Looking to do my First BIAB

Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum

Help Support Australia & New Zealand Homebrewing Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

mattyg8

Well-Known Member
Joined
3/12/13
Messages
269
Reaction score
12
Location
Mooroolbark
Ok so after picking up a 40L crown urn before Xmas and purchasing my first home. I'm finally looking forward to giving BIAB ago in the next few weeks!

For my first attempt I would like to try Dr Smurto Golden Ale, which he was more then happy to give me his recipe that ive attached.

I will be looking to get the grains from Keg King as they are just around the corner and have come up with the following grain bill:

0.8 x Joe White - Wheat Malt (per kg) AU$3.30
0.2 x Joe White - Dark Crystal Malt (per kg) AU$3.85
0.8 x Joe White - Munich (per kg) AU$3.60
2.4 x Simpsons - Maris Otter (per kg) AU$4.45

I will try to use Ians BIAB Spread sheet to help me along the way as I found the Kit spread sheet very helpful!
Here's a link with the reciepe added as it will not let me upload it https://www.dropbox.com/s/omvuehiv0gy2ud1/BIAB_Beer_Designer_v1.3%20%281%29.xls?dl=0

Now down to the brewing steps. Ive read over a few of the BIAB pages and am hoping to get a better understanding

1. Add desired water level 28.8L per spreadsheet , get temp up to strike rate 68.3 per spreadsheet
2. Kill the power, line with bag and add grains, stir with paint stirrer to prevent dough balls and place the urn cover on. Mash for period of time. 90 mins?
3. Raise bag off element and raise temp to 78C for mash out. Is this step included in the 90 min mash temp.
4. At 78C hoist bag over urn to get excess wort out of grain bag
5. Get temp to rolling boil. Lid off?
6. Add bittering hops (Amarillo 15g) and start 60 min boil or 90?. Lid off?
7. Add hops at different times depending on reciepe. 20g with 20 mins to go.
8. 10 mins before end of boil and brewbrite. about 4g?
9. Create whirlpool and let sit for 10mins to help clear the wort
10. Transfer wort to cube for no chill.
11. Add dry hopping hops to cube and let it cool over night then ferment as usual.

Thanks heaps!

View attachment Golden Ale - Award winning.pdf

View attachment BIAB_Beer_Designer_v1.3 (1).xls
 
mattyg8 said:
Ok so after picking up a 40L crown urn before Xmas and purchasing my first home. I'm finally looking forward to giving BIAB ago in the next few weeks!

color=#2f2f2f]Now down to the brewing steps. Ive read over a few of the BIAB pages and am hoping to get a better understanding[/color]

1. Add desired water level 28.8L per spreadsheet , get temp up to strike rate 68.3 per spreadsheet
2. Kill the power, line with bag and add grains, stir with paint stirrer to prevent dough balls and place the urn cover on. Mash for period of time. 90 mins? - YOU CAN DO EITHER 60MINS OR 90, AS FAR AS IM AWARE WHEN MASHING THIN (LIKE IN BIAB) A 60 MIN MASH WILL SUFFICE, ITS WHAT IVE AWAYS DONE, NOT THAT THAT MEANS YOU NECCESARILY SHOULD :p

3. Raise bag off element and raise temp to 78C for mash out. Is this step included in the 90 min mash temp. - NO USUALLY WRITTEN AS A SEPERATE STEP: MASH REST 68C FOR 60 MASH OUT FOR 10, TOTAL MASH TIME 70MINS PLUS RAMP TIME (TIME TO CHANGE TO EACH STEP TEMP)

4. At 78C hoist bag over urn to get excess wort out of grain bag - LEAVE THE BAG IN AT 78 FOR 10 MINUTES THEN HOIST OUT.

5. Get temp to rolling boil. Lid off? - I BRING IT TO THE BOIL LID ON FOR EFFICIENCY SAKE BUT BEWARE DMS, AS SOON AS I GET NEAR THE HOT BREAK THE LID COMES OFF AND STAYS OFF FOR THE ENTIRETY OF THE BOIL

6. Add bittering hops (Amarillo 15g) and start 60 min boil or 90?. Lid off? - LID OFF (SEE ABOVE)

7. Add hops at different times depending on reciepe. 20g with 20 mins to go. - YEP

8. 10 mins before end of boil and brewbrite. about 4g? - NOT SURE ON AMT, SOUNDS FINE

9. Create whirlpool and let sit for 10mins to help clear the wort - YEP

10. Transfer wort to cube for no chill. - YEP

11. Add dry hopping hops to cube and let it cool over night then ferment as usual. - YEP

Thanks heaps!
Added my suggestions in caps, sorry if you read it and can't read anything other than me screaming at you! But your process seems fairly well worked out and looks fairly good just a few little details to add.
 
mattyg8 said:
Ok so after picking up a 40L crown urn before Xmas and purchasing my first home. I'm finally looking forward to giving BIAB ago in the next few weeks!

