Suggest an excellent beginners all-grain BIAB?

For me? Smash or otherwise. I need simple. So I'll likely be vying for a smash

I have most of the gear, and I'm jumping in.

I want to limit myself to studying the recipe of choice, and the lingo on it. I'll likely brew on the 28th if the budget allows for it. Otherwise I might have to wait until my next pay period. I'm skint lol

Much appreciated

SMASH
Maris Otter and Amarillo. 5US gallon
3.8kg Maris Otter(will give you an OG of 1048)
about 30 IBUs of Amarillo at 60
then an oz each at 15,10,5 and another oz to dry hop with.
THE best smash I have done.

Do you have a particular style in mind?

And what equipment do you have? How big is the container you'll be mashing in?

badlee said:

SMASH
Maris Otter and Amarillo. 5US gallon
3.8kg Maris Otter(will give you an OG of 1048)
about 30 IBUs of Amarillo at 60
then an oz each at 15,10,5 and another oz to dry hop with.
THE best smash I have done.

Click to expand...

I'm not one for SMaSH brews, but if I were to brew one as a beginner, it would be this recipe with another ounce added to the dryhop... And maybe a slightly higher OG.

Centennial would also work nice to if you can't get Amarillo.

bobbrews said:

I'm not one for SMaSH brews, but if I were to brew one as a beginner, it would be this recipe with another ounce added to the dryhop... And maybe a slightly higher OG.

Centennial would also work nice to if you can't get Amarillo.

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Thanks, I got two votes on this one and it looks basic enough

Is there a link to this recipe so I can analyze it better? I've been doing the instant cake mix kit beers up to now, but this looks like chicken scratch to me

For equipment I have a 10gal Boiler Maker, 60K btu propane burner stand, and all that stuff. I think I just need some mesh bags and I'm good to go

My favorite BIAB to date (done 5) and a very simple AG recipe:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/centennial-blonde-simple-4-all-grain-5-10-gall-42841/

For keeping the mash temp constant I would recommend a sleeping bag wrapped around the brew pot. I was losing about 10 degrees an hour on my first batch or two with just a towel over the top of the kettle, then got this old ass sleeping bag we used for camping, wrapped it around the kettle, held it with a bungee cord, and am losing at most 2 degrees over 60 minutes. So easy and so enjoyable brewing this way! Good luck!

With a ten gallon pot you can do pretty much anything. You're pretty much just limited to how big or small a beer you want. Honestly with biab it's all pretty simple if you stick to basic recipies. Go to the homebrew shop, measure out your grains, and have them all milled together. Then it's just mash, sparge, boil, hops, cool. As long as you do a single infusion mash (only one temp during the mash) difference between that and a smash is that you measured, more than one grain.

This is the all grain recipie we started with:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/kiss-yer-cousin-rye-kentucky-common-ale-290419/

It was our second brew and it went great.

With BIAB you can do anything your post-boil equipment can handle (e.g. no space to lager means no lager) but you probably want to shy away from trying to do a complex mash, like a decoction mash, your first time.

Sippin37 said:

old ass sleeping bag we used for camping, wrapped it around the kettle, held it with a bungee cord, and am losing at most 2 degrees over 60 minutes.

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anyone ever considered or seen documentation on someone making a foam mold for the kettle? like that foam-in-a-can stuff? cover the entire kettle in it and slice it in half? perhaps cover the kettle in saran wrap first before laying on the foam.

ThePonchoKid said:

Thanks, I got two votes on this one and it looks basic enough

Is there a link to this recipe so I can analyze it better? I've been doing the instant cake mix kit beers up to now, but this looks like chicken scratch to me

For equipment I have a 10gal Boiler Maker, 60K btu propane burner stand, and all that stuff. I think I just need some mesh bags and I'm good to go

Click to expand...

It's quite simple really. Use hopville's beercalculus to design the recipe to fit your system. Search for it in google.

First, adjust the boil size and batch size. Next, add enough Maris Otter (be it Crisp, Thomas Fawcett, or whatever brand you decide) to bring you up to target OG. Then you'll need to know the AA% of your hops, and whether they are pellet or leaf. Add the first addition to get 30 IBUS. Then an oz. each at anywhere from 15, 10, 5, 0, and a hefty dryhop. You may end up using 6-9 oz. total hops for the recipe. Add the yeast, adjust attenuation %, along with mash efficiency, mash temp/time on the second page, etc. and you have the recipe.

Learning how to do this on your own is much better than having someone else do it for you. If you want confirmation, come back and post the recipe in a link asking for further input.

Cool, thanks!

ThePoncokid: It was pulled out of my******, I did it on the spur of the moment last year and it was mind blowingly good.
If you tell me how big a brew(how many litres/gallons) you want to make and how high in alc. you would like, plus the AA% of the Amarillo you can get, then I would love to give you an exact recipe
Lee.

badlee said:

SMASH
Maris Otter and Amarillo. 5US gallon
3.8kg Maris Otter(will give you an OG of 1048)
about 30 IBUs of Amarillo at 60
then an oz each at 15,10,5 and another oz to dry hop with.
THE best smash I have done.

Click to expand...

Word to this. Did one very similar with a higher OG and 50 or so IBU and it was fantastic. 1 oz dry hop was good but I do 2 oz on my Gumballhead clone and it really punches up the Amarillo aroma.

What's a good substitute for the Maris Otter? Quality Amarillo is scarce enough, and I'd like to keep my costs low

For a first go I think I'll give this a try

Golden Promise, Optic, or Pearl malt

You could use regular ol 2 row and wouldn't go wrong. MO and others do add a nice character to smash beers that can be lacking if you use 2 row and no crystal malts. But I'll wager it would still be a damn good beer.

badlee said:

If you tell me how big a brew(how many litres/gallons) you want to make and how high in alc. you would like, plus the AA% of the Amarillo you can get, then I would love to give you an exact recipe
Lee.

