Small batch BIAB questions

[stux]

You don't need to raise the bag, you just need a round cake rack in the pot.

Step mashes are easy in Biab. Turn on the heat, stir the mash while heating. Tada

 

[Chookers]

So I threw all my bottles in the fridge today after squeezing the PET bottle and finding it quite tight.. should I open the glass bottles to let the pressure out and then just recap them..?

My bench capper is on its way, should be here by the end of the week.

 

[wynnum1]

Putting in the fridge good idea but will not stop over carbination only slow down .

 

[Chookers]

Damn! just tested my probe thermometer it is BROKEN!!!! AAAaaah!

So its time to spend more money... new thermometer needed now.. any recommendations, how many $$ are they roughly

Thanks Stux.. so its okay to do a step mash using flame to raise temps instead of adding boiling water? Will I or should I still mash in my oven. The lowest I can heat it too is 70 and that's as low as my oven thermos goes too.

I have been reading Zwickels Hefe recipe and am intrigued by his method:

Dough in (what does that even mean) at 35
ferulic acid rest at 42 for 20min
Proteinrest at 52 for 20 min
Beta amylase 63 for 30 min
Alpha amylase 72 for30min
mash out at 78 (why do I need to mash out, whats the benefit?)

Zwickle had another similar one
43 for 20min
62 for 30min
72 for 30min
78 mash out

What would doing this contribute to the beer, it is going to have 2/3rds wheat malt and 1/3rd Pilsener.. I just want to get everything settled before I start this thing, so I know exactly what I'm doing and can get it all sorted.

Going to buy some wheat beer examples today to compare. Then I will have a clearer idea of what I'm going for here.

 

[wynnum1]

If doing stove top the time it takes to reach temperature counts.

 

[pajs]

Damn! just tested my probe thermometer it is BROKEN!!!! AAAaaah!

So its time to spend more money... new thermometer needed now.. any recommendations, how many $$ are they roughly

Thanks Stux.. so its okay to do a step mash using flame to raise temps instead of adding boiling water? Will I or should I still mash in my oven. The lowest I can heat it too is 70 and that's as low as my oven thermos goes too.

I have been reading Zwickels Hefe recipe and am intrigued by his method:

Dough in (what does that even mean) at 35
ferulic acid rest at 42 for 20min
Proteinrest at 52 for 20 min
Beta amylase 63 for 30 min
Alpha amylase 72 for30min
mash out at 78 (why do I need to mash out, whats the benefit?)

Zwickle had another similar one
43 for 20min
62 for 30min
72 for 30min
78 mash out

What would doing this contribute to the beer, it is going to have 2/3rds wheat malt and 1/3rd Pilsener.. I just want to get everything settled before I start this thing, so I know exactly what I'm doing and can get it all sorted.

Going to buy some wheat beer examples today to compare. Then I will have a clearer idea of what I'm going for here.

You might find it useful to take a bit of time to read one or two basic books on brewing before diving in to your next brews. Get a handle on the basic concepts and processes, the language used, and then apply it, look at how things went and figure out how to improve for next time. A decent book for getting across things is Palmer's 'How to Brew'. http://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Everything-Right-First/dp/0937381888

 

[TheBlackAdder]

You might find it useful to take a bit of time to read one or two basic books on brewing before diving in to your next brews. Get a handle on the basic concepts and processes, the language used, and then apply it, look at how things went and figure out how to improve for next time. A decent book for getting across things is Palmer's 'How to Brew'. http://www.amazon.com/How-Brew-Everything-Right-First/dp/0937381888

A lot of which is available free here: http://www.howtobrew.com/



I second keeping it simple until you really understand the processes before attempting a 5-step mash

Mash in / mash out will still make great beers, even wheats

 

[wynnum1]

Is the probe thermometer broken battery contacts can be a problem.

 

[antiphile]

Damn! just tested my probe thermometer it is BROKEN!!!! AAAaaah!

