Biab Wins System Wars

[Rowy]

Maybe a newbie to brewing but not to beer. 30 odd years under the now expanding belt. I voted for the BIAB because I thought it had substantially more flavour. In saying that though I tried it first and I said to the couple of blokes I had lunch with that I wished I hadn't as the aftertaste I think affected my ability to give the others a fair go.

 

[stux]

Is it really a win for single vessel no sparge brewing?

 

[the_new_darren]

This was another "rigged" QLD homebrew comp?

TND

 

[NickB]

Shut up Liam!!!

 

[browndog]

Was the sparging in the Ghetto and the 3V an issue?

Hmmm................ interesting, but I don't think sparging was the issue, if I had to take a guess, I think it might have had to do with the vigorous boil that the ghetto and 3V systems ran compared to the fairly mild boils of the BM and BIAB. I think we may have extracted more IBUs and given our beers a bit more of a bite than the other two. Also, bear in mind that all four fermentations "should" have been equal and not have been a factor.

FWIW, at our table the BM beer won by a mile, the BIAB was considered watery.

cheers

Browndog

 

[Bribie G]

Was the sparging in the Ghetto and the 3V an issue?

couple of points then I'll get onto the above quote:

My BIAB system was set up basically for a 25L "raw" brew length because, with no recirc etc you do end up with more loss to trub. I asked if I could be allowed to scale the ingredients up a bit to allow for loss, but was informed that all contestants would have to work with the same ingredient pack to yield 20L - fair enough, no problem. However on the day I did a bit of a stab at what strike volume I would need, going on marks I already had on the sight tube of the urn.
Ended up with a 23L as opposed to 20L length, my bad - should have brought a dipstick .

At the end of the day however I think my brew was a bit more quaffable, being a bit lower alc, and I guess that's what maybe tipped the balance, as well as the extract of Pure Naked Blonde I sneakily tipped in h34r: I'd certainly class my ale as a special but not an extra special bitter. I'm actually going to rebrew as I reckon it was quite neat as an ale Remember we aren't talking BJCP judging here, so Ross is spot on with his evaluation.

Now on the other point, it could possibly be argued that if you put the wort through multiple stages it could perhaps become "overworked" like you can get with restaurant food that is overworked and strays away from freshness of the original ingredients. Won't stray too far along that path.....

erm

Discuss?

 

[clarkey7]

Now on the other point, it could possibly be argued that if you put the wort through multiple stages it could perhaps become "overworked" like you can get with restaurant food that is overworked and strays away from freshness of the original ingredients. Won't stray too far along that path.....

erm

Discuss?

Nup.....BM continuously (and for longer than the other systems) recirculated (or worked) the wort....try again.

Yes BD - all ferms had a healthy krausen and were pitched by me and fermented together, had dropped clear and had a tight trub when I kegged and filtered them.

PB

 

[OneEye]

I understand that all these brews were no-chilled. Was the recipe, ie hop additions, adjusted at all for this method?

I ask because the last couple of my no-chilled brews have been very bitter

 

[mrTbeer]

Didn't try the beers and am no expert BUT was happy to see biab got the gong.I did watch the videos when they went on YouTube and bought a bigw pot the next day to start my own biab. Good demos by all.

 

[clarkey7]

I understand that all these brews were no-chilled. Was the recipe, ie hop additions, adjusted at all for this method?

I ask because the last couple of my no-chilled brews have been very bitter

I only make adjustments to recipes for bitterness in no-chill brews if there are large or multiple late hop additions.

A single 10g of EKG at 10min....wouldn't have caused a huge drama in these beers.

PB

 

[MarkBastard]

Any opinions on why the 3V setup scored so poorly? Seemed like a decent and expensive setup.

 

[Bribie G]

Surprised me as well, I've been to a couple of brew days at Brads with his old tower o'milk crates and his new brewstand/pumps system and he's no slouch as a brewer. Now that I know which beer was which I personally couldn't find much difference between the 3v and the BM offerings, with a bit of a twang from the ghetto system (not unpleasant but I picked maybe some acetaldehyde - it actually reminded me of some beer I'd drunk on cask in the UK long ago, you know how a certain flavour can take you right back) and the BIAB offering I picked as being lower grav - which it was.

I'm going to get some Northdown and rebrew the beer at a correct length as I don't mind the old Wheelers recipes, they are often surprisingly accurate if you take an educated guess at what malt and yeast to use.

 

[yardy]

Any opinions on why the 3V setup scored so poorly? Seemed like a decent and expensive setup.

 

[matho]

I'm going to get some Northdown

:icon_offtopic:

:icon_drool2: i love that hop

 

[bradsbrew]

Hmmm................ interesting, but I don't think sparging was the issue, if I had to take a guess, I think it might have had to do with the vigorous boil that the ghetto and 3V systems ran compared to the fairly mild boils of the BM and BIAB. I think we may have extracted more IBUs and given our beers a bit more of a bite than the other two. Also, bear in mind that all four fermentations "should" have been equal and not have been a factor.

FWIW, at our table the BM beer won by a mile, the BIAB was considered watery.

cheers

Browndog

I think your on the money there Tony. I boiled the crapper out of mine. Shame I couldnt make it on the day due to family stuff, I would have liked to try them for myself. The suprise for me was the different final gravity of the brews which IMHO would effect the taste.

Any opinions on why the 3V setup scored so poorly? Seemed like a decent and expensive setup.

Expensive, hahaha your havin a dig right? I have seen BIAB set ups that have cost more. I dont know if poorly is the right word. If it got no votes and comments of "whats this ****" were used then yes thats poor. I had fun on the brewday, and well done to all that contributed.

Cheers

 

[Bribie G]

Once again, nothing wrong with the 3v brew that I could taste - punters on the day.

 

[pk.sax]

I think your on the money there Tony. I boiled the crapper out of mine. Shame I couldnt make it on the day due to family stuff, I would have liked to try them for myself. The suprise for me was the different final gravity of the brews which IMHO would effect the taste.


Expensive, hahaha your havin a dig right? I have seen BIAB set ups that have cost more. I dont know if poorly is the right word. If it got no votes and comments of "whats this ****" were used then yes thats poor. I had fun on the brewday, and well done to all that contributed.

Cheers

I'd think twice before losing any sleep over popular vote contests not judged to style specs only. Have got caught in a couple of them, once it was a gathering of beer 'snobs' - so to say, the IPA's won. The other time it was a public tasting and voting, the less hop forward beers mainly brewed to traditional styles ruled the day. Not dissing on the contest in any way, but sounds a bit uncontrolled from what is posted here, no way to tell if people were properly guided in what to look for etc? I've only been around at one proper contest and it was fun because the judges could tell so well what each style needed and what the faults/standout features were irrespective of the manner of brewing.

'spose Julia Gillard was popular before the first election.... so was Howard.