Well, I'm Officially An Ag'er

[troublebrewing]

Had my first AG brewday today. And it seemed that nothing went right! (I know, we've heard this one before. Well, just to mix things up, I'm not going to ask if my brew will be ok...) I'd gotten myself a 40 litre pot, which spans 1 1/2 elements on my stove. Beersmith calculated my initial volume as 26.8 litres. So far so good. Having heard that it's better to undershoot a little on your first BIAB, I filled to 25 litres and started the water heating.

2 hours later I'd got to strike temp. :angry:

So the grain goes in, and I give it a good stir every 10 minutes, for 60 minutes. So far so good. Time to haul the bag out of the pot. However, not being sewingly minded, it wasn't a bag, just a sheet of swiss voille. Turns out I'd let one edge of it slip down into the pot... About half a kilo of grain was floating around happily. :angry:

So I'm draining away, and it's not happening quick. And this bag is heavy. Had nothing to suspend it from though, being in the kitchen. So I probably threw out 2-4 litres with the grain, as I couldn't hold the ******* up for any longer. Ahh well, cest la vie and all that. Time to start the boil.

An hour later, it's just nudging 100 degrees, with the lid on. So I take the lid off, fold up the voille sheet, to make a hops triangle kinda thing, and throw in the 60 min addition. 55 minutes later, in goes the 5, and I notice that it's definitely not a roilling boil. Or any sort of boil, for that matter. Lid goes back on. 5 minutes later, I take the pot off the heat, and start thinking of ways to get from the pot into the cube. Ended up syphoning half very poorly with a soft plastic hose, and then just pouring the last half in, hot break, lost grains and all. Looks like I got about 16 litres all told, and no idea of efficiency. :angry:

I went back into the kitchen to start cleaning up, and that's when I notice that the stovetop is completely blackened. Aaaargh!

But on the positive side, it can only get better from here! First step, get myself a gas burner! Most of my frustration is time spent heating, and if I can avoid that, the better. Second step, brew outside, where I can find some way of suspending the bag to let it drain! And third, get a damn auto-syphon. Ahh well, I'll smack the pack tomorrow, sanitise the fermenter, and wait and see what I get.

And then in 6 months time, I'll do the same recipe again and see what it should come out like!

 

[real_beer]

Had my first AG brewday today. And it seemed that nothing went right! (I know, we've heard this one before. Well, just to mix things up, I'm not going to ask if my brew will be ok...) I'd gotten myself a 40 litre pot, which spans 1 1/2 elements on my stove. Beersmith calculated my initial volume as 26.8 litres. So far so good. Having heard that it's better to undershoot a little on your first BIAB, I filled to 25 litres and started the water heating.

2 hours later I'd got to strike temp. :angry:

So the grain goes in, and I give it a good stir every 10 minutes, for 60 minutes. So far so good. Time to haul the bag out of the pot. However, not being sewingly minded, it wasn't a bag, just a sheet of swiss voille. Turns out I'd let one edge of it slip down into the pot... About half a kilo of grain was floating around happily. :angry:

So I'm draining away, and it's not happening quick. And this bag is heavy. Had nothing to suspend it from though, being in the kitchen. So I probably threw out 2-4 litres with the grain, as I couldn't hold the ******* up for any longer. Ahh well, cest la vie and all that. Time to start the boil.

An hour later, it's just nudging 100 degrees, with the lid on. So I take the lid off, fold up the voille sheet, to make a hops triangle kinda thing, and throw in the 60 min addition. 55 minutes later, in goes the 5, and I notice that it's definitely not a roilling boil. Or any sort of boil, for that matter. Lid goes back on. 5 minutes later, I take the pot off the heat, and start thinking of ways to get from the pot into the cube. Ended up syphoning half very poorly with a soft plastic hose, and then just pouring the last half in, hot break, lost grains and all. Looks like I got about 16 litres all told, and no idea of efficiency. :angry:

I went back into the kitchen to start cleaning up, and that's when I notice that the stovetop is completely blackened. Aaaargh!

But on the positive side, it can only get better from here! First step, get myself a gas burner! Most of my frustration is time spent heating, and if I can avoid that, the better. Second step, brew outside, where I can find some way of suspending the bag to let it drain! And third, get a damn auto-syphon. Ahh well, I'll smack the pack tomorrow, sanitise the fermenter, and wait and see what I get.

