Dead Ringer IPA BIAB turned Partial Mash

[aplus01]

This brew was compromised from the start. I over estimated how much head space my boil kettle had and so my maiden all grain BIAB voyage turned into an all grain partial mash. I'm pretty sure that 12# and 7.5 gallons of water in a 42qt pot was going to end in a sticky mess so I ended up doing a partial mash.

The mash went relatively smoothly with some minor trouble staying at/near my mash temp. My pre boil gravity was 10 points under the OG which in retrospect was probably fine, but at the time I panicked and decided to up the gravity with some DME. There goes my first all grain batch!

Post boil I had the "wise" idea to filter out the pellet hop debris when I racked over to the fermentor and that was maybe the dumbest decision of the night. It took FOREVER. The strainer kept clogging up. Think I'll add pellet hops to a paint strainer bag next time so I won't have a repeat performance.

Thanks to my tinkering managed to over shoot the recipe's OG by 7 points. My fear of a Half Hearted IPA was what drove me to mess with the gravity and I probably didn't need to. The wort tasted pretty good if a little sweet. Hopefully the bottle harvested Bell's yeast (another first) will be able to take care of that extra sweetness.

I also used some fining agents for the first time and added a whirlfloc tablet to the boil. I've gotta say that was some clear wort. Could see my hand on the other side of my gravity sample tube (a first for me)!

When would one use gelatin if the beer is going to be dry hopped in secondary? Before dry hopping? Or do you dry hop then cold crash the secondary and add gelatin right before bottling?

I've added a lot of new techniques and variables into my brewing with this batch. If its terrible (or good) it is going to be tough to pinpoint the cause. It's currently bubbling away at about 68 degrees though so I must have done something right.

 

[BWN]

I did that in a 36 qt. pot and was fine just for future reference.

 

[aplus01]

Wow! Must have been a full house!

I was just eyeballing things and decided that it was too close to risk my brew on. Also since I was using the oven to maintain mash temps I need my brew kettle to be mobile.

Is there a calculator that will tell you the max amount you can BIAB for a given pot? I've heard brewsmith can but I found the interface cluttered and gave up on it. I hear the new version properly supports BIAB.

 

[astropunk]

I just brewed this same recipe yesterday myself!
I did all grain, batch sparge. My pre-boil OG was more than 10 points low, so I also added 1/2 lb of DME. I usually say "oh well" but I really want this beer to turn out.
My post boil OG was only 3 points low, and I am okay with that!

I pitched some washed US05 from a previous batch. This AM it was bubbling away nicely. Im really hoping this beer turns out. This recipe was expensive due to the hop bill. Most hops in a single batch I have ever used!

 

[lylo]

Wow! Must have been a full house!

I was just eyeballing things and decided that it was too close to risk my brew on. Also since I was using the oven to maintain mash temps I need my brew kettle to be mobile.

Is there a calculator that will tell you the max amount you can BIAB for a given pot? I've heard brewsmith can but I found the interface cluttered and gave up on it. I hear the new version properly supports BIAB.

Ask the guys at http://www.biabrewer.info/index.php they have different calulators,all setup for various BIAB methods.

 

[HHP]

Instead of straining your hop debris, you could try whirlpooling.

 

[aplus01]

I just brewed this same recipe yesterday myself!
I did all grain, batch sparge. My pre-boil OG was more than 10 points low, so I also added 1/2 lb of DME. I usually say "oh well" but I really want this beer to turn out.
My post boil OG was only 3 points low, and I am okay with that!

I pitched some washed US05 from a previous batch. This AM it was bubbling away nicely. Im really hoping this beer turns out. This recipe was expensive due to the hop bill. Most hops in a single batch I have ever used!

It is a crap ton of hops. The bottom 2 inches of my pot was hop sediment. Did you just rack/pour over the hop sediment? Since I had all pellet hops there was quite a bit of it.

I agree about the cost, but considering in my neck of the woods a sixer of 2 Hearted is $10 and up, it's worth the cost. This assumes my batch isn't awful.

How do you know what your pre-boil gravity should be? I mistakenly assumed it would be close to post-boil and so I added DME which resulted in going over the recipe's OG.

Ask the guys at http://www.biabrewer.info/index.php they have different calulators,all setup for various BIAB methods.

Thanks! Will poke around there and see what I can find.

Instead of straining your hop debris, you could try whirlpooling.

I did get in there with a sanitized spoon and vigorously stir to form a whirlpool and wait for that to calm down for a few minutes before racking. If that is the proper way to whirlpool then I didn't have much success with it. Any other pointers for a good whirlpool?

 

[aplus01]

Just checked out "The Calculator" from http://www.biabrewer.info and confirmed that I jumped the gun with my DME contribution. According to that calculator my pre-boil gravity should have been 1.054 and I was at 1.052 @ 59 degrees F. Which meant the mash was at about 75% efficiency before adding DME. My worst brewing goof in 4 batches and I can't even pin it on alcohol consumption!

I will be sure to drink more home brew during my next brew day.

Also, looks like everything would have fit into the pot assuming the estimated mash volume of 9.6 gallons from the BIAB calculator is correct. Though I wouldn't have been able to maintain mash temps in the oven as I have done in the past. At least not without destroying my back and possibly spilling 9 gallons of mash in the oven.

