Doing My First ~10l Biab Ag

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thrillho

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Hey all,

First of all, this is my first post to this part of the forum, and I'm pretty pumped!

Went out an bought all the necessary gear for BIAB that I didn't already have. The lads at Grain and Grape were very helpful, and didn't hurt my pocket as much as I thought!

Anyway, as it is only a smaller batch (10L), I was wondering if I could do my mash and boil on Saturday arvo, let the temperature drop in some water and ice over night, and then ferment during the ambient start to the week (~21c in Melbourne). Apparently fermentation should only need about a week with smaller batches, so if it needs longer to finish off I can just plonk it back into the ice to maintain the ale fermenting temp.

Does this make sense?

Thanks,

thrillho. :beer:
 
If your going to let it sit until Monday transfer into a cube at end of boil. (Do a search on no chill into cube) Then dont bother about the ice just let it cool down gradually. You can then pitch your yeast into the cube and ferment in there, whenever you like. Monday, next week next month even.

But if it gets too warm I wouldnt stick it in an ice bath. Putting a wet towel over it should do the trick. Or if you sit your cube in a tub of water it will be less likely to have such dramatic temperature changes and ou can add ice to the water if it does get too high.
You want to ferment at around 18C-20C depending on your yeast etc.
 
id do what truman suggests aswell.

Just to add on from what he posted though, make sure you get one of those smaller cubes/jerry cans of approx 10lt in size.

You wouldn't want to no chill 10lt's in a 20/25lt cube.
 
id do what truman suggests aswell.

Just to add on from what he posted though, make sure you get one of those smaller cubes/jerry cans of approx 10lt in size.

You wouldn't want to no chill 10lt's in a 20/25lt cube.

As the guys above have said no-chill is totally the way to go. Head of to your nearest bunnings and purchase a 10L cube, get the one with the black lid that has a seal on it (the one with a red lid does not), they are not expensive at all. Clean and sanitise the cube, make sure the wort goes in above pasteurisation temp (85 deg I think), squeeze out as much headspace as you can and seal it up. Then put it on its side of a bit to make sure the hot wort sanitises the top of the cube. Let cool overnight and ferment at your lesuire. Piece of piss!! :icon_cheers:

Good luck!
 
I keep reading this (and similar).

How are you guys whirlpooling?

I've actually stopped whirlpooling in my 1V rig.

When i take the time to do it, it never turns out properly due to elements being in the way, plus temp probes etc.. not really beneficial.

So now all i do, is at end of boil, wait 10minutes and drain to cube.

I get my trub in the bottom of the pot just like if i whirlpooled anyway, but without the heat loss to "effectively no chill".

The difference for me is in the pot.

When i whirlpool on my 3V rig (keg HLT and kettle) I get a real good cone in the bottom of the keg due to the domed bottom.

Yep i'm aware others are getting good cone's from whirlpooling in any vessel, domed or not, but i can't seem to make it work so now i don't bother. I just factor in another 500/1000ml losses to kettle trub and i'm all good.

Beer comes out the other end.
 
Yeah, but if you're cubing over a certain temp you've still got convection currents going on which means you've still got hot break all through the wort. 10 min is nowhere near long enough for this to stop in my brewery (totally accept it could be different for others). I can;t see how anyone if effectively removing break if they've cubed at 85c (at the lastest, as per quote).
 
Does adding brew brite change this?? In my braumeister with a 10 minute wait then stir crap out of it and another 10 min wait convections seem to have stopped and it seems clear enough with a good cone at bottom but that could just be me thinking it looks ok
 
No chilling a 10L batch? What?

It takes about 30 mins, a packet of frozen veggies and an iceblock to get 10L down to pitching temps using an icebath and a Big W pot. Why would you bother doing anything else?
 
No chilling a 10L batch? What?

It takes about 30 mins, a packet of frozen veggies and an iceblock to get 10L down to pitching temps using an icebath and a Big W pot. Why would you bother doing anything else?
Yeah, when I was brewing in a 19L pot I had 2 ice bricks in the laundry tub, and once they were expired and the water was hot I would just swap it out. Worked really well.
 
Yeah, but if you're cubing over a certain temp you've still got convection currents going on which means you've still got hot break all through the wort. 10 min is nowhere near long enough for this to stop in my brewery (totally accept it could be different for others). I can;t see how anyone if effectively removing break if they've cubed at 85c (at the lastest, as per quote).

