Designing my first BIAB brew -> baffled

[BikerMatt]

Hey guys wanna help me out a wee bit?

Was thinking about doing a small test batch of BIAB when I free my fermentor a few weeks from now. The little problem I'm having is the overwhelming selection of malts and stuff available! I went to see the website of the shop I'm planning to order from and they list 151 yeasts, 88 hops, 124 malts and not even going to specials. I don't yet own a grinder/mill so gotta order pre-grind stuff so woumd rather somewhat hit the amount I'll be needing. My restricting factor ATM is my boil kettle is 15 liters.

I'm planning to do a simple english style ale, was thinking about 80/20 maris otter/some crystal but don't know the first thing about jow much I need malts, what hops and how much, when to add them, what yeast... I SHOULD have all the equipment sans a thermometer and a bag which I will be ordering at the same time. Also don't have an immersion chiller but I probly can swamp cool that small amount in a cement trough.

ANY thoughts welcome!

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

15L would be a good size to do a 2 gallon batch. I have a 12L pot and do 2 gallon batches, but it would be easier if my pot was your size. I put my pot in the sink and chill with cold water first and then small water bottles that I have frozen in the freezer along with about 10 lbs. of ice. The trick is to get your cold water on the outside of the pot up above the wort line on the inside. If you start with 12L pre-boil, you should make about 8L. For an english ale East Kent Goldings and Fuggles are great choices. Maris Otter is a good choice or Golden Promise. Crystal 60L is a great choice for a balanced crystal malt. Find all the calculators you need on Brewersfriend to figure out how much of what and when.

 

[BikerMatt]

Gotcha, thanks! I do have a 90 liter cement trough I can fill with ice cold water and put the kettle on a stand of some sort in the middle then fill the trough almost to the brim, I reckon that'lll chill it right up. There's also minus celsius outside here though not that much so I reckon swamping should make a faster cold break.

 

[BikerMatt]

Ok really totally dumb noobie question which to my amazement cannot find an aswer to.

When you mash your own brew, do you need to add sugar to the wort upon pitching the yeast or not, and if yes according to what ratio?

 

[Chris_Primavera]

No

The sugars are in your wort and have been converted from starches in your grain during the mash.

 

[BikerMatt]

Figured so but wanted to make sure. Thx!

 

[Mer-man]

If you're that new, I can add that your water should be about 3c warmer than your target (e.g. 66C) with that volume, since there is not much thermal mass.
Further, the mash is basically done when the solution has cleared -- unless you're stirring, which obviously mixes it up again.

Have fun!

 

[Kent88]

20% Crystal malt seems a little high to me. Maybe drop that down to 10%?

During the mash you are converting starches in the barley malt into simpler sugars by keeping the mash at the right temperatures for certain enzymes.

What brands of yeast are available to you? Wyeast? White Labs? Fermentis?

 

[BikerMatt]

Mer-man yes as greenhorn as they come lol. Got two extract brews under my belt and even those are still one fermenting & the other bottle conditioning. Going off solely what I've read (got the how to brew "book" by john palmer open in another tab) and been watching my eyes red on youtube. Knew about the tempndrop thing but thanks anyway, keep em coming, there must be stuff I've overlooked.

Kent I'll drop the crystal part a bit then. Probly gonna order grains for two/three boils to offset the mailing costs so can measure the exact amounts later.

I can have access to:

Mangrove Jack's
Wyeast
White Labs
Danstar
Fermentum Mobile
Fermentis
Safbrew/safale (same thing?)
Coopers

As well as some single types.

There's also such a wide variety of grains to choose from I havent even bothered to look through them all yet.

 

[Krown]

With BIAB you need your grains milled very fine to achieve good efficency. Specify it when you order your grains. As a starting point I would suggest 65% efficency. You can always adjust with water if you overshoot your gravity.

 

[BikerMatt]

Ok that efficiency part is at this point total greek to me but going to study on that

Yea gotta mention that they fine grind, thx.

 

[soccerdad]

I agree that MO is a great base malt for English Ale .. Simpson's Golden Promise as well. I would use the base as at least 90% of the grist - even 95%.

Fuggles and East Kent Goldings are pretty traditional English Hops.

If you like dry yeast, Safeale 04 is a decent choice for British styles. There are plenty of liquid yeast choices.

 

[BikerMatt]

So I perused the selection my LHBS has and based on some recommendations and personal preference came up with this. Tell me what you think. I don't expect it to be ready yet but gives some direction. I'm liking what I'm seeing/understanding, the only thing that hits my eye is the IBU seems real high for that style of beer so my hop bill is probly way off.

Funny story about the name: I was thinking about a good name at work and what would be better for a brit ale than fox hunter. Then I looked for a good picture to put on the etiquette and found this drawn pinup so it immediately became foxY hunter

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/448949/foxy-hunter

Edit: dropped bittering hops to 6 grams. IBU now 34 and change. Going with this.

