Does this BIAB recipe/procedure for ordinary bitter make sense?

[F250]

Okay, so I'm wanting to try my first all grain beer and I'm wanting to use the BIAB method to start.

I'd like to end up with 5.5 gallons and figured I'd need 7.5 gallons total of brew water to accomplish this. I'm thinking along the lines of a 90 min steep at 155 degrees in 5.5 gallons of water, then pour 2 gallons of 170 degree water through the grain bag as it drained above the pot. Then I would do a 60 min boil.

My recipe looks thus:

7lbs Marris Otter Pale
1lbs Cara Malt

Kent Goldings hops
1oz @ 60min
.5oz @ 15min
.5oz @ flame out

Yeast - Danstar Nottingham

I think I'd end up with a OG of 1.038, FG of 1.009, and an ABV of 3.89%

Obviously I'm wanting a highly drinkable session beer that about anyone could easily drink.

So, how close/off is my procedure and recipe?

TIA

Rick

 

[Yooper]

You don't need to mash for 90 minutes- with that grainbill and temperature I wouldn't be surprised if you had full conversion in 20 minutes!- so a 60 minute mash is certainly sufficient.

If you want a FG of 1.009, though, you'd have to mash quite a bit cooler, like at 150-151 degrees. Even then, you'd be good with a 60 minute mash.

I like your hops schedule!

I'd probably cut the crystal in half, and use a darker crystal. I like crystal 120L in a small amount (say, 6-7%) for the toffee/raisin depth of flavor. I have seen some good recipes that use a bit of special roast in the grainbill (3-4%) and that is really nice in an ordinary bitter.

 

[F250]

You don't need to mash for 90 minutes- with that grainbill and temperature I wouldn't be surprised if you had full conversion in 20 minutes!- so a 60 minute mash is certainly sufficient.

If you want a FG of 1.009, though, you'd have to mash quite a bit cooler, like at 150-151 degrees. Even then, you'd be good with a 60 minute mash.

I like your hops schedule!

I'd probably cut the crystal in half, and use a darker crystal. I like crystal 120L in a small amount (say, 6-7%) for the toffee/raisin depth of flavor. I have seen some good recipes that use a bit of special roast in the grainbill (3-4%) and that is really nice in an ordinary bitter.

Excellent. Thank you, Yooper.

So, I'll adjust mash temp & time to 150 @ 60min.

Substitute the Caramalt for about .5lb of Dark Crystal 120L

Am I understanding correctly that my water amounts/usage was okay and that a 60 min boil would be sufficient?

Thanks again.

Rick

 

[Yooper]

Excellent. Thank you, Yooper.

So, I'll adjust mash temp & time to 150 @ 60min.

Substitute the Caramalt for about .5lb of Dark Crystal 120L

Am I understanding correctly that my water amounts/usage was okay and that a 60 min boil would be sufficient?

Thanks again.

Rick

Well, I've never done BIAB and I know they sometimes mash with a full volume so I'm not sure what the "right" answer is.

But generally, using 1.25- 2 quarts of water per pound of grain in the mash is common. So if you went with 2 quarts/pound, that would be 16 quarts (4 gallons). The grain should absorb a gallon of liquid, giving you 3 gallons out of the mash. If you have a boil volume of 6.5 gallons, you could sparge with 3.5 gallons. But you can just sparge up to your boil volume, by measuring your runnings out of the mash.

Normally, BIABers squeeze their bag to get wort out, so you may find that it absorbs less than a gallon in the mash if you squeeze out the grainbag. Again, I've never done this. It's not required, of course, but I know many do that.

 

[Transamguy77]

When I was doing BIAB I used a 7.5 gallon pot and would dough in with 5 gallons and sparge with 2 gallons in my old 5 gallon extract pot. After squeezing I would end up with 6.5 in my kettle and boil 1 gallon off so 5.5 would go into the fermenter.

 

[beergolf]

I usually lose less than 1/2 gallon for that much grain. I let it sit on a colander and press it down with a small pot lid. So if you figure about 1/2 gal for what the grain absorbs and your boil off rate, you shoul. very close.

Looks like a nice brew.

 

[F250]

Thanks, people.

I think during this next week I'll get my ingredients ordered, probably order enough for two batches and then give this a go next Saturday.

Rick

 

[RM-MN]

If you use cold water instead of hot for sparging your sugar extraction will suffer but not very much. You'll be able to make up for that by squeezing the bag very well, which you will be able to do since it won't be hot anymore. By the time I'm done squeezing the wort out of the bag the grains is just damp. There isn't much loss to the grain that way.

 

[F250]

If you use cold water instead of hot for sparging your sugar extraction will suffer but not very much. You'll be able to make up for that by squeezing the bag very well, which you will be able to do since it won't be hot anymore. By the time I'm done squeezing the wort out of the bag the grains is just damp. There isn't much loss to the grain that way.

But wouldn't that simply slow my boil down?

I'm not sure I'm following.

Rick

 

[Brew-Jay]

Great information, all!! I've had the same questions as the OP for the same reasons, but I've been searching for the answers rather than just coming right out and asking. Thanks for asking, F250. Now we both know.

 

[F250]

Great information, all!! I've had the same questions as the OP for the same reasons, but I've been searching for the answers rather than just coming right out and asking. Thanks for asking, F250. Now we both know.

Cool. :rockin:

I never felt completely comfortable with my search results either.

Rick

 

[RM-MN]

But wouldn't that simply slow my boil down?

I'm not sure I'm following.

