First try at BIAB...I may be sold.

[bdogg171]

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.

 

[iijakii]

It's a delightful method. Definitely check out a Wilser bag once your paint strainer looks a bit stressed -- they're great quality. Pulley system is a dream if you have a way to run one. Run Beersmith or pricelessbrew's calculators to nail your temps next time. Full volume definitely doesnt have as much heat loss once you dough-in.

 

[Dangeruss]

What will happen is this will turn out better than expected with the LHBS mix up. You end up wanting to start your own brewery based on this flagship beer

 

[bdogg171]

iijakii - Yeah I'm definitely convinced that a good bag is next on the list, the trial run convinced me. I used priceless and brewers friend both to get some comparisons and they were fairly close, priceless being a tad closer. Bru'nwater & brewers friend both projected my expected PH and adjustments pretty much spot on. When I do decide to do the occasional 5 gallon batches one of my keggles should work fine as well.

Dangeruss - lol, I named this batch of "amber pilsner" Imbolc, time will tell if it becomes the flagship house beer, well time and the opinions of my in-laws who have been after me for over a year to start brewing again..."is it ready yet?" "how much longer?" "will it be ready by valentines?" etc.

 

[Cyclman]

Welcome to BIAB, +1 on Wilserbrewer bags (and if you get one, get the hop socks, too, I love them).

I do all my experiments 3G BIAB, then scale up if I want to drink lots of it.

 

[bdogg171]

My thought process exactly, if I'm going to be the only one drinking it for the most part, it has to be a winner for me.

 

[thunderwagn]

Looks great

 

[bdogg171]

Thanks chunk, not really what I was planning but when life gives you 1/2 lb of crystal mixed into your 2 row...make beer!

 

[bdogg171]

Imbolc sitting at approx. 1.016 after 5 days in primary at 50F, bumping to 66F for D-rest. Still slightly sweetish with a nice hoppiness.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1455147822.666114.jpg

 

[jcglezen]

As stated above, it's a great method. I brewed AG for years with three different vessels, a hot liquor tank, a cooler/mash tun, and a keggle boil pot. Now its just one, and the beer is every bit as good. Enjoy!

 

[BeardedBrews]

Brewer's Friend seems to nail my BIAB strike temperature every time, assuming I remember to take the grain temperature.

Whenever I wake up and say "eh, feels like 50F in my garage" and wing it, I always end up discovering the grain was actually 61F and my mash is not surprisingly 11F hotter than it should be.

I keep frozen water bottles around in case I need to apply emergency cold in the first 5 min of mash

 

[bdogg171]

jcglezen - I was in the process of rebuilding my entire brewery before I got the wild hair to try BIAB, 3 15 gal keggles, 1 8 gal pony keggle, 10 gal cooler, 5 gal cooler, 2 false bottoms, 2 copper chillers, heating element, etc, etc, (was planning for a 2 pump electric / propane HERMS system) now I fear it may all sit idle for a while, will probably still finish it up eventually since I'm so invested, but it's definitely on the back burner for now...DAMN YOU BIAB!!

 

[RM-MN]

Brewer's Friend seems to nail my BIAB strike temperature every time, assuming I remember to take the grain temperature.

Whenever I wake up and say "eh, feels like 50F in my garage" and wing it, I always end up discovering the grain was actually 61F and my mash is not surprisingly 11F hotter than it should be.

I keep frozen water bottles around in case I need to apply emergency cold in the first 5 min of mash

Learn to always take the grain temp so you hit your mash temp immediately. With the fine milling that I do, testing with iodine has shown that conversion is over in less than 5 minutes. Your emergency cooling probably doesn't affect the conversion much and you effectively mashed too high.:rockin:

 

[jcglezen]

jcglezen - I was in the process of rebuilding my entire brewery before I got the wild hair to try BIAB, 3 15 gal keggles, 1 8 gal pony keggle, 10 gal cooler, 5 gal cooler, 2 false bottoms, 2 copper chillers, heating element, etc, etc, (was planning for a 2 pump electric / propane HERMS system) now I fear it may all sit idle for a while, will probably still finish it up eventually since I'm so invested, but it's definitely on the back burner for now...DAMN YOU BIAB!!

