Second Biab Ag Brew

[Truman42]

Well Ive just completed my second BIAB, Goombas APA Sans Nelson recipe. My first in my 18 litre urn.

Firstly I must say how much fun it is to do a BIAB. The wife helped me and she enjoyed it too, the whole process is very easy if you have all the gear and are setup ready to go.



My Sg at start of boil was 1.062, after first sparge was 1.059, after second sparge was 1.054 and end of boill gravity was 1.057. End of boil gravity should have been 1.053. Not sure why my figures are all over the place. I would have thought that after sparging the Sg would increase each time.

I did a 30 min hop addition of 8 grams of Galaxy and a 10 min hop additon of 20 grams cascade and 10 grams galaxy.
We noticed how bitter the wort was. Too bitter in fact. Is this normal? Will the bitterness decrease after fermentation?

I ended up with around 15 litres and was going to put it all in a 17 litre cube but didnt realise it had no hole drilled out where the tap goes so put it into two 10 litre cubes instead. Therefore one of them has a head space of around 3-4 litres after squeezing it as much as I could. Will this matter? I know your supposed to squeeze out as much air as possible.

Anyway heres some pics

After starting off with my urn oustide sitting on my bbq the rain came so I had to abort the mission and moved it all into the garage.
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Fully prepared with all my gear setup ready to go.
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Lagging around the urn which held the temp spot on at 68.6C for the full hour mash. Was supposed to be 71C but I lost a bit while stirring the grain.
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Boiling away nicely. (Is that boil to rapid? Ive noticed with the urn you have no control like you do gas)
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My lovely wife stirring the grain in the sparge vessel. (It was white not green so not sure how much effect thats going to have. ) Those washtubs from the reject shop make great spill trays and keep the sticky mess off the garage floor.
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First hop addition weighed and ready to add.
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All in all a succesful brew. Ive learned a few more things, like check your cube before your ready to fill them.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

The bitterness does mellow. It always tastes bitter both warm, flat and especially unfermented. Almost a sweetness plus a real strong bitterness.

Did you end up adjusting for no-chill - as I thought I'd mentioned that I chilled this recipe. It appears as though the 30 minute adjustment was a reduction in IBU for no-chill.

Looks like you had some fun though.

Dry hop it with Cascade and Citra FTW! Especially given you've no chilled and will lose a little flavour from the 10 minute addition, over and above what I do.

Goomba

 

[raven19]

I would have thought that after sparging the Sg would increase each time.

Nope, less sugars remaining after each sparge as you have already washed some sugars out.

We noticed how bitter the wort was. Too bitter in fact. Is this normal? Will the bitterness decrease after fermentation?

Hard to judge at this stage, let it ferment out then sample. I would not be too worried as long as you followed your recipe.

Therefore one of them has a head space of around 3-4 litres after squeezing it as much as I could. Will this matter? I know your supposed to squeeze out as much air as possible.

Again, it should be fine. I have had 3/4 full NC cubes sit for a while (weeks/months) prior to pitching and no issues whatsoever.

 

[Truman42]

The bitterness does mellow. It always tastes bitter both warm, flat and especially unfermented. Almost a sweetness plus a real strong bitterness.

Did you end up adjusting for no-chill - as I thought I'd mentioned that I chilled this recipe. It appears as though the 30 minute adjustment was a reduction in IBU for no-chill.

Looks like you had some fun though.

Dry hop it with Cascade and Citra FTW! Especially given you've no chilled and will lose a little flavour from the 10 minute addition, over and above what I do.

Goomba

I didnt adjust for no chill. I was going to chill but at 11.30 last night when I was bloody tired and had to get to bed I just sat them on the garage floor.

So should I dry hop at the same time I pitch my yeast or wait until fermentation slows down?

Yes lots of fun, the urn is the way to go so much easier.

I also had my tap open too far when cubing and it started pulling hotbreak into the cube so will rack them both into the 17 litre cube to ferment and hopefully can leave it behind.

 

[Truman42]

@ raven..Thanks for the info mate.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I didnt adjust for no chill. I was going to chill but at 11.30 last night when I was bloody tired and had to get to bed I just sat them on the garage floor. It's happened to me too. Fortunately the increase in bitterness from no-chill is less at 10 minutes and I think you adjusted down the 30 min addition to 8g, so you might gain 5 IBU, but it won't be too much.

So should I dry hop at the same time I pitch my yeast or wait until fermentation slows down? Do it either in the keg (which is what I did), secondary (which is what I sometimes do) or about a week into fermentation if you don't rack to secondary.

Yes lots of fun, the urn is the way to go so much easier.