 

[BikerMatt]

Ingredients for two batches as well as some new equipment ordered. Slighly ashamed to admit but I haven`t been this enthusiasted about anything for a long long time and I haven`t even gotten to taste any of my creations so far Well, I did open a bottle of my first amber ale but that was still so young it didn`t taste like anything it hopefully will!

Probly still need a ring burner as I fear my old ass hot plate won`t be powerful enough to boil 12 liters of water.

 

[Rhaop]

Wouldn't hurt to add a small % of chocolate malt, do a brown ale and brew lighter or darker from there. They seem to very forgiving until you learn your water profile better i found that switching to biab mash ph was much more important because of my full volume mashing lighter brews gave me astringency from higher ph

Nothing to concern yourself with until you get more brews under your belt just stick to the middle of the road brews browns, ambers, reds and maybe even brown porters, just my 2cents good luck

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

S-04 ferments very quickly so you will need a blow off tube and ambient air needs to be a little lower since it ferments hot especially if you have it in a closed area, but keep your temp control tight. Keep the wort in the 65-68 range to get the esters that are typical in english beers. You could use Nottingham which IMO is more forgiving, but not as estery as S-04.

 

[BikerMatt]

10L of brew in a 30L fermentor with a removable krausen collar, I don't suppose even S-04 will froth THAT much. The Coopers fermentor doesn't have an airlock anyway it just breathes between the lid.

Even if I cut off heating from the garage completely it still stays around 18c(64,4f) so that's pretty much as low as I can get.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

10L of brew in a 30L fermentor with a removable krausen collar, I don't suppose even S-04 will froth THAT much. The Coopers fermentor doesn't have an airlock anyway it just breathes between the lid.

Even if I cut off heating from the garage completely it still stays around 18c(64,4f) so that's pretty much as low as I can get.

I think that should work.

 

[RM-MN]

10L of brew in a 30L fermentor with a removable krausen collar, I don't suppose even S-04 will froth THAT much. The Coopers fermentor doesn't have an airlock anyway it just breathes between the lid.

Even if I cut off heating from the garage completely it still stays around 18c(64,4f) so that's pretty much as low as I can get.

That isn't quite true but your temp should still be fine. Set your fermenter in a tub of water and it will help keep the beer from warming too much with the activity of the yeast. It will act as a heat sink and if you want cooler temps you can use frozen bottles of water in the tub to cool the beer even more.

 

[BikerMatt]

That isn't quite true but your temp should still be fine. Set your fermenter in a tub of water and it will help keep the beer from warming too much with the activity of the yeast. It will act as a heat sink and if you want cooler temps you can use frozen bottles of water in the tub to cool the beer even more.

?! Why wouldn't it be true? I'm talking about garage temp not beer temp, we live in a two storey side-by-side duplex house that's partly dug into a hillside, the garages sit side by side downstsirs at the center with only the door facing outside. The water heater sits in the boiler room at the back of the garage and the door is always open. In fact the first time either of the two wall heaters have been ON is very recently when I had to make sure the last batch starts to ferment and I brough the boiler room temperature to 22c. Normally both batteries have been off the entire time we've lived there and the lowest temp I've seen there has been 17,6c with a steady average of 18,8-19,2c. So yea I COULD technically get it cooler but then I'd have to actively COOL the space or the wort.

 

[RM-MN]

?! Why wouldn't it be true? I'm talking about garage temp not beer temp, we live in a two storey side-by-side duplex house that's partly dug into a hillside, the garages sit side by side downstsirs at the center with only the door facing outside. The water heater sits in the boiler room at the back of the garage and the door is always open. In fact the first time either of the two wall heaters have been ON is very recently when I had to make sure the last batch starts to ferment and I brough the boiler room temperature to 22c. Normally both batteries have been off the entire time we've lived there and the lowest temp I've seen there has been 17,6c with a steady average of 18,8-19,2c. So yea I COULD technically get it cooler but then I'd have to actively COOL the space or the wort.

I thought you were talking about your beer temp. What temp your garage is at doesn't matter as much as long as you keep the beer within a good range for fermentation.

 

[atcsat]

Ingredients for two batches as well as some new equipment ordered. Slighly ashamed to admit but I haven`t been this enthusiasted about anything for a long long time and I haven`t even gotten to taste any of my creations so far Well, I did open a bottle of my first amber ale but that was still so young it didn`t taste like anything it hopefully will!

Your enthusiasm is great! I still get that enthused about every new brew. I taste at every step of the process just for fun. Enjoy!

 

[BikerMatt]

My head is teeming with ideas

-Corn flake cerveza (gold hat)
-lingonberry porter (Red October)
-smoke-rye-juniper-imperial siperia stout (korpisoturi/wilderness warrior)
-pistonhead low ridin' lager clone
-some light but big bubble lager type ale spiced with beech leaves (summer night)

Actually got a label designed for the Foxy Hunter as well might post it here later just for fun.

 

[BikerMatt]

Not sure yet if it will be amber or brown ale, gonna see when it`s in the bottles