Brew Day, with pictures

[jjw5015]

What size kettle did you use. I have a 4 or 5 gallon kettle I used to do extract with. I do 5 gal BIAB with my 10.5 gal now, but I'd like to do some stovetop 1 gal experiments.

 

[hio3791]

Having never tried BIAB or small batch brewing, seems the two compliment each other very well. Peeks my curiosity and I may need to try it for those odd-ball/experimentals where more than a couple of gallons is too much.

 

[kombat]

Then do you bring it back up to a temp or just put it on oven from there?

I just put it into the oven. I heated the strike water to a measured amount above the desired mash temperature in order to account for a slight temperature drop when adding the grains, such that it settled at just the right temperature.

What size kettle did you use.

I used a 9 qt. stainless steel pot I got at Ikea.

Having never tried BIAB or small batch brewing, seems the two compliment each other very well.

I didn't start doing BIAB until I started doing 1 gallon "test" batches like this. In fact, this was only the third time I'd ever done a 1 gallon batch. I just bottled my first one (a Nut Brown) last night.

 

[rave808]

Thanx sorry for so many questions but I'm an extract brewer who is getting ready to jump into biab and your pictures and answers to my questions really helped me out a lot on how to do things thank you


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[jjw5015]

Thanx sorry for so many questions but I'm an extract brewer who is getting ready to jump into biab and your pictures and answers to my questions really helped me out a lot on how to do things thank you


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Check out Deathbrewer's thread called All-Grain Stove top brewing

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/

And this one for full scale outdoor BIAB:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f244/biab-brewing-pics-233289/

 

[jgarretson]

Great thread. What was the total amount of grain you used for this? I'm planning some 1 gal stovetop BIAB batches and don't want to use my 8 gal kettle. I'm not sure if I have a pot big enough besides my kettle though.
Another question, 60 min boil?

And finally how did the beer turn out? I have to think the bacon might have killed any potential head right?


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[kombat]

What was the total amount of grain you used for this?

I don't have my recipe in front of me, but it was only a couple pounds or so, and obviously the majority of that was base malt.

I'm planning some 1 gal stovetop BIAB batches and don't want to use my 8 gal kettle. I'm not sure if I have a pot big enough besides my kettle though.

I just used a little 9 qt. stainless steel pot I bought at Ikea for like $12.

Another question, 60 min boil?

Yup, 60 minutes.

And finally how did the beer turn out?

Honestly? Not good. The beer's been bottled for over 3 weeks now. Last weekend, I popped one in the fridge for a couple of days and tasted it with my wife. Although there was a little "Psssht!" when I popped the cap, there seemed to be very little carbonation, and as you guessed, zero head at all. Moreover, the beer has a very slick, oily mouthfeel that is downright unpleasant. Neither my wife nor I could even finish our half-glass of the beer. We both ended up dumping it.

I'm going to sit on the bottles for a few more weeks to see if the carbonation develops any more, and see if that helps distract from the off-putting mouthfeel, but I don't have high hopes for this beer. I'll likely end up dumping the rest when I run out of empty bottles and need to reclaim them from this batch.

In conclusion, don't put an entire package of bacon in a 1 gallon batch of beer. Live and learn, I guess. I'm still glad I tried it, it was a worthwhile experiment and I only really wasted 1 gallon of beer and 3 hours of my time or so. No big loss, and that's what brewing is about - trying new ingredients and processes and seeing what works and what doesn't. Turns out this one doesn't.

 

[jgarretson]

Bacon is obviously pretty greasy/oily and it seems like anything with high fat content makes the beer basically slick. I wonder how the commercial guys do it? I imagine it's a bacon extract or something similar.

I looked at my kitchen hardware last night and I've for a 10qt stock pot that seems like it's big enough. I'm planning a 1gal BIAB Oskar Blues G'Knight clone and I think I'm gonna brew this Friday. It calls for a 90 min boil which pushed my strike water over 3 gallons which isn't going to fit. I need to mess with my equipment setup though because it's all setup for my later kettle with a valve and losing 1/2 gal to trub etc.


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[kombat]

I looked at my kitchen hardware last night and I've for a 10qt stock pot that seems like it's big enough. I'm planning a 1gal BIAB Oskar Blues G'Knight clone and I think I'm gonna brew this Friday. It calls for a 90 min boil which pushed my strike water over 3 gallons which isn't going to fit.

Yeah, you should be OK, I would think. If the grain bill totals, say, 2.5 pounds, then it will absorb 1 quart of water. Figure you boil off 0.5 gallons/hour, so you'd lose 3 more quarts during a 90 minute boil, meaning to end up with 1.25 gallons (to account for losing another quart to trub), you'd have to start with 2.25 gallons of water, or 9 quarts. It'd be a tight fit, but if you use a few drops of Fermcap-S to suppress any boilovers, you should be able to do it.

 

[kombat]

I tried another bottle of this last weekend, and honestly, I've got to say, it's improved considerably. I had thought this batch was a total write-off, but after a couple more weeks of bottle-conditioning, the slickness has diminished considerably, and the carbonation has improved a lot. It definitely has a smokey aroma, and the bacon presents itself in the flavour. I was actually able to drink (and enjoy!) an entire glass of this batch. This one might be salvageable!