First BIAB - this Friday... all help appriciated.

[Brewman]

 

I am wanting to do a BIAB this Friday night.

 

To be honest I have done lots of reading and the prosess seems painless enough but I am sure its harder than it seems.

 

Next up is where my problem starts.

 

I have no idea about volumes, mash times etc... other words I need a recipe to work to. I like lighter beer rather than dark beers... and one able to help?

 

OK where to start... the equipment that i have and plan to have by Friday..!

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Browse/Listing.aspx?id=483714562

4- RING CAST GAS RING BURNER 365MM

I have no regulator for this yet and first up may try and fine one of many I have on appliances at home. But I will be going to an adjsutable pressure regulator to crank it up.

I also have a 50L keg... top still on. Will use the top as a lid. I also have a 50L pot with heavy base but no lid. Both have NO taps.... is this a problem? Also both have no thermometers installed in the pots but plan on doing this real soon. But I do have a digital one on a wire that plugs in to my digital scales which will do first up. Mind you if I can grab one soon enough i will install it asap.

 

I will have the wife make a bag to fit the 50L pot... will need some sort of lid though. I will also make a wort chiller.

I assume that I will be able to place the pot stright on to the burner... if not then I will make a stand and place the burner under the stand. If all does not go to plan it will be 2 weeks.... before first brew with BIAB.

 

First brew .... final volume 23L

1) I need a recipe....

2) Buy the grains and hops... no idea what

3) Fill the 50L pot with water (no idea how much) and start heating

4) install cake rack in the bottom to stop the bag burning.

5) raise strike temp to 73deg C then dump in grain and stir to make sure no clumps..

6) make sure temp is same everywhere in the pot and leave to steep with my  new lid on.

7) Leave for 60min

8) Boil some sparge water .... no idea on volume...

9) Lift grain and allow to drain then pour sparge water slowly over grain ... I am thinking a frame that will hold the bag open above the pot and allow me to pour sparge water over the grain...

10) Bring the wort up to a slow boil while stiring non stop... watch for boil over.

11) Add hops once I have a nice rolling boil... again stir when adding hops and watch for boil over.

12) Take note of the time I add the hops.

13) Boil for 45min and then add Irish Moss, wort chiller and hops... If needed?

14) Boil for 15min.

15) turn off gas... lift wort of the burner and place in a tub of ice water and turn on chiller

16) lower to pitching temp.

17) Pour wort through striner and in to sterilised firmenter 

18) Top up the wort to 5.5Gallons (if needed) with hot or cold water to achive 22degC

19) Pitch yeast and stir....

20) Place fermenter in temp controlled chamber.

 

Additional notes.

1a,2a,3a,4a,5a...etc Have a beer, listen to some sounds and enyoy the whole process. hence I am planning this in the garage... I mean man cave!

 

Ok sorry for the ramble... can someone help with all the above. Does this sound OK.. and whats a good beer recipe? I tend to drink Lion red... and many largers which I know will come later. So I am thining a nice draught beer first up would be great.

 

All advice and comments appriciated.

 

 

[Ralph]

Ok. First thing I would suggest doing is buying some brewing software like Beersmith. 

Beersmith does a few things

1. It give you the brew process in step by step form. When to add what, how many litres etc etc etc

2. There are a selection of recipes available for free that you can brew. Download the recipe to the program, print out the brewsteps and you are ready to rock and roll!

I also highly recommend an auto syphon for transfering your liquid.

You should be able to sit the pot straight on the burner, and if doing a 23L batch then a standard BBQ reg will probably be sufficient until you get an adjustable reg.

BIAB usually goes like this.

1. Heat water up to strike temp. Generally you can use all the water you need for the recipe.

2. put grain in bag in pot. Maintain temperature of about 66 deg

3. pull bag out to strain

4. heat the wort in the pot up to boil

5. add bittering hops

6. boil for hour

7. add fining and flavour hops towards end of boil.

8. lower wort to pitching temp

9. use a auto-syphon to take the clear wort off the top of the trub in the pot. Basically when you are chilling the wort all the heavy stuff (hops etc) will sit on the bottom of the pot. If you use a syphon you should be able to take mostly clear stuff off the top... and to be honest it does not matter if you get a little of the trub into the fermentor because it will soon sit on the bottom of the fermentor with the yeast sediment.

