Using An Urn For Brew In A Bag - Tutorial

[Pogierob]

Pretty much.

 

[indica86]

Done, first brew yesterday. So good.

 

[H0U5ECAT]

Realistically, if one cant get his hands on a 40ltr urn, what is a good size to get?
How much Wort would a 20ltr pot turn out?

 

[hathro]

40ltr would be the minimum. With 20ltr you're looking at 12L of wort if you're lucky, then factor in your losses to trub. Hardly makes it worthwhile. You will have more wort if you mash in a mash tun and use the 20L as a boil pot.

 

[H0U5ECAT]

so really, a little pointless.
If you go in for BIAB, a 40 ltr + would be the way?

Looking on Youtube, I've come across Big Nath's setup.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ3gsx-Lx9Y
now, what I want to know, is why is there a recirculating pump and a thermocoupler?

Obviously a reason.

 

[pedleyr]

Look up "Maxi BIAB" - people have managed to get 21 odd litres of wort with a 19 litre pot by brewing high gravity and diluting. It's definitely worth a look.

Alternatively just brew half sized batches - that'd what I did to get started while I got equipment together for full size batches.

 

[hathro]

40L Buffalo urns are <$200 new here: http://www.nisbets.com.au/Buffalo-Manual-Fill-Water-Boiler-40Ltr/CC193-A/ProductDetail.raction

Use the code WELCOME10 to get $10 off.

Check this thread to make it an unstopable beast: http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/78765-solved-brand-new-buffalo-urn-wont-reach-rolling-boil/page-2#entry1172939

 

[Bribie G]

They have a good rep on the UK forums, if my Crownie ever karks it I'd consider getting one.

 

[SBOB]

so planning to make the venture into AG with a Birko and BIAB w/ no chill but the various spreadsheets and recipes have me a bit confused regarding a basic recipe

Can anyone link me to a basic pale ale recipe that is pretty much ideal for a copy to a BIAB in an urn with no-chill?
Bit confused regarding water quantity/grain bill etc

 

[anthonyUK]

In a 40l Buffalo I start with 35l which is about 1" below the MAX line.
Using a 4-5kg grain bill this gives me 23-24l into the FV with no further water additions e.g. no sparging.

I have some BIAB recipes on beersmith, some original and some modified - http://beersmithrecipes.com/viewuser/27877/anthonyuk

 

[Bribie G]

That would be about right, with a Crown urn I put in around 33L that ends up with around 24L after a typical one hour boil.

A typical recipe for those volumes would be around 5 kg of grains to give about 5.2% abv.

 

[SBOB]

Thanks... so if I took something like the well renowned 'Dr Smurtos Golden Ale' recipe, using Brewmate and selecting BIAB/cold chill and adjusting hops schedule for ~20 minute change due to no chill I get the following... Can someone run their eye over it and tell me if its right/wrong/wayoff? Shows about 5kg grain, and starting water amount ~33L and about 23L at the end. These are just using standard 'Brewmate' estimates so not sure if they 'fit' an urn characteristics..

Recipe
Dr Smurto's Golden Ale
American Pale Ale
Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 20.0
Total Grain (kg): 4.261
Total Hops (g): 67.00
Original Gravity (OG): 1.050 (°P): 12.4
Final Gravity (FG): 1.013 (°P): 3.3
Alcohol by Volume (ABV): 4.91 %
Colour (SRM): 10.6 (EBC): 20.9
Bitterness (IBU): 34.7 (Average - No Chill Adjusted)
Brewhouse Efficiency (%): 75
Boil Time (Minutes): 60
Grain Bill
----------------
2.406 kg Pale Ale Malt (56.47%)
0.802 kg Caramalt (18.82%)
0.802 kg Wheat Malt (18.82%)
0.251 kg Caramunich I (5.88%)
Hop Bill
----------------
22.0 g Amarillo Pellet (8.6% Alpha) @ 40 Minutes (Boil) (1.1 g/L)
15.0 g Amarillo Pellet (8.6% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil) (0.8 g/L)
15.0 g Amarillo Pellet (8.6% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop) (0.8 g/L)
15.0 g Amarillo Pellet (8.6% Alpha) @ 0 Days (Dry Hop) (0.8 g/L)
Misc Bill
----------------
Single step Infusion at 66°C for 75 Minutes.
Fermented at 20°C with Safale US-05

