I am looking at purchasing a 30l beer me boiler for BIAB. As this has no temp control i am using my inkbird 308. I know i could get a digiboil 35 for the same job but as i am looking at between 15 and l8l using my fermenter king junior i feel this is a waste. My question is profile set up. I will determine the boil of rate by boiling water for 60 mins. As there is a space under the tap is this mash tun deadspace. Or should i use this as trub chiller loss as i no chill.
Hi all
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Hey Phil. Looking at the difference in prices on the two units I would buy the Digiboil every day of the week. Getting an extra 5lts capacity is a big plus also.
I'm not a no-chill BIAB brewer so only guessing on the second part of your post. If you no chill then all the contents of the finished boil will go into the cube? Please correct me if that 's not what you do?
I'm not a no-chill BIAB brewer so only guessing on the second part of your post. If you no chill then all the contents of the finished boil will go into the cube? Please correct me if that 's not what you do?
No matter what you buy, you will never regret the extra volume, if you decide to go to making bigger batches or even stronger beer the extra room will be handy. Ideally around 40L would be perfect for 23 batches.
BIAB doesn’t require a mash tun so you can ignore that and you should be leaving 5-10% in the bottom of the kettle at the end of the boil (worth measuring the volume under the tap) I would recommend closer to 10% for BIAB brewing as you tend to have a fair bit more trub than other systems. The Trub that stays in the bottom of the kettle should stay in the kettle and not be transferred to your no-chill cube. Leaving it in the kettle will make for better beer.
Your boil-off will be close to what you get by boiling water (a fraction less, but just a fraction)
So if you have a fair idea how much you are boiling off, how much goes out with the expended malt, how much stays in the kettle you should be able to work out exactly how much water you need to start with, from there you get your salt additions, pH adjustments, estimated grist requirements... Probably yhat you are calling your profile.
Worth noting that not all beers want to be mashed at 66oC.
I suspect something with a bit of room to grow and that comes with a settable temp controller would be a good call.
This from a brewer who has a 10L Braumeister at home, first brew, milled a bit extra grain (BM were right 2.8kg is the limit). Measure boil off and knockout... next brew hit all the numbers.
Mark
BIAB doesn’t require a mash tun so you can ignore that and you should be leaving 5-10% in the bottom of the kettle at the end of the boil (worth measuring the volume under the tap) I would recommend closer to 10% for BIAB brewing as you tend to have a fair bit more trub than other systems. The Trub that stays in the bottom of the kettle should stay in the kettle and not be transferred to your no-chill cube. Leaving it in the kettle will make for better beer.
Your boil-off will be close to what you get by boiling water (a fraction less, but just a fraction)
So if you have a fair idea how much you are boiling off, how much goes out with the expended malt, how much stays in the kettle you should be able to work out exactly how much water you need to start with, from there you get your salt additions, pH adjustments, estimated grist requirements... Probably yhat you are calling your profile.
Worth noting that not all beers want to be mashed at 66oC.
I suspect something with a bit of room to grow and that comes with a settable temp controller would be a good call.
This from a brewer who has a 10L Braumeister at home, first brew, milled a bit extra grain (BM were right 2.8kg is the limit). Measure boil off and knockout... next brew hit all the numbers.
Mark
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Honestly, you will kick yourself if you don’t get a decent sized unit.
When you want to do a big beer, with a high percentage of pils malt, suddenly 35l won’t look all that big.
Let’s say you’re brewing a 17l beer with 2l trub, a 5kg grain bill and a 90 min boil. (I get 3l/hr on my digiboil.) By my calculations that’s a starting volume of just under 30l.
That’s pretty much what I did recently for a 16.5l triple on my unit…
My advice: get one at least as big as the digiboil!
When you want to do a big beer, with a high percentage of pils malt, suddenly 35l won’t look all that big.
Let’s say you’re brewing a 17l beer with 2l trub, a 5kg grain bill and a 90 min boil. (I get 3l/hr on my digiboil.) By my calculations that’s a starting volume of just under 30l.
That’s pretty much what I did recently for a 16.5l triple on my unit…
My advice: get one at least as big as the digiboil!
Grmblz
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+1 ^^^ Listen to the wisdom.
Nothing worse than asking experts/old hands for advice then ignoring it, and later kicking yourself in the arse for not listening.
Nothing worse than asking experts/old hands for advice then ignoring it, and later kicking yourself in the arse for not listening.
Thanks for the advice. Have decided to go with the digiboil 35l. Guess i will now have to tune it in. Doing BIAB what sort of grain absorption rate should i be looking at. See some people say .6 others .8 and others different again if you squeeze the bag. Not a high ABV drinker and normally brew around mid 40 FG .
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Good call on the digiboil.
In answer to your question, my software (Brewfather) predicts 0.8l, and I just go with that.
For that gravity, it’ll be around 4kg of grain, so the difference between 0.6 and 0.8 is not much.
Don’t expect your numbers to be exact every time, there are lots of variables that will change things slightly (eg boil off will change depending on wind and humidity.) You can respond accordingly on the fly (add water, boil longer, etc).
In answer to your question, my software (Brewfather) predicts 0.8l, and I just go with that.
For that gravity, it’ll be around 4kg of grain, so the difference between 0.6 and 0.8 is not much.
Don’t expect your numbers to be exact every time, there are lots of variables that will change things slightly (eg boil off will change depending on wind and humidity.) You can respond accordingly on the fly (add water, boil longer, etc).
Have now purchased a digiboil 35i. I am using Brewfather app. I have measured the the space below the tap. It is just over a litre. Should I use this as trub losses. Being so close to the bottom will end up with trub in no chill cube. Guess I will have to use a strainer for the fermenter.
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Trub loss is what is left behind in your fermenter. What you are measuring below the tap is kettle dead space.
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In Brewfather, what’s left behind in the kettle is called trub.
Not sure if you are using a digiboil but have found out that the volume measurements are not to be taken as to what you have. I have put in a measured volume 20.36l and it is showing 19.5l. I guess it will be measured volumes from here on in.
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Hi Philred, yes, I use a digiboil.
From memory the markings are pretty much accurate. My preferred way of checking is to measure the height and radius the calculate. How do you check? You need to keep in mind that what you’re using to calibrate may not be all that accurate either.
The point I was trying to make above is not to get too hung up over precision. You will not be able to control every variable, which will impact on the efficiency and volumes.
But the good thing is that you can adjust on the fly. Didn’t quite hit your pre-boil gravity? Boil a bit longer or add dme. Too high a gravity? Add some water or boil for a shorter time.
Even pro brewers have a degree of batch-to-batch variation…
From memory the markings are pretty much accurate. My preferred way of checking is to measure the height and radius the calculate. How do you check? You need to keep in mind that what you’re using to calibrate may not be all that accurate either.
The point I was trying to make above is not to get too hung up over precision. You will not be able to control every variable, which will impact on the efficiency and volumes.
But the good thing is that you can adjust on the fly. Didn’t quite hit your pre-boil gravity? Boil a bit longer or add dme. Too high a gravity? Add some water or boil for a shorter time.
Even pro brewers have a degree of batch-to-batch variation…
I have a jug that is marked at 2lts. Iused this jug to fill my 15lt cube to 16l. Then i added the extra 4.36l using a pyrex jug with markings on the side. I have measured the diam of the boiler being 300mm. This being radius squ .150x.150x3.14x .270 which was the depth of water x 1000 to get litres giving me 19.07lts. They do say the measurements are +/-1l.
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