First Biab - Some Questions

[Filby]

Hi,

I completed my first BIAB on Thursday and got it into the fermenter and pitched the yeast (US05) at around 1pm. The OG was 1.050. The actual brew went quite well and I didnt have too many dramas except I underestimated the required amount of starting water (33lts) and ended up with only 18lts in the fermenter.Should have gone with 38lts.
Anyway, this morning the fermenter was all quiet so I took a sample and it was at 1.012. Tasted the beer and it has a bitter zing on the toungue.

So, the fermentation was very quick at less than 3 days! Is this normal? I still need to dry hop today, will the bitterness mellow over the maturing phase in the keg?

Cheers

Fil

 

[manticle]

3 day ferment is quick but hard to say without knowing what the brew was (particularly the yeast**, yeast amount and fermentation temperature). Also difficult to say as while most of my beers finish at 1012 or thereabouts, yours may still have a few points to drop (again knowing yeast type will help). What do you mean 'fermenter was quiet'?

Hop bitterness will round out/integrate with time, carbonation will alter perception too.

Even if it's finished fermenting, I'd give it some maturation time before kegging.

**Just re-read and saw it was US05. Stupid non reading brain - apologies.

Ferment temp is still relevant. My US05 brews take longer.

 

[dcx3]

In nicks BIAB guide he says in there somewhere he's had them finished in 48 hours for his 10-11 ltr ones so 3 days seems possible.

 

[seemax]

How did you go from 33L to 18L ?

Should only lose 3L max (~5kg grist) from grain absorption... so that's 30L, then worse case 12% evap down to 27L, then even with 3L lost to trub... you're still at 24L ?

 

[Filby]

Thanks for the replies. The recipe for the brew was the Little Fellas Pale Ale
Fermentation temp was 20deg all the way through on US05 yeast. I dont have a fermentation fridge (yet).

So 33lts went to 29lts before boil, then after boil it was down to 23lts (21% evap). I was dumping 4.4kw of heat into the boiler which may explain the large evap. Then a couple of littres left in the bottom of the boiler and a couple left in the bottom of the cube because there was quite a lot of break. So I ended up around 18-19lts in the fermenter.

As far as quiet, I mean the air lock had stopped bubbling. I realise this doesnt mean its finished fermenting but I was surprised to see the SG so low in such a short time. I just dry hopped 10mins go so will leave it got for another couple of days to make sure it is finished and also get some aroma into the beer.


Fil

 

[Chookers]

so can you do all grain beer using BIAB or only partials.

 

[felten]

both. It's just another method to mash your grains like all the others. The major difference is you remove the grain from the wort via the bag; instead of the wort from the grain like in a traditional multi vessel setup.

 

[bcp]

You must have a particularly vigorous boil, as 33 litres is about right for me to get 23-24 litres with my urn.

I've started to empty most of the urn into my cube, and use a kitchen sieve to strain out the break. It works like a charm - just a little solid matter for the compost. I guess the cost savings of a few litres of wort isn't huge, but no-one's pointed out anything wrong with this yet, so there's a few litres extra beer for the taking.

so can you do all grain beer using BIAB or only partials.

It's an all grain method. After I did my 3 original cooper's kits I went straight into BIAB all grain and am satisfied so probably won't bother with other methods.

 

[Filby]

Oh another thing, i got 75% efficiency out of the kettle. Is this about right?

 

[Chookers]

wow.. B)

so does it have to be in a heated vessel like an urn. or can you put it in an insulated container.. that will keep the temp for 1-2hrs.

 

[felten]

You need a container that is able to boil the wort after the grains are removed, So a stockpot (or an urn) or if you have a hand held element I guess you can use anything that's food grade.

Oh another thing, i got 75% efficiency out of the kettle. Is this about right?

That's in the ballpark, pretty good for a first attempt.

 

[Isuxius]

wow.. B)

so does it have to be in a heated vessel like an urn. or can you put it in an insulated container.. that will keep the temp for 1-2hrs.

You don't need to keep heating when you mash. You just need to lag (insulate) the urn/pot while mashing to prevent heat loss.

Got a few hours?
Have a read of this:
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=11694