Rick

Sure it would slow down your reaching the boil but the increase in the amount of sugars you can extract seem to make this worthwhile. I like to get all the sugars I can in my wort and if it takes a few minutes longer to get to boil, so what. I don't brew against a stop watch.

The point of using the cooler water is so you can use your hands to squeeze the last of the sugar laden wort from that bag. I've tried using a colander and a pot lid but I could still squeeze out a significant amount of sticky liquid using my hands to squeeze.

 

[orangemen5]

Sure it would slow down your reaching the boil but the increase in the amount of sugars you can extract seem to make this worthwhile. I like to get all the sugars I can in my wort and if it takes a few minutes longer to get to boil, so what. I don't brew against a stop watch.

The point of using the cooler water is so you can use your hands to squeeze the last of the sugar laden wort from that bag. I've tried using a colander and a pot lid but I could still squeeze out a significant amount of sticky liquid using my hands to squeeze.

Couldn't you just wear gloves to squeeze the warm/hot bag

 

[RM-MN]

What kind of gloves do you have that are waterproof and will shield your hands from the 170 degree wort? I've tried the rubber gloves and I can't squeeze for long before my hands feel like they are burning.

 

[orangemen5]

I've never tried it with gloves but I do have industrial gloves at work. I was just curious if ppl tried different gloves

 

[MindenMan]

Have you ever seen the silicone gloves that are commonly used in the barbeque industry? Apparently the high temperature of the just cooked meat doesn't get through. Just a thought...

 

[bigdongsr94]

I just use a normal oven pad inside a shopping bag. Think it's pretty good, bad is water proof and oven MIT is for heat. Done.

 

[bigdongsr94]

Sorry I am drunk,.... Bag is water proof.

 

[CaveBrewing]

I bought a cheap pair of pvc coated work gloves on amazon. My fingers did not get burnt at all on my last batch and I was able to squeeze out an extra half gallon of wort!

 

[RM-MN]

I bought a cheap pair of pvc coated work gloves on amazon. My fingers did not get burnt at all on my last batch and I was able to squeeze out an extra half gallon of wort!

And did you get significantly better efficiency or reach boil much faster than I would with my cold water sparge?

 

[CaveBrewing]

The main reason I tried the gloves is because I do not have a pully system so I can't hold the grain very long. I give the bag a few good squeezes and get to see all of that wort drain out into the bucket then I add it back to my pot. I have a pretty slow stove so cold water might slow down my heating process but I was thinking about trying it anyway as I use gallon jugs of spring water. I am going to dump a gallon of room temp over my bag next time and squeeze the heck out of it. I like the gloves too so my hands don't get all sticky.

 

[RM-MN]

The main reason I tried the gloves is because I do not have a pully system so I can't hold the grain very long. I give the bag a few good squeezes and get to see all of that wort drain out into the bucket then I add it back to my pot. I have a pretty slow stove so cold water might slow down my heating process but I was thinking about trying it anyway as I use gallon jugs of spring water. I am going to dump a gallon of room temp over my bag next time and squeeze the heck out of it. I like the gloves too so my hands don't get all sticky.

That bag of hot wet grain is hard to hold up to let it drain. I put a colander in a mixing bowl and set the bag of grain in there to drain. I have more than one mixing bowl so I let it drain until the bottom of the grain bag sets in the wort, then move the colander to the next bowl while I drain the first.

When I add the cold water the hot wort in the grain mixes with it so it still comes out pretty warm, just not quite as hot. I don't sparge with a large quantity either, just perhaps a gallon. That little helps get more sugars out. If I used more I'm sure I could raise my efficiency but I'm satisfied with 80-85% and I don't have to boil down so much.

 

[CaveBrewing]

Sounds like a good process and great efficiency for BIAB!

 

[F250]

Okay, well, today is brew day for this batch of BIAB Bitter.

Much to my delight I had no problem maintaining my mash temp of 150, +- 1 degree or so.

Sparging went well, I inverted a stainless steel colander in another kettle and simply poured my water over the bag as it sat atop the colander. Then I took a pot lid and squeezed as much water out as I could. It appears I lost just a little over half a gallon to the grain, that doesn't seem bad.

I'm cooling a sample to see how the OG came out.

Fingers crossed.

Rick

 

[F250]

Okay, got the sample cooled and read, looks like it came in at 1.041

That's right where I wanted to be for OG. Now if my conversion made the right sugars I should be good. I'd like it to hit 1.009

Now just get it to a boil and start adding hops. :rockin:

Rick

 

[RichE]

Do you see an advantage in pouring the sparge water over the grain bag rather than just dunking the bag in the sparge water in the pot that was used to heat it. I guess it would be one more pot to wash. I would think a longer soak in the sparge water (like 5 -10 minutes) would extract more sugars that rinsing.

 

[F250]

Do you see an advantage in pouring the sparge water over the grain bag rather than just dunking the bag in the sparge water in the pot that was used to heat it. I guess it would be one more pot to wash. I would think a longer soak in the sparge water (like 5 -10 minutes) would extract more sugars that rinsing.

It very well might, Rich, I'm not sure. Couldn't hurt to try that.

Right now I've got my wort chiller in the kettle and my yeast is re-hydrating. I hope to get this pitched in the next 15 or so.

Rick

 

[F250]

Wort is chilled, in the carboy and the yeast is pitched. :cross:

I've got another post-boil sample chilling in the fridge to see if my earlier one was close. This one should be higher with the boil off.

Rick