1st BIAB - If I can, you can

My first go at BIAB - I live in a basement apartment without a kitchen so I have to be creative with my brewing - usually extracts w/ grain and hop additions. But I decided what the heck, this can't be that difficult.

1st pic - my "brew area"
2nd - My grain bill for a simple English Mild (5lb 2-row, 8oz crystal 120, 4 oz chocolate, 1.25 oz cascade w/ .75oz @45 and .5oz @10, and Notty yeast; shooting for an OG of about 1.038 and 25 IBUs)
Then some gear to get 'er done, homemade fermenter, and my 16qt brewpot and induction burner

My voile fabric and clips, grinding the grist in the laundry room to minimize the mess, brewpot w/ plate in bottom to protect bag from scorching

About 10 qts of strike water @ 160, doughed in and stirred, kept it at about 150F for 60 mins (pretty easy since it is electromagnetic - not hot - so left it at 140F and covered it up, stirred a few times and drained grains

After the mash a cold water rinse and squeezing the hell out of the bag, I had 2.8G at a SG of 1.055 or about 73.7% efficiency (not bad for a first go, next time I'll grind just a little finer), then boiled away - 2 hop additions, then hydrated yeast while I cooled 'er down

Strained into the fermenter and topped up to 4G (OG was right where I wanted it - 1.038), pitched yeast, and into the coolest corner of the basement for the next 3 weeks.

I'll update when I get it in the bottles.

Super easy and only 4 hrs from grinding grain until cleanup complete.

What are you waiting for? Give AG a shot!

Cheers!

OMG! Fantastic Thread! Someone make this a Sticky for a Simple BIAB example!

The plate was a perfect idea ~ Kudos!

How do you plan on making bigger beers or mashing 10# or so of grain? My space isnt too limited but i have minimal equipment but i only make< 2 gallons at a time but i can do two 2 gallon batch boils in sync on my elec stove which i do sometimes. I can do all grain biab for 2 gallons pretty easily getting up to 4+# of grain sometimes.

I only have a 16qt brewpot, but that would be enough for a couple more pounds of grain, but nothing very big. I think I could get about 1.050 on a 4G batch once I get the efficiency up. But the only limit is the size of my brewpot - and it works just fine for what I want to do.

Cheers!

I like the idea of a plate as the false bottom. Nice pictures too.

Nice! Congrats on your first BIAB. Out of curiosity do you have any idea how many gallons of water you can boil on that hot plate?

I've had no problems boiling 3.5G in the pot I have, I'm assuming it would handle 5G since it has several power settings above what I use (don't want to blow a fuse since I live in a basement apt)

Cool stuff, man!

Very nice write up and great pictures. I commend you, sir.

jmprdood said:

I've had no problems boiling 3.5G in the pot I have, I'm assuming it would handle 5G since it has several power settings above what I use (don't want to blow a fuse since I live in a basement apt)

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Curious: is that your only hot plate or do you have your own stove?

Nembrionic said:

Curious: is that your only hot plate or do you have your own stove?

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That would be the extent of my kitchen - and I like to cook, go figure. I do have a microwave and small toaster over off camera, but no good for my brewing.

Great job...

Cool post!

Pic 1 - After 9 hrs in fermenter
Pic 2 - 24 hrs in and krausen is forming

Nice writeup jmprdood. I bet you make great beer with that small outfit.

Great post, and def should be a BIAB 101 sticky.

Thanks all - I'll keep updating. I want to beat the RDWHAHB drum - it's all good and not that complicated. Notice I don't have an airlock, and don't sweat it. Fermentation and yeast are are more foolproof than we give them credit for. "Open" fermentation is how we discovered beer in the first place. Brewing should be a joy and not a mystery or a chore!

Cheers!

Congrats. I'm only on my second BIAB after years of extract partial boil brewing. It really isn't any more difficult than extract, especially if you used steeping grains/partial mash. Then it takes just as long.

Very good. BIAB is where it's at. So simple and still produces great beer.

Cool. I do 1.75 g batches all the time BIAB. Why no airlock? Is it because you have so much head space in that five gallon bucker?

Good write up. I will be watching this one. I need to try this BIAB.

BIAB ROCKS! I just started doing it myself and I love it! It doesn't take much more time or equipment than partial-mash. This is a great post! Brew on jmprdood! Anyone interested in BIAB should checkout BIABrewer.info mega tons of info on the subject!

How long did it take for you to get to boiling on that hotplate?

Got it up to boil in about 30 minutes for the 2.8G. It has higher wattage settings but I was in no hurry...

Bottling:

Cracked first one today as I bottled another batch. Been in the bottle for 15 days, 4 weeks from grain to glass. Mohogany color, clear, nicely carbed, not a long lasting head but good lacing. Mild is exactly what it is. Beautiful result on the first attempt.

Good pics and good narrative. Nice. Very nice.

Do you bottle directly from primary?

Yes, I prime each bottle w/ Carb drops or sugar. Been doing it like that since I started back in the day. I don't like to transfer.

Awesomely awesome! This visual guide rocks. Bookmarked forever!

Hey, got a question. You mentioned:

jmprdood said:

After the mash a cold water rinse

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Why cold? Just curious. I've never seen that done before, but then again, I just fell off the BIAB turnip truck.

i like it

Fantastic post! I love the pictures and your finished beer looks fantastic!!! Ok, noob question from someone who has never done all grain: why do you need the false bottom?

Nice documentation of a brew day. BIAB rocks!

Enjoy your beer man.

markm2151 said:

Fantastic post! I love the pictures and your finished beer looks fantastic!!! Ok, noob question from someone who has never done all grain: why do you need the false bottom?

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The false bottom in the pot is to keep the bag off of the bottom where the heat is. It keeps the bag from scorching or melting.

Proboscidea said:

Awesomely awesome! This visual guide rocks. Bookmarked forever!

Hey, got a question. You mentioned:



Why cold? Just curious. I've never seen that done before, but then again, I just fell off the BIAB turnip truck.

Click to expand...

That way I can squeeze the hell out of the bag and get every last drop of goodness out. The tannin thing is about PH not squeezing the wort out.

Cheers!

Wow man, if you can do with an electric plate and the lack of a kitchen then I can definitely do this in my kitchen or backyard. thanks for the info.