First BIAB recipe

[Nickedoff]

Hi all

I'm thinking about doing my first BIAB and the idea of doing a Vienna SMASH lager sounds good. Does this sound about right?

Grain - 100% Vienna (5kg)
Hops:

Perle - 60m 30g
Perle - 15m 15g
Perle - 5m 15g

No chill - looking for ~22l batch size. Got my urn boiling away at the moment to figure out losses.

67 deg strike for 65 deg mash temp and 10m mashout @ 78 deg?

BrewMate give me 36.8 IBU. Will probably use s-189.

Sound ok for a first run?

 

[philrob]

Looks OK to me. Ferment cool, as it's a lager, and use 2 packs of yeast.

I've never used Perle hops, so I'm not sure they fit the profile, but others could jump in here.

 

[Nickedoff]

I was thinking saaz as an alternative with roughly double the quantities as it seems far less bitter.

 

[butisitart]

Looks OK to me. Ferment cool, as it's a lager, and use 2 packs of yeast.

I've never used Perle hops, so I'm not sure they fit the profile, but others could jump in here.

used perle (and santium) in quite a few german styles, both very nice

 

[Nickedoff]

Thanks guys.

I'm trying to work out strike water. I filled up my urn with 35 litres of water, brought it to the boil and then set my timer to see how much evaporated in an hour, which was ~3l. Say 3.5 to be safe.

So if I'm looking at a 23l batch size with a 5kg grain bill , I add 3 litres to account for boil loss + ~5 litres to account for grain absorption - so I should start with ~31 litres of strike water?

 

[kadmium]

That sounds right for a full volume BIAB mate. But also, you need to account for deadspace (or what you can't recover from underneath the tap in the kettle) and loss to trub. So, you will lose roughly 1.5L to trub / break material and deadspace no idea. But that needs to be added in, which would be around 32ish

 

[Nickedoff]

Thanks mate.

 

[davemac]

First time use less water than you calculate and dilute to get the correct pre-boil volume - dial in your losses for future brews or just carry on liquoring-back

 

[Hangover68]

Hi all

I'm thinking about doing my first BIAB and the idea of doing a Vienna SMASH lager sounds good. Does this sound about right?

Grain - 100% Vienna (5kg)
Hops:

Perle - 60m 30g
Perle - 15m 15g
Perle - 5m 15g

No chill - looking for ~22l batch size. Got my urn boiling away at the moment to figure out losses.

67 deg strike for 65 deg mash temp and 10m mashout @ 78 deg?

BrewMate give me 36.8 IBU. Will probably use s-189.

Sound ok for a first run?

I did a pilsner a few weeks ago using S-189, 1 pack is enough for 23ltrs.

 

[philrob]

I did a pilsner a few weeks ago using S-189, 1 pack is enough for 23ltrs.

Really? I believe the conventional wisdom for lagers is that 2 packs of dry yeast is what is needed as a minimum.
I don't use dry yeast, but even with liquid yeast I grow my smakpaks up to 4 to 5 times original volume of yeast to pitch into 25 litres, and I don't believe I'm overpitching.

 

[Hangover68]

Really? I believe the conventional wisdom for lagers is that 2 packs of dry yeast is what is needed as a minimum.
I don't use dry yeast, but even with liquid yeast I grow my smakpaks up to 4 to 5 times original volume of yeast to pitch into 25 litres, and I don't believe I'm overpitching.

34/70 say it does up to 11 litres i think, S189 says 1 pack for 20-30ltrs - 1 works well.

 

[philrob]

I don't care what it says. I read the packet information, but I still think it is underpitching.
Anyways, not for me to tell you what to do or how to brew.

 

[kadmium]

34/70 say it does up to 11 litres i think, S189 says 1 pack for 20-30ltrs - 1 works well.

And wyeast claim their smack packs will do 23L up to 1.050 yet almost everyone makes a starter and quadruples what's in there.

Lagers need around 1.5million per ml, or 1.5B per litre, with a standard 23L requiring 23x1.5 or 345B cells. Dry yeast contains on average 20B viable cells per gram so an 11.5g packet has 11.5x20 or 230 which is enough for an ale but falls 115B cells short.

Yeast don't like to reproduce in cold, and as such by fermenting at lager temps you will just increase sulphur and other potential off characters.

I wouldn't go on what the packet states, I would go from a yeast calculator.

 

[Hangover68]

So the info on the pack is just for laughs ?, the pils i'm drinking now was OG 1.054, FG 1.014 fermented at 12c, pitched at 18c.
I'm happy with the result.

 

[kadmium]

So the info on the pack is just for laughs ?, the pils i'm drinking now was OG 1.054, FG 1.014 fermented at 12c, pitched at 18c.
I'm happy with the result.

No, the pack is for the minimum. If you're happy to brew at the minimum required, go for it. But it's not something I would be telling new brewers to do. In my opinion, it's about best practice.

If you want to underpitch your lager and you like the taste, go for it. You are brewing for yourself.

 

[Nickedoff]

I've been busy making a dual coil immersion chiller (great fun, but I suck at copper soldering), so I haven't got around to actually doing this yet.

Quick question about yeast nutrient - is it really necessary to make a slurry, or can I just chuck it into the boil in the last 15 minutes or so?

 

[kadmium]

I've been busy making a dual coil immersion chiller (great fun, but I suck at copper soldering), so I haven't got around to actually doing this yet.

Quick question about yeast nutrient - is it really necessary to make a slurry, or can I just chuck it into the boil in the last 15 minutes or so?

I just throw the nutrients and the whirlfloc straight into the boil but that's me.

 

[Nickedoff]

I just throw the nutrients and the whirlfloc straight into the boil but that's me.

Thanks mate.

 

[Paddy]

I have done the same as Mr H68 and had very good results with German style pils, pressure ferment 1x S189 at 12c/15psi, rest at 22c/18psi cold crash to 2C/12psi taste test and lager for as long as I can resist - I am weak!

 

[MHB]

Perle is more properly named Hallertau Perle, along with a couple of other hops like Hallertau Magnum, Hallertau Tradition... a lot of people forget the Hallertau part.
The famous (most wanted hop in the world) Hallertau Hallater Mittelfrüh is very susceptible to wilt and a bunch of other hop diseases and pests, there is a long and ongoing breading program to develop more resilient, better yielding hops that keep the elegance of the old Mittelfrüh. None of them are quite as balanced as Mittelfrüh but are all very fine hops.
Hallertau Magnum is my main bittering hop, but Perle is a fine all-round general purpose hop and will work very well in the Vienna above, or in most other Lager styles.
Mark