 

[BWN]

just opened my first bottle yesterday, it is excellent.

 

[aplus01]

just opened my first bottle yesterday, it is excellent.

Oh thanks. Rub it in. I'm only a few days into the wait.

What temps did you ferment at? I've got my yeast sitting at 66F. Hope that produces a good Two Hearted facsimile.

 

[vitrael]

I just fermented this kit mostly at 68. I also overshot my OG, probably due to too much water loss and using an unmarked carboy, leaving me at 1.071. Honestly I am a little worried--two weeks in, visible fermentation has stopped and it's at 1.025. It smells and tastes like bubble gum. I ran into this thread looking for peoples FGs on this batch, figuring I would adjust up six points and see how far off I am. Let me know what you get!

 

[aplus01]

Did you bottle? Or are you going to let your beer sit on the yeast longer?

I was fermenting at around the same temp, probably a bit lower. I raised the temp by about 2 degrees last week once the airlock activity slowed and will leave it there for another week. Haven't taken a second gravity reading but the OG was right at where your OG was. I built up a pretty big starter from some Bell's yeast and it was a vigorous fermentation. Hopefully it was able to chew through those 1.75 pounds of DME I added. The suspense is killing me and I will probably take a sample when I get home this evening. My pre-fermentation wort was also quite sweet.

Worst case scenario is we pioneer a new style of ale: candy beer!

 

[aplus01]

Ok, so just finished checking my Dead Ringer's gravity and I'm running neck and neck with you, Vitrael. It was a little tough to be precise w/ all the bubbles and whatnot but I read 1.020 @ 63F (put the sample tube in the freezer to bring the temp down). I've still got a bit of airlock activity so maybe it will drop a bit more but I'm not counting on it. Mine is also still a bit sweet too. Though I expect with the dry hopping the sweetness won't be quite as intense. *fingers crossed*

Either way it was definitely drinkable even if it doesn't clone Two Hearted Ale.

 

[aplus01]

Down to 1.015! Those yeast aren't giving up the fight. Hope it doesn't get too much drier though. This beer is inching close to 8% ABV which will severely limit how many of these I'll be able to drink at a time. Also it's tasting pretty dang good at this point and I have yet to dry hop. The wait is killing me.

 

[organ]

I'm at 1.018 five days into primary with an OG of 1.065.

edit: used Safale us05

 

[aplus01]

Nice! Planning to try this recipe again and think I'll use that same yeast.

Not sure where I ended up exactly since I think dry hopping and adding priming sugar threw my FG hydrometer numbers off. The sample I measured at bottling time looked like it was back at 1.020.
The sample had more fruity flavors going on than I was expecting especially since I fermented so cool. But this is my first go w/ yeast harvesting so who knows what could have caused it.

Another week and I'll crack one open and see if all this worrying was helpful!

 

[Slurm]

Is there a calculator that will tell you the max amount you can BIAB for a given pot? I've heard brewsmith can but I found the interface cluttered and gave up on it. I hear the new version properly supports BIAB.

Try this one: http://up.jamesnweber.com/_brew/biabcalcs.html

 

[aplus01]

Thanks, Slurm. On my next Dead Ringer attempt I'll consult that calculator and see what it suggests.

 

[aplus01]

Opened my first bottle this evening and I gotta say it turned out pretty ok. Good carbonation for only two weeks conditioning and great hop aroma too. Definitely better than my previous kit IPA attempt though it is sweeter than I remember Two Hearted being and the color may be darker too. Will definitely be trying this recipe again though without any extra "additions."

 

[organ]

Bottled yesterday. Between a bottling wand clog and dip tube-less bottling bucket, came up about ten bottles short of 48.

Not sure where I ended up exactly since I think dry hopping and adding priming sugar threw my FG hydrometer numbers off. The sample I measured at bottling time looked like it was back at 1.020.

Any un-fermented sugars added to the wort will affect gravity readings as that's what you're measuring.

 

[aplus01]

Bottled yesterday. Between a bottling wand clog and dip tube-less bottling bucket, came up about ten bottles short of 48.

Any un-fermented sugars added to the wort will affect gravity readings as that's what you're measuring.

My condolences for your loss! Think the $1.50 I spent on a 90 degree elbow was maybe one of my best equipment investments.

Well I definitely have unfermented sugars in beer. I've already drank about 6 of them and they're tasty but not properly carbonated. The few were a few that were more carbonated than others and they didn't seem as sweet. Maybe the CO2 diminished the sugary taste? Will have to do some more "research" on this subject. :cross:

 

[astropunk]

I FINALLY got around to kegging this batch on Friday. I brewed it on June 5th, and it sat in primary until I dry-hopped it on July 18th.

Anyway....this turned out GREAT!!!! It could be my best brew to date!
Now I gotta run to the store to pick up a 6 of the real Two Hearted ale to compare it to.

 

[aplus01]

I FINALLY got around to kegging this batch on Friday. I brewed it on June 5th, and it sat in primary until I dry-hopped it on July 18th.

Anyway....this turned out GREAT!!!! It could be my best brew to date!
Now I gotta run to the store to pick up a 6 of the real Two Hearted ale to compare it to.

Glad to hear it! The more of my batch I consume the more I'm convinced that I botched it with my DME addition. Anxious to try it again. Just gotta empty out those bottles first