First 30 Buck Biab

[aroo75]

Hey all

I've been sniffing around these forums for sometime and on Sunday did my first AG BIAB following
NickJD's 30$ AG method. For the last year or so I've attempted Coopers Kits then later go onto hop/grain
additions. BIAB with the 20 litre pot was next on the list and I dont mind making the smaller
9 litre batches between kit production.


I managed to source these grains for the recipe, perhaps its along the lines of a Pale Ale
with coopers bottle yeast...

9ltr Pale Ale
Grains
2.0kg Pale Ale Malt
.100kg Carapils
0.05kg Light Crystal Malt

10g POR @ 30mins
10g Casade @ 20mins
(Not sure on the IBU, brew mate says 28.8. See how taste out of the bottle)

The grain went into the coffee grinder and chopped it as seen in Nick's thread.
The 10 Litres of water on the hotplate got to 72C in about 20min while I chopped grains.
No massive doughball as I might of thought. After 60min mash, removed towels, lid,
and temp reads 68C. ?? hmm - I have no baseline for this yet - does high temp
mash = malter/sweeter wort??

Ok so I take my dodgy hydro (its out by 4/5 points) and reading 1025(+4) ~1029 @~65C.
Which I thought at this point I had just made a weak beer. I rushed over to
computer and plugged the numbers into beer math and was starting to seem much better
1048....

I did some sort of sparging into a green bucket (hey $1 from k-fart) and combined
back into pot and then boil-on.

With hops additions done, I cooled the pot with frozen 1ltr bottles, which took forever -
around 1 1/2 hr. Must get more bottles for future chills.


Topped up pot with another 1ltr or so of water and poured into fermenter,
took OG and gave me 1044. Added the recultured coopers yeast,
pitching temps around 23C (couldn't wait any longer as was heading out).

Fermenter is chilling in 50ltr can cooler with frozen bottles and is about
18C. And since sunday night the fermentation was very active with the coopers yeast.
So much so that the krausen is clearing down now a bit after a day n'half ? I hope the
yeast hasn't stopped out yet. I suspect I'll have to take a FG reading tonight and
throw a spare coopers yeast pack at it if FG still too high...

I wanted to keep this coopers yeast from the bottle for next time. If I cover it
with a packet of the coopers kit yeast it won't be the same - doh!

Anywho I'm just writing out my experience - it wasn't that hard todo, maybe lots of
school boy errors it the process. As a first attempt I'm not aiming for a great
recipe or flavour packed beer, just try'n to keep evryting lined up for next one.

Thanks Guys

Andrew

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

Good work mate.

The higher mash temp might give you a bit more body and a higher fg. I doubt it will be sweet. Chilling time sounds about normal. It used to take an hour or so for me when I used the laundry sink method. i wouldn't panic and add more yeast. Give it a few days and check the gravity. Did you boil for an hour?

I reckon you'll be chucking out the kits when you taste this. Brew on!!

 

[brucearnold]

Andrew,

You have beer. Always a good first step.

Just a few observations from what I have read:

1. Mash Temp may be a little too high. Mashing above 68 will give you a lot of unfermentable sugars (meaning higher FG and sweeter taste) so consider this if yeast activity has stopped and the FG is high.
2. You say that the beer is fermenting in a can cooler with frozen bottles about it, does this mean the temperature is still coming down? If this is the case then this also may explain why the yeast is slowing down. Ideally you want the yeast to be constant around 20deg. (Fluctuations are bad as you probably know).
3. You mention the use of buckets, ice bottles, and water additions. I hope you have followed an appropriate sanitization process otherwise you may have inadvertently infected your beer. Anything that comes in contact with the wort, most importantly after the boil, needs to be sterilized and/or sanitized.

Bruce

 

[jakethesnake559]

Hey Andy,

Awesome work mate!!
I've done a few BIAB's and am now finding myself constantly planning my next brew...which is slightly disturbing my girlfriend !!

Started with mini-BIAB 10L batches, but moved up to 20L batches with a couple of bucket sparges on my last one (only have a 24L stockpot).
Kind of seemed like a lot of work for only 10L...which doesn't last that long around here!!

Instead of more frozen bottles, you could try no-chill into a 10L cube.
This works well for me as I can't fit the pot into a sink to cool it.
And then you can pitch the yeast a couple of days later if you're in a rush or something.

If you like the BIAB process, check out the BIABbrewer.info website - there's heaps of awesome stuff on there, and the guys are really helpful.

I reckon once you taste this brew, you may be done with kits and extract for a while :icon_cheers: !!!

Cheers, Jake.

 

[Nick JD]

Easy, huh?

Couple of things regarding your mash temp: did you use a "Strike Calculator"?

Another thing (this depends on your stove) is that when you hit your strike temp and turn the element off, the element is still really hot so the temp can keep rising by up to a few degrees before stabilising.

 

[ben_sa]

i noticed one mistake you made... Green bucket... Everyone knows your either a RED or BLUE user lol

But in seriousness, Looks good mate! Welcome to AG! Youll never look back

 

[aroo75]

Thanks Chaps

I'm usually good with sanitizing all equipment e.g. grain/hop bags, spoons, bowls all get cleaned then washed with boiled
water. And I'm aware after the boil to keep spoons and thermometers extra sanitised.

I try and keep the ferment at 18C and my method has worked (thus far on kits). Though this is the first time
I've used recultured coopers yeast. Have been able to keep US-05 at 15-16 deg. Not gonna do lager yeast this
way - so know my limits.

If I haven't fluffed this one up, and the beer tastes as you all say is far better, then
happy days!

