Brewing Techniques - BIAB etc.

[Crusader-Rob]

http://www.forum.realbeer.co.nz/forum/topics/recipe-advice-thread?c...

As an interesting discussion broke out regarding Mashing Techniques, I figured this could make a good separate thread.

My process is BIAB, no sparging, making the day of brewing that bit shorter. I use a 50 Litre pot, to mash, and boil in. for standard 20L batches.

I keep the temp consistent by using 2x Camping mats from Kmart at $10 each, and wrap up using bungy cords. normally lose maybe 2 degrees C after an hour mash time. (I brew in the morning too, so its cooler.)

[Ralph]

Yes. I have a thermometer in my pot (weldless with sight glass integrated). Mine is near the bottom of the pot. I also have a digital handheld thermometer that I use to take the temperature near the top and there can be a substantial difference between the temperature near the bottom of the pot and the temperature near the top...

I find if you give it a good stir and then take the temperature that you will get a reasonably accurate reading. I don't think you have to let the grain bed sit still like in a standard mash tun... there you are trying to set the bed to filter the wort... in a bag the bag does most of the filtering.

Other thing to watch is that the weldless thermometer will stick out a ways into the pot... it may be that it gets in the way of the bag??

[Peter Smith]

goto  the videos i have added , watch the kernal one   DIGITAL TEMP PROBE !!

[Crusader-Rob]

Zane I normally leave mine for the full hour, I'm concerned about heating my pot with the bag on the bottom. no stirring, and it givees me a chance to do other stuff like weigh my hops out and mow the lawns etc.

[David R]

Are you guys using fine or coarse bags? I've got a coarse one and it seems to let quite a bit of stuff through, but I was worried about the amount of time a fine one would take to drain. I guess with the 'suspend bag over pot' method that wouldn't matter?

Peter where can I find those videos?

[Danny]

I got this missus to sew my bag from a piece of voile from spotlight - perfect fit. I even put an elastic band around the top to hold it in place. It's pretty fine but doesn't take too long to drain and doesn't let anything through,

[Hamish Jones]

I was using Swiss voile but found it to be a pain as when is got wet it became almost water tight, I am using baby gauze and it works a really well and quite hardy, I put mine in a basket that keeps the bag off the bottom and recirc with a gas burner and temp probe on outlet of pot, which in turns fires a solenoid to turn on the gas burner to keep it at temp, kind of lazy but hey it works,

When its finished mashing generally for 1 hour but I have been experimenting with 40 min at 69 on some wheat's and its worked a treat, and some hochkurz sort of mashes for lagers, which so far have found to be a waste of time on my system, mash out at 76 for 10 minutes then hoist bag onto swing arm on rig and drain, pour 5 litres of 76 degree water through and when it starts to boil its pretty much stopped dripping so take the basket off and fill the bucket for a mates chooks

[Crusader-Rob]

I use a fine bag I got off trademe.co.nz, I think it was imported as it looks very much like a morebeer.com bag, and has a drawstring I can hang the grains from. Works a treat. I do have clarity issues with some beers, but that depends on the type of grains used.

Gladfields wheat when crushed is a bit floury, its the only one of my current beer I have clarity issues with.

[Ralph]

from what I have read, clarity issues are not caused by suspended bits of grain as these all drop out during fementation. It is other components in the beer - usually caused by other things such as pH of mash, or lots of hops that will cause haze.

[Peter Smith]

I use koppafloc and it works well with the English base malts (golden promise, MO etc) , but for some reason it doesn't work as well with Gladfileds Ale malt  I have two simillar brews in fermentation fridge one GP and one G ale  will post a photo .  I have found that a 1 week 2C cold condition takes a lot out even if a US05 brew,   Doesn't put me off using them I really live the taste and freshness of the G ale...

Still when I watch a mash tun with recirc pump and a grant clear up after a 20 min recirc it does make me wonder if clear wort doesnt end up making better beer.   I do wish I could dump the trub via a conical vs it sitting there in carboy.

I am trying to brew beers for friends that are traditional larger drinkers,  it helps convert them if my beers are clear and free of yeast.

[Hamish Jones]

One thing I have been toying with but never got around to was to recirc through my grain bag once it's hoisted up out of the way while the brew is coming up to boil, that way technically the grain bed should filter the wort I would think and possibly run clearer,

Mind I have had the odd chill haze, I found really vigorous boil and cold crashing before kegging worked pretty well, as of late I haven't even used any kettle finings as I keep forgetting to pick some up when I go to the LHBS and haven't had any haze issues, helps I am half blind though

[Ralph]

It may be the pH of the Gladfields is higher in the mash causing different compounds to be extracted? I do find Gladfields need more adjusting to get the optimal pH.

[Crusader-Rob]

Hmmmm, the 2 darker beer I've done recently have come out crystal clear (they're in the NHC) so it could be a possibility of ph of the mash, maybe I should test things out when I brew next time.

It'll be interesting to see how the bookbinder style beers come out on Sunday when I bottle too. I transfer to secondary to help clear things up as well.