Probably not removing all hot break, but I find it very acceptable using this method.

Flame out. Wait 20m. I have an Ally pot and that time frame seems to be where the temp is still very high and the wort convection has subsided quite a bit. Start the whirlpool and add last hops / Brewbrite if I have not already added a whirlfloc. leave 10 - 15 mins and cube. I find this gives a really good tight cone of hot break and quite clear wort into the cube above 85. The cubes are also well cleaned and sanitised, which I know some brewers do not do, relying solely on the pasturisation by temperature. No probs.


Fear
 
I keep reading this (and similar).
How are you guys whirlpooling?

I don't whirlpool in my 20l pot, it is not necessary. Brews end up crystal clear after cold crashing and some time in the keg. (a couple of weeks).In fact I have just been pounding my house IPA and it is crystal clear.
 
I don't whirlpool in my 20l pot, it is not necessary. Brews end up crystal clear after cold crashing and some time in the keg. (a couple of weeks).In fact I have just been pounding my house IPA and it is crystal clear.


Hi AdamFromWH,
The whirlpool assists in removong hot break, which is the by-products of the boil that you do not want in your beer for many reasons, not just clarity of the final beer. The "break" in the kettle should be removed as much as possible. Not saying your beer would be bad or anything, but this is just what I understand is good brewing practice for well established reasons.

Fear.
 
^ +1

Probably not removing all hot break
To be fair to both of our positions, my understanding is that it is pretty well near impossible to remove all hotbreak completely - or at least highly impracticable on a HB scale.

Flame out. Wait 20m. I have an Ally pot and that time frame seems to be where the temp is still very high and the wort convection has subsided quite a bit. Start the whirlpool and add last hops / Brewbrite if I have not already added a whirlfloc. leave 10 - 15 mins and cube. I find this gives a really good tight cone of hot break and quite clear wort into the cube above 85. The cubes are also well cleaned and sanitised, which I know some brewers do not do, relying solely on the pasturisation by temperature. No probs.
I would agree that after ~35 min I'd expect to see a nice cone forming. But in my brewery (and I accept there could be issues with my either my perception or thermometers) I find that there's not much point starting whirlpool above 90C and in the minimum of 10 min that I leave the whirlpool to settle I can't say I've ever seen the temp as high as 85. Most often, I probably cube at a bee's under 80.

I guess it just seems to me that starting a whirlpool when there's still active movement in the wort due to heat is defeating the purpose (again, my perceptions come into play here and those are not necessarily based in science).
 
I guess it just seems to me that starting a whirlpool when there's still active movement in the wort due to heat is defeating the purpose (again, my perceptions come into play here and those are not necessarily based in science).

I would not say that it is perfect, your right there still is some movement in the kettle, (100L), but it's where I find it works well with my set up. I probably could wait longer, and let the temps drop, which I fully expect would be fine too - to a point, but as I said it works and removes most of the break.
Fear
 
Hi AdamFromWH,
The whirlpool assists in removong hot break, which is the by-products of the boil that you do not want in your beer for many reasons, not just clarity of the final beer. The "break" in the kettle should be removed as much as possible. Not saying your beer would be bad or anything, but this is just what I understand is good brewing practice for well established reasons.

Fear.

Yep, I whirlpool in my 70l kettle but I get a rubbish whirlpool in my 20l kettle, so I don't bother anymore. I agree, you should whirlpool for all the above reasons but for a brand new BIAB'er don't worry your beer will be fine. When you get your process dialed in, worry about the rest later.
 
FWIW, the currents take a lot longer to die down in my 98L compared to 50L

It could be the aluminum sandwich in the base of the 98L though.

With the 50 I could almost start the whirlpool immediately after knockout, but in the larger pot I have to wait at least 10 minutes or you get little bits of crap rising and falling.
 
Also no chilling allows any crap that gets into your cube to settle to the bottom. I use a siphon to transfer cubed wort to the fermenter leaving the crud in the cube.
 
Because I kettle chill it allows me to leave every last bit of break material out of the beer.

But there's a massive loss-to-trub, so I filter it out - which has a secondary advantage of zero losses of wort, to trub.

I would assume breweries also do this, as that loss of wort to trub would significantly add up over a year.

Pretty easy to make a 3L capacity funnel lined with a double layer of sanitised voile. Takes about 5 minutes to drain through the hotbreak during which it forms a seal on the transfer.

If I don't do this I lose up to 10% (of 15L) wort to break material.
 
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