first BIAB partial mash

Getting gifted a Mr. Beer for christmas re-sparked my interest in the hobby, but i wasn't going to use the basic kit that came with it, after talking with a couple people around here i decided to go for an IPA, using 4lb 2 row, the hopped LME that came with the kit, 1oz simcoe @20min, and 1oz amarillo @5min

i also wanted to see if my hot plate could even come close to boiling 20ish qts of wort

i heated up 18qts of water to 165, and put my grains in in a nylon paint strainer bag, maintained about 155* for 60min.

wanted to "mash out" at 170, so i turned the heat up a bit, completely lost track of what i was doing and ended up hitting 180 for a second or two, but not too worried, cuz if it's one thing i learned from here, it's still going to be beer and i shouldn't worry.

i mashed at about 70* efficiency, which i was pretty happy with given this is my first time with this method

got the wort up to about 200*, added the can of LME, put the lid on and went to grab a beer and watch tv. about an hour later, the temp topped out at 210, and wasn't even close to boiling..

so out came the propane burner and within a few seconds had a nice heavy boil

other than one minor boilover the rest went without headache.

i found the bag of "booster" that came with the kit, and threw that in at flameout (as far as i can see, can't hurt, it's basically corn sugar)

it's chilling in a snow bank right now, once it's cooled, i'm pitching a vial of WLP-001

i've got a whole bunch of pics to come, but figured i'd put this up and see what you guys had to say

i'm convinced this is going to be a very interesting brew when all is said and done... i'm getting a 1.082 OG reading right now, and i realized during this reading i never let everything settle out of the wort before racking. oh well

you have the right attitude for brewing that's for sure. congrats on your first mini BIAB/partial mash.before you know it you'll be making a larger bag for that larger brew kettle you know you'll get soon.. then it'll be a full size BIAB

haha the first couple things i made i was so nervous about screwing something up, and everyone here just kept telling me RDWHAHB, so that's more or less what i did..

i outfitted my Mr. Beer cap with an airlock, been sitting for roughly 8hrs and no active fermentation signs yet, but i can see a thin krausen forming

quick update, there's a nice krausen that's formed, but the airlock i installed onto the mr.beer lid isn't doing anything, probably not sealed up tight enough.

here's my pics from this adventure:















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Nice work.

I'm pretty sure you won't be seeing any airlock activity. The lid is made so that it can vent the CO2 when needed.

Check Revy's posts here (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/mr-beer-read-all-about-ask-questions-46360/) if you're interested in doing AG with Mr. Beer. I'd start at post #659

jwk526 said:

Nice work.

I'm pretty sure you won't be seeing any airlock activity. The lid is made so that it can vent the CO2 when needed.

Check Revy's posts here (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/mr-beer-read-all-about-ask-questions-46360/) if you're interested in doing AG with Mr. Beer. I'd start at post #659

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thanks, yea i've got a nice krausen going, and no airlock going, when i get this all done i'll see if i can make a gasket to fit in the lid.

i just picked up a thermometer and stuck it onto the front of the fermenter, at it was at 78degrees.... got a swamp cooler going to cool it down to 68

just pulled a gravity reading on this, of 1.018, which gives me about 8.5abv after 5 days started dryhopping today (in primary) for about a week. put the hops in a muslin bag to help keep from adding to all my trub that's already going to be a problem.

it certainly smells like beer, looks like very cloudy beer. waiting for some of the sediment in my hydrometer sample to settle before I can say anything about it tasting like beer



and after letting my sample sit in the fridge a bit to let the sediment settle out, it tastes like beer too. def tastes like an IPA, albeit still a pretty green one, but it's got a LOT of potential. once the dry hopping is done i should be able to bottle it and let it age, and it should be awesome

So you mashed 4 lbs of 2-row in 18 qts? BIAB typically has some thin mashes but that might be the record for the thinnest ever! Hope it worked out well for you. I'm interested.

yea, I let my sample settle out some more, there's a weird bitterness that i'm not sure what it is, hoping it'll disappear with age, but it's got a nice piny/citrus taste upfront from the simcoe which i'm really digging. i think simcoe might be my new favorite hop, at least for this style.

I need to start converting this recipe to a full 5gal batch so i can keep some on hand at all times

God, everyone's beer turns out so much lighter and nicer looking than mine. You added the LME at the start of the boil?

SkylerChaBro said:

God, everyone's beer turns out so much lighter and nicer looking than mine. You added the LME at the start of the boil?

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what do you mean lighter and nicer looking? what have you been doing to make your beers?

yea,i added the lme at the start of the boil, i've had a couple other people tell me otherwise but this is what has worked for me

Number68 said:

yea, I let my sample settle out some more, there's a weird bitterness that i'm not sure what it is, hoping it'll disappear with age, but it's got a nice piny/citrus taste upfront from the simcoe which i'm really digging. i think simcoe might be my new favorite hop, at least for this style.

I need to start converting this recipe to a full 5gal batch so i can keep some on hand at all times

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Astringency? It could also just be yeast bite. With that thin of mash the pH may have gone too high. It will be alright. You can do better keeping it under 3 qt per pound.

Simcoe is a great hop in IPAs. A Columbus dry hop would be good too.

If you go five gallons go all grain. A PM is as much work.

Number68 said:

what do you mean lighter and nicer looking? what have you been doing to make your beers?

yea,i added the lme at the start of the boil, i've had a couple other people tell me otherwise but this is what has worked for me

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I'm not sure, but all my PM and Extract recipes are turning out mega dark. I have a thread about trying to keep the color of your beer within style. In this I outline the problems I'm facing; for example my Belgian wit was supposed to have an SRM of about 5.6, but came out closer to 14.