I'm interested in Pale Ales and fake lager type recipes (I'm thinking bribies partial
with Pilnser Malt/Canadian kit comes to mind). Coopers Draft kit has been a favourite
and I wonder how that is spelt out with a grain recipe. Hence the fun times ahead creating
AG recipes.

I'll probably be doin the 20ltr batches, for now experience at this level and
not bastardising a beer is the goal.

Cheers

Andrew

 

[aroo75]

Easy, huh?

Couple of things regarding your mash temp: did you use a "Strike Calculator"?

Another thing (this depends on your stove) is that when you hit your strike temp and turn the element off, the element is still really hot so the temp can keep rising by up to a few degrees before stabilising.

Thanks Nick

"Strike Wot?". No - I have the brew mate sheet in front of me that says Strike water temp: 72.6, and desired mash temp 67.
I wasn't too sure about its Strike water(L): 6.45, Grain Absrbtn(L/kg): 3.00, Total mash volume(L): 8.60 .

So I stuck to your method of 10 ltr in the pot, then added another litre(+ grainbag) from sparging in green bucket
and after the boil n hops boil had ~ over 8 litres, and topped up to 9.5ltrs in the fermenter.

I did take the pot from the stove and rested on a thick mat type thingy for pots and wrapped all in
towels. So strike temp at 72C - even when I added the grains in, temp reading 72C, without spending too much time
thinking this is right or wrong, mashed with masher and shut lid and towels on.

60mins later - opened up and temp 68C. Is that good or bad ? This is all new to me.
I may need to strike at 71C next time and see what happens. And read more about this bit too...

 

[Nick JD]

So strike temp at 72C - even when I added the grains in, temp reading 72C, without spending too much time
thinking this is right or wrong, mashed with masher and shut lid and towels on.

Something's not right. If your strike temp was 72C and you added your grain, and it was still 72C, then your grain must have been 72C.

 

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

Something's not right. If your strike temp was 72C and you added your grain, and it was still 72C, then your grain must have been 72C.

I have a similair prob. 33L of 65Deg water, when i add my grain and stir the crap out of it as i go the temp usually only drops by 1 or 2 degrees. Thermometer works good too.

 

[aroo75]

Something's not right. If your strike temp was 72C and you added your grain, and it was still 72C, then your grain must have been 72C.

I have a feeling I may have done something dumb like just taking the first reading as grains went in and
not getting better reading after potato mashing the grains abit. Or my (barista style) thermometer couldn't
reach well down into the pot. Couple of suspects to check out/watchout next brew.

 

[brucearnold]

I have a similair prob. 33L of 65Deg water, when i add my grain and stir the crap out of it as i go the temp usually only drops by 1 or 2 degrees. Thermometer works good too.

I would suggest that the vessel is holding a lot more heat in the walls that is still being transferred to the water, so whilst you think the Strike Water is 65deg it will actually get a lot higher by the time the water temp is the same as the wall temp. Suggest that you let the water sit for a while before adding the grain so that it equalises first (will require stirring).
As grain is at room temperature, when added to hot water you should expect at least 5-10deg in temperature drop depending on the ratio.

 

[stux]

I have a similair prob. 33L of 65Deg water, when i add my grain and stir the crap out of it as i go the temp usually only drops by 1 or 2 degrees. Thermometer works good too.

Sounds normal.

With a normal infusion temp strike calculator you're adding hot water to grain in a cold esky. You're using a lot less water relative to the amount of grain, and the cold esky is going to take away from the strike water's temp too.

In BIAB, your pot is generally at strike temp, and you have twice the water of a normal infusion masher, so the grain only cools down the water a tiny bit.

Easiest thing to do is just add 2C to your mash temp and use that as your strike temp. Then you can always apply a bit of heat if you undershoot your mash temp.

I've attached a BIAB strike water temp calculator that I whipped up. Its amazingly accurate.

View attachment Strike_Temp.xls

 

[_HOME_BREW_WALLACE_]

Easiest thing to do is just add 2C to your mash temp and use that as your strike temp. Then you can always apply a bit of heat if you undershoot your mash temp.

I just usually add a couple of deg. to the strike temp.

And thanks for the attachment! I'll have a play with it later :icon_cheers:

 

[ben_sa]

Cheers for the calc Stux, I also generally add about 2.C to my mash temp for strike...

 

[brucearnold]

Easiest thing to do is just add 2C to your mash temp and use that as your strike temp. Then you can always apply a bit of heat if you undershoot your mash temp.

The easiest thing is to add more than 2C to your mash temp and use that as your strike temp. It is much easier to add cold water to a mash tun to reduce the temperature than to apply a bit of heat and overheat the grain on the bottom of the pot.

 

[aroo75]

Thanks Stux

This will help for sure.

Well the fermentation after two days is clearing . I took FG showing 1008 (brewMate said 1011).
Is that it - I hope so, tastes ok and will let it sit 3/4 days to try and clear up a bit and take another
FG in a couple of days. I'd like to thank all the folk who put up so much help with tutorials and such.
And who put up with newbie brewers.
Looking at next grains to purchase , and reading lotsa RecipeDB - rockin!

Andrew

 

[flano]

hey andy,

I cool my wort quickly by putting the pot into the laundry tub with cold water .
I fill the tub a couple of times over the first 30 mins - just to get rid of the water that heats up quickly.
Then I start to add ice to the water . (Ice cream containers full of water I have frozen).
I dont put the ice in straight away because it melts to quickly....onlyy after it has sat in a few tubs fo
I have fopund it cools down quite quickly this way .