Questions about first BIAB

[RedL]

I completed my first BIAB today. Actually it’s my first beer ever. I’ve been making wine and cider for years, but am just starting out with beer. I chose an all grain amber ale kitNow that I’ve got it in the fermenter, I have a few questions. I would really appreciate some feedback.

1. The regulator on my turkey fryer isn’t so good. You can’t turn it down all that low or it will go out. It runs great at medium levels or full tilt. This led to a really aggressive boil. I had to stir non stop for the first half hour to keep from boiling over. It was more manageable after that. I tried a penny in there too. I noticed the wort got darker during the boil. It went from a nice amber to a brown. Is this normal or did I scorch it? Also the smell changed from a nice malty smell to something more vegetable like.

2. I calculated my water amount from a table in John Palmer’s book. It worked out to 7.7 gallons for my 11 lb grain bill. I divided that in half to 3.85 gallons because my pot isn’t big enough, so I divided my 5 gallon kit into two. I came up a full gallon short at the end and had to add a gallon of RO. This was evidently a mistake because now the gravity is 1.04 instead of the target 1.054. Should I have started with more water?

3. This one is a bit of a boo boo. I am usually very very good with sanitation, but it was a long day and I made a mistake. I was going to pull a sample with my turkey baster to take a gravity reading and remembered at the last second I needed to drop it in the sanitizer bucket first. I had just rinsed it in a sink full of tap water. I managed to squirt a little tap water in the cooled wort. How forgiving is beer of these kind of mistakes?

Fortunately I get another shot at this one since I divided my kit in two . . .

 

[VikeMan]

1. The regulator on my turkey fryer isn’t so good. You can’t turn it down all that low or it will go out. It runs great at medium levels or full tilt. This led to a really aggressive boil. I had to stir non stop for the first half hour to keep from boiling over. It was more manageable after that. I tried a penny in there too. I noticed the wort got darker during the boil. It went from a nice amber to a brown. Is this normal or did I scorch it?

Boiling wort does darken it. Both because of Maillard reactions and because the volume is decreased by boiling. Could you have scorched the wort? Yes, it's possible.

Also the smell changed from a nice malty smell to something more vegetable like.

You may have been smelling volatile hops compounds and/or Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) boiling away. Both things are normal.

3. This one is a bit of a boo boo. I am usually very very good with sanitation, but it was a long day and I made a mistake. I was going to pull a sample with my turkey baster to take a gravity reading and remembered at the last second I needed to drop it in the sanitizer bucket first. I had just rinsed it in a sink full of tap water. I managed to squirt a little tap water in the cooled wort. How forgiving is beer of these kind of mistakes?

If your tap water has chlorine or chloramines, that could cause chlorophenols (with a plastic-y off flavor) in the finished beer, depending on how much tap water got into the wort. But like every flavor compound there is, there are taste thresholds, so you might get lucky. My guess is that you will. I wouldn't be too worried about the sanitation aspect, assuming your tap water does have chlorine/chloramines. I mean it's not ideal, but at this point, I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

 

[Upstate12866]

I came up a full gallon short at the end and had to add a gallon of RO. This was evidently a mistake because now the gravity is 1.04 instead of the target 1.054. Should I have started with more water?

Regarding the low efficiency, that was something that came up for me and I continue to monitor. I often do partial boils, so I only boil a smaller amount and top up with water.

- first it's possible you had very low efficiency during your first all grain recipe. Your OG came in around 50% when I put it in my recipe calculator app. Average efficiency is 70% I would say. I brewed a couple batches with similarly low numbers, at least according to the hydrometer measurements I took away the time.

- another real possibility is an incorrect measurement based on how difficult it is to get liquids of different gravities to mix. I know I've encountered this several times when brewing from extracts, which are fairly precise in what they yield per pound. I would get wildly low readings. I'm almost certain this was because of an unwillingness of pure water to mix with wort even after you are sure you've stirred thoroughly. You will get the same issue when taking samples of mash water to check its progress.

So to fix this you have to mix really deliberately, even lifting the heavier mix on the bottom as you stir. Also vigorous action is good for wort at this stage because it helps oxygenate it.

Mixing can remain a problem when you prime the batch for carbonation. So in this case you put thick sugar water solution in a bottling bucket with your thinner finished beer. It's possible they don't mix well. And what's worse, you can't mix vigorously at that stage in the process because it will oxidize the beer and harm the flavor and color. So I mix very very gently if I'm not sure.

 

[RedL]

Boiling wort does darken it. Both because of Maillard reactions and because the volume is decreased by boiling. Could you have scorched the wort? Yes, it's possible.



You may have been smelling volatile hops compounds and/or Dimethyl sulfide (DMS) boiling away. Both things are normal.



If your tap water has chlorine or chloramines, that could cause chlorophenols (with a plastic-y off flavor) in the finished beer, depending on how much tap water got into the wort. But like every flavor compound there is, there are taste thresholds, so you might get lucky. My guess is that you will. I wouldn't be too worried about the sanitation aspect, assuming your tap water does have chlorine/chloramines. I mean it's not ideal, but at this point, I wouldn't lose sleep over it.

Thanks VikeMan!

Regarding the low efficiency, that was something that came up for me and I continue to monitor. I often do partial boils, so I only boil a smaller amount and top up with water.

- first it's possible you had very low efficiency during your first all grain recipe. Your OG came in around 50% when I put it in my recipe calculator app. Average efficiency is 70% I would say. I brewed a couple batches with similarly low numbers, at least according to the hydrometer measurements I took away the time.

- another real possibility is an incorrect measurement based on how difficult it is to get liquids of different gravities to mix. I know I've encountered this several times when brewing from extracts, which are fairly precise in what they yield per pound. I would get wildly low readings. I'm almost certain this was because of an unwillingness of pure water to mix with wort even after you are sure you've stirred thoroughly. You will get the same issue when taking samples of mash water to check its progress.

So to fix this you have to mix really deliberately, even lifting the heavier mix on the bottom as you stir. Also vigorous action is good for wort at this stage because it helps oxygenate it.

Mixing can remain a problem when you prime the batch for carbonation. So in this case you put thick sugar water solution in a bottling bucket with your thinner finished beer. It's possible they don't mix well. And what's worse, you can't mix vigorously at that stage in the process because it will oxidize the beer and harm the flavor and color. So I mix very very gently if I'm not sure.

I didn’t think about the water and the wort not mixing well! I only stirred them briefly after I added the RO. I’ll bet that had something to do with it.