- Joined
- Jun 29, 2014
- Messages
- 516
- Reaction score
- 50
I just completed my first BIB and didn't go well.. lol. I have been a member here and brewing for 15 years on a 3 vessel system 10 gallons at a time. I recently bought a 20 Gal pot because I do 90 min boils and it maxes out the space in a 15 gallon kettle. I also have a grain bag for doing cold brew coffee so I decided to give BIB a try since its supposed to be easier and still makes great beer.
First off I missed my mash temp by +4 degrees so I guess we'll call this Kolsch a Pilsner instead.
Then, I had to improvise some contraption to hold the grain bag to drain.
Then, I dropped my thermometer into the boil kettle and it took 15 min to fish it out.
Then, I had the craziest foam issues and had to stir for the entire boil.
Then I forgot to scrub the fermenter before filling it with starsan.
Then, I forgot to run the pump for 10-15 min during the boil to sanitize it and had to boil an extra a few min.
Then, I was short 2 gallons of wort and the gravity was so high I had to add 2 gallons worth of bottled water.
Then, to top it all off, the next morning I realized I forgot to set the temperature on the fermentation chamber!
Of course non of this had anything todo with the BIB process other than it's just different than I have been programmed. It was a forgetful day. Im not used to brewing with the kids playing in the yard. Whatever happens, it will still be beer.
During the brew day I did feel like I was breaking a couple rules with BIB though. I usually recirculate during the mash and do a slow fly sparge to get nice filtered wort and rinse as much sugar as I can. I have been programmed to shoot for clear wort in the boil kettle which doesn't seem possible at least with the straining bag I have and I feel like my foam issues were much worse because of less filtered wort.
I have a batch of Yooper's Oatmeal Stout already milled for BIB, read for when my fermenter is empty. Hopefully the next go around will go smoother.
First off I missed my mash temp by +4 degrees so I guess we'll call this Kolsch a Pilsner instead.
Then, I had to improvise some contraption to hold the grain bag to drain.
Then, I dropped my thermometer into the boil kettle and it took 15 min to fish it out.
Then, I had the craziest foam issues and had to stir for the entire boil.
Then I forgot to scrub the fermenter before filling it with starsan.
Then, I forgot to run the pump for 10-15 min during the boil to sanitize it and had to boil an extra a few min.
Then, I was short 2 gallons of wort and the gravity was so high I had to add 2 gallons worth of bottled water.
Then, to top it all off, the next morning I realized I forgot to set the temperature on the fermentation chamber!
Of course non of this had anything todo with the BIB process other than it's just different than I have been programmed. It was a forgetful day. Im not used to brewing with the kids playing in the yard. Whatever happens, it will still be beer.
During the brew day I did feel like I was breaking a couple rules with BIB though. I usually recirculate during the mash and do a slow fly sparge to get nice filtered wort and rinse as much sugar as I can. I have been programmed to shoot for clear wort in the boil kettle which doesn't seem possible at least with the straining bag I have and I feel like my foam issues were much worse because of less filtered wort.
I have a batch of Yooper's Oatmeal Stout already milled for BIB, read for when my fermenter is empty. Hopefully the next go around will go smoother.