Is half my batch stuffed?

[Bridges]

Well did my first BIAB last night, learnt some lessons.
Start early! I started after tea so didn't have it cubed till midnight.

Boil less vigourously! Lost too much in the boil I know I can add water no drama but I'm worried I had too much air in my second cube. I was aiming for 20 litres and had two ten litre cubes ended up with about 17 litres so the second cube had a big air space even with some vigourous sqeezing. I'm worried the second cube may be stuffed.

Check temps better! I was aiming to mash at 65 Digital thermometer said 65. Turn off burner. Give it a stir, grain in, stir cover with jumpers blanket wait 90 minutes and even though it was damn cold outside when I checked it at 90 minutes it was at 68 degrees. It shouldn't be stuffed but I wouldn't of thought it'd keep ramping like that.

Major lesson was though. How good does brewing beer smell?!! Cracking grains smelt good, adding grain at mash in smelt great, lifting the lid at mash out smelt awesome. The boil and adding the hops had my mouth watering. Loved every step.

All in all a very enjoyable evening. Can't wait to go again, going to get it into the fermenter today and if you've struggled through my waffle to this point I suppose the question is. Should I add both cubes to the fermenter or just the one that was full?

Cheers

 

[RdeVjun]

Why would the wort in the second cube stuffed, what is the problem? It should be fine, cubing with some air space is OK, morseo considering that you are pitching straight away. If it is unsanitary then the cube will swell due to ferment gasses, however that generally takes several days or weeks while the infection takes time to establish. If you have a cube with some air space, ensure that the cube is turned several times while it is hot so that the heat sanitises all the interior surfaces. Rotating the cube whether it is full or not is good practice anyway.
If you're worried about Hot Side Aeration then just don't, its not really a problem at the home brewing scale.

 

[Truman42]

If you tipped your cubes upside down to sanitise the head space when the wort was hot then you should be okay, providing your pitching soon and not leaving it for a few weeks.

But you can always pitch your yeast directly to both cubes and ferment them seperately. Even try diferent yeasts in each cube to see how different the beer is when finished.

After mash in you should double check your temps again before covering your pot. residual heat in the bottom of the pot may have increased the temp slightly. If over just add some cool water to bring it back down to your mash temp.

 

[Bridges]

Thanks heaps for the reassurance guys.
I guess you could call it "first BIAB paranoia" After procuring the equipment and spenting a gazillion hours watching you tube and reading AHB and studying recipes I just don't want to balls it up.
I did tip the cubes around to sanitize all the inside surfaces and I plan to ferment ASAP There was about 4 litres of air in the second cube which had me worried.
Thanks again I'll let you know how it goes

 

[gordo_t]

Yeah you'll be fine. I no chill in the 25L cubes and always have 2 - 3 litres of space left (after sqeazing out as much as i can without going overboard), though I religiously pitch the very next morning. I leave the head space somewhat on purpose so that I can ferment directly into the no chill cube (without krausen spilling out).


As you're already doing, change the position of the cube to get the boiling hot liquid over every surface. (I use always star san before also, but from what i read this is really not necessary so long as the cube is nice and clean, just me being paranoid)

 

[super_simian]

Since going BIAB (+no chill) I've had 1 cube infection out of 30+ batches. And only because it was a new cube with a rubbish lid and I kept taking it off to try to get a seal happening! I kept that beer too; pitched Belle Saison (which should just about out compete and out attenuate anything) and it's a pretty good beer right now!

 

[Bridges]

Was all good out of the cubes, no infection, but tasted sweeter than kits before pitching. Probably due to high mash temp. Has gone from 1.044 to 1.014 (hydro reading last night) still seems sweet, may have to dry hop today to try to hide the sweetness in it a little more. First AG chalked up though and was ok from the fermenter. Happy days.

 

[QldKev]

The taste will change once all the yeast drops out. You could try pull half a glass of beer and throw it in the fridge overnight and check it.

 

[Bridges]

Thanks QldKev. Awesome advice will definitely do this before dry hopping.