For my first attempt I would like to try Dr Smurto Golden Ale, which he was more then happy to give me his recipe that ive attached.

I will be looking to get the grains from Keg King as they are just around the corner and have come up with the following grain bill:

0.8 x Joe White - Wheat Malt (per kg) AU$3.30
0.2 x Joe White - Dark Crystal Malt (per kg) AU$3.85
0.8 x Joe White - Munich (per kg) AU$3.60
2.4 x Simpsons - Maris Otter (per kg) AU$4.45

I will try to use Ians BIAB Spread sheet to help me along the way as I found the Kit spread sheet very helpful!
Here's a link with the reciepe added as it will not let me upload it https://www.dropbox.com/s/omvuehiv0gy2ud1/BIAB_Beer_Designer_v1.3%20%281%29.xls?dl=0

Now down to the brewing steps. Ive read over a few of the BIAB pages and am hoping to get a better understanding

1. Add desired water level 28.8L per spreadsheet , get temp up to strike rate 68.3 per spreadsheet
2. Kill the power, line with bag and add grains, stir with paint stirrer to prevent dough balls and place the urn cover on. Mash for period of time. 90 mins?
3. Raise bag off element and raise temp to 78C for mash out. Is this step included in the 90 min mash temp.
4. At 78C hoist bag over urn to get excess wort out of grain bag
5. Get temp to rolling boil. Lid off?
6. Add bittering hops (Amarillo 15g) and start 60 min boil or 90?. Lid off?
7. Add hops at different times depending on reciepe. 20g with 20 mins to go.
8. 10 mins before end of boil and brewbrite. about 4g?
9. Create whirlpool and let sit for 10mins to help clear the wort
10. Transfer wort to cube for no chill.
11. Add dry hopping hops to cube and let it cool over night then ferment as usual.

Thanks heaps!
1 - Sounds about right
2 - as per Niz, mash of 60mins is sufficient. However 90mins will achieve better efficiency (keep in mind this might only represent a handful of extra grain, though). I'm OCD & a tight-arse, so i do longer mashes.
3 - As per Niz, As per Niz, do the full time at the chosen temp (66°C) then ramp up to Mashout. Once at mash-out temp, you generally don't need to hold it there, though many do (as Niz suggested) - 1-2mins should be enough. Also, try to find a colander or steamer insert (etc) to place over the urn element. This'll mean you can just leave the bag in there and stir as you ramp up (or leave the lid on for the first 7-8°C - it'll be faster). I found it tricky raising the temp while lifting the bag, as my bag was out of the water & hence it cooled down as the water was being heated. So once i hit the right temp, dropped the bag in, then it was too cold again. Much faffing around ensued.
4 - I'd do as you wrote, though there's not going to be any harm in doing what Niz wrote either. Up to you. Might be easier to have a bucket/etc to hang the bag over - it'll continue dripping for a while (like 10-20mins) and it might be be in the way while you're trying to get the boil going
5 - as per Niz, i leave the lid on while ramping to the boil - DMS is not an issue during this phase. BUT, you need to be VERY careful as it approaches 100°C though - it'll boil over instantly if the lid's on when it hits boiling temp. What i do is sit a digital thermometer between the urn and the insulation, while the lid is on. I know for my urn, when it hits ~94°C it'll be boiling, so when the thermometer hits ~92°C, i'll take the lid off and sit there watching it to ensure when it starts boiling, there's no boil-overs - admittedly i have a 30L urn filled to 28L, so this is a much bigger issue for me than others.
6 - Lid off once it starts boiling for the rest of the process. Re: Boil time - Many do 60mins boils and many do 90mins boils (i do) - supposedly 90mins helps bring out the maltiness and does other things. But it's not necessary. Need to account for extra boil-off if you do the extra 20-30mins beyond the basic 60mins. With regards to hops boil time, see point 10.
7 - Yep, but see point 10
8 - Yep, but dunno about amount.
9 - Yep
10 - Yep. BUT - if you're no-chilling (doin' the whole cube thing), you need to account for the extra time the wort is at a temp above 80°C, whereby the Alpha Acids from the hops will continue to isomerise and produce more bitterness. DrSmurto accounts for the whirlpool in his recipe, so in theory you don't need to worry about that bit. However, you need to account for the extra time the wort is at high temps in the cube - this is generally estimated as an extra 15-20mins in the hops additions (e.g.: a 20min addition in the boil becomes a 35-40min addition on the spreadsheet). So basically, i'd be doing your 60min addition at 40min and putting your 20min addition in the cube (it's called cube-hopping); and doing your brewbrite as planned.
11 - NOPE - dry hops go in AFTER the bulk of fermentation. So the next day pour the cooled wort to the fermenter - try to strain out some of the cube hops if possible, then get fermenting. Wait until its either completely finished or close to it, and then throw in the dry hops.

