First Biab Underway But Have Some Questions

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Deebo

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First Question:
The water temp after I put they grain in was 66.7, 20 minutes later it is 65.4 (I have wrapped the urn in a doona and a jacket).
Is this something to worry about? I have probably a bit of space on the top I could pour some boiling water into and stir?
I am mashing for 90 minutes, and was aiming for 66c mash temp for recipe (a lager).

Second Question:
With the 0 minute hop addition, how long after I add this do I pull the hop bag out? (Or should I just throw the 0 minute addition into the no chill cube?)
OR do I leave it for 20 mins for convection currents to stop then pull the bag out and whirlpool?
 
The temperatures that you have quoted are fine :) A drop of 1.3 deg C is perfectly reasonable. Just leave it as is and enjoy the smells of that sweet, sweet grain.

For my 0 minute adds of hops, I generally throw them in, then turn off the stove, and just leave them until I am ready to chill. You could just as easily throw them into the no-chill cube...or dry hop with them later. It's up to you, but 0 minute adds are simply for aroma, so as soon as those delicious green bad-boys are in and have been absorbed, they've done their job.

Good luck.
 
First Question:
The water temp after I put they grain in was 66.7, 20 minutes later it is 65.4 (I have wrapped the urn in a doona and a jacket).
Is this something to worry about? I have probably a bit of space on the top I could pour some boiling water into and stir?
I am mashing for 90 minutes, and was aiming for 66c mash temp for recipe (a lager).

Second Question:
With the 0 minute hop addition, how long after I add this do I pull the hop bag out? (Or should I just throw the 0 minute addition into the no chill cube?)
OR do I leave it for 20 mins for convection currents to stop then pull the bag out and whirlpool?

Don't worry about the temperature drop. Most Saccharification takes place in the first 20 minutes anyway...

Personally I would add the 0 minute addition in the cube, but keep in mind as this will be exposed to hot wort for a while it will give some bitterness. I adjust this to be a 10 minute addition in beersmith. You can always dry hop or if you want a true 0 minute addition search for the "french press" method
 
I wouldn't add any more water if you want to raise the temp back up as this will screw up your other calculations (volume, ibu's, abv etc..). Why not just raise the bag a bit and stir the mash while turning the heat back on for a bit? That's what i'd do.

I am a 3V brewer not BIAB, but in my setup, i don't lose anywhere near that much temp over the course of my mash.

It's only a small thing (and it obviously depends on how precise you want to be) but if i could raise the temp of mash after losing 1.3deg in 20mins i certainly would. Longer mashes i've found lose heat faster toward the last half hour or so of the mash.

A typical mash for me (in a cooler) is 66deg for 60min, but on the rare times when i've had to leave the mash longer to do something else, i've come back after say, 75 or 80mins and lost a bit of temp there. Whereas with a strictly 60min mash i maybe lose half a degree total, sometimes no loss whatsoever.
Losing 1.3 degrees over the duration of the mash would be nothing to worry about at all, but i'd be a little concerned after losing that after 20mins...

I would suggest that if you don't add more heat, you might end up losing closer to maybe 4 or 5 degrees over the 90min with your current setup - these are guesses though.

Make sure the grain bag is clear of the element before heating it back up though.

best of luck mate, and enjoy the resulting beer, which will (either way) be excellent im sure.

Nath
 
Don't worry about the temperature drop. Most Saccharification takes place in the first 20 minutes anyway...

Personally I would add the 0 minute addition in the cube, but keep in mind as this will be exposed to hot wort for a while it will give some bitterness. I adjust this to be a 10 minute addition in beersmith. You can always dry hop or if you want a true 0 minute addition search for the "french press" method

Looks like I may need to slightly change my hop additions then. I originally planned for
15g nelson sauvin 30
10g nelson sauvin 15
15g nelson sauvin 0

If I am no chilling maybe I should just do 15g at 15 min and 15g at 0 then 15g french press into fermenter once cool.
 
Well a few stuffups but going ok so far...

Pulley and tying off didnt work so good, rope was a bit stretchy and couldn't really get it high enough to tie off, just held it until it mostly drained then chucked it on top of a collander in bucket and gave it a squeeze.

Then I topped up the water a bit too much and ended up with 34l instead of about 30L so am boiling it for a bit longer to evaporate down the 30l then start 90 min boil timer. Ebay refractometer was reading about 10 brix.

Smells really nice! Cat seems to be hanging around sniffing the air a lot too.
 

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