Yankee Biab

[daddymem]

Well, I got a 50 foot wort chiller for a song so it looks like I won't be no chill. Which is fine, I'm on a well with water all around me, I'll use it for my gardens and send it right back through the sand down into the aquifer below me. Now just waiting on the pot and chiller to arrive.

 

[daddymem]

Questions:

Why 90 minutes for the mash. Is this recipe specific for the Schwarzbier the BIAB directions are based on or a BIAB thing due to a thin mash? (Does our US Domestic 2-row change that?)

Why 90 minute boil? Again, Schwarzbier specific or BIAB specific?

How much of a squeeze do I do on the bag to avoid astringency yet get out the wort?

Pot is still on the way, and the wort chiller is shipped so it may be this weekend or the next.

Thanks guys!

 

[SpillsMostOfIt]

Questions:

Why 90 minutes for the mash. Is this recipe specific for the Schwarzbier the BIAB directions are based on or a BIAB thing due to a thin mash? (Does our US Domestic 2-row change that?)

Why 90 minute boil? Again, Schwarzbier specific or BIAB specific?

How much of a squeeze do I do on the bag to avoid astringency yet get out the wort?

Pot is still on the way, and the wort chiller is shipped so it may be this weekend or the next.

Thanks guys!

I believe the 90min mash is to ensure that you get complete *mashification* of your starches to sugars. I would expect the first time I do anything to get it approximately wrong and so if someone gives me a procedure to reduce the possibilities, I would be pleased. You might have temperatures all over the place or not be stirring enough or have weirdo malt, etc, etc. I see this as a reasonable if not totally necessary instruction to someone who hasn't done it before and know exactly what to expect. I usually mash my beers for about an hour.

90min boil could be for all sorts of reasons. I (nearly) always boil for 90 mins. I tell myself that it is to ensure no DMS precursors and the like. In my case, it is just that that is the way I do it. I don't know if the Schwarzbier recipe depends on the long boil for more black/brown-ness to come from the boil, but I am told by everyone who makes it that it is a decent recipe.

In one sense, BIAB is purely a wort preparation technique. In another sense, it is just a mashing technique. I reckon that once the bag is out and you've got the kettle boiling, the process is the same as the multi-vesselers use and so is effectively the same.

I do not believe that squeezing the bag will give you any astringency at all. I believe that will come from an imperfect pH balance. I have moved from not squeezing at all to squeezing like a crazed mega-brewer and the beers don't appear to have suffered from it...

 

[daddymem]

I'm planning on following the guide, but I'm an engineer so I just gotta know why.

Thanks again Spills, I wouldn't mind raising a glass with you if we lived in the same area on the same big island.

 

[katzke]

I'm planning on following the guide, but I'm an engineer so I just gotta know why.

Thanks again Spills, I wouldn't mind raising a glass with you if we lived in the same area on the same big island.

Not to mention the same day.

 

[daddymem]

Hehe. One of the main reasons to be on this board...I know tomorrow will come when I see post here from then. ;P

 

[Thirsty Boy]

The only place I would possibly not follow the guide - is where it tells you to put in your grain, then heat it up to mash temp. I am aware that some people do it this way (SDJ from his description is one) and it'll work. But I think it is not the most widely practiced method.

Heating the water up to a couple of degrees © higher than mash temp, then adding the grain is probably the more frequently used technique. Also easier to do IMHO.

Apart from that - stir - stir well before taking a temperature and stir constantly at any time you are adding heat to the pot when the grains are in it

And it'll be fine - even if you ignore me, it'll still be fine.

TB

(PS - do not drink with Spills, he is bad for your liver)

 

[PistolPatch]

Yep, Thirsty is right. Add the grain after NOT before. You won't have any dough-ball problems.

Unfortunately, when writing the original guide, I was in a rush and was trying to make things ridiculously simple. It was a lot easier to write throwing the grain in first (which I thought would work) than writing about strike temperatures and adding 1-2 degrees on those!

I have written several warnings about my lapse but they are all too easy to missl

So, heat your water before adding the grain.

Spot,
Pat

 

[Cocko]

Well, there it is Daddymem, direct from the sources!!

I am 20+ BIAB's in with the advice from these 2 gentlemen, others of course on many other issues of brewing but BIAB the 2 men have posted for you!!

You have one choice and one choice only, report back with photos, stats and stories of your first BIAB brew day...

GO!

