First Ag, Biab + No Chill, Successfully Completed

[Charst]

I think that the great thing about AHB is that we can cut through received wisdom and focus on what really works.

problem is the shear quantity of things that really work around here, its really only limited by the number of members chipping in.

 

[lukiferj]

Nice one Oakers. Keep us updated with how the brew turns out.

 

[Oakers]

Update.

Wort has been fermenting for a week now. It went off pretty well in the first couple of days. Lots of airlock activity and good krausen. I just took a sample for an SG reading. It's down to 1.016 which is not as low as I thought it would be. It started off at 1.040 and predicted FG using S04 is 1.010. The wort I took looked pretty clear so it looks like a lot of the yeast has dropped out of suspension leading me to think it has finished. What do reckon guys? My current plan is to give it another couple of days making sure I get stable SG readings, then cold crashing for a few days before bottling. The sample tasted pretty good so it looks like it's going to be a pretty easy drinking session beer.

Cheers,
Oakers.

 

[thedragon]

What do reckon guys?

Oakers, give it a little while longer mate. There's no rush. See how it's looking on Saturday and if you've not hit your target fv for a few days in a row, wait a little longer. An extra few days in primary won't do any harm.

Cheers
Daniel

 

[Oakers]

Success!

Well after 5 days in the bottle I could wait no longer! LOL. Fermentation went well. It only got down to 1015 from starting gravity of 1040 so a pretty low ABV. I fermented for 8 days then cold crashed for 4 days. Bottled last friday. Now, on to the taste... obviously a bit green after only 5 days in the bottle but IMHO it tasted great. I guess it has come out as an ordinary bitter. It has a really nice sweet malty taste that is balanced by good bitterness. It is very easy drinking. As the recipe would suggest the hop flavour and aroma is subtle, just as it should be for this style of beer. The main difference I have noticed between my first AG and previous kit brews is how clean the malt flavour is. There is no 'twang' that i often detect in kit brews. I reckon in a couple of weeks it will be really good. I'll post another update then. I am feeling pretty pleased with myself right now...I can now count myself amongst the fabled AG crew! In all I reckon that all up - including brewing, cleaning and bottling - this brew took me about 8 hours. However, being my first AG brew, and also considering that I bottle I am sure I can improve on this. Anyway, for much of the time in brewing I was able to do other chores around the house, and I bottled in the kitchen of our open plan house while watching telly so it's not like I was working flat out for 8 hours. And besides brewing beer is fun. Ok, off to plan my next recipe. Thanks again to the AHB community and those that have replied to my post.

Cheers,
Oakers.

 

[bignath]

 

[thedragon]

Glad to hear that you're enjoying enjoying your first AG Oakers. You won't look back. Enjoy the hobby mate!

 

[Oakers]

Final update.

Well I've now drunk about half the bottles from this brew so I think I can now make a more objective assessment of the success of my first AG. It definitely is the best beer that I have brewed. It has a much nicer malt flavour than any kit beer I've done. However, it's not a perfect beer. It just isn't quite bitter enough to balance the maltiness. I've checked my recipe and it only comes out at 22 IBUs which is too low for the style - don't know what I was thinking.

Also, it is very slightly over carbonated. I'm guessing that in my eagerness to get it bottled I didn't quite leave it long enough in the fermenter, especially since I'd used S04. The over carbonation is quite easily fixed on pouring as I just leave it about 5 minutes or so before drinking which seems to allow the extra CO2 to come out of solution.

All in all, however, I'm very happy with my first AG...I'll just use the couple of mistakes I made to help me brew better beer next time.

Cheers,
Oakers.

 

[yum beer]

Final update.

Well I've now drunk about half the bottles from this brew so I think I can now make a more objective assessment of the success of my first AG. It definitely is the best beer that I have brewed. It has a much nicer malt flavour than any kit beer I've done. However, it's not a perfect beer. It just isn't quite bitter enough to balance the maltiness. I've checked my recipe and it only comes out at 22 IBUs which is too low for the style - don't know what I was thinking.

Also, it is very slightly over carbonated. I'm guessing that in my eagerness to get it bottled I didn't quite leave it long enough in the fermenter, especially since I'd used S04. The over carbonation is quite easily fixed on pouring as I just leave it about 5 minutes or so before drinking which seems to allow the extra CO2 to come out of solution.

All in all, however, I'm very happy with my first AG...I'll just use the couple of mistakes I made to help me brew better beer next time.

Cheers,
Oakers.

How did you prime your bottles, maybe its just a case of a little too much priming in the bottle that you can adjust next batch.

 

[Oakers]

I used about 3g sugar per 500ml bottle so I wouldn't have thought that amount would lead to the slight over carbonation that I got. I was thinking that next time I use S04 I might give it a little wake up (a gentle swirl of the fermenter) towards the end of fermentation. I noticed that the yeast had well and truly flocced out after about 9 days.

