First AG (BIAB) With some errors? Am I still Ok?

So guys, I did an Oatmeal Cookie brown ale today. A BIAB AG kit from NB.

Everything seemed ok for the most part, but here's a few things that went wrong.

1. My BK wasn't big enough, the kit called for 5.5 gallons, I could only get 4 in, so I got a smaller kettle and did the other 1.5 in there with the leftover grains that wouldn't fit in the other. I did the mash in both kettles @ 152 degrees for 75 minutes. The temp stayed pretty stable in both vessels.

2. The mash out was optional, but the directions said to bring the heat up slowly to 168-170 and do a 10 minute rest. I did the opposite and brought the heat up faster then did the 10 minute rest. Rested at 162 for 10 minutes. (How big of a goof was this ?) ..


Everything else went ok, except it was supposed to net only 3 gallons, and I got 3.5.. OG should have been 1.066, I hit 1.052.....


So, any thoughts on this for a first AG ?.......

Sounds like you lost 2 gallons to the grains during the mash. What size brew was this to be? A 3 gallon kit? What was your total grain bill? The 1052 was your pre boil? That should be ok if the post boil was to be 1.066. I think we need more info. I do smaller 2 gallon batches and loose only about .4 gallons to say 7 lbs of grain. Did you squeeze the "hell" out of your grain bags?

C-Rider said:

Sounds like you lost 2 gallons to the grains during the mash. What size brew was this to be? A 3 gallon kit? What was your total grain bill? The 1052 was your pre boil? That should be ok if the post boil was to be 1.066. I think we need more info. I do smaller 2 gallon batches and loose only about .4 gallons to say 7 lbs of grain. Did you squeeze the "hell" out of your grain bags?

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Heres the kit, Please take a look: http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/oatmeal-cookie-brown-ale-biab-all-grain-kit.html


Should have been just 3, I ended with 3.5 gallons.

The 1.052 was the OG before pitching the yeast.

Didn't squeeze the bags, but I do poke them with my wooden spoon while I'm holding them to drain, just to make sure I get what good wort I can.

OK a couple of things. First - if you got 3.5 gallons and your OG was low it because you have more wort than expected for the grain. Not a big deal. Next time just keep boiling until you hit 3 gallons. I use my boil temp to help me hit my expected volumes. If i have more wort i have a hotter boil. If i have less wort I have a more mild boil. Not sure if others do this but I have great success. The other thing is you will want to find a way to collect ALL of the runnings from your bag. Simply holding it up by hand will not get you all of that sweet goodness that is left in the bag. I have a stainless BBQ grilling bucket that I use to hold my bag above the pot for 15 minutes while the wort drips down. Also step 2 if fine. I dont even do that step and I hit my projected pre boil og and post 95% of the time without an issue. I know most people here do that step but I like my results and I never raise the temp.

Bottom line. You made beer. You sacrificed a little alcohol for a larger qty but it will still turn our great! Congrats on the brew day.

^

So, is it still ok to poke the bag a little with your spoon in order to get more of that wort? Not squeezing like the toilet paper man from the old 1970's Charmin commercials!! But just poking a little ???

Absolutely. And from what I understand there are a lot of people on here who squeeze the bag. I dont i just let it drip until there isnt anything left.

Squeeze that bag. Squeeze it.

Tantalus said:

Squeeze that bag. Squeeze it.

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Yes squeeze that bag like it owes you .....wort.

You don't need the mashout step. I don't even know why it is in the instructions. When the mash is done, pull the bag out to drain and turn the heat on. Once the wort is a bit past 170, all conversion will stop which is what mashout is supposed to accomplish anyway. Now while that wort that has already drained out of the bag is heating, squeeze out all you can from that bag. There are fermentable sugars in there that you want in your beer, not in the garbage.

You need to know about how much liquid you boil off in an hour long boil. This lets you know how much your pre-boil volume should be. You can adjust the strength of the boil a bit to boil of more or less liquid or you can boil a bit longer if you still have too much wort at the end of the 60 minutes. If you didn't have enough when you check your pre-boil volume, you can pour a little more water into the bag of grains and squeeze that out too. That gives you more wort but it also helps you recover more fermentable sugars.