Hope that helps and doesn't hinder!
2c
 
Thanks heaps to you both!

I will read through them both again when I get a chance and work out a check list as such.

I'm happy to go with 90 min mash and 90 min boil its just I will have to work out what I need to change on the spreadsheet so that I can work out the necessary initial water amount
 
Apologies for confusing you on point 11 matty, I completely skimmed the dry hop bit and read cube hops and yepped it when I shouldnt have haha, techno is on the money there!
 
Remember your strike temp is the temp that your grains will go into and that will cool the temp by a few degrees . It could reduce the mash temp down to 60 - 62 degrees or even lower . If you want your mash temp at 68 odd degrees your strike water should be around the 74-76 degrees . Once you start the mash let it settle for 5-10 minutes take the temp and adjust as necessary , eg if the mash is too hot add some cold water if it is too cold ramp the temp up since you are using an urn .
 
@ beer belly: I think he's already onto it. 68.3*C is his strike temp to target 66*C mash temp. That seems about right - mine is normally 68*C for the same basic parameters.

Re: mash and boil times, it's entirely up to you, depending on how time poor you are. You stand to add/cut ~1hr, so that may be important, and ultimately the gains in the extra time are definitely there but fairly minor nonetheless (at least for a golden ale).
 
Most brew days will be on a Sunday... an extra hour aint really gonna change much as I can still do stuff in the meantime. Just want to get a good routine down and make sure I have covered the steps :)
 
Wrap the urn up in some insulation, helps mash temps plus quicker ramp times. Make a long scrubbing brush on a stick/pipe so that you can give the element ( if concealed) a quick clean before starting the boil ( with element off), no chance then of element cutting out. I no longer whirlpool, with the brewbrite I find you get a nice dense layer on the bottom that pretty well stays there during draining, no benefit in the faffing about required to whirlpool, just put the lid on for 10-15 minutes after the boil and drain.
good luck and maybe it's best not to drink until the boil ( sacrilegious to some ) and keep good notes.
cheers
 
A s/s roasting rack from a homewares shop should be sufficient. Bribie has a photo of this he always loads up.
 
The FullPint job looks like the bees knees, but if you wanted to save some cash the roasting rack (I couldn't ever find the right size/shape) or colander/steamer would also suffice.
 
I've only done 8 BIABs in my 40L crown urn but what I've found is that it takes a few goes to get your efficiency up to an acceptable level. Maybe start closer to 60% for your first go and adjust from there.

+1 for insulation; I use an old sleeping bag and some towels.

I also find giving the concealed element a good scrub with something post mash helps. I've had the element cut out when brewing with rye and wheat in the grist (even in small quantities).

The drop in strainers / cake racks are also good. I use some cooking twine to fish my strainer out post mash; this also allows you to give the element a scrub.
 
It looks good and it will make decent beer.

There are a few things to consider, check the temperature a couple of times during the mash step. It can drop a bit and might need a boost. Be careful not to over shoot though.

Once you've got the whirlpool going, put the lid back on and give it a good half an hour. There's not much benefit in just doing a 10 min whirlpool. 30 mins lets much more trub settle.

The strainer in the pick you posted is the ducks nuts, I used to use one in my urn, just tie a bit of nylon cord to it so that you can retrieve it before bringing wort to boil. Depending on your pick up tube, you might need to cut an opening to allow it to fit.
 
Thanks for all your help! I will hopefully get around to doing it in the next few weeks!
 
I used undiluted star san smeared onto my concealed element to get the scorch to just peel off. This worked even for some serious black gunk that was rock solid. Takes hardly any, like keg lube on an o-ring, then let it sit for an hour or so.
 
I ment after the mash before the boil people mention to give the element a bit of a scrub to prevent the power kicking out
 
I've heard that myself. You could make up a scrubber on a stick and practice first on the empty urn.
Aldi currently have kids sleeping bags for 15 dollars. However one really neat trick I saw at a brew day is to just invert the box it comes in over the urn. Guy only lost a degree and a half. If like me you chucked the box ....
 
Bribie G said:
I've heard that myself. You could make up a scrubber on a stick and practice first on the empty urn.
Aldi currently have kids sleeping bags for 15 dollars. However one really neat trick I saw at a brew day is to just invert the box it comes in over the urn. Guy only lost a degree and a half. If like me you chucked the box ....
Purchased second hand and didnt come with the box

Will check out the sleeping bags
 
Back
Top