Recipe Generated with BrewMate

Brew Day

Dr Smurto's Golden Ale
American Pale Ale
Recipe Specs
----------------
Batch Size (L): 23.0
Original Gravity (OG): 1.050 (°P): 12.4
Total Water Required (L): 32.89
Mash
---------------
Total Grain (kg): 4.899
Grain Temp (°C): 25.0
Strike Water (L): 32.89
Grain Absorbtion (L/Kg): 0.60
Water / Grain Ratio (L/Kg): 6.71
Desired Mash Temp (°C): 66.0
Strike Water Temp (°C): 68.4
Total Mash Volume (L): 37.79
Boil
----------------
Wort Volume before Boil (L): 30.0
SG before Boil: 1.047 (°P): 11.7
Boil Length (Minutes): 60.0
% Evaporation per Hour (5-15%): 10.0
Wort Volume after Boil (L): 27.0
SG after Boil: 1.050 (°P): 12.4
Losses to Trub and Chiller: 3.0
Final Volume (L): 24.0
After Cooling (4% loss): 23.0

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Are you no-chilling?

Brewmate is fine for urn characteristics, so long as the urn has the volume necessary to contain the mash.

If this is your first beer, 75% efficiency might be a little ambitious though. Better off lowering that (either to produce less wort, or lower gravity wort) to 65% and then increasing it to your real world efficiency once you get a more consistent figure for that.

 

[SBOB]

Are you no-chilling?

Brewmate is fine for urn characteristics, so long as the urn has the volume necessary to contain the mash.

If this is your first beer, 75% efficiency might be a little ambitious though. Better off lowering that (either to produce less wort, or lower gravity wort) to 65% and then increasing it to your real world efficiency once you get a more consistent figure for that.

planning on no-chilling, which is why i moved the hop schedule up ~20 minutes and moved the last two to being dry hop additions.. This kept Brewmate's calculated IBU about the same..

So dropping the efficiency % will either tell me to 'put less water in' for same OG at end of brew or 'keep water the same' and OG (and resulting ABV) will be lower?

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

Probably bring the early addition to 30 minutes and cube hop the rest. It's what I've been doing and there's a fairly decent topic on cube hopping, with the master hopper (Yob) there with the anecdotes and non-scientific evidence of how to go about it (but it works!).

Dropping the efficiency in brewmate will give you a lower OG figure. Do this, and then just lock ingredients (button on left) and adjust down the volume until the figures are where you want them to be.

If you want to increase your ingredients to the original volume you wanted, just unlock the ingredients and put in the volume you'd like and then it'll adjust up the ingredients.

 

[davedoran]

Anyone use the tea strainer on the crown urns here.
I imagine its too small and not strong enough for the grain but a pricey hop spider i suppose.

 

[Forever Wort]

Looks good but it seems to only sit at a high level on the urn. In other words it may not reach down low enough to be submerged in only 24l.

 

[Bribie G]

I saw that when I was in at CraftBrewer and came to the same conclusion as Forever Wort.

Perfect for ladies bingo nights in the church hall

 

[leighaus]

im in the the study stage of moving to BIAB. Im definitely going electric...

Ive come to the conclusion of either getting a buffalo and hoping its good,

or a:

BCF crabpot 38L $75
5 star distilling 2400W shrouded element $90
and STC1000 25$..

then just etch mark the inside of the pot for litre markings. I think that would see me into the BIAB territory.. Is there anything i'm missing asides from some swiss voile ?


What do people recommend is the best cheapest way to get going thats not going to be dead in 3 brews

 

[mrsupraboy]

Make Ur own but I would go at least a 50 L pot