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5 gal for my soda keg + a wee bit to fill a glass to be able to drink and dream of how it will taste once it's carbed up So 5 gal is what I'll be after

5.2% alcohol would be fine. I'll have to get the AA% later as my supplier's Amarillo ranged between 5-10% depending on what he has in stock. I'm likely going to need to sub out the Maris Otter. Despite living in Toronto, it's not the easiest to obtain locally.

Sorry bob, I hope I haven't shaken your faith in humanity, but I'd rather get an exact recipe in full detail, fed to me for a first try I'm a bit lazy and impatient. It's a feat enough for myself to have saved up for all the equipment to be able to do this. You're absolutely correct though, and the learning will come eventually

No maris otter?
Ok, go with 2row and some munich. As to how much, ill be back.
Just thought, can you get weyermann pils malt? That would give it a nice grainy feel.

No weyermann. I think I read somewhere that a touch of Crystal with 2 row might help. Nice grainy feel sounds nice There's a particular brew up in my area that has mastered that. Tastes like mushy cereal cookie wafer under the roof of your mouth

Any kind of pils would be good.

You are looking at 4.2kg of grain.
If you are ok with moving from smash and adding crystal,
i would say 420 grams of pale crystal and 3.8 kg of base malt.

I'll get back to you this coming Wednesday or Thursday with regards to what the AA% is of the Amarillo in stock.

What's your yeast preference? I'd prefer to go with a dry yeast for now.

What ever you can get. But Nottingham or Coopers work good for me!

Use New Zealand hops...Riwaka or Green Bullet...both great.

My first BIAB was a simple wheat beer 6lbs of 2row, 4 lbs of wheat malt and 1oz of Hallertau at 60. Mash at 152. Nice clean, crisp summer drinker.

badlee said:

What ever you can get. But Nottingham or Coopers work good for me!

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Big Fan of US 05, IMO.

jmich24 said:

Big Fan of US 05, IMO.

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decent for room'ish temp ferments? 71/72 F

bobbrews said:

hopville's beercalculus

Click to expand...

Very cool tool

ThePonchoKid said:

decent for room'ish temp ferments? 71/72 F

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I cant comment on that. I have use a temperature controlled freezer to ferment. I am a bigger fan of Mid 60's raising towards 70 at the end of fermentation. At 71/72 your wort/beer will raise up 4-5 degrees with fermentation. I would only reccomend Saisons at those temps!

jmich24 said:

I cant comment on that. I have use a temperature controlled freezer to ferment. I am a bigger fan of Mid 60's raising towards 70 at the end of fermentation. At 71/72 your wort/beer will raise up 4-5 degrees with fermentation. I would only reccomend Saisons at those temps!

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really? well damn, it might be time to pick up a freezer. how do you temp control it? i've seen these DIY thermostat jobs, and then others just tell me to hell with that and pick up a thermostat that controls from the freezers power cord

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002EAL58/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

Here is all you need to make great beer IMO, Flawless Sanitation, Pitching enough yeast and feremtation control.

Sweet. I'll grab up one of these along with a much needed cheap food scale.

Do you play around with the controls much if you aren't lagering? I hadn't considered that room temp vs. 65/68F would be so critical. Thanks again.

badlee said:

SMASH
Maris Otter and Amarillo. 5US gallon
3.8kg Maris Otter(will give you an OG of 1048)
about 30 IBUs of Amarillo at 60
then an oz each at 15,10,5 and another oz to dry hop with.
THE best smash I have done.

Click to expand...

Looks like some Maris Otter is now in stock. Tomorrow I'll get final details on what I can get along with the AA% of the Amarillo


I guess I can PM you lol

8lbs 2 row
.5lb Crystal 60

1oz Cascade @ 60, 20, 10
2oz Cascade dry hop

AA% is 5-6% on the amarillo in stock

OK my man, here you go.
If the actual IBUs are closer to 6%, bring the amount down to 40gr. If closer to 5% up to 45gr.
I calculated the IBUs at 5.6% and you need 42gr @60 and then 1oz(28gr) each at 15,10 and 5 minutes and finally dry hop with 1 oz.
This brew will be wicked.

1048 spot on! I'm going to have to do a secondary transfer at some point though.

A few things occurred...

strike temp was 170 and stayed at 170 for over 15 minutes.

cheesecloth isn't good enough to bag up hops

so my wort is a little bit mucky, and in a freezer that still smells like fish fillets. i figure after the brunt of the fermentation is complete i'll xfer to another vessel. let it set for a week and then cold crash for another week before kegging

also they didn't have amarillo, i went with centennial pellets with an aa% of 9.7

1oz at 60 15 10 5

no dry hop

thanks for the direction badlee lol, but i think this is now going to be the 100 year old fishy smash brew!!!!

It looks like you did a sterling job mate.
Can't say I have ever had the pleasure of Centennial, too hard to get over here in Thailand.
You could call it Moby's flacid Dick lol

badlee said:

It looks like you did a sterling job mate.
Can't say I have ever had the pleasure of Centennial, too hard to get over here in Thailand.
You could call it Moby's flacid Dick lol

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You say that you've done about five of these smashes? I do primary straight to keg and was thinking 2 weeks, a few days cold crash, and then 2 weeks carbing up in the keg. What have you been doing? I'm getting impatient lol

I've already made a second of the same smash, but at a lower strike temp