BWAB-Brew Without a Bag

[Ply318ci]

Ok so I got some questions about my latest brew day. I am only brewing a 2 gallon batch since that is all the room I got to boil and mash.

Steps.
1. I took 6 lbs of 2 row, 11oz of Special B, and 6 oz of Crystal 60L and dumped it in 3 gallons of 160 degree waterer. The temp dropped to 150 and over the next 75 min the temp ended at 145. So first question I know that this is not right but how much will it affect my beer?

2. I was not doing this in a bag (just loose grains in a bucket of water) but was using the full volume that I was going to boil, since it is only going to be two gallons I guessed I would not boil off to much. Now when the 75 min was up I took a 16oz measuring cup and scooped out the water/grains and poured it through a colander lined with a grain bag to filter. When the grain bag got full of grain I would squeeze the crap out of it and then throw the used grains away. I did this into two pots since the biggest pot I have can only hold 2 gallons and I had three. Second question, was this a good thing to do squeezing the grains to get as much liquid as possible out since I was not doing a sparge?

3. So I ended up with 7qts in one pot and 5 in another and proceed to boil for 60 min. I added the hops according to my hop schedule and ended up with 1.75 gallons of wort. I added .25qts of water to top off to 2 gallons and then cooled to about 80-85 degrees and pitched the yeast. Third question, was this to hot to pitch Safale US-05?

4. It is now fermenting along in a 5 gallon bucket, since that is all I have, and I hope it turns out ok. The big question is why does beer calculus on hopville.com show that I am getting a measured efficiency of 48%, I do not have a hydrometer or a refractometer to measure my OG and FG so I am relying on beer calculus to tell me what I got. I am figuring about 60% efficiency since most of my beers have been lower in ABV (by taste) then what beer calculus tells me. So fourth question is the 48% accurate or should I assume something higher, I realize that with no real OG measurement this question may be unanswerable.

Here is the link to what I just did, thanks for looking.

http://hopville.com/recipe/1280963/american-ipa-recipes/ipa-test-2012-04-07-version

 

[H-ost]

Without inputting gravity readings I have no idea how the all knowing interwebs could tell you your efficiency so I can't help there.

At 145 you may have a thinner body than expected.

Squeezing the bag is not a problem.

The amount you are boiling does not determine the boil off rate it is a matter of heat applied and the upper surface area I believe.

80+ is a little high to pitch yeast into but you said it is chugging along so it seems like your yeast are fine.

 

[Stauffbier]

1) Your beer will be fine with these mash temps. It will be very fermentable and give you a dry, light bodied beer

2) Squeezing the bag is fine. Why didn't you just put the bag in the pot and do BIAB instead of the scoop and strain thing?

3) 80-85 won't kill the yeast, but it's not an ideal fermentation temp. At that high of a temp the yeast will throw out some off flavors.

4) I don't know how beer calculus or anything else can predict your efficiency without gravity readings. You should really consider getting a hydrometer...

 

[Ply318ci]

Thanks for the responses. As to some of your questions why I don't just use the grain bag and do a real biab is my grain bag isn't big enough to cover my pot and the biggest pot I have is only 2 gallons and I needed to boil three total. I don't have a hydrometer since I only brew small batches and a hydro reading takes up to much beer. The beer calculus just used the information from the grains and water volume you input to guess at the OG and FG. My main concern is I want it to be at least 5.6 ABV to fit the IPA style. session beers are great and i have brewed a few but for this i wanted at least enough for the style.

 

[Ply318ci]

Sorry also I pitched the yeast around 80 degrees it is fermenting at 65-70 now.

 

[cyclonite]

Thanks for the responses. As to some of your questions why I don't just use the grain bag and do a real biab is my grain bag isn't big enough to cover my pot and the biggest pot I have is only 2 gallons and I needed to boil three total. I don't have a hydrometer since I only brew small batches and a hydro reading takes up to much beer. The beer calculus just used the information from the grains and water volume you input to guess at the OG and FG. My main concern is I want it to be at least 5.6 ABV to fit the IPA style. session beers are great and i have brewed a few but for this i wanted at least enough for the style.

I would highly recommend getting a larger kettle, 2 gallon isn't going to get you very far unless you want to do < 2 gallon batches (in which case you should be fine). For a larger bag, the economical option is to get 5 gal paint strainer bags from home depot/lowes. Look on Craigslist for turkey fryer kits for a larger kettle - they usually come with a propane burner (and the pot is still small enough to get a boil on a gas range, as long as it fits under your hood if you have one).

