just another 'first biab - suggestions?' thread

[perko8]

Hi everyone,
I've been extract brewing for a couple of years, but am going to have a crack at a small batch of all grain by the BIAB method.

I'm leaning to a 'session' IPA type thing with more complex hop bill as I've got a number of single hop pales in bottles already,
but am wondering if something like a SMaSH is recommended, keep it simple and not too hoppy, for a first go?

2.5kg Pale Ale malt is what I've got as the base malt of about a 9L batch, depending on efficiency.
Have some Crystal and Caramalt available too.

Hops on hand: Centennial, Citra, Galaxy, Ella

Any suggestions will be gladly taken on board.

Thanks!

 

[Reman]

A lot of recipes will use 95% base malt and 5% crystal malt of your choosing from light to dark.

If you can check your mash ph, it's probably worth it, or you can chuck a few percent of acid malt in to be on the safe side.

With an IPA, I would just do a 30min boil addition for half your IBUs and then either 10min or flameout addition for the rest.

Good luck!

 

[wereprawn]

You could add 100 g of caramalt to your pale ale malt. Using centennial and citra to bitter to 30 ibu, with half of that bitterness added in the last 10 minutes . Mash at 64. 15 g centennial and 15 g citra dry hop. Nottingham or another reasonably highly attenuating yeast that's suitable .

I make variations of this during summer. Using Vienna as 1/2 the grain bill works really well too. Dry, hoppy ,easy drinking. Not exactly an ipa but an apa really which is what the easy drinking ipa's are anyway ,as far as I can tell.


Edit- 215g of citra would be a bit much.

 

[spog]

Hi everyone,
I've been extract brewing for a couple of years, but am going to have a crack at a small batch of all grain by the BIAB method.

I'm leaning to a 'session' IPA type thing with more complex hop bill as I've got a number of single hop pales in bottles already,
but am wondering if something like a SMaSH is recommended, keep it simple and not too hoppy, for a first go?

2.5kg Pale Ale malt is what I've got as the base malt of about a 9L batch, depending on efficiency.
Have some Crystal and Caramalt available too.

Hops on hand: Centennial, Citra, Galaxy, Ella

Any suggestions will be gladly taken on board.

Thanks!

Using some of what you have and using them to teach yourself ,go with the Pale Malt dont worry about efficiency (yet) or the crystal or Cara add Ella for bitterness and Centennial late in the boil 15-10 minutes .
Take exact notes on your brew day and on the brew when drinking it,flavour etc.that way you will be able to replicate it later or decide if it needs a boost in colour,maltiness,bitterness,aroma.....dryer or sweeter. The list goes on.
Go with the basics and then dial your process in which will enable you to experiment further.

 

[perko8]

Thanks for the replies, will go with the smash apa this time and see how it goes.
Will try and get a ph test kit first

 

[spog]

Thanks for the replies, will go with the smash apa this time and see how it goes.
Will try and get a ph test kit first

Personally I wouldn't at this stage bother with a ph test kit.
Keep it simple and perhaps do 2 brews the same,one using mains water and the other using rainwater and see if this makes a difference.
I do both and I don't have a ph meter nor have I had either tested and am happy with " my brews".
Water chemistry = whoa holy shit,it's a major topic and influence on the final product...if your really dedicated and serious.
Water+Grain+Hops+ Yeast = Beer.
The 4 ingredients listed above have a book available for each,I bought all 4 but ATM I have no intention of tackling the water book.

 

[Reman]

Thanks for the replies, will go with the smash apa this time and see how it goes.
Will try and get a ph test kit first

If there is a local HBS or someone nearby who knows what they are doing you can ask them if they adjust their mash ph and by how much. if your water is soft you'll probably be fine, but if it's hard you might be struggling to brew a pale beer without adjustments.

 

[perko8]

Used rain water, didn't worry about testing ph, and made a wort fairly successfully I feel!

8l into the fermenter at the end of boil (after it cooled last night I diluted to 9l to get the desired gravity) so I'm pretty happy with that.
It's a bit more hazy than my extract brews.

 

[perko8]

Reached the expected fg, so will cold crash, and dry hop tomorrow.
More of a blonde ale than pale ale, but that's ok

 

[perko8]

 

[mtb]

It's a bit more hazy than my extract brews.

Did you use kettle finings (ie Whirlfloc)? If not then you'll find lots more crud finding its way into the fermenter. It's not something you have to worry about with extract brewing as they fined out this crud while producing the goop.
If you want to clear this batch you can try just fining with gelatin in the fermenter prior to bottling/kegging - see the thread here.

 

[perko8]

Hi mtb, no I did not use any kettle finings.
I have some gelatin from a heap of bits I got with a second hand fermenter, but the haze is mainly just an aesthetic thing right?
I was thinking I'd not worry for this first attempt, and see how it turned out with just a cold crash, and time dry hopping cold.
What do you think? Will I be dissatisfied if the haze doesn't drop?

 

[mtb]

Suspended yeast contributes flavour, in my humble opinion. But there are others who will argue it's just cosmetic. Depends largely on the yeast you used I'd say, US-05 for example contributes no flavour whereas a saison yeast will contribute a bucket load (although you want that with a saison so that's a terrible example)

 

[perko8]

Yeah us05 is the yeast used, so I'll just see how it goes chilled

 

[mtb]

You'll be fine. It'll be beer, after all..

 

[perko8]

Very cloudy, very blonde, but beer!

 

[altone]

ImageUploadedByAussie Home Brewer1472958481.052523.jpg

Very cloudy, very blonde, but beer!

Ooh does look cloudy but it'll calm down, personally I'd fill the bottles a bit more - there's a lot of airspace in the pictured bottle.

I try to fill to about 20mm below the top.

Now the hard part - waiting till it's ready to drink

 

[perko8]

Is there an oxidation problem with not filling up enough? I normally do fill a little higher (half way up the neck) but this was a small batch so I did them a bit lower to get more bottles.

 

[altone]

Is there an oxidation problem with not filling up enough? I normally do fill a little higher (half way up the neck) but this was a small batch so I did them a bit lower to get more bottles.

Well logic would suggest that the more air, the more chance of oxidation.
Is it a problem? most likely not.

Regardless I'd fill the bottles as you say, half way up the neck, not try and get an extra bottle by filling them less.
Anything left over after bottling is for you to taste and make sure everything seems ok

 

[OBeck]

Yeah, I always try and reduce the headspace as well. Also, just a point for the future is to think about using all brown bottles rather than clear ones, they stop the beer going "skunky" as they filter the light. Brown bottles filter out UV light which reacts with some of the alpha acids from the hops which make a chemical that is almost identical to the compound skunks produce! I know your crate looks full of brown bottles, but just food for thought!