black_labb
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- 16/2/10
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i decided to do a biab brew when i realised that i had most everything i needed aside from the bag and a couple small items, and i've always been interested in doing something more unique/involved than kits & bits like i have been. i am using a 30L urn with a swiss voile bag (just draped it in, havent sewn it to shape yet) and a colander upturned over the element to stop the bag from burning in the mashout heating.
i decided to do a apa for the first one as it seems to be a style that is hard to get too wrong. i'm someone who cant follow a recipe and has to make one up myself. i picked up some maris otter, medium crystal and some wheat grain. for the hops i grabbed some chinook and some willamette. i developed a recipe with brewmate after having a look a number of other recipes.
the apa recipe was
American Pale Ale
Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 5.180
Total Hops (g): 55.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.052
Colour (SRM): 9.1
Bitterness (IBU): 34.1
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 74
Boil Time (Minutes): 60
Grain Bill
----------------
4 kg Maris Otter Malt (77.22%)
0.4 kg Flaked Rice (7.72%)
0.28 kg Crystal 60 (5.41%)
0.5 kg Wheat Malt (9.65%)
Hop Bill
----------------
10 g Chinook Pellet (11.3% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/l)
10 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/l)
10 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/l)
10 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/l)
5 g Chinook Pellet (11.3% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 g/l)
5 g Chinook Pellet (11.3% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Dry Hop) (0.2 g/l)
5 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Dry Hop) (0.2 g/l)
Single step Infusion at 66C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 18c with Safale US-05
Recipe Generated with BrewMate
i was pretty reserved with the hop additions, especially the chinook as i read that it could be quite harsh (after reading deeper it seemed that the harshness often comes from the bittering additions as opposed to the late additions).
the recipe there says 23L but i probably only got around 19-20. this would make the efficiency only around 65%. i accidentally tore a smallish hole in the biab bag and it seemed to have a lot of trub down the bottom of the boiler. the hole tore when i was using a big SS bowl with some holes drilled in it (used for other purposes) as a colander over the urn. the holes were rough and caught the bag when squeezing the liquor out. the hole didnt seem to let too much grain bits out, but i think alot of floury/smaller particles from the grains came through that wouldnt otherwise. i left alot of truby liquid down the bottom of the boiler and again in the cube before putting it into the fermenter reducing the yield of the batch.
aside from reduced volume of usable wort i was happy with the process. it has since fermented down to 1011 in 8 days at ~21* before i racked it into the secondary where it has been for a couple days now.
the recipe shown above doesnt have the hop scheduele quite right. it is partially adjusted for NC in a cube. the 60mins was actually 60 mins, the 30 was around 20 mins (added 10 to compensate for nc) the 20 min additions were in the cube with the hot wort. the dry hops were put in 2-3 days after pitching the yeast.
brew #2
before racking the apa described above i thought it would be a good idea to make a batch of beer and pitch it straight onto the yeast cake from the above beer. i decided against doing that while the brew was in the cube as i didnt want to have any first time mashing errors to carry over to my second ag brew, so i picked up another pack of us05.
i was tossing up between something along the lines of a toohies old or some type of american brown ale. i also had a spare toohies special draught kit that i picked up to do a toucan with when it was on special that i decided i would throw in. so this brew is not an all grain brew as there is 1.7kg of hopped LME in there. but the rest is grain.
here is the second recipe.
Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 22.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.400
Total Hops (g): 80.50
Original Gravity (OG): 1.056
Colour (SRM): 23.4
Bitterness (IBU): 35.4
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 85
Boil Time (Minutes): 60
Grain Bill
----------------
1 kg Maris Otter Malt (22.73%)
0.3 kg Chocolate (6.82%)
0.4 kg Crystal 60 (9.09%)
1 kg Pale Ale Malt (22.73%)
1.7 kg Liquid Malt Extract - Light (38.64%)
Hop Bill
----------------
25.5 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.2 g/l)
15 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 45 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/l)
15 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/l)
15 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Dry Hop) (0.7 g/l)
10 g Chinook Pellet (11.3% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/l)
Single step Infusion at 66C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 18c with
Recipe Generated with BrewMate
the 1.7kg of the LME was the can of toohies special draught. the kit goop was put in the wort once i removed the spent grains and boiled for 45-60 mins to get a full boil time and allow the hop flavour if there is any to evaporate and just leave the bitterness from the kit so i can have a fresh start when it comes to hop flavour.
as you can imagine the hops were leftover from the apa, but willamette should be at home in an american brown and a bit of chinook should (according to my inexperienced understanding of beer recipe development) give it a more complex flavour and a bit if an edge. the 25.5g of willamette @60 was accounting for the bittering level in the can of goop. i boiled for 45-60mins but only started adding the hops at 30 mins (says 45 to account for NC). the 15 minutes additions of chinook and willamette were put into the cube with the hot wort. i havent added the dry hops yet.
