First Ag- The Aftermath

[Newbiebrewer]

Hi,

Got my first ag bubbling away but I have a few questions that I need to ask,

1.The wort I ran off into my cube was significantly less than 23L (about 15L), beersmith tells me to start my boil at 27L but according to what I got I should start at 31L. Is this large loss of water common with crown urns, if not should I go with the boil size that beersmith throws out?

2. When I added the yeast, the wort might have been a little warmer then what it should have been ( about 30 degrees), with us-05 will this high pitch temp cause any bad flavours?

Edit: another question I forgot

3. When I was transferring from cube to fermenter I don't think it got sufficient aeration, will this effect the brew?

Thanks in advance.

 

[manticle]

Boil off is system dependent. I lose roughly 10-12 litres to evaporation and trub loss per brew. You just need to calculate what your losses are and put those into your software program. I don't use beersmith but I'm pretty sure it can't predict your losses without some help from you.

 

[np1962]

You need to set beersmith up for your equipment.
I start with 31L preboil to get 22L into the fermenter.
Work out your trub losses and evaporation for your system and set it up in the program.
Personally I have my boil off set to 15% per hour but yours may be totally different depending on boil vigour, kettle shape and size and a number of other variables.
Nige

 

[drew9242]

If you go to your equipment shortcut on the left. You can then setup what your system runs. For example if you can remember how much trub was in your boiler after cubing. Well you enter that amount in the box next to "Loss to Boil Trub and Chiller" (i have mine set to 3L but everyones system is different).

Next you need to work out how much beer you lost to evaporation. If for example you lost 3L to trub in your brew then we take 15L from 24L to get your evaporation which works out to 28%. Which is a bit too high, for me i have mine set at 13% and loose about 3.5L to 4L. Just remeber to set your boil time right when working this out.

Once you have set this up to your system you should start getting consitent results i the cube.

 

[Banshee]

3. When I was transferring from cube to fermenter I don't think it got sufficient aeration, will this effect the brew?

Thanks in advance.

Dried yeast? Aeration not as essential unlike live culture.

 

[Newbiebrewer]

wow ok I'll give it a try at 31L , if I get excess I might cut it down to 27L.

 

[Newbiebrewer]

Dried yeast? Aeration not as essential unlike live culture.

yeah dried

Drew: I just drained the lot into the cube mainly cause the trub got stirred up, but next time I'll pay closer attention.

 

[drew9242]

Wow are you sure you got your measurments right preboil. going from 27L to 15L is a huge evaporation. If you wanted 23L you would need to top up too 35L.

 

[kelbygreen]

how long was the boil?

 

[manticle]

Wow are you sure you got your measurments right preboil. going from 27L to 15L is a huge evaporation. If you wanted 23L you would need to top up too 35L.

Not that big a leap. I get consistently ~23 L from 34 L preboil. Obviously includes trub loss as well as evaporation

 

[matr]

Just tested mine for the first time today. 60min boil.

26L in, 18L out with about 2L left in the kettle. (All approximates)

I'm glad I did it otherwise I would have ended up a couple of litres short for my first BIAB.

 

[Scruffy]

Brissie winter at my house; ~23% evap over 90 minutes
Brissie summer at my house; ~12% evap over 90 minutes (same pot)
Wouldn't get too concerned hitting figures quoted in say, American journals or what your great uncle Stan used to get during the war... work out what's actually happening at your house, if you buy 6kg of grain, mash then boil for err, whatever; what's the actual brewhouse efficiency (how much extract you have in the fermenter at the end of brewing)...
Yeasting; Keep the temp as close to recommended, but don't fret if you start it a bit warm - too warm, it'll die, keep it above temp and won't taste like you thought it might...
I think one can get a bit carried away at times - start with the basics - a well planned recipe... clean stuff... consistent temps and conditions, most of the time you'll get close, and produce a magical beverage...
...when you start fannying around with water chemistry and pH, then you might justify a certain paranoia... just enjoy your brewing!

BTW, when you get 15 litres into the fermenter, what's the gravity? is it as expected?

 

[malbur]

I use a 45 litre urn, with a 3600w element. i set my evap rate at 16% works out spot on for me

 

[Kieren]

Dried yeast? Aeration not as essential unlike live culture.

Why so? You are still need good oxygention for yeast growth. Even if you pitch enough dried yeast that there will be enough for it to complete fermentation it won't produce the same esters, phenols and other desirable compounds that it would during the growth phase.

 

[DJR]

Why so? You are still need good oxygention for yeast growth. Even if you pitch enough dried yeast that there will be enough for it to complete fermentation it won't produce the same esters, phenols and other desirable compounds that it would during the growth phase.

Dried yeast has a lot more trehalose and sterols as part of its makeup - part of the drying process (suspended animation, almost). Once it gets going that means it doesn't need as much dissolved oxygen (DO) as a live culture that needs it for its growth phase.

You need some DO but not *that* much

 

[razz]

Kieren, apparently there is plenty of stored O2 in the yeast from the drying process. For a website try fermentis.

 

[Bribie G]

With my new Crown Urn I was getting unreliable final volumes compared to my Birko because it's taller and thinner, so different boil offs.

I've marked my sight tube at 33L initial strike liquor, which has ended up perfect for a 60 min rolling boil with a 5.5k grain bill, so for other sized grain bills I can now make slight adjustments up and down and getting good results. Also if you consistently use a good kettle floccing agent this helps to get as much clear wort out as possible. Also cover urn with a clean towel and give it twenty mins to settle out at end of boil to get maximum clear wort out.

 

[MarkBastard]

In my crown I start with 30L of strike water for a typical 4.75kg grain bill and aim to have 20 litres into the fermenter.

So that's 10L loss to grain, trub/deadspace, and boil off. I reckon the boil-off part is about 6 litres.

 

[Newbiebrewer]

Wow are you sure you got your measurments right preboil. going from 27L to 15L is a huge evaporation. If you wanted 23L you would need to top up too 35L.

Nah started at 23L went to 15L. It was a 90 min boil

Scruffy: I didn't check the wort before I topped it up with boiled rainwater, when I did measure the SG was within 3 units of what the recipe stated.

With the trub is it vital to remove it or is it alright to throw in the fermenter?

 

[drtomc]

BIAB/NC folks (like me) end up with a substantial amount of break and/or hop material in the fermenter without any dramas. I always rack off it once fermentation has subsided.

T.