Move To All Grain For Thirty Bucks

[samhaldane]

I'd just like to say thanks to Nick JD for starting this thread. It eased my transition into AG brewing and my current process (after 9 AG batches) is still pretty similar.

I managed to pick up a couple of prizes in the ESB competition yesterday, including runner up best of show, using this technique.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...st&p=656508

I think the only major thing that I changed is my hop schedules. For hoppy beers, I add the bittering hops at 45 mins before the end of the boil, and poor the ~90C wort into a small cube on top of my flavour hops to no-chill over night. Then I use a coffee plunger to make some 'hop tea' for aroma (as well as some dry hopping).

That said, my Wit did well too and didn't involve any fancy hop additions!

 

[DU99]

Well done ..on your win

 

[RdeVjun]

I'd just like to say thanks to Nick JD for starting this thread. It eased my transition into AG brewing and my current process (after 9 AG batches) is still pretty similar.

I managed to pick up a couple of prizes in the ESB competition yesterday, including runner up best of show, using this technique.

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...st&p=656508

I think the only major thing that I changed is my hop schedules. For hoppy beers, I add the bittering hops at 45 mins before the end of the boil, and poor the ~90C wort into a small cube on top of my flavour hops to no-chill over night. Then I use a coffee plunger to make some 'hop tea' for aroma (as well as some dry hopping).

That said, my Wit did well too and didn't involve any fancy hop additions!

Congratulations and great work haldini! :icon_cheers:

My word though, haven't you set the cat amongst the pigeons! A 19L BIAB brewery (I guess), pouring hot wort, NC, "hop tea" etc winning prizes- challenges a few of the traditional methods. Again, congratulations on that, you've done brilliantly! :super:

 

[samhaldane]

Congratulations and great work haldini! :icon_cheers:

My word though, haven't you set the cat amongst the pigeons! A 19L BIAB brewery (I guess), pouring hot wort, NC, "hop tea" etc winning prizes- challenges a few of the traditional methods. Again, congratulations on that, you've done brilliantly! :super:

Thanks mate, I'm pretty stoked.

I only have a 16L pot. About 10L goes into the cube and 9L into the fermenter (it's _really_ full at the start of the boil). Add a litre of water for hop tea and you end up with about 9L of finished beer into the bottle. I use a home made voile bag and use a taut line hitch to hoist the bag.

When I say 'pouring', I do mean that I have a ball valve tap on my pot that I attach some hosing to that goes to the bottom of the cube, to avoid hot side aeration and most of the kettle trub. I also have a weldless thermometer installed on my pot that makes things a little easier.

 

[RdeVjun]

No worries haldani, you should be stoked! Enjoy this moment, hope it is the first of many!

I've been disappointed with late hops character with some of mine, usually the hop tea does works a treat though and I prefer it to dry hops in most circumstances.

BTW, if you've ever wanted to scrape more out of the stockpot in terms of batch size, perhaps consider post- boil dilution? I do it all the time in my big double ewe 19L stockpot, in fact I'm so pleased with it that the two stainless firkins (40L kegs- legitimately owned) plus most of a 3V setup I have here still sit idle. Today I mashed a 4.75 kg grainbill in this pot and with a cup or so of sugar (which is to style in this) it yields enough for 23- 24L of ESB- strength (1.055) into the fermenter, no sweat. Sparging (in a bucket) seems to be the key though, otherwise the yield and volume just won't get over the line.

 

[Nick JD]

I managed to pick up a couple of prizes in the ESB competition yesterday, including runner up best of show, using this technique.

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

Apart from wanting to bring this back to the 1st page so other newbies can see it I have a quick question, can Muslin cloth be used for Biab?

Great thread, thanks Nick, doing the ground work for an AG in 2 weeks, I think you have inspired lots of KK's here!

 

[kbe]

I have a 9L pot I know this a 9L mash, so I'd have to drop to say 8L to give headroom (or 7L). How much does that affect efficiency.

The reason I ask is that the 9L pot is a fantastic heavy bottom thing, and would be ideal for a brew otherwise. Notwithstanding the fact that it saves me $20 at big w getting a paper thin pot to do it myself.

Other question (may have been asked) - is a butane cooker (the camping ones, or the ones that japanese restaurants used to keep your food sizzling as it comes to you), with the cans going to be good enough for a 20L pot (should I need to purchase it).

Thanks in advance, this forum is a goldmine.

I did an extract brew with grains the other night with a butane camping cooker. It was an 11 litre 1 hour boil. I used the 19 litre pot from Big W. It took about 20 minutes to get it to the boil and then was kept at a boil with minimal heat, although I left the lid on to assist it. It used a little over 1 tin of gas.

 

[Steve]

although I left the lid on to assist it.

Yum Yum. You need to have the lid off to let the nasties escape.

 

[Nick JD]

I have a quick question, can Muslin cloth be used for Biab?

Check out Pat's legendary thread. It has all the BIAB info and more!

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum//ind...showtopic=11694

 

[smilinggilroy]

Yum Yum. You need to have the lid off to let the nasties escape.