And then in 6 months time, I'll do the same recipe again and see what it should come out like!

Mistakes are the best teacher TroubleBrewing, no doubt about it, your next run will be great.

Cheers :icon_cheers:

 

[Screwtop]

Looks like I got about 16 litres all told, and no idea of efficiency. :angry:

You have no Hydrometer and you're Ag'ing ??????

Screwy

 

[troublebrewing]

I have a hydrometer, but am going to wait til it's cooled down to reasonable temps before grabbing the OG.

 

[Pollux]

Wow, that is impressive.....

 

[hoppinmad]

Looks like you jumped in the deep end pretty quickly! You really need to make sure you have at least the essentials... hydrometer being one of them.

I ran into lots of problems during my first AG (too many to list!)... but the beer turned out nice. So you will probably be okay.

Each time you have another brew day you will learn more and realise the mistakes you made and solutions if they occur again... but I think that's all part of it.

I'd stay away from the kitchen... you'll end up recking the place... and if you have a missus she will end up kicking you out. Keep going with it though.... AG is so much more fun and rewarding than the alternative methods.


Sorry didn't read your post about having a hydrometer. You know if you get a brewing computer program it can calculate the SG from the hydrometer reading regardless of temp. So you don't need to wait for it to cool down. I use beer smith.... great program

 

[braufrau]

I used to brew on the stove using a 23litre pot across 2 burners. When I graduated to AG and a 36l pot I got a nasa burner.

I feel for you. I find brewing stressful even when it goes well! If you lived in Adelaide I'd sew your bag up for you! I'm sure you can find a kind hearted sewer to whiz it up for you, its a very simple task.

I'll prolly be pooh poohed for this, but you can scoop the wort into the fermenter with a sanitised jug and strainer in the neck of the fermenter will keep the hops and break out.

Hope your not being blown away by the cyclone as well!

 

[clean brewer]

:lol: Good on ya mate, even if you need a new stove...

Best advice I could give is get all you equipment sorted first before you begin, stick with some extracts till you get going properly..

Items to get..

• Tap on pot
• Something stronger than you to lift bag out, pulleys, rope..
• Bag sewn up
• Gas Burner, Gas Bottle, Regulator and Hose
• Temp resistant hose to put on tap to drain to cube
• Bit more research

Also, a refractometer is a great investment, instant gravity readings to see where you are at...

:beer: CB

 

[Screwtop]

:lol: Good on ya mate, even if you need a new stove...

Best advice I could give is get all you equipment sorted first before you begin, stick with some extracts till you get going properly..

Items to get..

• Tap on pot
• Something stronger than you to lift bag out, pulleys, rope..
• Bag sewn up
• Gas Burner, Gas Bottle, Regulator and Hose
• Temp resistant hose to put on tap to drain to cube
• Bit more research

Also, a refractometer is a great investment, instant gravity readings to see where you are at...

:beer: CB

Hey Trouble, follow the tips above from another QLD'er, also you should hook up with FNQ Bunyip, Duff and co up your way.

Cheers,

Screwy

 

[MarkBastard]

I did a BIAB last night with 10L of water and a sewed bag, and help from the missus, and to be honest squeezing the bag was still kind of hard. So I really don't envy you. I would do what I did last night again but I would never try to go any bigger on a stove.

 

[daemon]

Well done for taking the plunge and starting your path to better beer. Although you had a rough start, just remember that experience is the sum of your mistakes We all start from somewhere, some go all out and buy all the gear first, others (like myself) slowly piece it all together. I started with some basic 1/2 batches BIAB style on the stove and now progressed to a more suitable setup (mash tun, kettle, burner etc).

I'd go out and buy a 3 ring burner, it'll make things much easier and they're only $40. You can use the gas regulator from your BBQ (assuming you have one of course) and although there are better and bigger burners, it still gets the job done. I'd also look at some better hoses, I found the cheapest place was BCF, they had reinforced food grade stuff there that works well (also used as fuel line I believe).

I'm sure your beer will turn out fine too, and it can only get better from here!

 

[Cocko]

Yep, well done for taking the plunge!

But oh dear..... Oh dear!

Read, prepare and know all you need to know before you touch!

I literally went through my first BIAB so many times prior, i dreamt about it... serious!

Goodtimes ahead is what I am guessing!

