like the photo......

 

[Tony121]

And damned if I know how to turn the bloody thing the right way!

 

[jburke]

Thanks guys. Perfect information. Exactly what i needed. Wish me luck.

 

[Tony121]

You don't need luck, just temp control!

 

[Tony121]

Double post

 

[jburke]

Contrarian-what do you do for your starters with lagers? I guess the quality would need to be important?

 

[contrarian]

Normally I try to make enough of the same wort as the brew to use as starters and an extra 4-5 litres is enough.

I also find keeping the starters at the same temperature I plan on fermenting at works well.

So I fill a cube and 2 Erlenmeyer flasks, a small one with a litre and my 5 litre with the rest. Cap them with foil and cool in the fridge to around 10C.

I don't ferment the starters out completely, I pitch them into the next step at high krausen. Normally I assume that from lots of bubbles on top.

A big pitch of the same wort at the same temperature isn't the only way to do it but I've found it works for me and gives a nice clean ferment every time.

I'm no major expert in starters but this is what has worked well for me.

 

[contrarian]

I also try to use fresh liquid yeasts. I've used a few different ones but if you treat them right they will all produce good beer.