Hi,
I am new to brewing but not cooking......
Could someone point me in the right direction on the subject of "the nasties escaping".
As only this weekend I had a in depth discussion with a "chemistry type dude" who reckond
the nasties would stay in solution and only clean steam would be emitted. Like desal. or similar to
distilled water process.
Sorry if I have hijacked thread...
Need some solid info.
Thanks in advance

 

[Bribie G]

No, there are aromatic compounds that are boiled off. The main bugbear is a compound called Dimethyl Sulphide (DMS) that can arise from mashing some Pilsener malts. Not so bad nowadays with the modern malts but it can still happen and thats why lager brewers tend to do a 90 minute boil rather than 60 mins. DMS gives a cooked corn / cabbage twang if there's too much there, and boiling whilst covered can tend to trap DMS in the wort.

 

[argon]

Here you go... straight from Palmer's Book

Dimethyl Sulfides (DMS)/ Cooked Vegetable Flavours
Like diacetyl in ales, DMS is common in many light lagers and is considered to be part of the character. DMS is produced in the wort during the boil by the reduction of another compound, S-methyl-methionine (SMM), which is itself produced during malting. When a malt is roasted or toasted, the SMM is reduced beforehand and does not manifest as DMS in the wort, which explains why it is more prevalent in pale lagers. In other styles, DMS is a common off-flavour, and can be caused by poor brewing practices or bacterial infections.
DMS is continuously produced in the wort while it is hot and is usually removed by vaporization during the boil. If the wort is cooled slowly these compounds will not be removed from the wort and will dissolve back in. Thus it is important to not completely cover the brewpot during the boil or allow condensate to drip back into the pot from the lid. The wort should also be cooled quickly after the boil, either by immersing in an ice bath or using a wort chiller.
When caused by bacterial infection, DMS has a more rancid character, more liked cooked cabbage than corn. It is usually the result of poor sanitation. Repitching the yeast from an infected batch of beer will perpetuate the problem.

There's plenty of stuff in the steam that vaporizes from the boil... not just pure water. Ever look inside a rangehood?... full of sticky mess. So lots of stuff is being "boiled off" during the boil. I have experienced dms in my beers before and don't wish to taste it again. After a heap of research, my problem was boil vigour and I now boil very hard to make sure I get rid of much crap as possible. I now have beautifully clean beers without a touch of any cooked veg character.

 

[Nick JD]

Another "cheat" to get your beers to have DMS levels so low you can't taste it is to use malts low in the DMS precursor, SMM. Ale malts are often lower in SMM than Pilsner malts. The lower the EBC (colour) of a malt the more likely corn tastes will be in your beer.

Most of this is beyond the scope of this thread though. If you're starting out - a good hearty boil (more than a simmer, less than a spa pool) with the lid off and you'll be making supurb beer.

If you find you are losing too much liquid because of your boil, put the coffee kettle on with a couple of liters in it and top up the level with boiling water. Easy.

 

[bum]

Extract boil, guys.

 

[Nick JD]

Extract boil, guys.

Right, you are.

 

[corcatraz]

Hey guys

Just a quick question. Is it ok to leave the hop flowers in loose for the overnight no-chill?
My brain seems to think it's read somewhere that it's not ok but I can't remember.

I've just done my 5th brew today using pretty much this technique but I've been chilling. I'm just getting a bit sick of losing too much to the trub etc and I'm thinking it would probably settle better left overnight.

I spose the other option is to just chuck the whole lot in the fermenter and let it settle there?
Cheers

 

[argon]

Hey guys

Just a quick question. Is it ok to leave the hop flowers in loose for the overnight no-chill?
My brain seems to think it's read somewhere that it's not ok but I can't remember.

I've just done my 5th brew today using pretty much this technique but I've been chilling. I'm just getting a bit sick of losing too much to the trub etc and I'm thinking it would probably settle better left overnight.

I spose the other option is to just chuck the whole lot in the fermenter and let it settle there?
Cheers

Nothing really to worry about greatly leaving the hop flowers in the nc cube... Especially if it's just overnight. Done this plenty of times... I do however understand that nagging concern. When transferring from cube to fermenter strain it through your sanitized graIn bag to remove the hop debris. This will also avoid any blocked taps when bottling/ kegging times rolls around.

 

[corcatraz]

Nothing really to worry about greatly leaving the hop flowers in the nc cube... Especially if it's just overnight. Done this plenty of times... I do however understand that nagging concern. When transferring from cube to fermenter strain it through your sanitized graIn bag to remove the hop debris. This will also avoid any blocked taps when bottling/ kegging times rolls around.

Cheers argon,
I did end up finding a couple of threads bringing me to that conclusion. I think I'll try it next time.

:beer:

 

[Lobby Lobster]

Apart from wanting to bring this back to the 1st page so other newbie's can see it I have a quick question, can Muslin cloth be used for Biab?

Hey Bob, I think it's the same thing as muslin or pretty close. I use muslin and get it from Spotlight (everywhere) for $1 or $2 a metre then cut it up. So I chuck it out after each brew rather than wash and re-use.
I do boil it first though.

Thanks from me too Nick.