10. pitch yeast

11. ferment in temp controlled cabinet.

[Brewman]

cool thanks I will get the Beersmith software now.

 

cheers for the advice...again.

Also what would be the max.... i could do with BIAB with my 50L pot? Could I go for 40L stright up?

[Brewman]

Also is the following ball valve good value .. landed for 53NZ?

I know the threads are differnt to NZ but in the case I dont see a problem as they come with a hose tail.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/SS-WELDLESS-BALL-VALVE-BARB-HOMEBREW-BEER-K...

 

[Brewman]

also Thermomerter.. $63 NZ landed. Again weld less .

http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-Dial-Analog-THERMOMETER-WELDLESS-KIT-6-Pr...

 

 

 

[Brewman]

Is there any point to sparging the grain in the bag?

 

[Pilgrim]

When I did BIAB I sparged using the 'dunk' method. Treat it just like a big Tea bag and dunk it back in 3 or 4 times, that will get most of the fermentable sugars out of the bag.

Sorry Ralph but I wouldn't put the pot directly on the burner, I would lift it 30 or 40 ml above the burner or you will get lots of black soot due to incomplete combustion (yellow flame). You may find you can't get complete combustion anyway until you get an adjustable regulator that you can crank up a bit.

Good luck with step 15, lifting 25L of boiling wort off the burner. Remember lift with your legs, not your back, and make sure your insurance is paid up :-)

[Grant R Baker]

Try one of the many recipes mentioned in the Recipe Advise thread...

 

Other than that Ralph had pointed out using BeerSmith.. helps get the water volumes right.

 

Good luck and happy brewing.

[Brewman]

How about this? i hope the brewer does not mind me stealing this!

Wouls this be a suitable first brew?

 

Recipe: Basic Pale Ale
Brewer: Andrew Robinson
Asst Brewer:
Style: American Pale Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 33.29 l
Post Boil Volume: 27.91 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 23.02 l
Bottling Volume: 21.32 l
Estimated OG: 1.048 SG
Estimated Color: 15.1 EBC
Estimated IBU: 51.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 81.6 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5.00 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (5.9 EBC) Grain 2 95.2 %
0.25 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (157.6 EBC) Grain 3 4.8 %
30.00 g Rakau [10.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 31.7 IBUs
30.00 g Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 5 12.9 IBUs
0.30 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 6 -
60.00 g Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 3.0 min Hop 7 6.5 IBUs
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05) Yeast 8 -

[Ralph]

That looks fine. It is likely to be a fairly good bit more hoppy than the Lion Red that you are used to drinking though... which is fine as long as you like hops!

Max you could do in a 50L pot would be about a 40L brew but you are likely to have trouble with it boiling over etc. I would start with the 23L one above for your first brew and figure out how to go bigger from there.

The weldless ball valve and the weldless thermometer are ok pricing. If you look around you may find them cheaper. Check somewhere like http://www.craftbrewer.com.au/

I have been brewing for over a year and have not found the need for a tap on my pot or for a permanent thermometer (I just use a digital one that i dip in).

[Brewman]

OK... so the thermomerter and tap can wait. Cool

I will get a auto sypon and a digital thermomerter.

Do you know a beer that would have less hops and be suitable as my first beer?

I have joined Beersmith and will look for a suitable beer ...maybe a Blonde Ale.

[Chad Keven]

first piece of advise for the first time; dont start too late, my first ag i started at 8pm i had no idea how long it would take, was up till 2am! was buggered by the end, now i start at 6am so im finished by late morning

second piece of advise; dont get hung up on gravity/volume  targets too much your beer might be a little thinner/weaker doesnt matter, you'll still drink it and enjoy it im sure

third piece of advise if you want to understand the starch conversion process get a refractometer

more imoprtant than fancy valves and stuff. easier to read than hydrometers and more durable.

it'll show you exactly what temps do what, ie, you can see a very obvious increase in gravity during saccrification at mashout, sparge etc mine has really helped me get my head around the mash process.

forth piece of advise: what the other guys said

enjoy your beers!

[Ralph]

Yup, a blonde ale should fit the bill. Ferment it at about 18 degrees with a clean yeast like US05 and you should get something getting close to commercial draught beer. Don't be afraid to experiment though. There is a world of fantastic tasting beer out there with a great breadth of flavour and it is all able to be recreated at home!