The Weary Pilgrim Brewery's Inaugural BIAB Brew Day

[Pilgrim]

After several month's planning and research brewday finally arrived on Saturday 18th July. The Grain Mill is finished (well usable, so it's finished), the Grain Bag sewn up and all of the ingredients gathered so I couldn't put it off any longer.

The 56 litre mash tun/lauter tun/brew-pot all ready to go.

The grill in place to keep the BIAB bag off the base of the vessel.

All fired up and rearing to go.

Ready for the weigh in.

Whilst the Mill waits patiently.

Until it's job is done. Not a bad looking crush, if I do say so myself.

A watched kettle never boils.

The Mash.

Boy those Nelson Sauvin hop pellets smell sweet. The bed of Cascade hasn't got a chance.

Unfortunately the wind got up so I had to move everything inside.

Spot on.

Almost at the boil.

Time for a glass of my 'Instant Cider' (but that's another story).

Temperature's falling, almost finished.

I extracted 120ml of Wort prior to the boil to get a pre-boil S.G. and to use as a starter for the US-05. After around 90 minutes it's already champing at the bit to get it's teeth into the full brew.

All that's left now is the clean-up. What a day. Luckily (apart from the wind) everything went like clockwork and I can't wait to taste the results. My thanks to Steve Plowman for recipe pointers and to Reviled for BIAB tips.

[JoKing]

Nice write up mate - and I am really liking how neat and tidy your equipment is. I could smell this brew boiling on my way back up from Wellington this morning - that Sauvin is killer isn't it? What were you brewing mate? Do you have a recipe to share?

That mill looks lethal too!!! Great work mate.

[Mike Neilson]

Nice one if only my brew day looked as clean as that!! You should of seen Saturday!!

[Pilgrim]

Joking, You should have called in mate. Well maybe next time eh :-)

Recipe:
Malt
3Kg Pale Malt (2 row) at least that's what i think it it
1Kg Marris Otter
500gm Crystal malt
100gm Roasted Barley
Hops
25gm Cascade + 25gm Nelson Sauvin at 60
10gm Cascade + 10gm Nelson Sauvin at 15
Yeast US05
I will be dry hopping with another 10 + 10 in the secondary for 4 days.

Mike, thanks. My brewery may be clean and tidy, but you should see my engineering workshop, NOT. I've usually got about 5 or 6 projects on the go at once so it's pretty untidy. My wife won't even step foot in the door :-)

[denimglen]

Very nice mate, props.

That's a monster size pot too!

[MrC]

Yeah, nice write up. It's always good to see other peoples setup. Again very different from mine.

I was eyeing up that pot too, nice one.

[studio1]

nice set up. what sort of probe do you have on your thermometer?

[Pilgrim]

You recommended I get the 56Litre pot Denimglen, and you were right. Leaves plenty of room for a boilover :-)

Thanks Mr. Cherry. Bought it off TradeMe $108.00 plus freight from Auckland.

Studio1, it's a high temperature probe from Jaycar Electronics in Palmerston North. The unit came with a low temperature probe but it was only suitable for dry use e.g. ovens. The high temperature probe is suitable for the upper range of 750deg C. Ideal for my lead melting, but I think I should get another one for that, or at least give this one a good clean afterward :-)

[Stu McKinlay]

Great brewery, great brewday, now just the wait for a great beer (Kiwi-Irish Red Ale?).

[studio1]

lead melting?

[Pilgrim]

Thanks Stu. Hopefully in the style of Hallertau's Copper Tart. I'm not trying to clone it, just get something drinkable in that style.

Studio1. Yep, I do a lot of shooting and cast a lot of my own projectiles. I'm also building a lead shotmaker for shotshell reloading. The two hobbies are quite seperate, I don't shoot whilst I'm brewing and I don't brew when I'm shooting ;-)