Ambrose_Balin

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I got to crack open my first all grain brew (it's still green) today! It was a dry hopped IPA following a pretty straightforward recipe. I used the stove top BIAB method for small batch all grain.

4 lbs american 2row
2 lbs maris otter (because we had some left over)
1 lb caramel

us-05

I don't have my notes with me (I'm at work) but there were two ounces of pellets. One for 60 minutes and the other for 15. We dry hopped with an ounce of whole leaf hops.

Mash BIAB at 154 for 60 minutes. The temp fluctuated between 156 and 150ish over the hour.

My efficiency was higher than anticipated, but I still boiled down to the same volume. I ended up with just shy of 3 gallons at 1.054 after a 70ish minute boil.

The beer seems to be lacking in body, there is very little malt character. The hops and alcohol and carbonation are all very pleasant for the style, and very forward. But the hops are dominating because there isn't any maltiness to round them out. It's almost as if the malt flavor was watered down.

I really don't think my mash temps were low enough to account for so little body to this beer. I wondered if you guys could suggest something for me to investigate or tweak in the future.

Please let me know if you have any questions about my process, and I appreciate your time and help.

jholen

Recipes 

I'm still VERY new to this game, but have probably done more reading than I should have. Anyways, I'd be curious to see what your fermentation looked like. Steady temps? How are you controlling temperature?

Also, in regards to the all grain aspect - I'd be curious about your mash pH and maybe even possibly your water chemistry/mineral content. In addition, how did you aerate your wort? Aquarium pump? Oxygenation stone? Shaking?

sniperd

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For me if a beer seems to lack body either I used too much water, should have put some wheat (or tortified wheat), some more crystal in it, or base malt was low. Hops look OK to me in this one.

The only other piece of data that might help is if you had your efficiency reading. I personally have never done BIAB (but I do AG with a mash tun) but I do believe if you do a 'no sparge' AG you usually have to use a little more grain. So honestly that would be my humble advice. Up the grain bill a little, either more 2 row or marris otter as I think the bill is a little light, maybe another lb or 2 of 2 row.

Knowing the FG would help too. Maybe it didn't ferment?

dooman333

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I'm a new BIABer too and I was having the same issue too. Seems like the answers I get from here are always to get a finer crush for BIAB, squeeze away and maybe bump up your grain bill. I did pale last week and dispite my lower than wanted efficiency I can just tell from a wort taste that I will still b pleased. (Compared to my earlier extract brews). I found myself paying so much attention to my temps that a niglect my mash and getting every last drop of goodness out of it. Give it a whirl! Ps I did an AG IPA (not BIAB) a few months ago with the same results your explaining and found that after 2 months of sitting on tap it was much better than my first tasting.

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Misplaced_Canuck

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My guess is that your mash thermometer isn't good. Get that thing calibrated/buy a better one if the old one isn't accurate.

MC

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TopherM

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Some suggestions that will help your body/malt character:

1) Definitely double crush your grain, if you are not already. If you order online, I have found that AHS, Midwest, Northern Brewer, Farmhouse, MoreBeer, etc. will all double crush your grain for free if you just ask them nicely

2) Start your mash a little higher, like at 156, and figure out a way to HOLD that temp more effectively over your hour mash. I'm in FL, not KY, so it is a little easier here in the winter, but I wrap my mash in a few heavy blankets. You should maybe go to Goodwill and grab a few thick blankets or even a thick sleeping bag if you don't have some old ones lying around (they will get a bit scorched!). BeerSmith II lists 156F as the proper mash temp for a FULL-BODIED BIAB batches, 152F for MEDIUM BODIED batches, and 148F as a LIGHT BODIED BIAB batches. If your mash is ending up closer to 150, you are closer to the light bodied temps for some portion of your mash.

3) It doesn't look like you are doing a mashout, which would help alot. AFTER your mash, put the BIAB kettle back on the burner and slowly heat up to 170 over 10 minutes with the bag in there. Stir like a maniac throughout that 10 minutes. If you hit 170 a little short, like 8-9 minutes, that's cool, just turn off the heat but keep stirring through the full 10 minutes. A mashout is good for about 0.05 more gravity points on my equipment.

4) After the mashout, while you are waiting for the wort to get up to boil, SQUEEZE THE CRAP OUT OF THE BAG. Like your life depends on it. All the most concentrated wort is in there!! There can be up to 0.75 gallons of uber concentrated wort per 10 lbs of grain that sticks around in the grain bag, and you should reasonably be able to get over 1/2 of that out with a little patience and a some good squeezin!

I do all of these steps and end up with pretty consistent efficiency between 76-80% and nice full-bodied beers.

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SouthBay

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+1. And go with all marris otter next time for more malt character. Your yeast is also a really potent yeast, capable of chewing up a lot of sugars and drying up a beer

wailingguitar

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Get your mash temp up, cut mash time in half.

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dcp27

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with that amount of crystal, those mash temps should have been fine for good body. what was your fg?

Palefire

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stupid question, but: how long ago did you bottle? how long did you let it sit in the fermenter? maybe this is all just a matter of conditioning, and if you wait two weeks, it'll taste like you want it to.

your grain bill looks fine. in fact, with that much crystal malt, it should have ended up pretty sweet. What was the fg?