Yankee Biab

[browndog]

I keep trying to get to your sig but I can't get past your avatar Mantis. i'm hunting down ppls BIAB experiences here for reference. If my wife ever pops this kid out, I get a week off so hopefully can get half a day to do this.

Yes, Mantis avatar is annoying me, I just used the window magnifier for the very first time and it was all pixelly. Good luck with the BIAB Daddymem, it will tuen out great.

cheers

Browndog

 

[Bribie G]

For the quantities you are using and the pot size a good way of ensuring a good stable mash temperature is to put the lid on and insulate well with no need to add extra heat. Where do you brew, do you have a good ol USA cellar? It amazes me that in Australia we don't have basements or cellars. In the old Victorian suburbs like Central Sydney the old row houses often had basements same as in Philly or Baltimore but we seem to have lost the art nowadays. Pity.



That's a feather quilt and the last BIAB I did was a 90 minute mash and it only dropped 3 degrees C whatever that is in the old money, over that period.

 

[daddymem]

Polyester voile is fine. I think some of mine is polyester and some is nylon. Here's a photo of what it looks like if you want to lug a picture into the haberdasher's...

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/Chkml...feat=directlink

The finer you can crush the grain, the better for BIAB. I sometimes put mine through the mill twice. The sparging dynamic is much different to normal sparging where they talk about intact husks and stuff like that. You cannot get a stuck sparge (unless perhaps you use 150% malted rye or cement) - you almost want flour. You will get a cloudy wort, but the only difference I have found between a cloudy wort and a clear one is the clear one is purdier. (Purdy is american for pretty... )

My process is to put all the water into the pot and bring it to temp; insert the empty bag and any water agents; stir and check temp; pour in the grain and then stir it for a while to ensure any lumps break up. Easy.

FWIW, some of my best friends are Americans, but I do know what you mean by "putting up with a yank"...

Hrmmmm, my mesh looks a lot finer than yours. This is what I got:

Do I have to find different stuff now? Those are 10ths of an inch btw.

 

[braufrau]

For the quantities you are using and the pot size a good way of ensuring a good stable mash temperature is to put the lid on and insulate well with no need to add extra heat. Where do you brew, do you have a good ol USA cellar? It amazes me that in Australia we don't have basements or cellars. In the old Victorian suburbs like Central Sydney the old row houses often had basements same as in Philly or Baltimore but we seem to have lost the art nowadays. Pity.

View attachment 25559

That's a feather quilt and the last BIAB I did was a 90 minute mash and it only dropped 3 degrees C whatever that is in the old money, over that period.

Hey that looks like how I used to mash! Only I'd put a pretty cover on the doona!

 

[reVoxAHB]

I've read your efficiency will shoot up another 5% if you can construct your "bag" from a genuine American flag . It only works in the USA, of course.

Cheers,
reVox

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Hrmmmm, my mesh looks a lot finer than yours. This is what I got:

Do I have to find different stuff now? Those are 10ths of an inch btw.

That does look a lot finer and it looks different to the usual Australian Swiss Stuff in that Ours is a knotted weave, whereas yours is just a simple basket weave. It will be interesting to see how it goes. It will probably work, but I suspect probably not as well as ours (as is so often the case trans-atlantic... ) It might not drain as quickly, so prepare to hang it from a doorknob draining into a bucket or something to avoid over-developed arm muscles.

 

[katzke]

I've read your efficiency will shoot up another 5% if you can construct your "bag" from a genuine American flag . It only works in the USA, of course.

Cheers,
reVox

That would be disrespectful of the flag and all those that died for it. Even the ones that died so you do not have to speak Japanese now.

But you do what you want with the Aussie flag.

 

[SDJ]

Iv'e done over 50 BIAB brews so far and have used the same method every time with the same results, damm good beer thats is 5.2% alcohol or very close every time.

simplify is the way I do it, I sewed the bag myself and its smaller than the pot (it works), fill pot with water from the garden hose, place trivet with 2 inch legs in pot, put bag in pot and use bulldog clips to hold it up, light burner, pour grain into water in pot, turn burner up, Ive never seen this clumping people talk about, stir grain occasionaly whilst it heats to 66C (thermometer is hanging from inside of pot on a handmade coathanger thingy)
I dont use a lid, when 66 C is reached (usually 25ish minutes) I turn the burner off, remove the clips holding the bag onto the pot then lift the bag up and support it by propping my elbows on the pot sides, let it drain for a few minutes then set it on an old fridge shelf over an esky (American cooler), remove trivet from pot, fire up burner to high, squeeze grain in bag with a plastic plate to extract wort from grain into esky (cooler) then tip into pot.
it normaly takes about 20 minutes to get to boiling, turn burner down, work out times for hop additions, recheck brew, go play guitar,watch movie on tv or check the drum smoker as I often make beef jerky whilst brewing, I set the alarm on my mobile to warn me when a hop addition is close and just pop out side and add the hops to the hop sock suspended from another coathanger thingy,
I usually squirt some CO2 into the cube I use to no chill the wort then siphon it straight in hot, squeeze the cube between the gate and gatepost then do the lid up.
I managed to turn several people to the art of homebrewing and the only ones that have problems are the few that wanted to complicate things, serves them right, if something works and works well, why the hell **** with it!!

sorry this is so long but its just my $3.58 worth.