With three kids all involved in various sports, time to set aside for brewing is limited. I needed as simple a brew day as I could find. Bam

 

[bdogg171]

Well the results are in! 20 days from brew date and Imbolc is...DAMN GOOD! There was some astringency (was attributing to the higher than wanted mash temp) and a slight fruitiness as it came along but now it is smoooth and easy drinking (too easy) for a ~6.70ish ABV "lager" (I had 3 glasses today and I am feeling pretty damn good!) I add the " " to lager because according to a facebook group you can't make a lager if it's not aged 300 quadrillion years according to german texts written for large scale commercial breweries vs. modern small scale homebrewing, but I digress, I am VERY satisfied with how this came out and will be VERY proud to serve to family in a couple of weeks. The BIAB method really is easy and the results are just as good as any other method IMO. Next up is a California Common I have christened " Cinnnabar Hills".

 

[thunderwagn]

Looks tasty!

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

Well the results are in! 20 days from brew date and Imbolc is...DAMN GOOD! There was some astringency (was attributing to the higher than wanted mash temp) and a slight fruitiness as it came along but now it is smoooth and easy drinking (too easy) for a ~6.70ish ABV "lager" (I had 3 glasses today and I am feeling pretty damn good!) I add the " " to lager because according to a facebook group you can't make a lager if it's not aged 300 quadrillion years according to german texts written for large scale commercial breweries vs. modern small scale homebrewing, but I digress, I am VERY satisfied with how this came out and will be VERY proud to serve to family in a couple of weeks. The BIAB method really is easy and the results are just as good as any other method IMO. Next up is a California Common I have christened " Cinnnabar Hills".

Mash pH is a likely culprit of astringency. Try some distilled or RO water next time with some basic mineral additions. Look for the water primer on here and try that.

I agree on it being easier. I spent so much time/money/effort on a 3 vessel system and wasnt getting the beer I wanted (so frustrating). Not knocking that process since it was definitely user error, just could never get anything right. I dumbed things down and did smaller batches by BIAB. I got that process dialed in and ended up liking it. Brew day is so much shorter, I can do it inside and halfway spend some time with my 1 year old, and less cleanup. Recipes are cheaper, but of course I don't look as cool as I did with my stand, pump, silicone tubing, etc.

 

[bdogg171]

Mash pH is a likely culprit of astringency. Try some distilled or RO water next time with some basic mineral additions. Look for the water primer on here and try that.

I used Bru'water alongside Brewers Friend and input my water (60% dilution with distilled) and my grain bill, PH was predicted at approx 5.7 after adding a little gypsum, and cal chlor., my PH meter read 5.7 15 minutes into the mash just as Bru'nwater predicted, do you think 5.7 was a little high?

Either way it is dangerously clean and smooth now so I'm a happy camper.

 

[RM-MN]

You might also be tasting a bit of yeast bite and thinking that is astringent. Your time line seems a little short to me and it is possible that with a few more days of yeast settling the bite may go away.

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

I used Bru'water alongside Brewers Friend and input my water (60% dilution with distilled) and my grain bill, PH was predicted at approx 5.7 after adding a little gypsum, and cal chlor., my PH meter read 5.7 15 minutes into the mash just as Bru'nwater predicted, do you think 5.7 was a little high?

Either way it is dangerously clean and smooth now so I'm a happy camper.

Id say 5.7 was a little high, but not so much as to cause astringency problems. Those usually start around 6.0 from what I understand. Shoot for lower next time to see if that makes a difference.

But, with you saying it's fine now, astringent flavors dont fade. So it was probably something else. As long as it's fine now, that's all that matters.

 

[bdogg171]

You might also be tasting a bit of yeast bite and thinking that is astringent. Your time line seems a little short to me and it is possible that with a few more days of yeast settling the bite may go away.

Yeah I kinda agree there, I used Marshall's (Brulosopher) quick lager method for the first time...lol this was a full of firsts brew session, anyhoo I had SHMBO sample it as well and we both were getting tannic/astringency, it wasn't bad but we both agreed it was there, then it faded away so maybe we were getting the yeast, I used wyeast 2035.