Yankee Biab

[daddymem]

Today was the day. I'll post pics and notes after the Bruins game.

 

[daddymem]

Here are my notes:
Started at 9:15
put 7" (7 gallons) of water in pot
Put wok grate in bottom attached to a chain to lift it out later
Put grain bag in, attached with binder clips
Put two thermometers in (floating and dial)
Brought up to 154F
Dropped grains in at 10:00
Mash had dropped to 150F(-2F) so added heat.
10:05 mash was at 154F (+2F)
Noted dial thermometer is off by 4F+
10:10 152F
10:20 150F added heat
10:25 152F heat off
10:45 150F added heat
10:53 156F
11:15 150F
11:20 148F flame on
11:30 grains removed flame on high
put hopsock in

6.25 inches=6.25 gallons. 95%=5.93 gallons (lost 1.07 gallons to grain)
Added in water from bucket under bag, forgot to adjust water volume
Took sample, put in refrigerator for gravity reading later

11:48 rolling boil started
11:48 hops added to hopsock
12:58 Irish moss and immersion chiller added to the wort
1:08 flame off, water turned on to immersion chiller, hop sock wrung and hung over boilpot
Forgot to time wort chill, but it was quick.
Brought pot into house, began whirlpool
Forgot to check time, siphoned into cleaned and sanitized fermenter
Autosiphon aerator did not work used standard autosiphon
Needed just over 1/2 gallon to bring to 5 gallons
Gravity reading=1.054
Gravity reading out of mash=1.048@80F+.002 correction=1.050.

I believe that I have 69% efficiency? I used Brewmasterswarehous.com recipe formulator and fiddled around until I got the gravity to match what I got. Is that correct?

OG 1.038 1.054 1.054 OK
FG 1.008 1.013 1.014 Out of Range
IBUs 15.0 28.0 27.6 OK
SRM 3.0 6.0 4.9 OK
ABV % 3.8 5.5 5.2 OK
Overall Brew Status Out of Range

With the IBUs off I'll add "Strong" to the title
<b>
Willam's Notty Strong Blonde Ambition</b>
10 pounds 2-row
1 pound Carapils
152F for the 90 Minutes BIAB mash
Hops:
2 oz Willamette for 90 min
1 tsp Irish Moss for 10 min

My setup. Turkey fryer base. 60qt Aluminum pot.

The bag in the pot.

The water heating up to 154F.

You can see the wok grate at the bottom. I don't think it is needed.

My grain from Morebeer. 10# of 2-row.

Morebeer milled it for me, I'll be making a pasta mill soon.

A pound of carapils.

My mash.

My mash covered up.

Colander in the bottom of a bucket to receive the drain water from the grain bag.

 

[daddymem]

DIY hop sock bracket.

Closeup of the hop sock bracket.

Hop sock (4 gallon paint strainer bag.)

Mashing out, ready to take out the bag.

Lifting the bag. Not very heavy. Will the bag hold? (I sewed it myself on a 1941 Singer sewing machine)

Out come the grains.

A few twists of the bag to drain out the wort.

Takes a couple minutes to drain out.

See? Light enough to one arm lift it.

Just about drained out.

 

[daddymem]

The wort is a bit cloudier than I am used to.

The grains in a bucket, draining over the colander.

The wok grate came out easy attached to the chain.

What drained out of bag.

Willamette hops, 20z.

Hop sock ready to go.

Final 10 minutes of the boil, the immersion chiller is sanitized.

The hop residue left in the hop sack.

Just whirlpooled.

Covered while the whirlpool settles down.

<b>Final Thoughts</b>
Pretty easy.
Didn't take much more time than my normal extract operations.
The temp fluctuations were a bit of a pain. It was windy and cold out so warmer temperatures should make it easier. I wonder if holding a very low flame under it would work better.
I don't think the wok grate did much, I'll skip it next time.
What was my brew house efficiency? I hit my final estimated gravity for 69% efficiency...after adding ~1/2 gallon of water to the wort, looks like I did pretty good.
I noticed a bit more water in the grains when I dumped them. I think a little more care in the draining will get me that 1/2 gallon back.

I'll be doing this again.

 

[glennheinzel]

Congratulations on your expanding family and your first BIAB.

 

[katzke]

Wrapping the kettle with an old blanket will help with the heat loss.

 

[daddymem]

I'm going to attempt BIAB #2 for me. I ordered my supplies from Austin Homebrew Supply and requested a finer grind for BIAB. I didn't get a response at all, and I don't think they did it. I want to improve my efficiency. I got 69% last time. So...
Does this look like a fine enough mill?
How fine a mill works best? Got any pictures?
I'm trying to get a pasta maker to turn into a mill but our Michael's has been out of it. Until I get one, could I run the grains through a food proccesor to get a finer mill?
If I borrow a barley crusher (I'm hoping I can), what setting would be best?

