First All Grain/BIAB

Up until now, I have about a dozen extract batches under my belt. At that point, my wife (who bought me the original kit) officially banned me from the kitchen. It ended up working out pretty well because that allowed me to look into options for brewing outdoors. I figured since I'm going to need a burner, I may as well get a couple extra presents and move up to biab and all grain.

The key items I added were:
- Bayou Classic SQ14 Single Burner
- Bayou Classic 4042 42-Quart All-Purpose Aluminum Stockpot with Steam and Boil Basket
- Homemade 40' immersion wort chiller
- Cheap pulley system

I printed a lot from Seven's BIAB Brewing thread. My recipe was a take off of NCBeernut's Deception Cream stout.

7 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.5 lb White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt 60L
0.75 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Lactose (Boil 10 min)

0.75 oz Yakima Magnum [13.40 %] (60 min) - 27.0 IBU

After getting all cleaning/sanitizing done, I started by adding 7.5 gallons of water to the brew pot. Brought it up to ~162 and added my grains. I expected a bigger drop once the grains were added, but it only went to about 158. I was concerned (should I be????), so left the pot open for a while to help bring the temp down and added a bit of room temp water. Dropped relatively quickly to 152 (my target) and covered it up. About 10 minutes in, I checked and it had already dropped to just below 150..... concern #2... At this point I turned the burner on real low to stop the drop and try to bring it back up a couple of degrees. That worked for a bit, but it seemed like it suddenly jumped from 152 back to 158.. Long story short, I got through the 60 minute mash, but definately need to work on getting a more steady temp. From there, I took it to 170 to mash out and let rest for 10 minutes before draining the grain. Any concerns I should have? My pre-boil gravity was 1044. I think that means about 75% efficiancy, but still need to check.

From there I went on to boil which was basically the same process I had used previously for extract. No surprises there. Used the wort chiller and it worked great (kids enjoyed the science lesson). Transferring 5 gallons versus 3 for partial boils to the fermentor did take a bit more caution. I may want to add a spigot to my tank to make that easier (any issue adding spigot to an alumunum pot???)

All in all, I think it went pretty well. Definately a couple areas I'll be more prepared for next time. Also may need to cut back on the Stone and 60 Minute IPA that were accompanying the brewday....

Thanks to Seven for the great BIAB thread and NCB for the recipe. Smelled great, now let's just hope it turns out.

Your experience sounds almost exactly like my first two BIAB attempts in the last two weeks. Strike temp was too high, then the mash dropped too low, and then bringing it back up I ended up overshooting it again. The mashout was easy enough and the boil was the same as always. But I'll be keeping an eye on this thread so I can leech off of any advice that goes your way

Despite the troubles though, my OGs were spot on and the fermentation is chugging away just fine, so as long as I get good beer out of the deal then I'll be happy.

I had temp issues at first, but what I do is once I hit my mash temp, I put the lid on and wrap it in an old sleeping bag. That holds temp for me now within 1 degree! The other thing that helps is using the turkey fryer basket with the holes in it to keep the bag off the bottom of the pot when applying direct heat.

The higher mash temp will affect the body of the beer (more malty), but the fact that you hit your number is a good thing! You'll be fine.

I also have the bayou pot+basket, but 62quarts. I noticed that when the basket is in the pot and you are heating it, hot water from the bottom does not go up that easily, which makes it hard to know at what temperature your wort will be when things settles. To avoid this, I simply stir a lot when:
* I am about to reach the temperature needed before adding the grain
* Just after adding the grain
* every time I have to turn the burner on

This helps mixing the hot water from below the basket with the rest. A good thermometer helps as well.

For the temperature drop after adding the grain: the drop is really not that important since you start with a lot of water. Beersmith is very helpful to figure this out, and is always spot on.

To transfer the wort from pot to fermenter, I use my autosiphon. Better for my back!

Congratulations on what looks like a success!

Thanks for the feedback. I think you're right about the space in the bottom (between the bottom of the pot and the basket) is what helped create some of the temp challenges. Will definately try some more vigorous mixing next time through.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised with how the process went. Not overly difficult, just a couple new challenges to deal with. If the beer ends up good, I'll be a happy camper... err drinker...

Yup mix more and allow for more time before you decide you're over temp. I found the strike water calculators to be accurate to within a degree of what I observed. Looks like you hit a good efficiency, especially for #1.

If you have any Reflectix insulation around your house, a wrap or two around your boil kettle will greatly stabilize your temps. Mine wraps around just once, and I lose 1 degree over 60 minutes (I cover the lid with a towel). I expect maybe another degree or two drop when I try it out this winter in my garage.

I've integrated a pump into my biab setup (since I already had it for my single tier system) so I recirculate the water from under the basket into the top of the grain bed. That helps me with stabilizing temps. I'm sure stirring really good will do it though. I think insulating it after reaching temp is the most important part. The sleeping bag method works awesome for me.

Congrats on your first BIAB!

Reaching and maintaining exact mash temps is probably one of the flakiest parts of the entire process. One thing I've been doing lately with good results is adding the grain bill when the mash water reaches about 140 to 145-degrees. I then stir and continue heating until it's 5-degrees below my desired mash temp then I kill the heat and let it sit covered for 5-minutes. This time allows the heat to evenly distribute throughout the mash and the temps will continue to rise even with the burner turned off. After 5-mins take another temp reading and you'll most likely be right at your target mash temp. Add more heat if needed until you reach your target temp.

Give this "reverse strike" method a shot if the more traditional strike method doesn't work out for you.

I find hitting my temperatures no problem but I'm getting to know my system pretty well.

Congratulations on taking the plunge.

chapa said:

I've integrated a pump into my biab setup (since I already had it for my single tier system) so I recirculate the water from under the basket into the top of the grain bed. That helps me with stabilizing temps. I'm sure stirring really good will do it though. I think insulating it after reaching temp is the most important part. The sleeping bag method works awesome for me.

Click to expand...

chappa...do you experience teh same phnomenon as I do...the volume rises closer to the top of the kettle? Sometimes it gets a little too close for my comfort. Do you regulate the flow at all when you recirculate?

Thx,

John

johnodon said:

chappa...do you experience teh same phnomenon as I do...the volume rises closer to the top of the kettle? Sometimes it gets a little too close for my comfort. Do you regulate the flow at all when you recirculate?

Thx,

John

Click to expand...

Kind of, it seems to foam a bit on top, but I regulate the flow to where it doesn't get too crazy. I maxed it out last time with almost 8.5g of water and 15lbs of grain in a 10g turkey fryer worked out great and ended up with around 5.5g in the primary.

I recirculate through another voile bag after I pull the grain bag too, so it catches a lot of the excess trub from the grain, and then I use a looser mesh hop bag and recirculate through that, to get good hop utilization and to catch the rest of the trub..all the way thru chilling. Makes for a nice clear wort, and easy transfer to primary with a pump. With a glass carboy you have to go slower to make it into the neck(I use a small funnel because the mouth of the camlock is too big, so it helps, but either way it can overflow easily), but with a bucket I just blast it in there. Took less than minute to transfer 5.5g.

I love biab!

I will do a better job with insulation next time. Just wrapped a big towel this time and I was nervous so I was opening and checking alot.... I'll pull out the sleeping bag or see if I have any other good insulating materials sitting around.