So today I broke my BIAB cherry...

[Nullnvoid]

Today after many, many months of planning I finally broke my BIAB cherry, and now I have questions. I don't think it impacted on what I ended up with but just curious to improve for next time.

I tried to be as prepared as I could for the day and have everything there. Next time I will make sure the keggle is directly underneath the rafter as I only thought about that after I had begun. I thought I was strong enough to lift the bag and althrough I managed, be easier to hoist it out rather than lift with my puny arms.

Questions for the masses:

1. When boiling the wort is there some magical ingredient to stop it boiling over? I ended up leaving the lid off and it would account for a fairly substantial loss due to evaporation. Started with 36 litres and only end up with a cube by the end. The spreadsheet said I should have ended up with about 28ish.

2. When adding the hops at the regular intervals, the wort would bubble and up higher and then go back down leaving hops all up the side of the keggle. I spent time pushing it back down into the wort. Is this necessary or is it only a small proportion in peoples minds? How do you counteract this?

3. I didn't take a SG reading before I put it into the cube. Does this matter. I figured I will take a reading before I put it in the fermenter.

I'm sure there was meant to be more questions but I cannot think of them right at this time. Always the way

Anyway, it was successful as I ended up with something that resembles the beginnings of beer into a cube for later use And now I have done it once it will be easier to do again, and again and again and again.

 

[MitchD]

1. Heat control. Keep the boil going but only inside the pot, this will also help with 2 & 3.

2. Again heat control, its a bit late but nucleation is what that reaction is called.

3. Your OG will probably be a fair bit higher with the evaporation you experienced, beersmith has a calculator built in to help with replacing this amount to reach a desired OG.

In the end you made beer, congratulations and keep at it.

 

[michaeld16]

definitely leave the lid off while boiling are you using electric or gas to heat as said before turn it down a bit and control it a bit more, around 12-15 percent evaporation is ideal I believe. Sometimes I measure og when cubing other times I forget and measure it when I pour it into the fermenter doesn't matter should be the same

 

[Nullnvoid]

Thanks for your thoughts so far.

I forgot that important detail, it was gas heated. I turned it down a bit once the boil was going but will try and turn it down a bit more next time.

 

[Nibbo]

A spray bottle of water helps keep down the boil overs when necessary...Give it a few squirts when it's erupting and it should tame the beast.

If you can control the heat to the kettle, you only need a good rolling boil. It doesn't need to overally aggressive. Also, leave the lid off as this helps to evaporate a boiled cabbage type flavour out of the wort.

Add your hops a bit slower rather than dumping them in all at once. Just sprinkle them in.

How many litres is your cube? 20, 25? How much was left in your kettle after transferring into your cube.

Once you know the figures of your evaporation rate and your losses in your kettle after transferring, you can adjust your figures to suit in future brews.

 

[breakbeer]

A hop spider or a hop sock will help with question 2.

Welcome to use mine before you buy one

 

[chrisso81]

3. Once you've filled your cube just fill a big jar or something with wort from your kettle. Mines always full of hot break and hops but by the time it hits 20C it will have separated enough to decant a hydro samples worth.

 

[yankinoz]

Skimming foam seems to reduce subsequent foaming, maybe by removing proteins. The spray bottle is good to have handy, but if I skim I rarely need it even if I start a boil with only 7--8 cm free space at the top, and I too use a gas burner. Ditto about a rolling boil: it does not need to be rock and rolling.

 

[Nullnvoid]

Thanks for the reply guys, love the idea of the spray bottle, will get that idea hooked up for next time.

Looks like the rolling boil control is the key. May have had it up too high and thought it needed to be a thundering boil, but obviously I can experiment with that a little further. Looks like I'll just have to get another one going soon

The cube I have, I think is a 20 litre cube? or 25? Somewhere between those two Either way, need to try and stop that loss, seems quite high. There wasn't much left in the kettle after I got enough into the cube, had to tilt it slightly to get enough out.

@Breakbeer - Thanks for the kind offer, I'll pm you for when I get my next one happening and give that a go before I buy one! Thanks!

All a steep learning curve......and I love it!!! Man this hobby is friggen addictive.

 

[Nullnvoid]

Another question, how does everyone clean the bag? I just hosed it with the hose. Is this sufficient, do I need to spray it with starsan before storage? Do I need to sacrifice a goat on the fourth new moon just after taking a virgin from behind in front of it?

 

[Pokey]

Another question, how does everyone clean the bag? I just hosed it with the hose. Is this sufficient, do I need to spray it with starsan before storage? Do I need to sacrifice a goat on the fourth new moon just after taking a virgin from behind in front of it?

The goat sacrifices are handy but I usually just hose out the bag and make sure it dries really well. Anything it will contact will be boiled so it shouldn't need sterilising.
And well done on the first brew, sounds reasonably organised if they are the only troubles you had

 

[Nullnvoid]

The goat sacrifices are handy but I usually just hose out the bag and make sure it dries really well. Anything it will contact will be boiled so it shouldn't need sterilising.
And well done on the first brew, sounds reasonably organised if they are the only troubles you had

Yeah it does seem like a lot of work, especially having to find the virgin everytime and wait for the fourth new moon. Won't get much brewing done.

It did seem to go quite well. I have had everything planned for months and have gone over and over it all so was pretty sure I had it all down pat, the only thing I didn't have was time to do it .

 

[Mardoo]

...and then there's those times when you have a few drinks before brewing and mix up the virgin and the goat.

Congrats Nullnvoid! I loooooove all-grain brewing.

 

[Nullnvoid]

Yeah, I did make sure it was only right at the end I cracked open a celebratory beer so as not to run into any problems.

As for accidentally sacrificing the wrong thing, well I guess accidents are accidents and as long as something gets sacrificed and something warm gets unvirginised it shouldn't matter

 

[buckerooni]

good stuff. I tried the 8am weekend brew day and liked it (got me outta bed much easier). With the 'school night brewing' approach (30 min mash & boil, no chill) I was done by 11am. - off to the pub for lunch then!

pitch on a yeast cake, ferment at 42c, force carb and you'll be drinking it by dinner time :huh:

 

[Tahoose]

good stuff. I tried the 8am weekend brew day and liked it (got me outta bed much easier). With the 'school night brewing' approach (30 min mash & boil, no chill) I was done by 11am. - off to the pub for lunch then!

pitch on a yeast cake, ferment at 42c, force carb and you'll be drinking it by dinner time :huh:

Haha the last bit had me laughing.

 

[pist]

Good stuff mate. Its all downhill from here. Next youll be wanting to upgrade to double batches.

 

[Nullnvoid]

Ha! Maybe, but will probably need new friends for that. None of mine seem to drink beer, or good beer for that matter. And it seems to take me a while to get through it. Realised tonight I have been drinking my current two brews for 4 months. I need to get a wriggle on

 

[bigmacthepunker]

Hey Null, I had the same problem till I grabbed a second hand kegerator. Now just brewed 125L to fill the kegs, first keg already popped. Seeing those shinny taps after work makes you thirsty.
Cheers
Big G