First BIAB AG Today! Some questions

[HomeBrewMaster]

Hey guys

Today I did my first AG brew. It was very exciting, and somewhat difficult all at the same time. I decided that I would brew a Pilsner, I ordered the grain hops and yeast. I then thought to myself maybe I should do more research into this. Well I find out that I should step mash it (great first AG and i am making it complicated). Anywho it was cool out and I had fun maintaining my temps for the mash, I used a type of insulation and a blanket to help.

So my real question is when everything was said and done I didn't have enough wort. I ended up with maybe around 4 gal for a 5 gal recipe. I guess my boil off amount I used on Beersmith is way off. I had it set to 1.3 gal. I probably should have filled my setup with water to see my boil off.

After I cooled the wort I racked it into my carboy and added my yeast. I then put it into my fridge which is set for 52 with a 1 degree variance. I got to thinking about how disappointed I was about only having 4 gal, and then I remembered that I got an OG of 1.054 when I was aiming for 1.049-1.050. So I went and added .4 gal of distilled water. Is it ok that I added distilled water after I pitched my yeast? the time between was only an hour or 2.

Thanks for reading

 

[pricelessbrewing]

You'll be okay!

It's not an ideal situation but it was pretty soon after pitching so I'm sure it'll be okay. What grain absorption did you use? Also yes, check out your boiloff rate.

 

[ol-hazza]

I did the same thing with my first all grain, you still get beer. Possibly lower hop utilisation with the higher gravity wort but nothing to worry about

 

[RM-MN]

Hey guys

Today I did my first AG brew. It was very exciting, and somewhat difficult all at the same time. I decided that I would brew a Pilsner, I ordered the grain hops and yeast. I then thought to myself maybe I should do more research into this. Well I find out that I should step mash it (great first AG and i am making it complicated). Anywho it was cool out and I had fun maintaining my temps for the mash, I used a type of insulation and a blanket to help.

So my real question is when everything was said and done I didn't have enough wort. I ended up with maybe around 4 gal for a 5 gal recipe. I guess my boil off amount I used on Beersmith is way off. I had it set to 1.3 gal. I probably should have filled my setup with water to see my boil off.

After I cooled the wort I racked it into my carboy and added my yeast. I then put it into my fridge which is set for 52 with a 1 degree variance. I got to thinking about how disappointed I was about only having 4 gal, and then I remembered that I got an OG of 1.054 when I was aiming for 1.049-1.050. So I went and added .4 gal of distilled water. Is it ok that I added distilled water after I pitched my yeast? the time between was only an hour or 2.

Thanks for reading

If you were to put dry yeast directly into distilled water it will kill the yeast according to info put out by Fermentis but adding it to the wort should be no problem. You probably added a bit of oxygen to the fermenter but your yeast will utilize that so it will be gone before long and do no harm.

Congratulations on your first BIAB AG brew!

 

[HomeBrewMaster]

Geez I got scared there for a second. I did use distilled water to rehydrate, it was my first time ever doing that. I had it cuz I used it to soften my water to the pilsner profile. So I figured instead of boiling some water and waiting for it to cool ill just use this distilled. Thankfully fermentation is going along nicely. Hopefully I still hit my target FG. I used 2 packs of s23. Even if this one turns out that will be the last time I use distilled going to write it in my brew log book.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1425997072.064322.jpg


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[McKnuckle]

Next time, try to be less concerned about the volume you collected. It's not that important, and not - to me - worth changing all of the variables at the last minute by topping up. Generally, in AG that's not done on principle. Adjust your volume estimates for next time and get to brewing again.

Congrats on the pilsner - hope it turns out well. I brewed my first lager in December (Bohemian pils) and it is one of the best beers I've made out of about 30 batches.

 

[Gavin C]

Nice Job. Great picture. Looks like a nice healthy fermentation is bubbling along. On the yeast front. The manufacturers' websites are a great source of info on how to correctly rehydrate dry yeast. Most are very similar but definitely worth looking at for future brews.

Best of luck and thanks for sharing your process.

 

[HomeBrewMaster]

Thanks for the responses. Ha ha gotta love brewing. I woke up this morning also thinking that adding water was a bad idea. Like I thinned out the body mouth feel. Oh well. Live and learn. Just going to make notes on everything and learn from my mistakes.


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[WortUp]

I wouldn't worry too much about adding the water. As you'll learn soon - as I have - brewing beer can be pretty forgiving. As a matter of fact, I brewed an batch entirely with distilled water (untreated). Maybe not the best idea, but that's how you learn. Fermentation did eventually take off, but it was delayed about a day.

I think BeerSmith is a good place to start, but getting your equipment really dialed in takes getting used to using it. I don't use any software, just an Excel sheet. Just plain old trial and error to get things where I want them to be. Congrats on your first batch!