Questions about first Partial mash/BIAB

[MGB_Guy]

First off, this is a great forum...been reading threads on here for a month and a half and have learned a ton. I look forward to hanging out here.

I'm going to attempt my first partial Mash/BIAB this weekend (5.5 gallon batch) and had a few questions about the recipe and the process...your feedback is appreciated.

I'll start with the recipe, which is the "Recipe of the month" from my local HBS - an Oatmeal Stout:

10 lbs LME (? - more on this in a sec)
1 lb flaked oats
14 oz - Crystal 20
14 oz - Black Malt
12 oz - Carapils

1 oz - Galena -60 mins
.75 oz - Ahtanum - 30 mins

Windsor Ale Dry pack

Ok, so the original recipe called for 14 lbs of 2 row or 7 lbs of LME. The sales guy said that must have been calculated wrong and gave me 10 lbs of LME. I put this in a calculator and came up with something around 7.5% ABV and much higher IBUs than is typical for a stout (48?). I was considering pulling back to about 7-7.5 LME and only using .5 oz of Galena, as I don't want a stout that is as hoppy as an IPA.

Now, on the process: I have an 8 gallon kettle and was planning to do it all in the one kettle - mashing at 153-155 for 60 minutes with about 3 gallons?, pulling the bag up, and rinsing with 170 degree water to sparge/get my boil level up, and then starting the boil. Does this sound right?

Thanks for the help in advance,
T

 

[Weezy]

Flaked oats must be mashed. You could use a pound of marris otter malt in with the other grains, and do a proper mini mash on the stove top even. Pick up a $5 scientific thermometer at the lhbs to monitor the mash temps. Use 2 gallons of water, heat to 160, add the grains in the bag to the water, stir well to mix (use a Wisk), cover and let it sit for an hour), stir every 15 min or do. You'll need to adjust the recipe for the added malt here. Brewersfriend.com has a free online recipe calc.

The plan with the extract and hops sounds fine.

Good luck and welcome aboard!

 

[joshesmusica]

http://byo.com/light-ale/item/2543-converting-to-partial-mash

put this into beersmith, and it's saying 1.079 OG/7.9% abv (both way high for the category of oatmeal stout), 40.5 IBUs if you boil the extract for the full 60 minutes (.5 IBUs too high for the style), and 60 EBC (right in the middle of the range for an oatmeal stout).

if you do 1# extract for the full 60 minutes, and all the rest at flameout you will end up with 62 IBUs. when considering bitterness, don't just go off of IBUs. but you want to go off of your IBU:OG ratio. and even then your FG should go into consideration. if you have a 1.050 beer with 50 IBUs, that is 1:1 ratio. not overly bitter, but not overly sweet. BUT you must also consider the FG. if you have 2 1.050 beers with 50 IBUs, but one finishes at 1.010 and the other finishes at 1.018, the first one will have more perceived bitterness.
So if you go with your beer as is, you have 40.5 IBUs and 1.079 OG, that gives you a ratio of .512 IBU/OG. AND your estimated FG is 1.020. all of this to say, you're still gonna have a sweet beer, not an overly hoppy one by any means.

it's not a bad thing to have this beer as is, but it's actually gonna be considered on the low end of an Imperial Oatmeal stout. but if that's the case you actually need to bump up your IBUs to 50 in order for everything to be the low end of that style.

random question what do you mean by LME, do you mean light malt extract or liquid malt extract. if the latter, what kind of malt extract are you talking here? pale, pilsner, amber, dark, extra dark?

as far as the mash, check out the link above. you could be using too much water with 3 gallons. the temp range sounds good. beersmith is actually recommending for a medium body to go with 156 for 60 minutes, and then doing a mashout at 168 for 10 mins.

 

[joshesmusica]

also LHBSes are great resources, but not always trustworthy (in my experience) in helping you build recipes. it's often a lot like startup kits. a bunch of bs in there you don't need.
i usually try to build my own recipe with beersmith (and of course using homebrewtalk forum searches as a guide), then email the lhbs to see if they have the ingredients. then tweak my recipe if needed. it's better if you can just go in and tell them exactly what you're going to buy, knowing you've already built a good recipe.

 

[MGB_Guy]

Thanks to both of you for the quick responses. I've already got the thermometer, and my kettle has one as well (first time cooking with this kettle, so I'll have to calibrate it). I've done a couple of extract brews, but this is the first grain attempt. The extract is listed as Light LME(?). I don't mind it being a bit close to the RIS as I am a fan of those, but this will have to age a bit to smooth out, I'm sure. I happened to be near the HBS and figured I'd get the ingredients while there. It's kinda like trusting the guys in the auto parts store when you need parts . I'll update this weekend and let you know how it went. Glad to know I wasn't too far off with my plans.

 

[unionrdr]

At 1 1/2 quarts of water per pound of grains & 3 1/2lbs of grains, you should use 5 1/4 quarts of water, or 1 gallon 1 1/4 quarts of water total. Sparging with 2 gallons in my opinion so you don't leach tannins by over-sparging. Then top off to boil volume. When I partial mash, I have to do partial boil as well, so I top off in the fermenter. Too much sparging or mash water to full boil might not work out well.