Congratulations on your first AG. It will be great beer, I promise. (at least you will think its great since it's your beer and if you follow good fermentation practice like some temperature control and a long enough time it will be great). Here's to you and a good job done.

^

What about all this stuff I hear about "tannins"....I thought squeezing the bag causes these things (Tannins).........I thought squeezing alone was a huge no no......That's not true ?

I've always heard the same about tannins and never squeeze...

I have tried both. Couldn't tell a difference. It is a huge debate on this forum. To squeeze or not to squeeze. You will have to decide!

What about all this stuff I hear about "tannins"....I thought squeezing the bag causes these things (Tannins).........I thought squeezing alone was a huge no no......That's not true ?

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Not true. You can squeeze as hard as you want and not get tannins. Getting tannins (to any discernible amount) requires high temperature (over 170 is what I hear) and more importantly it requires a pH over 6.0 and the normal mash will be 5.2 to 5.4. The only time you would have to worry is if your water has the mineral content and the grains you mash with have little acidic content (or the minerals to make the mash acidic). My water is like that so I have to add acid blend or acidulated malt to account for it. As long as your pH is acidic enough, you can boil the grains in the mash. We call that decoction and brewers have been doing that for many years, centuries even.

Hey guys, I bottled this up on 3/24 - about 37 bottles. I used the Corn Sugar that came with the kit, but now that I think about it. It's the same 5oz bag that's used for 5 gallons, this batch was 3.5 gallons, Will it be over carbed or is still within range to be ok ??......(I popped 1 bottle after 1 week just to check it's progress, and it went all over the place).........lol

You might have a problem now. Damnit, I was rooting for you in this thread! Make sure your beers are ice cold when you open and store them.

woknblues said:

You might have a problem now. Damnit, I was rooting for you in this thread! Make sure your beers are ice cold when you open and store them.

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And it never occured to me when I was boiling all that sugar. Why the hell wouldn't they send sugar specifically for the kit they were selling ? 3 gallons, 5 gallons, ...

Or they could have at least noted it somewhere on the package for morons like myself........

The "rule o'thumb" I've seen posted (if you're not carbing to style) is 1oz corn sugar per gallon of beer.

-Dan

Most certainly do not squeeze because tannins will be released. Patience, let the bags hang.

^

It's ok to squeeze, I do it now myself...........

DrSnake said:

Most certainly do not squeeze because tannins will be released. Patience, let the bags hang.

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If you can squeeze hard enough to release tannins, next time I need a hundred ton press I'm calling on you. You can't release tannins by squeezing, you have to have temps over 170 at the same time your pH goes over 6.0. Since your mash is normally 5.2 to 5.8, you can squeeze all you want or bring your mash to a boil without releasing tannins.

^^^No one ever likes the Dr's orders. But yes call me, lets brew!

woknblues said:

You might have a problem now. Damnit, I was rooting for you in this thread! Make sure your beers are ice cold when you open and store them.

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This is my post from another thread, I've been working on a fix...


After a 1 hour ice bath, 32 bottles were gently pried and recrimped, once the excess C02 fizzed out, I saw all the carbonation from the bottle bottoms quickly rising, I then recrimped each bottle.....Hopefully I got enough C02 out. I reboxed them, and left them in a cooler spot. I'll check back on them in 1 month..........

The link to the "Decoction Mashing Video - Kaiser" is to an edit link so it doesn't work for me.

Thanks for compiling all these in one area.

My takes:

1. Squeezing in no way releases tannins into the wort. This seems like such a strange idea to me, what possible physical mechanism would cause a new compound to be released from the steeped grain simply by applying (relatively) light pressure? Squeeze away, as noted earlier temp and pH are what you need to worry about with tannins.

2. For the lower than expected OG, it is probably the volume of water making the difference, but just to check, what temperature was teh wort when you measured it? If it was hotter than the temp the hydrometer is calibrated for it will read lower than it really is.

3. Damn, sucks about the carbonation but at least you realized something was off before bottles started exploding. Good luck on the fix, I hope it works. In any event, you made beer! Also, I am sure you won't make the mistake of blindly trusting the kit to be 100% correct in the future.