I also had my tap open too far when cubing and it started pulling hotbreak into the cube so will rack them both into the 17 litre cube to ferment and hopefully can leave it behind. Nothing a sieve and some paper towel can't fix, at its worst

Cheers,

Goomba

 

[Truman42]

@ goomba I adjusted down the 30 min addition because my brew size was only 15 litres so I scaled your recipe from 23 litres.

I don't keg, only bottle so will add it after a week like you say. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Tim F]

Goomba is your target mash temp for this really 71c or is that supposed to be the strike water temp?

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

@TimF - Where did I write 71 degrees?

I have done it at 71 deg (to give it a lower abv), but generally with this recipe I'm down around 65 deg.

Goomba

 

[Truman42]

@TimF - Where did I write 71 degrees?

I have done it at 71 deg (to give it a lower abv), but generally with this recipe I'm down around 65 deg.

Goomba

Right here. But I probably misunderstood what you meant and thats the strike temp?

APA Sans nelson

I added my grain at 75C and mashed at 68.5C for an hour. What effect will this have?

 

[Nick JD]

I added my grain at 75C and mashed at 68.5C for an hour. What effect will this have?

Do a little light reading on the two amylases - beta and alpha - and what temperatures they start working at, stop working at, and fall apart.

This will explain it all.

 

[stux]

I ended up with around 15 litres and was going to put it all in a 17 litre cube but didnt realise it had no hole drilled out where the tap goes so put it into two 10 litre cubes instead. Therefore one of them has a head space of around 3-4 litres after squeezing it as much as I could. Will this matter? I know your supposed to squeeze out as much air as possible.

What's wrong with not having a tap? Less to clean, less to knock out?

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

68.5% will be a fine temp. It'll ferment down well, but (as an educated guess) you'll end up at about 1.014 or so FG. The result will be marginally sweeter (which will help with increased bitterness from NC), fuller bodied beer.

I'd forgotten - that's why I couldn't get plastered on this APA, as well as I could the last. I remember that I'd dropped the OG by a few points, but forgotten that I'd upped the strike temp. Actually that makes sense, I've been playing around with the ability to decrease the abv% of this one, without sacrificing taste or balance.

My apologies, I forget which beer I've made using which technique and the notes are on another computer (not at work).

I've mashed beers as high as 74 degrees in order to keep body. I generally try to keep abv% low enough to make a beer sessionable, otherwise I end up with 6-7% beers (my first APA was 7% and was tasty, but not drinkable in any reasonable quantity). Think trying to drink 2 or 3 LC SB DIPA - you can, it's sessionable from a flavour point of view, but too high in alcohol to make it properly sessionable.

Same goes with my 3.5% mid - full flavoured, low abv%.

Goomba

Carry on.

 

[Truman42]

What's wrong with not having a tap? Less to clean, less to knock out?

Because I wanted to ferment and bottle in this cube without having to rack into a secondary. I could have drilled the hole and fitted a bung but it was getting very late and I was stuffed.

 

[Truman42]

68.5% will be a fine temp. It'll ferment down well, but (as an educated guess) you'll end up at about 1.014 or so FG. The result will be marginally sweeter (which will help with increased bitterness from NC), fuller bodied beer.

I'd forgotten - that's why I couldn't get plastered on this APA, as well as I could the last. I remember that I'd dropped the OG by a few points, but forgotten that I'd upped the strike temp. Actually that makes sense, I've been playing around with the ability to decrease the abv% of this one, without sacrificing taste or balance.

My apologies, I forget which beer I've made using which technique and the notes are on another computer (not at work).

I've mashed beers as high as 74 degrees in order to keep body. I generally try to keep abv% low enough to make a beer sessionable, otherwise I end up with 6-7% beers (my first APA was 7% and was tasty, but not drinkable in any reasonable quantity). Think trying to drink 2 or 3 LC SB DIPA - you can, it's sessionable from a flavour point of view, but too high in alcohol to make it properly sessionable.

Same goes with my 3.5% mid - full flavoured, low abv%.

Goomba

Carry on.

Thanks for that explanation Goomba. Very informative as always. (glad Im not the only one stuck at work today.

 

[Truman42]

Well today I transferred both 10 litre cubes of wort into my 17 litre cube. I had to guess how many litres there were in the cube. My SG was 1060 so I worked out that I needed to add 2 litres to get the right dilution and sg of 1.053. However I only added a litre anyway and my sg is now 1.051 so Ive stuffed up there somewhere.

I also decided not to put this in my brewing fridge with the colder weather were having here at the moment and instead went with my bucket of water and fermenter sitting in that and a fish tank heater controlled by the STC1000. It worked well last time even without the STC1000. Ive also got a small pump to circulate the water.

Even with the warmer temps expected here on the weekend Im sure the water will hold more constant temps sitting in the garage.