 

[Rosskeen]

Given that it came Out slightly under gravity, im not sure that is the best approach. I think it's better in the long run to have an accurate understanding of your boil off rates and just adjust volumes accordingly.

Hi Im a newbe prevously extract brewing but bought a full mash kit by mistake and searched what do I do now. Came across BIAB and bought the only bag could find in the UK Yes sorry Im an outsider. Decided bag not as suggested so made one from voil type material two to three times size.
The kit is a Belgian Wheat beer and I will use a Burco 35 litre boiler No sparge system so will be no chill but plan no cube either ?
Why use a cube ? seems more risks of contamination and more hassle seems against simple BIAB principle ?
I think boiler 35 litre too small to add all the water I need so may put bag in bucket after mash and poor about 4 litres 78 deg ? or 66 deg ? water in bucket and dunk it for top up into boiler ? OK ?
It seems to me the wort and boiler will be hygenic after boil other than any cold air drawn in as it cools . It will cool quicker as steel rather than plastic so should reach pitching temperature quicker so less risk of contamination ? Plan to squirt some C02 in the boiler air space from beer keg cap with C02 innjector and put lid on and leave overnight. Quite cold here at night 4 degrees or so.
Transfer to brewing bucket by tap from boiler which should add suficient air ?
Yeast starter and bobs your uncle ?
Any advise on proposal please.
Regards
sorry if in wrong place first post

 

[Bribie G]

Hi Ross

Welcome to the Aussie Forum, Poms aplenty on here - I remember those Burco boilers from when I lived in the UK (not to be confused with the Australian Birko) and they are excellent robust units - a 40L would be good but as you say 35L is a bit "borderline" without either doing a sparge on the side or brewing a bit over gravity and diluting before fermenting.


However many an Aussie brewer uses the Birko 30L to do a full size brew and if you hunt around this forum you'll find a few threads.

The idea of no chilling in a cube is to sanitise the cube with the near boiling wort then lock it all away tight (a bit like jam or chutney making where the near boiling goo goes into the sanitised jar). Then you can store the wort away for as long as you want, next day or next month or next year. I have a cube of stout which just had its first birthday, I really should get round to fermenting it some day
However there is indeed a risk of picking up an infection and in my 4 year career I've lost 3 brews to cube infection so nowadays I pitch as quickly as possible, never more than a couple of days. I threw away the affected cubes so it was an expensive exercise.

On the other hand I've seen some plate and coil chillers that look like they've just been hijacked from an abbatoir <_< and I see few advantages in quick chill.

Chilling in the boiler is ok, many do it, as long as you seal it up well. The CO2 is a good idea if you can spare the gas. Perfect for the UK - you should get good rapid cooling, and coming onto the Winter now you could maybe just open the door for an hour :lol:
Splash and glug into the FV will give you good oxygenation.

There are a couple of other resources out there, Jims Beer Kit in the UK now have a BIAB section and there is BIAB Brewer which is dedicated BIAB forum. Where did you get your bag from? There's an Irish Guy eionmag on the forums - including this one - whose Mrs makes and sells bags. If you can track him down they are very good quality I'm told.

Happy Brewing

 

[Florian]

I have to admit I didn't read your whole post Oakers, but one bit of advice:

Don't tie the rope to the bag's draw string. Chances are good that it eventually separates from the bag and everything splashes back into the urn, leaving you with a mess and possibly some nice burns.

Just tie the rope to the bag itself, if your bag is long enough tie also a knot with your bag around the rope.

 

[Oakers]

Thanks. Good point about the drawstring. I hope to finally get around to putting on my next brew this weekend so i plan to incorporate all the tips i have been given, i.e. doing a mashout, using a timer to get my water up to temp while i sleep, waiting a bit longer till i whirlpool, etc. I'm also looking forward to using my Mashmaster mini mill for which i have just been fabricating a hopper.

 

[wbosher]

Nice post Oakers, sound like a nice drop. Just did my first BIAB last weekend, I pitched the yeast straight away. Just seemed easier to me.

This AG thing ain't so bad is it, looks like it will be a lot of fun. It's amazing how scary it seems when your doing kit brews. :lol:

 

[bignath]

This AG thing ain't so bad is it, looks like it will be a lot of fun. It's amazing how scary it seems when your doing kit brews. :lol:

and you know the really dumb thing?? if i ever went back to brewing with can's, i'd REALLY have to concentrate and read up a lot on the process and how to do the hop boils and all that recipe formulation stuff..

It's just what you're used to.

Once you've done a few ag's, you'll be formulating recipes in your head and they'll turn out crackers...