Apartment BIAB come-back brew

[Jester]

So.... after 3 years of not brewing I brewed a 2.5 gallon batch of Bee Cave Brewery Haus Pale Ale yesterday. I have moved since the last time brewing and had to adapt all of my techniques to apartment living. I wanted to stick with all grain, so I tried no sparge BIAB. It was an interesting and long brew day and I am not 100% sure if I can stick with 2.5 gallon batches because there is just as much work with half the return. I could still just be tired from everything....

I took a pre-boil gravity reading and got 1.058, which put my efficiency somewhere near 90% using Brewer's Friend. I still don't know how to use my BeerToolsPro to do all of this little calculations. I really don't think that is correct. I had to guess on the amount collected since I do not have a sight glass on my kettle.

I also tried to take a post-boil gravity reading and it off the chart with the refractometer. Then in a flurry I forgot to take a gravity reading after topping off the carboy.

Reached my strike temp and added the grains

The temp was a little high, so after cooling it down I wrapped the pot and started my timer. temp dropped about 4 degrees over the hour.... Not as good as my cooler mash tun, but it worked.

Raised the temp to 168-170 for 10 minutes.

Started my no-sparge sparge... I also let the bag sit in a colander for 30 minutes and drain into another pot.

I had to use foil and 2 burners to get a good rolling boil.

I ended up boiling off a .5-.75 of a gallon more than expect. I had to add water to get to the 2.5 gallon mark on my carboy.

Signs of activity 4-6 hours later.

 

[Seven]

Looks good but, like you said, I would definitely consider moving up to larger batches so you get more return for the same amount of work!

 

[Jester]

Looks good but, like you said, I would definitely consider moving up to larger batches so you get more return for the same amount of work!

If I could get more to boil on that ancient stove, I would. Propane burner is not an option at my place either. I may be asking for an 120v electric element for Christmas!!!! Hahahaaa

I have also humored the idea of just upping the batch to 3 gallon or maybe even 4 gallons. I know I can get the amount needed for a full 5 gallon boil.

 

[Cromwell]

I don't know the answer to this, but it seems like boiling twice as much should take twice as long, but once you're there the amount of heat you lose is related to the surface area of the wort. If that's true, you don't have much more surface area, so you could boil 5 gallons ok, it'd just take twice as long to get there?

 

[johnodon]

If I could get more to boil on that ancient stove, I would. Propane burner is not an option at my place either. I may be asking for an 120v electric element for Christmas!!!! Hahahaaa

If you don't want to bother making another hole in your kettle just yet, you could build a heatstick. There are few quides on here. Use that in conjunction with your stove and you will have a boil in no time.

John

 

[Jester]

If you don't want to bother making another hole in your kettle just yet, you could build a heatstick. There are few quides on here. Use that in conjunction with your stove and you will have a boil in no time.

John

I have humored tue idea of a heatstick. They kind of make me a little nervous... Hahaa

 

[djt17]

In the winter when I don't feel like freezing my nose off; I brew inside using a 1500 W heatstick to assist my stove. It works great. If connected to a GFCI protected outlet, they should be safe. (Disclaimer: "I aint no 'lectrician!")

 

[Burgs]

If you have another pot - why not mash in one pot and sparge in the other? Then you aren't trying to heat up your entire pre-boil volume the whole time.

It doesn't have to be the same amount of time and half the return - I cut my brew days by at least 2 and a half hours by halving my batch size and going BIAB. Also, screw sitting there waiting for your bag to drain - get some gloves and squeeze it.

http://burgenerbrewing.com/2011/10/10/success/