So BIAB is a thing, making the transition from full extract

[Vini2ton]

Carrying a full 50lt pot up stairs boiling, cool or cold is a bit of an issue especially after draining the bag hanging off your ****. Even superman might baulk at that.

 

[Bbowzky1]

haha Im glad i wasnt the one who claimed to have removed a full BIAB bag with broken arms and an elbow, the thing people will do for beer tho am i right?

 

[Bbowzky1]

On a seperate note.

I wanna make a larger and im thinking of doing this as my first AG attempt and my first BIAB

http://aussiehomebrewer.com/recipe/1611-cascade-lager/
onlything ill be changing is ill be using 2 packs of saflarger s23
oh and i will use 1/2 tab irish moss and chill

does anyone see an issue with this recipe?

also other then just adding the info into BIABrewer does anyone have any tips to addapting this recipe for BIAB?

cheers guys

 

[Bribie G]

If you are happy to wait a few weeks for a lager (not larger) with your first BIAB then go ahead. Typically you would need to ferment for a couple of weeks at around 12 degrees or less, then cold condition at near freezing for another couple of weeks.

You might be better with an ale so you can reap the benefits earlier.

 

[Bbowzky1]

this is true. my next batch was gunna be a full extract pilsner however now im geared up i really wanna try at BIAB.
my Birthday was yesterday and the missus agreed to get me a new corney for the fridge i picked up of gumtree. what i was looking to do was brew it up, leave it out in the garage (melbourne weather here) for 3 weeks ish, bring it inside for d rest then rack it to the corney and leave it in the fridge for 6-8 weeks.

does anyone know how to use the BIABrewer softwear im confused as fk

 

[troopa]

Bribie you dont need a fridge down here for the next couple of weeks to lager.. its only getting to 14-16degrees during the day. Its killing me cause i refuse to use heat pads/lights (personal choice)

Bbowzky I love ales because its 1 week or so till you know if you stuffed it up or not. if your a die hard lagerer then go for it, otherwise go for a simple ale so you may know sooner if your on the right track.

Just my 2cents

 

[Bbowzky1]

Bribie you dont need a fridge down here for the next couple of weeks to lager.. its only getting to 14-16degrees during the day. Its killing me cause i refuse to use heat pads/lights (personal choice)

Bbowzky I love ales because its 1 week or so till you know if you stuffed it up or not. if your a die hard lagerer then go for it, otherwise go for a simple ale so you may know sooner if your on the right track.

Just my 2cents

ok yeah very good point. what would you suggest is a nice drop? mate likes cascade pale ale, told him id make it for him but its kinda boaring, tho very largerish so could be a nice substitute

quick bottle conditioning question off topic, i have some brews in my cold *** garage, wil they condition/ carbonate if stitting below the yeast operating temps? and how long would you suggest itd take an IPA to condition in our garage?

 

[takai]

With gloves you numpties... casts are very good for load bearing if not for absorbing wort.

 

[Rocker1986]

quick bottle conditioning question off topic, i have some brews in my cold *** garage, wil they condition/ carbonate if stitting below the yeast operating temps? and how long would you suggest itd take an IPA to condition in our garage?

No.

Unless they were already carbonated before the temp dropped. If you bottled them and left them in a cold spot straight away then they most likely won't carbonate. I made this mistake a couple of years ago which is one reason I decided to start brewing lagers (not largers ) in winter instead of ales.

If they're already carbonated then conditioning at a low temp like that is no problem. Probably better than higher temps really.

They are conditioned when you decide they are at their optimum drinking. Try one a week and make a note of when you feel they're at their best.

 

[Bbowzky1]

No.

Unless they were already carbonated before the temp dropped. If you bottled them and left them in a cold spot straight away then they most likely won't carbonate. I made this mistake a couple of years ago which is one reason I decided to start brewing lagers (not largers ) in winter instead of ales.

If they're already carbonated then conditioning at a low temp like that is no problem. Probably better than higher temps really.

They are conditioned when you decide they are at their optimum drinking. Try one a week and make a note of when you feel they're at their best.

ok cool so i really need them inside to carbonate.
after the primary i waited out to 14 days, i then put the fermentors out n the garage (sg had sytabilized before i did this) and let them sit for a week, i then bottled them. so at garage temps.
what your saying is i should really bring em inside for 2 weeks to let them carbonate then take em back outside?

cheers

 

[Rocker1986]

Well, what is the actual temp of them? IN any case, storing them at 18C or above for two weeks is the best way to ensure carbonation happens.

In my fiasco, they sort of quarter carbonated before the temp dropped too low, and even when the weather warmed up again, they still didn't carbonate. I did receive advice that they would, but that wasn't my experience.