So its time to spend more money... new thermometer needed now.. any recommendations, how many $$ are they roughly

Thanks Stux.. so its okay to do a step mash using flame to raise temps instead of adding boiling water? Will I or should I still mash in my oven. The lowest I can heat it too is 70 and that's as low as my oven thermos goes too.

I have been reading Zwickels Hefe recipe and am intrigued by his method:

Dough in (what does that even mean) at 35
ferulic acid rest at 42 for 20min
Proteinrest at 52 for 20 min
Beta amylase 63 for 30 min
Alpha amylase 72 for30min
mash out at 78 (why do I need to mash out, whats the benefit?)

Zwickle had another similar one
43 for 20min
62 for 30min
72 for 30min
78 mash out...

Hi Chookers

I hope you don't take this suggestion as being rude or impertinent. There's a lot of people here that have invested a lot of time and suggestions to attempt to assist you, and granted some of those may have been taken on board, but some appear to have been ignored. Perhaps there also could be an issue of having some sort of shortfall in "the basics" of what has been suggested.

May I suggest you help yourself to any of the basic or intermediate references here, and then take a new look at what you'd like to precisely ask. I really do understand that it can be difficult to get enough knowledge to know what to ask, and I'm really not trying to take the piss, but I just get the idea that may be the problem here.

PS. I agree with several others that John Palmer's book may be a good start.

Cheers mate

 

[SBOB]

Damn! just tested my probe thermometer it is BROKEN!!!! AAAaaah!

So its time to spend more money... new thermometer needed now.. any recommendations, how many $$ are they roughly

Thanks Stux.. so its okay to do a step mash using flame to raise temps instead of adding boiling water? Will I or should I still mash in my oven. The lowest I can heat it too is 70 and that's as low as my oven thermos goes too.

I have been reading Zwickels Hefe recipe and am intrigued by his method:

Dough in (what does that even mean) at 35
ferulic acid rest at 42 for 20min
Proteinrest at 52 for 20 min
Beta amylase 63 for 30 min
Alpha amylase 72 for30min
mash out at 78 (why do I need to mash out, whats the benefit?)

Zwickle had another similar one
43 for 20min
62 for 30min
72 for 30min
78 mash out

What would doing this contribute to the beer, it is going to have 2/3rds wheat malt and 1/3rd Pilsener.. I just want to get everything settled before I start this thing, so I know exactly what I'm doing and can get it all sorted.

I know all grain brewing is exciting, but you can spit out excellent beer via BIAB with a single mash temp + mashout step.
Why make your first brews more complex than they need to be, when you dont even know what a single mash temp brew is going to give you efficiency and beer output wise.
Without those basic starting values, how will you know whether a 5 step mash is 'improving' your efficiency or beer output or just adding 5 times more stress to the mash process.

 

[Chookers]

Yes of course it is complicated and I was not planning on doing the step mash this time.. lol..

I was trying to understand this process, and using this wheat beer as an example..

Its hard to convey in writing, because it is just words.. and I am very excited by this whole project, I wanted to know how one would go about it if they did intend a step mash in a biab.. I am still getting up to speed on certain terms and I do have a book on home brewing, I don't know how good it is as far as home brew books go, I know its very old.. because the guy references the "world wide web" as if its a new thing..

Also I am still collecting my equipment.. as you might have guessed.. I am still quite limited and have ran out of funds to go any further for the time being.. I just got my order of Malt and such..

I suppose I could have asked a lot of my questions when the time came that they were relevant to me but I have been reading so much on this site and it has raise a lot of questions.. and despite how it might sound I am making informed decisions based on what I am reading here. I do a lot of things outside this forum, which I don't write down.

Does that all make any sense?

 

[Reman]

For a hefe (as opposed to American Wheat) the 42c ferulic rest will give you more clove flavour during the ferment. I would just do 42c for 20min, 67c for 60min then mash out at 78c for 10 min.

The 78c mash out makes the sugars come out a little easier and it also stops the enzymes converting starch to sugar. Since you need to go through 78c to get to boiling, it doesn't really hurt to get to 78c before you pull the bag.

 

[Chookers]

Thanks Reman.