 

[zacster]

I don't know beer calculus, but BeerSmith has inputs for Actual gravity vs. estimated, and these Actual values always have something in them already that has nothing to do with your brew (maybe the last value entered?) In any case, you enter your Actual measured value and it calculates efficiency for you. There is no way it will know the efficiency otherwise. A hydrometer and flask are not expensive and are a pretty basic piece of equipment. You can brew without them but you'll never know what you're getting, and the samples are pretty small.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Sorry also I pitched the yeast around 80 degrees it is fermenting at 65-70 now.

You want the actual beer temp to be 65...not room temp, the beer will be warmer than ambient temp fyi.

I applaud your simple method and approach.

 

[brewhokie]

A hydrometer and flask are not expensive and are a pretty basic piece of equipment. You can brew without them but you'll never know what you're getting, and the samples are pretty small.

Not to mention if you have no way of verifying fermentation is complete you are much more likely to deal with bottle bombs.

 

[Ply318ci]

Thanks for the advice I pretty much figured there was no way to get a real answer without a hydrometer but figured I would give it a try. This is my fifth batch so far and all have been good I am just not sure if they could have been better. I have never had bottle bombs yet I usually wait at least two weeks and cold crash for 3-5 days and so far so good thanks again. I will hopefully get some pics up after it is all done.
The reason I only have a two gallo lot is I only want/can brew about two gallons. I have other pots as well just none bigger then two gallons so bigger batches I split the boil. I will look into the paint strainer if they are really cheap that solves one of my problems.
And wilser thanks I am mainly keeping it simple because that is all I got in my budget right now but as long as it keeps working I figure why change it . Maybe tweak it just a little for better efficiency but overall I like it. (and get a hydrometer).

 

[zacster]

Painter strainer bags are about a buck, a hydrometer is about 5 and a measuring flask is about 4. Not a huge investment for any of these things.

 

[H-ost]

where are you getting 5$ hydrometers?

 

[Ply318ci]

I can't find a hydro for quite that cheap but cheap enough to justify getting one on my next trip to the LHBS and will get a paint strainer as well.

 

[zacster]

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/beer-and-wine-triple-scale-hydrometer.html

They're pretty much that price everywhere.

 

[Ply318ci]

But on top of that is the 8 dollar shipping charge. My LHBS has them so I will pick one up from them. Thanks for the link.

 

[zacster]

I guess I always have had something else big to order from them so I didn't consider the shipping.

 

[Ply318ci]

Usually that is the case with me as well. But since that is all I need right now I hate paying more for shipping then for the item.

 

[tre9er]

32qt. aluminium stock pot at instawares.com (Update International is brand) $27. Shipping isn't much, so under $40 and you have a large enough pot to do BIAB (5gal paint strainer bag) for 5 gal. batches.

I've also seen turkey fryer pots (30qt) at Menards for $39.99 I believe...YMMV

 

[dbrewski]

I don't have a hydrometer since I only brew small batches and a hydro reading takes up to much beer.

If you want to continue to make small batches, you can estimate your final gravity without wasting the wort in the measuring flask. All you need is a preboil hydrometer reading, your preboil and postboil volume.

Say you get a preboil reading of 1.046 with three gallons. Toss the wort from the hydro flask back into the pot - no waste. Then you end up with 2.5 gallons after the boil. The math would be 46 gravity points X 3 gallons = 138 total gravity units. Then divide by final volume, ie. 138 GU/ 2.5 gallons = 55 or 1.055 "final" original gravity.

 

[Ply318ci]

Thanks that is a great method I will try that on my next batch.

 

[Stonewild]

As I understand it, many of the brewing methods are designed for repeatability/ consistancy in mind. Making the same beer over and over or sharing recipes with friends.

I love your method. U will probably never get the same beer twice... But as far as im concerned... WHO cares!..

Consistancy is for the manufacturers... Chaos rules!... that is if Chaos and Rules can be used in the same statement...

 

[tre9er]

The only reason I like to be able to duplicate recipes is when I make that beer that turns out way better than I expected and everyone loves it, myself included...I want to be able to make that again. Of course, if it's that good it's worth making it a few times until you figure out what the exact process for "perfection" is...