Thanks,
Yankee BIAB

 

[Thirsty Boy]

That looks like pretty nice crush to me... if you were using a standard mash tun. Lots of nice intact grain hulls, which you don't need. If thats milled especially fine, then their normal crush must be pretty conservative.

Whats good for BiaB? ... hard to say really. I doubt there is a a point at which it will be too fine. Perhaps if it were milled to 100% flour, then the husk material would be fine enough to get through the mesh in significant amounts - and that might be bad. But short of that... crush till you are scared.

You just need to be aware of the fact, that if your pH gets out of control (high) and you end up in tannin extraction territory, it going to be worse with a very fine crush due to the increased surface area.

So - keep a wary taste bud out for astringency - and if you notice it, then look at your pH levels - if you cant get it under control, then it might be time to think about backing off your crush a little as well. But, I really don't think you will have an issue.

Your bag will of course drain a little slower if everything is mushed up fine... but thats not a big deal.

TB

 

[reviled]

Look at the strong man lifting that big heavy bag of grain with one hand

note : was not mocking you daddymem, more the people who say a bag of wet grain is too heavy for their wittle arms :lol:

 

[daddymem]

I bet it's so light because all those nasty tannins leached out into my kettle! The horror!

 

[WarmBeer]

I bet it's so light because all those nasty tannins leached out into my kettle! The horror!

Congratulations! Ladies and gentlemen, we have a seppo who seems to understand the Aussie sense of humour

Welcome to the club mate, you'll be riding a kangaroo down Bourke street, playing a didgeredoo, and tickling funnel-webs for fun in no time at all.

 

[KingPython]

Pssh you looks to be part of a militia of some sort, used to cutting wood and hunting deer with a knife . Not typing on keyboards for a living.

 

[daddymem]

I am a Swamp Yankee.

 

[reviled]

I am a Swamp Yankee.

Even this part?

"At one time Swamp Yankees even had their own variety of isolated country music"

 

[KingPython]

Interesting I guess when you hear Yankee you automatically assume New York City.

 

[daddymem]

Even this part?

"At one time Swamp Yankees even had their own variety of isolated country music"

Yep, can of beans and a can of brown bread and the troops form their own band within the hour.

 

[daddymem]

I think I nailed it today on my second BIAB. If my calculations are correct (feel free to let me know if they aren't), I hit 90% efficiency theoretically.

Here goes:
6 lb 2-row
11 oz caramel 60
6 oz caramel 120
3 oz Chocolate
3 oz Brown

7 gallons went into the pot and I got 6.625 gallons at the end of mash (my pot is 1" per gallon so 6-5/8"). If I take 95% for it being hot I get 6.29 gallons. My hydrometer read 1.030 at 118F which gets corrected 0.008 for 1.038. Crunching those numbers in my software and fiddling with efficiency until my gravity equals the gravity in the software, I get to 90%. Is that possible?

It went much smoother this time, I used a blanket to wrap the kettle and only had to add heat in the last 15 minutes of the 90 minute mash. My SG ended up 1.043 for 5 gallons which is higher than the recipe which was 1.037. I used 1/2# more of the 2-row since that was the quantities I ended up with in my purchases.

 

[PistolPatch]

Good to see you have been enjoying the BIAB daddymen :icon_cheers:

90% is possible after the mash but BIAB will give you more trub in the kettle so don't get too excited about the 90% figure. I usually get around 85% into the kettle efficiency which is what you have measured. This figure keeps dropping as you progress through the brew and fermentation. Dodgy hydrometers, measuring devices and measuring practices can throw efficiency figures way out and they are a poor form of communication amongst brewers.

What is important is how much clear beer you get to drink and at what alcohol percentage it is. So, the most honest efficiency figure is "into packaging," efficiency. No brewer likes to quote it though as it is the lowest one - sometimes as low as 50% for both BIAB and traditional brewers.

BIAB will alway score higher a higher efficiency into the kettle the same as no-chill will always score higher into the fermenter - there is more trub in both cases.

At the end of the day though, a recipe that is BIABed or BIABed and no-chilled will give you the same amount of clear beer into the keg or bottles using the same quantity of grain.

A comprehensive set of BIAB FAQ's is currently being written and the area of efficiency is being well-addressed.

Until then, make sure you have reliable measuring equipment and have scared yourself substantially by reading this thread

It sounds as though you are on the right track though

Cheers,
Pat

 

[Cocko]

A comprehensive set of BIAB FAQ's is currently being written and the area of efficiency is being well-addressed.

Cheers,
Pat

Awesome work PP, above and beyond AGAIN!! Can't wait to read said document!

I am only packin 25 batches under my belt but if I can help in any way to spread the love let me know!

Oh and OT: Great fickin work DM - Work it! Well done.

 

[daddymem]

Awesome. Thanks AHB.com!