 

[daddymem]

Wow! I've been looking into picking up a wort chiller locally. The lhbs want to rape you! Lowest is $85, highest is $150. Online $50-$60 but then you have shipping. I'm going to check on copper prices to DIY it but I am intrigued with the no-chill method. A concerned raised once on here was someone suggested that Domestic grains we get tend to have higher DMS production than what you guys get. I can't find that thread, it was a Yank also who was going to give it a shot with our stuff. I'd love to know how it went. If I can no-chill I would be very happy. I can get water jugs for ~$8. HDPE "2" on the bottom. Figure give the wort a nice whirlpool at flameout, let it sit for 10 minutes or so and siphon off into a cube....hrmmm can my autosiphon take that hot wort??

 

[daddymem]

Aha!

Found it:
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...=25831&st=0

 

[daddymem]

OK. Autosiphon will probably not handle the hot wort. If the vinyl (?) tubing I have that came with my True Brew kit would handle the heat I can make a T-auto siphon for pennies and get some rigid tubing for a racking cane. Until I get a valve on my kettle that is.

 

[daddymem]

Well, the best I could find for a cube was a 6 gallon water jug for $5 or a 5 gallon water cube for $11 (All US $). Can I squeeze out enough air in the 6 gallon since most of our brews here in the US are 5 gallon batches?

What can I siphon with. I was going to get some hose to use but the guy at Home Depot said only copper could handle the temps.

 

[glennheinzel]

Well, the best I could find for a cube was a 6 gallon water jug for $5 or a 5 gallon water cube for $11 (All US $). Can I squeeze out enough air in the 6 gallon since most of our brews here in the US are 5 gallon batches?

What can I siphon with. I was going to get some hose to use but the guy at Home Depot said only copper could handle the temps.

Silicon hose will do the trick.
http://www.mashmaster.com.au/p/368223/sili...e-diameter.html

 

[daddymem]

Sweet. Will a standard siphon do or do I get a stainless one?

 

[daddymem]

Actually I'm going to hit a pluming supply for the hose and hopefully 24" of copper for a racking cane.

 

[daddymem]

Here's some BIAB success in Yankee land:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/brew-bag-t...results-109973/

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

If you are the kind of person who ferments in glass carboys or plastic buckets that do not have taps in them, I guess you could also argue that there is little point in putting a tap in the boiler as you will already have highly-developed siphoning skills. In this case, a stainless racking cane would be money well spent.

Personally, I've gone down the (predictable) tap route via a short-lived play with siphons and sometimes - only sometimes - wondered how different life would have been without taps and *with* a good racking cane. In retrospect, I should never have taken my Facile Syphon anywhere near hot wort...

 

[Thirsty Boy]

I think your bag material looks about exactly the same as mine - as long as the fact that it is a mesh is visible to your naked eye, its fine.

Method for me is -

wok rack in bottom of pot
All water into pot
Water heated to 2 C above desired mash temp
Bag into pot, recheck temp and adjust
grain poured into bag and stirred
Temperature check at 10min (stir before measure) adjust back to mash temp if its dropped very far (stirring constantly while adding heat)
Maybe another temp check at 30 min... probably not
Mash for 60 min
Stirring constantly raise to 76-78C
pull out bag and squeeze/drain
boil
chill or No-Chill

Expect to get about 70% efficiency the first time and be only a little surprised if it a few points either side. Have some dme on hand.

And it obviously works even if you vary quite significantly from that - so dont stress, just brew it and see how you go.

TB

 

[codzilla]

That would be disrespectful of the flag and all those that died for it. Even the ones that died so you do not have to speak Japanese now.

But you do what you want with the Aussie flag.

Here, Here,, our 20`s knowitalls are pretty much "soft cock society". You WOULD NOT want to be in the trenches with them. They can talk , just cant walk.

 

[Mantis]

Here, Here,, our 20`s knowitalls are pretty much "soft cock society". You WOULD NOT want to be in the trenches with them. They can talk , just cant walk.

Really no need for this crap, is there :icon_offtopic: