Help me improve my process (Pictures!)

Hello all,

I wanted to create a thread detailing my entire process so I could hopefully improve it. I feel like 70% of my beers come out okay, 25% bad or flawed. And about 5% great. I want to increase the greatness! I also really want to simplify my process. Please feel free to add any questions, comments, or suggestions.

I have been brewing beer for almost 2 years with a 1 year hiatus in between. I have brewed approximately 35 batches of beer. Many have been on an ever changing system as I have re bought and re done my system. I currently do 2.5 or 3 gallon batches, and I am thinking of trying no chill. This is about my 4th brew on this exact set up. I had a lot of hiccups today which I will add. I took pictures to show, but I had to do them from my phone in one hand and brewing in the other. Today's Batch took about 5-6 hours to brew/clean.

Okay my recipe today is based off of NB's Oatmeal cookie BIAB.

Recipe: BIAB Oatmeal cookie

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 4.40 gal
Post Boil Volume: 3.65 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 3.00 gal
Bottling Volume: 2.78 gal
Estimated OG: 1.067 SG
Estimated Color: 35.3 SRM
Estimated IBU: 36.4 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 65.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 76.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
5 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 56.6 %
1 lbs Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) Grain 2 11.3 %
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 3 11.3 %
1 lbs Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 4 11.3 %
8.0 oz Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) Grain 5 5.7 %
5.3 oz Pale Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 6 3.7 %
1.00 oz Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 Hop 7 26.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 10.0 mi Hop 8 10.3 IBUs
0.06 oz Cinnamon Stick (Boil 5.0 mins) Spice 9 -


Mash Schedule: BIAB mash at 154
Total Grain Weight: 8 lbs 13.3 oz


Okay to start. I used RO water and added 1 tsp of Calcium chloride to 5 gallons.


This is my 6 gallon stainless steel kettle and Banjo Burner. Once I added the tinfoil it helped the burner really work. Without the foil it would take twice as long to heat water.


Added what beer smith calculated to the kettle used a paint stir stick to measure. I start the banjo burner to get the water warming to mash temp.


Here is my grain storage, getting ready to measure my recipe and mill.


I use this large kitchen bowl on top of my scale and measure my grain.


grains in the mill.


grinding at half speed.



Here is my crush I leave it at stock setting.


add the oats un milled

Now, I though I had enough grains for this recipe but I found out as I was measuring I did not and this is what my recipe turned into. This usually doesn’t happen but I bought these ingredients about 4 batches ago. Only a month or two ago tho.

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name
5 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) UK (3.0 SRM)
9.7oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM)
1 lbs Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM)
14.2oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM)
8.0 oz Brown Malt (65.0 SRM)
5 oz Pale Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM)


I checked my water temp and saw it was too hot when I was finished milling. This happens a lot I need to really lower my heat.


add some ice to cool it down.


grab my bag to line the kettle


add some 5.2 stabilizer to the grains prior to mashing in.


Ok I usually average about 1 degree loss per pound of grain. I am shooting for 154, but this is the temp I got to before I mashed in.


Mash in


stir well for any doughballs. I love how creamy this is looking. I hope the beer comes out creamy.


okay when I first mashed in I was around 156 so I needed to cool it down, I added some more ice and unfortunately got half a degree too low. I decided to let it sit here because I dont want to add heat to the bottom because im scared of melting the bag. I have a veggie steamer to put in the bottom. but im still scared of melting the bag so I dont use it.


I drape a snowboarding jacket over the top to help insulate.


I usually mash for 1 hour but I ended up letting this one go for 75 mins. Here is the ending temp.


pull out the bag. I will squeeze the bag try and get more out and I think this makes a difference. If I don’t squeeze it there is like 1/3 a gallon left in that sucker plus i'm sure lots of sugar. This is hot and sticky but it works.


heres the wort. Start the heat and get ready to test our pre boil gravity


Drop a bit onto the refractometer.


So the refractometer shows around 15 Brix which = 1.061

\
got the wort boiling. Sprayed with water to prevent boil over. Now time for our 60 min hops.


add them in



now about 30 minutes into the boil my propane tank runs out. I go ahead and switch the tanks and get it going again. In the mean time I took a refactometer sample to see how my boil off was effecting it. It came out to 17 Brix = 1.069. I was aiming for an OG of about 1.066 so I added some water (about 1/3 of a gallon) to compensate with the boil off. I know this could effect hop utilization but I wasn’t too worried.


20 minutes left add the wort chiller, no wirlfloc needed seeing as this is a dark beer.


I tasted the wort and it tasted pretty bitter so I waited to add my second hop addition at 5 minutes instead of 10. added in these.


I also added in a bit of nutrient


flame out dropped in 2 cinnamon sticks. They were a little old so I went with 2 instead of 1.


now my tap water dosent really get below 68 so I have added a pond pump the this bucket to suck water into the intercooler and then I can add ice near the end to get it down.


I stir the wort really good to get it moving around the intercooler and then spray some tin foil with starsand and cover up. I not worried about any DMS, plus its not completely tight.


get my carboy with sanitizer going.


I saved this ice packs from when I get shipped my yeast.


throw them into bucket to chill the wort down even more. At this point worts been chillen for about 25 mins.


while im waiting I went online to check my efficiency, and it came out good 74%. I average between 70-80%


I dump the water out of the carboy into this tub to sanitize my other stuff. O2 injector and funnel and airlock. The wort cooled to 68 and I dumped it into the carboy with the funnel.


one of the cinnamon sticks got stuck in the funnel. Kinda like a hop back but for cinnamon lol.


there she is.


check out mr malty pitching rate calculator. Now. Seeing as I usually only make half batches 2.5 I dont use a starter I just use one tube of liquid yeast. I like not having to make starter as it saves time. I also usually make worts around 1.040-1.50 so it seems okay to me. Seeing as I do this, I decided to use 2 tubes of Cal Ale. I didnt have Nottingham or NB's neobritania.


I know im over pitching here a bit.


I use whats left at the bottom of the kettle to take a hydro reading. To my surprise it was lower than I expected! Dont know what happened there, bummer. Oh well 1.062 will do. Also the sample did not taste at all like cinnamon so I will probably add some to the keg.


add about a minute of O2 and slosh it around.


put it in the ferm fridge with the johnson controller set to 67 and let it sit.

I checked the beer about 12 hours later and didnt notice sings of fermentation. I checked again 24 hours after pitching and I had a nice layer of brown bubbles on the top.

I plan to let it go for a full 2 weeks and then see if its dropped clear. Then keg it up.

Ok and that's all folks!

your grind looks a bit floury. try conditioning your malt.

Grain may just be double milled?

Thanks for the comments. I only single roll it on the stock setting. What do you mean by condition?

amh0001 said:

Thanks for the comments. I only single roll it on the stock setting. What do you mean by condition?

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about twenty minutes before milling I like to add 2%, by weight, of water to my grain.

I mix it around, make sure it's completely distributed, and by the time I am ready to mill it's ready.

makes the husks more supple, allowing them to pass through more intact while still crushing the grain. You get a better grain bed because the husks are what act like a filter and I find that I have less flour/dust created when I do it this way.

runningweird said:

your grind looks a bit floury. try conditioning your malt.

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He's brewing in a bag, that looks good for that. If you mill the grain fine for a conventional mash tun you get problems lautering or a stuck sparge but with BIAB that isn't a problem and tends to give higher efficiency.

Since you have the brewing frig and a controller you might get a better tasting beer if you ferment between 62 and 64 for the first 5 days and then let the beer come to room temperature for then next 2 weeks. That initial time in the fermenter is where the off flavors develop and controlling your temperature lower then eliminates them but the yeast tend to shiver when the easy sugar is gone and quit a little too soon. Warming them up helps to complete the process and makes the beer mature quicker.

My only concern would be that you are taking the beer in the bottom of your vessel for a hydro reading. This isn't a problem unless the mixture is not thoroughly mixed. If you have a lot of sediment still in suspension it could mess with your readings.

Everything looks good to me, except the very last step - I think 67F on the Johnson is too high. I set mine low - like 58-60. I figure the yeast are warming that up with their crazy activity by a good 5-8 degrees. I like to ferment cold.

WLP001 is very forgiving of warmer temps provided they are 'stable' temps. With the temp probe taped to the carboy, you're fine. I personally usually ferment at 64-65 with that yeast, but there's NO problem fermenting at 67 with WLP001 considering you're using a temp controller.

I didn't see anything wrong with your brewing process. My best advice is to just brew more using the same setup. You'll find what things you can do on brew day to smooth out some of the kinks and become more efficient. That will lead to smoother and less stressful brewdays, which are more enjoyable. Usually you'll make better beer too.

One word of advice: Don't judge a beer's bitterness by tasting the pre-fermented wort. All pre-fermented wort tastes bitter.

Your process looks pretty solid. I would say (1) lower temp might give you a better, cleaner fermentation. and (2) make sure you give it plenty of time in the primary--three weeks ain't going to hurt it and could help. Then let it condition in the keg a little as well before you start drinking. But overall I think you're doing a lot right. Let us know how it turns out.

I have a question about the process. How do you squeeze the grains?

well i just use one hand to hold the top of the bag. And the other hand to squeeze it inbetween my hand and forearm. Then I yell ow ow ow, thats hot. (its true)

haha I guess that process could definitely be improved. I like putting the bag in a strainer large enough to fit on top of a bucket and squeeze that way, adding wort that comes out of that back to the kettle versus trying to hang on to the bag

Many have been on an ever changing system as I have re bought and re done my system.

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My first thought when I read this is that this may be the reason for your inconsistency? Not a slight...just a friendly observation.

I can't see the pictures when I'm replying so I'll just reply as I see things I would change, if that's ok.

Number one, throw away that 5.2 stabilizer stuff. You're using RO with calcium chloride, and the 5.2 stabilizer a, doesn't work, and b, has a flavor impact so toss it. Especially on lighter colored beers.

The only other thing I have to add is that I probably wouldn't dilute before/during the boil with water. If your OG is too high at the finish, then you can but I wouldn't do that before then.

Otherwise, it all looks good.

I don't taste the word and decide about hopping, as all wort tastes very bitter to me, but I do recalculate my IBUs based on my preboil gravity and volume if needed.

Do you strain out your hops or just dump them all in your carboy?

Thanks for the great comments.

For anyone getting the red X's try right clicking it and hit "show picture"

Yooper I just ordered some Acidulated malt to add to the grain bill and i will stop using the 5.2.

Funk, once the wort is chill most the sediment is at the bottom, I just poor a little of it in, and stop with most of it in the kettle. Especially with hoppy beers.

Are you doing a "mash out"?
This step is key to BIAB.

IN regards to the mash out i dont seem to be have problems with efficiency. The mash out is usually to stop the enzymes. Why is it a key step?

You mention squeezing out the grain bag to get all the sugars,

Have you ever tried a sort of biab sparge?
You could prepare another smaller pot of sparge water, and then steep the grain bag in that to rinse them off, top off kettle with that water, and boil.

Your whole brew seems solid. I think you're doing a great job already! Your efficiency is good and your making good time.

I'm just sayin' if you feel like trying something different, it could be fun.

The mash out really helped me. I keep the bag in stirring or slowly lifting the bag and dunking it back in and out as the wort heats up to 170. I also picked up a cheap pair of PVC gloves at Harbor Freight and they work great for lifting the bag and squeezing. I think they were around $6 a great investment.

amh0001 said:

well i just use one hand to hold the top of the bag. And the other hand to squeeze it inbetween my hand and forearm. Then I yell ow ow ow, thats hot. (its true)

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LOL! Yes there has to be a safer way right?

I am just getting geared up for BIAB 4 gallon batches in a 7.5 gallon turkey fryer. I learned a lot seeing your process. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the advice guys. I appreciated all the comments. I will definitely have to check out those glove beernut.

I actually learned a lot about my process creating this thread. The key things that stood out to me as i made this thread are as follows:

1. Hitting my targets

Although I thought I used common sense and a good effort at achieving my targets for the recipe, I actually did not achieve many of them. for example. The ingredients were off. My mash temps were off. My OG was off. My yeast pitch was probably off, etc. Not that I was way off in any of them to ruin my batch, but it points out to me that I need to keep running my system without changes so I can hit all my targets. That should be a goal i realize now, and for any brewer I think it is a great idea.

2. Expectations of a beer

I realize now that yes my process does need some improving, but also maybe the reason I am so critical of my beer is some what personal preference in taste. I know that any style done really well will stand out as good, but i kept changing recipes or equipment to try to fix things.

The solution?

Now that I have received some comments from other brewers that my process isn't too shabby, I realize how I can actually improve it. I think it would do me a lot of benefit to work on a single recipe or two and get them really dialed in. Instead of trying new things all the time.

For instance one of the best beers I brewed was Jamils Taddy Porter recipe. But my mash was about 4 degrees too low and I think the beer could have used that added mouth feel to be even better. I need to work on a single recipe so I can really figure out what my numbers are going to look like everytime IE boil off rate. Perhaps mash temp loss, and calibrate my measuring tools.

This would give me consistency and real brewing wisdom on my system.

What do you guys think about this?

Yooper said:

Number one, throw away that 5.2 stabilizer stuff. You're using RO with calcium chloride, and the 5.2 stabilizer a, doesn't work, and b, has a flavor impact so toss it. Especially on lighter colored beers.