It will be worth it, don't worry about that!

Cheers!

 

[troublebrewing]

Thanks for all the support guys! I'm feeling kinda good about this beer, oddly enough, mainly because I've broken away from extract prepared by someone else! I'm brewing a Danish Lager (sorta) and it's not a style I'm normally used to, but I'm thinking it'll be cleaner and smoother than the extract based brews I've done up til now.

And even though everything went wrong except for getting hops in the cube, I'm ok with it. Because now I know what to watch for with brew styles I'm used to when I'm doing them AG.

After all, this hobby is all about improving your process, up until the day you quit/die, right? If everything had gone right, I think I'd have been kinda disappointed!

 

[shellnaf]

And even though everything went wrong

Not everything went wrong, you ended up wth beer.

I've done 2 mini biabs, the first didn't go too well but the second went much better. I had more fun making the ag (even with the frustrations) than making an all extract or K&B. I ended up with about 9 litres of wort and it took me half a day to do but I enjoyed the whole process.

Nathan

 

[t2000kw]

. . . I'd gotten myself a 40 litre pot, which spans 1 1/2 elements on my stove. Beersmith calculated my initial volume as 26.8 litres. So far so good. Having heard that it's better to undershoot a little on your first BIAB, I filled to 25 litres and started the water heating.

2 hours later I'd got to strike temp. :angry:

Sounds like you need more heat.

Or, you could try this arrangement I used for my first all-grainer.

I used 3 pots on the kitchen stove to do the boil after collecting the wort so I would have the heat sources distributed over the 3 pots. I didn't use BIAB but this would really be no different. I divided up the wort to boil and tried to have an idea of how much was in each pot.

For hop additions I tried to add them in proportion to the amount of wort in each pot. It's not as accurate as doing it in one big pot, but it worked quite well and it allowed me to do an all grain brew before I got enough money together to buy a 10 gallon SS Polarware brew pot and a propane ring burner.

This might be better than what you're doing now as far as time is concerned. It would allow you to use the full heating capacity of two or three burners on your stove instead of getting only 1-1/2 of the heat from 2 burners.

Just an idea you might want to consider.

Donald

 

[boingk]

Good to hear you've done your first AG! BIAB isn't too bad once you get everything down-pat. I use a sheet of voille as well, just tied the corners up in knots to keep the thing sitting where it should in my pot. I also found that after cleaning it you can use it to filter the wort from kettle to fermenter. Mind you, a syphon would be nice as man-handling a hot 80L pot was kind of interesting

As for the burner, check out the 'Burners' thread in the retail section. Excellent info to be found in that one. I'd give a punt for an Italian Spiral or NASA burner over the three-ring I use. Just because they'd be faster.

Cheers - boingk

 

[troublebrewing]

Ok, after all's said and done, I got an OG of 1.047. Bit lighter than I was shooting for, but still within range for the style. However, my estimated IBU's in Beersmith are now off the charts, being 52.6 for a style range of 35-45. I might call it a Bohemian Bitter Pilsner, pretend it's fancy.

 

[warra48]

Well done, in spite of all the difficulties.

My first AG, looking back through my BeerSmith records, was supposed to be an APA 23 litre batch.
I ended up with a mere 17 litres into the fermenter at SG 1.050. Of course, I didn't adjust the hopping schedule, and I guess I made an underdone AIPA rather than an APA.

Still and all, it was a mighty tasty, if somewhat bitter brew.

And, of course, it was a great learning exercise. I never undershot my volume to that extent again.

You'll learn from your experience, and you're bound to improve.

 

[Tony]

I say get an esky mash tun with a flase bottom and ditch the bag

h34r: Ducks

Tap on Kettle! ..... a must!

GOod gas burner..... another must.

Well done on taking the step. And most of us have had brew days like that..... even after years of brewing, you still have the odd shocker.

cheers

 

[Gavo]

First step, get myself a gas burner!
Second step, brew outside, where I can find some way of suspending the bag to let it drain!

good work on getting in and doing the AG
These are two of the best pieces of advice ever.
If you are brewing outside you can also clean up the mess on the floor h34r: with a garden hose.

"I say get an esky mash tun with a flase bottom and ditch the bag"
"Tap on Kettle! ..... a must!"

And there is some more great advice from Tony.

Cheers
Gav.