Okay Let's Give This All Grain Thing A Go. (biab)

[user 11560]

I'd not be worrying about it too much Simon, but there's a couple of things you can do- depending on how you drain the cube you may be able to leave much of it in there when you empty it into the fermenter, then also lean the fermenter over slightly with a block or wedge under the base to keep the tap free of sediment. The layer should compress a fair bit of its own accord, even if it does come up to the tap it shouldn't cause a blockage anyway, just run a bit through before taking an hydrometer sample. No biggie.

If you do decide to filter it, just remember anything that comes into contact with the wort has to be scrupulously sanitary. I've run some through cooking oil recovery filter (cone- shaped, sits in a funnel), it can be a bit of farting about with blockages at the end and another infection risk for what is really a negligible benefit.

Welcome aboard too BTW and congratulations on the successful batch, may it be the first of many more to come! This BIAB caper is easy as, hey?! :icon_cheers:

Might try wedging the fermenter .. man why didn't I think of that? lol. Cheers :icon_cheers:

I've done some measurements, the fermenter base is quite a bit larger than the cube's, and also the cube base isn't flat so there's likely less in there than I first thought. So it should be okay - but it'll still be fairly close.

Just about to rehydrate yeast.

 

[Bribie G]

That 'trub' is almost certainly cold break and will mostly get eaten during fermentation and anything else will floc down with the yeast, so no need to worry. Welcome to the dark side B)

Also when you get your 'hanging' arrangements a bit better worked out, the good old hangmans noose and a few metres of verandah cord from the hardware store saves wear and tear on the bag, just get a good throttle hold on it.

 

[user 11560]

Alright -- all done.

I hit 1.060 in 15 litres, which Beer Engine tells me is a 65.5% efficiency. How's that?

Diluted to 18 litres for an OG of 1.050.

 

[RdeVjun]

Well done chief, chocks away... no wait, leave the chock under the tap!

I'm lucky that in one of my fermenting fridges there's a moulding in the floor that rests a fermenter on just the right angle, so for the ESB with a bit of wheat I did recently, I was expecting a fair load of sediment so I just put it in the right spot and it has been no hassle at all.

Your efficiency should go up from there, mid- high 70s are fairly common for me, no reason why your equipment can't achieve the same and subsequent batches should only get better. For a first try at the method, that's quite OK though. With less efficient hops utilisation, tweaking bitterness can be occasionally frustrating and is the sort of thing that you get a better feel for after a few batches of the same recipe, but the sort of differences (maybe 10- 20%) are hardly distinguishable to most palettes anyway.

I do the dilution thing most of the time as I use a 19L stockpot and usually get about 16L of 1.070 to which I'll add 4 or 5L just before pitching. Works fine for me (am about to do exactly this in a moment) and have been quite pleased with this method rather than buying more equipment or making smaller batches. For me the latter was excluded fairly early on, it is just too much effort to go to for a smaller return, although I do few smaller experiments but not on my house ale which is always 20L or more.
BTW, I've heard that dilution post- fermentation is also worth investigating, but am yet to try it for myself. Some flavour magic happens with SGs >1.060 apparently and I will report my findings in due course.

Oh, and Bribie's quite right, it is just cold break and should either be processed by the yeast or just flocculate out with the rest of the sediments. Nothing worth worrying about at all!
:beer:

 

[crundle]

Well done mate! Great photos also, it really helps others get started when they see how easy all grain can be.

I don't normally worry about the cold break if there isn't much in the cube, but if there is a lot (happens from time to time) then I siphon the wort out into the fermenter to avoid getting too much of it. To do this, put your cube up higher than the fermenter for a day or two to settle out nicely, and then siphon away.

Now for you to get back into it and brew up another 2 or 3 cubes worth to get your supplies underway!

cheers,

Crundle