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That was going to be my question. I thought 5.2 was a buffer if you have really hard water

Edit: hard as in alkiline i believe is what i think i ment to say

A+ for getting a picture of the refract through the eyepiece.

Just out if curiosity, If you have a refractometer why are you pulling hydro readings?

amh0001 said:

Thanks for the great comments.

For anyone getting the red X's try right clicking it and hit "show picture"

Yooper I just ordered some Acidulated malt to add to the grain bill and i will stop using the 5.2.

Funk, once the wort is chill most the sediment is at the bottom, I just poor a little of it in, and stop with most of it in the kettle. Especially with hoppy beers.

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Have you verified that you need acidulated malt? Most of the time your grains will bring the pH down to the recommended range without adding anything. I bought a digital pH meter and with my water I definitely need to lower the pH because even with a porter and all the dark malts that are in that I mash in at 6.0 pH. One teaspoon of acid blend from the LHBS puts me right at 5.3.

I've seen a couple people mention squeezing the grain bag. I thought this was a no no because you extracted off flavors by squeezing the water out of grain. I could be wrong. I use a strainer with a handle and set bag on top then sparge.

jcam91 said:

I've seen a couple people mention squeezing the grain bag. I thought this was a no no because you extracted off flavors by squeezing the water out of grain. I could be wrong. I use a strainer with a handle and set bag on top then sparge.

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It's debatable. I've read a lot of people arguing both sides. To me, I can't see anything wrong with squeezing the bag.

If you don't do any kind of sparge I'd definitely encourage you to squeeze the bag.

Great series of pics. Must have taken some time and effort to document it all. Overall, looks good. Lots of good suggestions above. Only thing I noticed as a "potential" problem is your airfilter for oxygen. I believe they are not supposed to get wet - yours was not in the sanitizing water, but it seemed close to being in the water. Maybe just be careful that it does not go in when sanitizing.

RM-MN said:

Have you verified that you need acidulated malt? Most of the time your grains will bring the pH down to the recommended range without adding anything.

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Um, no it won't. Unless you're using a ton of black/roasted malt most of the time a too-low pH isn't going to happen. It's far more likely that without acid or acid malt that the pH is too high. Acid malt can be a huge help in lowering pH appropriately.

Kind of off topic but always wear shoes while brewing. Even that 152F mash will leave a nice little burn.

jheld00 said:

Kind of off topic but always wear shoes while brewing. Even that 152F mash will leave a nice little burn.

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Hmmm, I never wear shoes and still have all my toes.

RM-MN said:

Have you verified that you need acidulated malt? Most of the time your grains will bring the pH down to the recommended range without adding anything. I bought a digital pH meter and with my water I definitely need to lower the pH because even with a porter and all the dark malts that are in that I mash in at 6.0 pH. One teaspoon of acid blend from the LHBS puts me right at 5.3.

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+1

To what Yooper and RM-MN have said I would just like to add that you should get a Ward labs report for your water, a PH meter, and download the EZ water calculator. With those tools you won't need 5.2 (which is worthless anyway) and it will tell you what adding your calcium chloride is actually doing to your wort. Getting a consistent mash and boil PH will help your final product a lot when you're doing all grain. I think you're on track with testing a few recipes, that will tell you what changes make the biggest impact on the final product. It sounds like you already take good notes so keep that up too. Good luck.

The mash out is to make sure that all of the sugars you have created are soluable enough to flow out into the wort.
Without this step you end up leaving a heck of a lot behind. I made the mistake of no mash out on my first brew and instead of a SG of 1040 I got 1032.
But now I do hybrid,bag in a cooler

amh0001 said:

well i just use one hand to hold the top of the bag. And the other hand to squeeze it inbetween my hand and forearm. Then I yell ow ow ow, thats hot. (its true)

Click to expand...

That's my method too! Crude and slightly uncomfortable but effective I use it in conjunction with dunk sparging so I get to heat up my hands twice!

Yooper said:

Um, no it won't. Unless you're using a ton of black/roasted malt most of the time a too-low pH isn't going to happen. It's far more likely that without acid or acid malt that the pH is too high. Acid malt can be a huge help in lowering pH appropriately.

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Quoted from "How to Brew" by John Palmer, "Many brewers have made the mistake of trying to change the pH of their water by adding salts or acids..... Most of the time adjustments won't be needed due to the natural acidity of the malts". This excerpt is from the section "Understanding the Mash pH" and I think it is pertinent to the OP's concern.

Uh, were we arguing or saying the same thing?

jheld00 said:

Kind of off topic but always wear shoes while brewing. Even that 152F mash will leave a nice little burn.

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Wear a helmet too. Always.