Using An Urn For Brew In A Bag - Tutorial

[theredone]

cheers guys ill just go as per recipe and c how it goes, if its not bitter enough ill bump up for next brew.

 

[ianh]

hey guys,
did my first brew in new urn last night, didnt really think about hcf, just thought more water so more hops..... giving it more thought now i think ive done it wrong. the denser the water the less bitterness extracted? thus watered down wort(pre boil 35ltrs ish) would extract more? meaning i should decrease the amount of hops?

not too sure on this one

cheers
red

Hi Red

The hcf (hop concentration factor) is involved in the Gareth method of calculating bitterness and only becomes important when boiling small volumes compared with the fermented volume. So does not apply to BIAB.

This link will give you more info link


cheers

Ian

 

[homebrewkid]

just read the tuitorial good write up
im going to do this one day............
for a double pulley block try your local boat shop or bias marine or whitworths
brand name ronstan might be strong enough both shops have websites and mail order
just a thought hope this helps someone out [these pulleys are used to hoist sails in the wind so should be pretty strong]
but id ask the friendly staff first explain what you are doing and the weight of what you want to lift
they will be all to happy to help out id think.


p.s if anyone does try this id love to know how it goes please.

p.p.s they also make 3 pulley blocks

 

[Endo]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/48-litre-tea-coffee...bb#ht_500wt_843

Just saw these on ebay... 48litres

 

[kjparker]

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/48-litre-tea-coffee...bb#ht_500wt_843

Just saw these on ebay... 48litres

Run. Run as fast as you can from these.....

 

[Endo]

Run. Run as fast as you can from these.....

That good huh?

Boooo was such a good size too

 

[Wolfman]

What about these?

http://www.cedarhospitality.com/products/c...r-urn-36ltr.php

 

[theredone]

hey has anyone found that the crowns dont have a very vicious boil? thus you need to boil a bit longet to try and reduce down to an acceptable voulme to OG? my first few batches came out with like 26ltrs at 1.030.(efficiency may be partly to blame also)

 

[Bribie G]

Exposed element or concealed element? I've got an exposed and it boils down ok. I still get mixed messages about the concealed element ones, if that's yours then I'd be looking to try lagging with camping mat or that silver covered foam you get from Clark Rubber, and also budget in a 90 min boil for most brews.

Also look at your strike liquor, how did you calculate yours? In the case of my Crown I have a 33L mark on the sight tube and this is just about spot on for:

5.5k grain bill
60 min boil
23L cube full (Willow 20L cube actually holds 23) plus a half litre extra to keep for a starter.

:icon_cheers:

 

[theredone]

Yeah i have the concealed, thought they were the way to go, have done the mod to bypass boilover cutout thing as well.

so lag it and just always leave it on? the camping mat wont melt?

lol i dont calculate, i just fill with water till it looks good mind you going off the pictures in this tread mine is never quite as full as the OP's. by the sight tube, what do you mean? there is a tube coming out near the tap of mine but i was pretty sure that was just for allowing air to get to the tap to improve flow, might be wrong though, ill have to check it out.

either way though i should really put a mark on it for water level. but anyways, i still dont think it is boiling as strongly as it should, at a guess i loose maybe 2 ltrs through a 1 hour boil (bout an inch worth of reduction = roughly 2 ltrs?) and i have started to boild for half hour - hour b4 adding hops to reduce it down now.

 

[Joshisgood]

Hi all, going to be doing my first biab tomorrow morning. Got everything sorted I think, just realized I'm not sure how much water to start with. I'm using a crown 40l urn and plan on doing a 90 min mash and 90min boil with a roughly 5kg grainbill, aiming for a 23 litre batch of dsga, any advice here would be well appreciated
Cheers

 

[felten]

There's an up to date volume calc spreadsheet on biabrewer.info, you might have to sign up for it though.

There's an older version floating around on this forum somewhere that I still use. I think PP prefers people being linked to the latest version though.

 

[PistolPatch]

Thanks felten

We're working on a new calculator now that will most likely be called the BIABacus. It is much more fancier than the current calculator and does some pretty clever stuff.

I think once we have that up, we'll consider allowing access to it without having to go through the full BIABrewer.info registration process that currently exists.

:icon_cheers:
Pat

 

[eviljesus]

Getting all my gear ready and gave the 40L Birko a test run tonight to make sure she could do it. First BIAB goes down on Monday!

Still looking for a recipe that I can decide on. If anyone the would recommend or has any suggestions, I'm all ears! Preferable to keep it fairly simple for a first run.

 

[Mikedub]

Getting all my gear ready and gave the 40L Birko a test run tonight to make sure she could do it. First BIAB goes down on Monday!

Still looking for a recipe that I can decide on. If anyone the would recommend or has any suggestions, I'm all ears! Preferable to keep it fairly simple for a first run.

if you want simple go with a recipe of grain, water, hops, maybe some yeast when it cools down a bit,
sorry - being a smart arse,
so many to choose from in the database, what have you got in the way of ingredients?

 

[eviljesus]

Just done some more reading and nailed down my first 2 recipes.

Dr Smurto's Golden Ale
&
Rude's English

Those two brews should give me a good base to get started and work the potential kinks out of the setup and learn the ropes before I move on to more advanced beers.

 

[Crusty]

hey has anyone found that the crowns dont have a very vicious boil? thus you need to boil a bit longet to try and reduce down to an acceptable voulme to OG? my first few batches came out with like 26ltrs at 1.030.(efficiency may be partly to blame also)

I was going to ask this as well. I got my 40lt Crown exposed element urn yesterday & dome some water calibrations on the sight glass. BeerSmith 2 suggests a 30lt pre-boil approx for me so I fired it up & let her rip. Once boiling, I took note of how gentle the boil is compared to my old system, 23jet mongolian with LPG. I lost 8l/hr to that burner so my boil was probably on the extreme side. The Crown boil is very gentle, almost a simmering rolling boil, but definately boiling. I am going to run another test this morning & see how many litres I lose for a 60min boil.

 

[Bribie G]

I've got used to the Crown boil (about the same as a Birko) so I reckon that's what you get with 2.4 kw.
I'd suggest you decide how much final volume you need for a cube plus loss to trub, pour that volume of water in the urn and put a dot on the sight tube. Then top up to what you estimate as your full volume, put another dot, and do a 60 min test boil. That should give you a good idea of how much you will lose in a 60min boil.

After squillions of brews I just go by the dots nowadays and yes over time some of the dots have moved up and down as I got to grips with Urnest, and I have various dots for big grain bills, adjunct grain bills, 90 min boils, whatever

 

[Crusty]

Ok, test done, urn is still hot & may lose a tad more to cooling losses but I filled to the 33l mark & boiled for 60mins, no insulation & lost 3L approximately. Hope that sounds about right.

 

[ianh]

Ok, test done, urn is still hot & may lose a tad more to cooling losses but I filled to the 33l mark & boiled for 60mins, no insulation & lost 3L approximately. Hope that sounds about right.

Hi Crusty

I have a Crown 40l concealed element urn with a camping mat for insulation and get 3.4/3.5 litres per hour evaporation (in unheated garage).

Water losses about 4% in volume cooling from 100C to 20C so you may get a bit more.

BIAB Spreadsheet may be of help Link lastest version in post 30