BIAB convert about to brew first time...suggestions?

[Geoffrey20005]

As the overly-long title says....I have been doing extract kits for the past 5-6 times and each time have walked away...well, disappointed to say the least. Each time I learned a little more as a beginner brewer (such as, do not use a large siphon and plastic tubing to transfer your hot wort to primary before adding cooling water....long story) but each time my beers that have finished have all had a taste I can only describe as 'tinny/metallic'. Well, so I was on a beer recipe website and saw some BIAB recipes, and next thing found myself at the local brew store getting all grains I needed for making a Fat Tire clone (and fist time using liquid yeast...smack pack!).

Anyway, I'm a little nervous about going into this batch with having had quite a few upsets before, and wonder what big tips I should follow for my brew day. I have already started keeping the constant tub of sanitizer to constantly sanitize my items as I go through the process, and I think I have finally gotten my carboys relatively clean (been soaking in PBW for a couple days now) so I should be good to go.....

And on a second note (or thiord, or whatever) does anyone have a good SMaSH recipe willing to share that will yield a very easy drinker I can test my skills upon? Will trade for beer, or smilies...

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

what is your question?

 

[wilserbrewer]

Are your grains well crushed? Do you see many whole grains when you look at your grist, or bag of grain? Bad crush is one of the most common upsets with first time all grainers. I suspect some smaller LHBS shops typically are crushing for extract with steeping grain brewing, rather than AG brewing, where a light crush not nearly as forgiving, with AG BIAB, the grain is best if it has thorough crush.

Sorry if this came off as being negative, but AG brewing with semi crushed grain is akin to riding a bike w/ flat tires....cheers!

 

[Geoffrey20005]

Hah sorry, realized that my tiredness and ranting made me miss the meat and potatoes of it all. So big things: The recipe lists an infusion boil and sparge. My understainding: infusion is lower temp and I leave it in, sparge is a quick short steep at higher temp, and them I pour the two together, correct? When I'm mashing, should I worry about stirring (seems to be some controversy over this, from reading DeathBrewers thread) or leave it covered to maintain temp? Infusion is set for 60 mins, sparge for 10, just FYI. I figure i should be able to keep temps in the right area.

And on a side note...I use StarSan sanitizer and seem to constantly have bubbles. Do these bubbles add or change the flavor any at all, or can I just not worry about them?

 

[Geoffrey20005]

As for the crush, they should be good. The little shop I found up here is actually a mecca for homebrewers; they have a nice selection of kits but carry over 140 types of grain for AG brewing, and have a decent mill. I'll double-check the bag, but it seemed like the kernels were well smashed. Unless I should see about double-milling it next time just to play it safe?

 

[wilserbrewer]

Don't fear the foam with star san!

The idea behind not stirring is that you will not be able to keep a constant temp opening and cooling the grain while stirring, I agree with that reasoning, but you should stir very well twice prior to draining any runnings to help free the sugar in the grain. If your kettle will fit, placing it in a preheated warm oven will help to hold temperature. The temperature is critical for the mash, NOT so much for the sparge, just keep your actual grain temp below 170 during the sparge and your fine...even a cold water sparge will work....sparging is just rinsing the grain, concentrate on getting the mash correct, the sparge is just like rinsing your hands after washing....easy peasy!

 

[singybrue]

My best advice to you is go for it, but don't expect going all grain to make good beer automatically.
Until you get things like sanitation, fermentation temps(huge), and water issues like chloramine under control, you still may not be happy with the results.
Good luck!

 

[OaklandHills]

Make a list of every bit of equipment/supplies you need to make this batch of beer and a list of everything you are going to do. Then, on brew day, work through your lists. annotate the lists as you go along with any departures from plan. Couldn't get Crystal 20 and used Crystal 15 instead? S'ok, just note that for the next time you make this recipe. The more details you record about what you did (or didn't do), the easier it will be to troubleshoot any issues and/or recreate the magic the next time you make this recipe.

Have fun!

 

[jnacey]

I'm not sure of your overall process, but what I do that works pretty well for me is to do a BIAB mash in a 10gal rubbermaid cooler. Heat my infusion water to the correct temp, transfer into the cooler, add my bag and then stir in the grains. I leave this for however long I'm mashing. When there's like 20 minutes left in the mash, I add my sparge water to my kettle and heat that to like 175-180f. Then I pull the bag from the cooler, let that drain for a minute, and then drop the bag in the kettle for a "dunk sparge" for like 10 minutes. I'll stir this a bunch, then get rid of the bag and pour the mash runnings from the cooler into the kettle.

I do all of this in my kitchen for 5.5 gal batches. I know a lot of guys do BIAB in their garage and do it all in the kettle with pulleys to hoist the bag, but its just not an option for me. I find doing this "two-vessel" BIAB helps to keep the temperature steady for the mash.

One other piece of advice is to buy some campden tablets if your water is treated with chloromine (it probably is). Chloromine untreated in brew water can lead to a metallic taste.

