So I decided to try a 3.5 gallon BIAB as an experiment into the process, being that I'm the only one at home that drinks beer (SHMBO is a wine drinker), I decided smaller batches were in order and BIAB seemed to be a viable option.
Without investing in more equipment until I tried it out, I used my 7.5 gal turkey pot and a paint strainer bag to brew a lager recipe close to Jamil's "Extra Yellow". My LHBS mistakenly mixed some Crystal 40 I intended for another batch so I decide to go with it anyway. All in all I was pretty happy with the process, mash came in a little high, up to 163 vs the 149 I was shooting for, left 1 gallon of water out since I was afraid all of it wouldn't fit with the 8 lbs of grain, used the remaining to "sparge" with. Made a 2l stir plate starter a few days before using Wyeast 2035 and my darker than planned wort was chugging along at 50F this morning.
Expected OG was 1.067 and I came in at 1.063, no complaints here, a little tweaking won't hurt.
Without investing in more equipment until I tried it out, I used my 7.5 gal turkey pot and a paint strainer bag to brew a lager recipe close to Jamil's "Extra Yellow". My LHBS mistakenly mixed some Crystal 40 I intended for another batch so I decide to go with it anyway. All in all I was pretty happy with the process, mash came in a little high, up to 163 vs the 149 I was shooting for, left 1 gallon of water out since I was afraid all of it wouldn't fit with the 8 lbs of grain, used the remaining to "sparge" with. Made a 2l stir plate starter a few days before using Wyeast 2035 and my darker than planned wort was chugging along at 50F this morning.
Expected OG was 1.067 and I came in at 1.063, no complaints here, a little tweaking won't hurt.