 

[daddymem]

Cool, got it straight from the source. Here's my new brew day plan. I have also been futzing with the recipe and have settled on the Blonde style of beer. (with 65% efficiency

Willam's Notty Blonde Ambition
10 pounds 2-row
1 pound Carapils
152F for the 90 Minutes
Hops:
2 oz Willamette for 60 min

Put wok grate in bottom of pot
Pot 7 gallons water, turn burner on
Attach grain bag in the pot
Raise temperature to 154F
Begin filling grains, dropping from a reasonable height, and stirring vigorously to break up any dry spots
Check temperature for target: 152F Add heat if needed-start mash time-flame out
Put lid on kettle
For first 20 minutes agitate and check temperature every 5 minutes
Turn on burner when temperature drops to 150F (around 40 minute mark potentially)
Bring to 155F. Flameout for remaining time
At 90 minutes, flame on full
Raise bag above kettle water, give a little twirl and squeeze
Place bag into bucket after it stops dripping
Suspend bag over bucket to drain out squeeze at 10 minutes drain liquid back to kettle
Determine volume of boil and specific gravity (use a ruler for depth and convert with volume per inch and assume 95%) Adjust gravity for temperature.

Bring to a boil and start 90 minutes
All hops @ 30 minutes
Irish Moss @ 80 minutes


Blonde Ale

Min Max Yours Status
OG 1.038 1.054 1.047

FG 1.008 1.013 1.012

IBUs 15.0 28.0 27.4

SRM 3.0 6.0 4.9

ABV % 3.8 5.5 4.6

Overall Brew Status

Pot should arrive today, have to sew the bag up to fit the pot. Wort Chiller hopefully arrives in a day or two. If kid doesn't pop out soon, I should be able to brew this weekend, if not the next.

 

[bonj]

The 90 minute boil does a number of things. The most important of these is it allows time to drive off DMS precursors, and reduces haze in the finished beer. For more in-depth information about the haze reducing side of it, this is a very good article: LINKY

 

[Bribie G]

Good to see you back Pistol.
One reason for a 90 minute boil is that according to many authors (including the laterst CAMRA brew your own British Real Ale which is based on info given by breweries themselves) is that it actually takes that amount of time to fully isomerise the bittering hops. I have recently started 90 min hopping and boy it's fantastic (even went over hopped on one brew with just 20g of Chinook). And it's a smooth bitterness, not astringent.

 

[daddymem]

Good to see you back Pistol.
One reason for a 90 minute boil is that according to many authors (including the laterst CAMRA brew your own British Real Ale which is based on info given by breweries themselves) is that it actually takes that amount of time to fully isomerise the bittering hops. I have recently started 90 min hopping and boy it's fantastic (even went over hopped on one brew with just 20g of Chinook). And it's a smooth bitterness, not astringent.

So by my calculators, I could do 1.5 oz of hops for the full 90 minutes and end up with 22 IBUs, within the standards for Blondes (15-28 IBUs). If I go with the 2 oz full the full 90 minutes I end up with 29.4 just outside the standards. I love hops but I don't want to bury the Blonde flavors too much.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

One of the best reasons to use a 90 min boil is for process purposes -

You bring the kettle up to the boil, which mixes it throughly, flame off for a few seconds to take a volume measurement and a sample - cool it down and test it for gravity. You then know, before you have added any hops, whether you have hit your target volumes and gravities.

This gives you a chance to adjust via a DME or water addition and/or to re-calculate the amount of hops you are going to use if you decide not to adjust the wort.

You get 30mins to cool your sample and crunch the numbers before you hit the 60min mark

You can still add some of your hops at 90 minutes to take advantage of a bit of extra utilisation - but save a proportion for a 60min bittering addition so that you give yourself an opportunity to make changes on the fly

Good = Maybe a better break and better clarity, probably a better result with forming and driving away DMS, most likely better utilisation of your hops, flexibility and an opportunity to tweak your brew, maybe more chance for the formation of melanoidins which give flavour and colour

Bad = More chance for the formation of melanoidins which give flavour and colour (not good in say your blonde), more time, more gas (maybe you waste all the money you save on hops by increasing your LPG use by 50%)

 

[Cocko]

Thirsty,

Just out of interest do you follow this method? I agree it all makes sense and is an advantage to achieving the desired..

But do you do a 90 minute boil?

Not being smart, by all means, just curious?

 

[Thirsty Boy]

Thirsty,

Just out of interest do you follow this method? I agree it all makes sense and is an advantage to achieving the desired..

But do you do a 90 minute boil?

Not being smart, by all means, just curious?

every time

 

[Cocko]

Well it looks like I do too... now.

Cheers, AGAIN!!

 

[marksfish]

did my second biab 2nite and hit 70 effiency. both brews have done this so dont stress this point. i squeeze the BEJESUS out of the bag and have no tannin problems so far.(touch wood). i did a 90 minute mash and a 90 min boil but not for any specific reason just that i kept thinking one more beer then ill check it! :lol: dont let anyone tell you biab doesnt work because in my admittedly limited experiance it works just fine and leaves an extract brew miles behind. if you start feeling stressed at all just remember the golden rule relax drink another homebrew.

 

[daddymem]

Almost all the pieces are together. My immersion chiller is on a truck on the way to my house today. I got the pot. I've got 95% of the things I need for a hop bag setup. I got all the pieces for my aerator autosiphon. I got the thread for my bag and measured up the voile to cut and sew it together. Now I just need my wife to have that baby.

 

[daddymem]

Looks like today could be the day!