200g of the marris otter i tried roasting it in the oven. it was already cracked but i thought i'd see how it turned out anyway. put the oven to roughly 150* and had the grains in there on a porcelain tray. it started to smell roasty and were darkened a bit after an estimated 25 mins. was just checking on it every once in a while so i dont know how long it was actually in there for. looking back i would have liked to have recorded how long it was in for, but considering i have never made a similar batch of beer i will have no idea what difference it made. the smell was nice though.
comparing the 2 batches. the dark ale had much less sediment (half the grain, 1/2 the hops in boiler, no hole in the voile but all the grain went into the blender for a bit before going into the bag). i only left around 0.5L in the boiler as opposed to ~3L in the apa. the dark ale is fermenting a bit lower at 18* as oppsed to 21*(colder week so under the house has cooled down a little bit).
the dark ale got much better efficiency. i measured a gravity of 1030 before the tin went in. and before the liquid was boiled down (but i did top up the boiler a bit with bucket sparge water). i did a mash out as well with the dark ale, the grains went into a blender before going into the bag and there was also alot more water per amount of grain as the grain only accounted for roughly half of the fermentables. according to brewmate and an estimated 22L brew i get a 84% efficiency into the fermenter. big difference from the 65% on the first one but the reasons for the big difference is explained above.
the 2 batches were done 1 week apart so i need to get collecting/drinking as i only have ~45 330ml stubbies and 16 longnecks.
i'm looking forward to trying these brews, but i'll have to wait patiently. bought a case of JSGA which should help with bottles and keep me amused when i dont feel like my homebrews from my kit&bits days.
would be interested in any comments people have, otherwise just some more information for people and encouragement for people to try biab, as it is a very pleasant experience and much more enjoyable than doing kits.
i decided to do a apa for the first one as it seems to be a style that is hard to get too wrong. i'm someone who cant follow a recipe and has to make one up myself. i picked up some maris otter, medium crystal and some wheat grain. for the hops i grabbed some chinook and some willamette. i developed a recipe with brewmate after having a look a number of other recipes.
the apa recipe was
American Pale Ale
Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Total Grain (kg): 5.180
Total Hops (g): 55.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.052
Colour (SRM): 9.1
Bitterness (IBU): 34.1
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 74
Boil Time (Minutes): 60
Grain Bill
----------------
4 kg Maris Otter Malt (77.22%)
0.4 kg Flaked Rice (7.72%)
0.28 kg Crystal 60 (5.41%)
0.5 kg Wheat Malt (9.65%)
Hop Bill
----------------
10 g Chinook Pellet (11.3% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/l)
10 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/l)
10 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/l)
10 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 20 Minutes (Boil) (0.4 g/l)
5 g Chinook Pellet (11.3% Alpha) @ 30 Minutes (Boil) (0.2 g/l)
5 g Chinook Pellet (11.3% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Dry Hop) (0.2 g/l)
5 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Dry Hop) (0.2 g/l)
Single step Infusion at 66C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 18c with Safale US-05
Recipe Generated with BrewMate
i was pretty reserved with the hop additions, especially the chinook as i read that it could be quite harsh (after reading deeper it seemed that the harshness often comes from the bittering additions as opposed to the late additions).
the recipe there says 23L but i probably only got around 19-20. this would make the efficiency only around 65%. i accidentally tore a smallish hole in the biab bag and it seemed to have a lot of trub down the bottom of the boiler. the hole tore when i was using a big SS bowl with some holes drilled in it (used for other purposes) as a colander over the urn. the holes were rough and caught the bag when squeezing the liquor out. the hole didnt seem to let too much grain bits out, but i think alot of floury/smaller particles from the grains came through that wouldnt otherwise. i left alot of truby liquid down the bottom of the boiler and again in the cube before putting it into the fermenter reducing the yield of the batch.