I have, on occasion, used my brewing fridge as a hot box of sorts to make sure ales carbonate properly. I put all the bottles in there, boiled a 2L Erlenmeyer flask of water on the stove and stuck that in on a towel on the floor of the fridge and closed the door. Re-boiled the flask twice a day for a couple of days. Got it up to 27 in there at one stage :lol: however, usually I'm too lazy to bother doing that so i just brew lagers as they will carbonate in my usual bottle storage cupboard at the lower temperatures of winter.

 

[jimmy_jangles]

27 degrees will carbonate your ale...but i would imagine you would get some undesirable flavours at that temp, 16 - 19 degrees c for a while longer is how i like to condition my ales, worth the wait in my opinion

 

[Bbowzky1]

I live in melbournes north so current temps in the garage are around 10c

 

[Rocker1986]

Yeah I dunno if the beers themselves were that hot, that was just the highest the inside of the fridge got. They were bottled cold from CCing, so I wanted to get the temp up quickly. I left it alone after that to allow it to drop back to 18-20ish.

In saying that I don't think the carbonation temperature has much effect on the flavour of the beer. These flavours have already been created during the first few days of the primary fermentation - this is the point where you want to control the temperature in a good range for whatever you intend the beer to be.

I find my ales are ready to drink at different time frames depending on what they are. Paler styles are better fresh (standard APAs etc, not IPAs), reds I find good at a 2-3 months, porters/stouts I leave for at least 6 months if not 12. I don't brew IPAs so have no experience on when they would be at their best.

 

[Rocker1986]

I live in melbournes north so current temps in the garage are around 10c

Ok well that won't be warm enough to carbonate ales. That's about what mine were sitting at when they failed. I would be moving them to a warmer location for 2-3 weeks to allow them to carbonate, then shift them back to the garage.

 

[contrarian]

My first BIAB was a single malt and single hop (SMASH) beer using Maris otter and Amarillo. It's a good way to start and learn the process without introducing too many variables.

For a 20L batch use around 5kg of ale malt and then choose a hop you like and aim for about 25-30 IBU with about 10-15 IBU as a bittering addition at 60 minutes and then the rest at flame out. This should give you a beer around 1.045-1.050.

Mash at 65C for 90 minutes.

I no chill and find it easier than chilling and means I can stockpile wort to ferment later on.

To transfer hot wort to the cube you can either add a ball valve or buy about 2m of silicone hose and a jiggle syphon.

The BIABacus looks complex but you really only need to fill out a few fields. The dimensions of your pot, the desired volume and the target gravity. Once you've done that you can add grains to the table on the left hand side and instead of a weight add a percentage of the grain bill, in the recipe above 100.

With this info it should calculate the amount of water you need to start with.

In the table for the hops you need the target IBUs for the recipe and the AA% for the hops. For the timing you use the time until the end of the boil so for a 60 minute boil a 60 minute hop addition is added at the start of the boil.

For your first few brews focus on getting comfortable with the process and keeping good records of things like volume, temperature and SG. This will help make software more helpful for your equipment.

This all sounds pretty complicated but it really is a simple process and generally the worst thing that can happen is that you'll make beer!

 

[troopa]

Crack one of your beers and let us know how they are?
Thats my philosophy.. and its the only way to tell with your set up.
I do agree with rocker though that 10deg is too cold but it will most likely carb up but take far longer then you want. if you can warm up a few at a time for another week of so itll help if they are flatish

Crack a beer... you know you wanna

 

[Bbowzky1]

Yeah sounds good.
Ill move em in to the underneath of the pantry tomorrow arvo.
They havnt been in bottles long and in the IPA I can see the syrup (priming sugar) settled to the bottom if that makes any sense. And nah its not the sediment lol
Thanks all for ya help.

 

[Bbowzky1]

Ok so instead of doing a larger for my first BIAB im thinking this one.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/3984/cascade-pale-ale
Thoughts?
The BIABrewer softwear suggests a higher grain bill and hop addition and all units I convereted to metric.
I plan on just using us05 as probably dont have time to make a starter by the time I get the the LHBS.
mash in at 66 (strike) rest at 64 ish for 90min. Mash out 78c for 10min
Half tab irish moss and 1 tsp of wyeast nutrient @15min.
strain into smaller vessle and chill in ice bath.
pitch rehydrated us05 in 18c wort
Thoughts?
Cheers

 

[Rocker1986]

Did you use carbonation drops or bulk prime the IPA? Reason I ask is, if the sugar is evenly dissolved through the beer, it will not settle out of solution. You would need to add about 1.5kg of sugar per litre at that temperature for it to start doing that. If you used carbonation drops then yes they will dissolve but the sugar will stay at the bottom as it hasn't been mixed through.