 

[Thedutchtouch]

My advice? For the first time, run the grain through the mill twice, don't bother with a sparge, just mash with full volume, let the bag drain well/squeeze it if you want. I just got a 1.058 pre boil gravity out of 14.5 lb grain (used 7.5 gal mash water for a 5.5 gal post boil volume/1.070 OG) Have fun.

 

[Geoffrey20005]

Ack! So I started my batch today (currently brewing right now actually) but realized a problem. My recipe I have says to do the infusion at 153 F and sparge at 168. I figured I would have some temp loss form the grains, so I boiled high. I was a complete 'tard, and infused at 163, not 153. I didn't realize this until halfway through my infusion step.....any thoughts as to how this will change the beer?

I'm not throwing it out, going to complete the brew (otherwise it's a whole day wasted!) just wondered what it might do to my beer.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Well, if you mean you added the grain with the strike water at 163, you probably mashed around 153, likely fine.

If you mean you actually mashed at 163, that could be a problem. IMHO most step mashes aren't really required or beneficial w/ modern malts.

What was the actual temperature of the mash during the rest, or the hour wait for conversion, after stirring in all the grain?

 

[Geoffrey20005]

Once I realized I was too high I brought it down to the required 153F. Granted, it was 153 as monitored on my 'big daddy' thermometer, which I have since been told is as about as reliable as a weatherman (yes, I did buy a small scientific thermometer as I am too cheap for a digital one yet). But, for about 20-30 minutes, it was at a much higher temperature during infusion.

Also, this entire batch was a BIAB, so I wasn't using any malt additive. The recipe I used claimed it got about 70% effeciency, and I must admit that for the entire setup, I think I hit everything almost on the nose. Target OG was 1.052 while actual OG was 1.051

 

[RM-MN]

With your higher temperature during the early part of the mash you probably denatured the beta amylase so your wort will be less fermentable than you would expect. Only by fermenting it out and then checking the final gravity will tell you for sure.

If your recipe was set for 70% and you hit the OG right on, you would do well to get your grains double milled. The milling of the grains is the most important factor in getting efficiency and with BIAB, you can deal with grains that are milled really fine.

 

[Geoffrey20005]

After it seemed like fermantation had stopped, I transferred it to secondary yesterday. FG reading was 1.010. I tried a little bit of it, and while it didn't taste like the nice ice-cold Fat Tire I am used to, it had a decent taste, nice finish, and a nice little burn on the tongue. Calculating about a 5.4% beer, so this could be a nice brew after conditioning. I already bought everything to do a second batch tomorrow

 

[kh54s10]

After it seemed like fermantation had stopped, I transferred it to secondary yesterday. FG reading was 1.010. I tried a little bit of it, and while it didn't taste like the nice ice-cold Fat Tire I am used to, it had a decent taste, nice finish, and a nice little burn on the tongue. Calculating about a 5.4% beer, so this could be a nice brew after conditioning. I already bought everything to do a second batch tomorrow

I find that tasting the beer before it is carbonated will only give you a general idea of that the final product might be.

I have tasted beers when bottling that I didn't really care for but when they were fully conditioned were great.

With the hot start and that it tasted good is a good sign that you will have a decent beer. I might be a little off, but if you like it it doesn't really matter. does it?

 

[Geoffrey20005]

Very true.

So I am nervous as to the conditioning step, as my last brew that I conditioned and then bottled appears to have lost all yeast. I cracked open a bottle last night, got a slight 'psh' when the top came off but the beer was pretty much flat. I only had it in bottle for two weeks, is an IPA, and might improve, but I am not sure...

What are thoughts on re-pitching yeast before bottling? I really have no idea how to tell if it is something I should do, just for the bottling, or not...

 

[jnacey]

Depends on how long you had it in the fermenter and what the gravity is. I don't add yeast unless it's a high gravity or sour beer that been sitting around for a long time.

How much priming sugar did you add? You could have under primed your bottles.


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[Geoffrey20005]

I was doing a kit, and used the kit-container of priming sugar, but it seemed like the 'normal' size priming sugar that usually comes with kits.

 

[jnacey]

Use a priming sugar calculator like you can find on Northern Brewer. Select the style that you brewed, enter the highest temps the beer experienced during fermentation and the final volume in your bottling bucket. It'll give you an exact amount for your beer. Then just dissolve this in a small amount of boiling water and lightly stir into your bottling bucket.


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[WayFrae]

Once I realized I was too high

I have been there before :fro:

 

[Geoffrey20005]

Hah! Ok, not high like THAT...random drug tests and all...

Starting BIAB batch #2 today. First one I xfered over to secondary after about 5-6 days at perfect FG, letting it condition for a couple weeks before bottling. The one today I'll try leaving in primary longer to clear up a little, and see what that does to the beer. So far pretty darned excited about this beer, doesn't have that damn metalic twang that LME/kit beers adds.