aside from reduced volume of usable wort i was happy with the process. it has since fermented down to 1011 in 8 days at ~21* before i racked it into the secondary where it has been for a couple days now.
the recipe shown above doesnt have the hop scheduele quite right. it is partially adjusted for NC in a cube. the 60mins was actually 60 mins, the 30 was around 20 mins (added 10 to compensate for nc) the 20 min additions were in the cube with the hot wort. the dry hops were put in 2-3 days after pitching the yeast.
brew #2
before racking the apa described above i thought it would be a good idea to make a batch of beer and pitch it straight onto the yeast cake from the above beer. i decided against doing that while the brew was in the cube as i didnt want to have any first time mashing errors to carry over to my second ag brew, so i picked up another pack of us05.
i was tossing up between something along the lines of a toohies old or some type of american brown ale. i also had a spare toohies special draught kit that i picked up to do a toucan with when it was on special that i decided i would throw in. so this brew is not an all grain brew as there is 1.7kg of hopped LME in there. but the rest is grain.
here is the second recipe.
Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 22.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.400
Total Hops (g): 80.50
Original Gravity (OG): 1.056
Colour (SRM): 23.4
Bitterness (IBU): 35.4
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 85
Boil Time (Minutes): 60
Grain Bill
----------------
1 kg Maris Otter Malt (22.73%)
0.3 kg Chocolate (6.82%)
0.4 kg Crystal 60 (9.09%)
1 kg Pale Ale Malt (22.73%)
1.7 kg Liquid Malt Extract - Light (38.64%)
Hop Bill
----------------
25.5 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes (Boil) (1.2 g/l)
15 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 45 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/l)
15 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.7 g/l)
15 g Willamette Pellet (4.9% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Dry Hop) (0.7 g/l)
10 g Chinook Pellet (11.3% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes (Boil) (0.5 g/l)
Single step Infusion at 66C for 60 Minutes.
Fermented at 18c with
Recipe Generated with BrewMate
the 1.7kg of the LME was the can of toohies special draught. the kit goop was put in the wort once i removed the spent grains and boiled for 45-60 mins to get a full boil time and allow the hop flavour if there is any to evaporate and just leave the bitterness from the kit so i can have a fresh start when it comes to hop flavour.
as you can imagine the hops were leftover from the apa, but willamette should be at home in an american brown and a bit of chinook should (according to my inexperienced understanding of beer recipe development) give it a more complex flavour and a bit if an edge. the 25.5g of willamette @60 was accounting for the bittering level in the can of goop. i boiled for 45-60mins but only started adding the hops at 30 mins (says 45 to account for NC). the 15 minutes additions of chinook and willamette were put into the cube with the hot wort. i havent added the dry hops yet.
200g of the marris otter i tried roasting it in the oven. it was already cracked but i thought i'd see how it turned out anyway. put the oven to roughly 150* and had the grains in there on a porcelain tray. it started to smell roasty and were darkened a bit after an estimated 25 mins. was just checking on it every once in a while so i dont know how long it was actually in there for. looking back i would have liked to have recorded how long it was in for, but considering i have never made a similar batch of beer i will have no idea what difference it made. the smell was nice though.
comparing the 2 batches. the dark ale had much less sediment (half the grain, 1/2 the hops in boiler, no hole in the voile but all the grain went into the blender for a bit before going into the bag). i only left around 0.5L in the boiler as opposed to ~3L in the apa. the dark ale is fermenting a bit lower at 18* as oppsed to 21*(colder week so under the house has cooled down a little bit).
the dark ale got much better efficiency. i measured a gravity of 1030 before the tin went in. and before the liquid was boiled down (but i did top up the boiler a bit with bucket sparge water). i did a mash out as well with the dark ale, the grains went into a blender before going into the bag and there was also alot more water per amount of grain as the grain only accounted for roughly half of the fermentables. according to brewmate and an estimated 22L brew i get a 84% efficiency into the fermenter. big difference from the 65% on the first one but the reasons for the big difference is explained above.
the 2 batches were done 1 week apart so i need to get collecting/drinking as i only have ~45 330ml stubbies and 16 longnecks.
i'm looking forward to trying these brews, but i'll have to wait patiently. bought a case of JSGA which should help with bottles and keep me amused when i dont feel like my homebrews from my kit&bits days.
would be interested in any comments people have, otherwise just some more information for people and encouragement for people to try biab, as it is a very pleasant experience and much more enjoyable than doing kits.
