First BIAB and hops testing experiment

[CountryGravy]

Hi guys!

Tomorrow is my first BIAB brew day. I'm very excited - I've been waiting to do my first AG brew for quite some time. For Christmas, I got a 5 gallon Milk Stout extract kit from a friend that I did a partial boil on and it is happily bubbling away in my coat closet. However, I've decided it was my last 5 gallon extract batch.

I have a 5 gallon brew pot and a propane burner (thus the partial boil for the 5 gallon kits).

My goal is to brew a lot of Belgian beers, as I simply can't get enough and I want to find the perfect recipe for me. However, I've decided to do some testing on various hop varieties... I need to refine my nose and palate so I can decide what I truly do like!

I've set up a testing scheme. I'm brewing three pale ales in the next couple of weeks. Each simple recipe will be (two gallon batches):

3 lbs 2-row
.33 lbs Crystal 40L
.33 oz Perle @60 mins for bittering

Then each recipe will include one of the following: Tettnanger, Cech Saaz, and Vanguard. They will be added, one variety to each batch:
.25 oz @ 30 min
.25 oz @ 15 min
.50 oz @ 5 min

According to Brew Target, each will be 4.1% ABV @ roughly 40-45 IBU's. Pretty light on the booze, hopefully lots of hops flavor and aroma to test out.

Using Brew Target's nearly-default settings (got a rough boil-off calculation during my last batch), it looks like ~3.1 gallons strike water in order to achieve a 2.8 gallon boil, which should boil down to 2 gallons @ 60 minutes. Sound about right to you experienced guys? That's going with 2.25 qt/hour boiloff and .4 qt/lb absorption.

Also, strike temp ~160F to achieve a ~155 mash temp.


I appreciate you reading my post. Let me know if you see any flaws to the plan or have any recommendations!

 

[Rdom]

Welcome to BIAB! I just did a 2 gal batch of mild with 3 lbs of grain this week. Started with 3 gal and ended up at almost exactly at 2 gal. Knew i would because i know my equipment and process. So you seem to be in the ballpark with the volumes but it all mainly depends on your grain absorption and boil off rate, which you will figure out after a few batches with your equipment. Make sure you take a lot of notes on brew day.

 

[Tucker]

Just did my first biab last week with a 2.5gal english ale. Ive done partial mashes before so for me it was just another step. I really like it, i did not do a batch sparge and I still hit my og.

 

[C-Rider]

I use HD 2 gallon paint buckets to ferment my 1.9 g batches. Works pretty good. There is room for a bit more than 2 gallons in each so there is a little head room. Good luck. I love doing small batches so when I open my fridg I have lots to choose from. See below.

 

[CountryGravy]

It's happily boiling away with my brother in law monitoring right now.

Looking forward to checking my efficiency.

Thank you all for your input! I'll let you know how it turns out.

@C-Rider - I'm planning on a 1 or 2 week rotation for these small batches. I'm with you... variety is key!

If I get the process down and everything turns out alright after these three batches, this will be my method. I can't believe how easy it has been. Mashed in at 160, temp dropped to 152, and was 151 an hour later (wrapped in a comforter). Amazing! Ended up with around 2.9 gallons to boil.

 

[CountryGravy]

Looks like I only achieved 63% efficiency. Adjusted SG 1.041 (Measured 1.039 @ ~72F).

Going to have to work on it, figure out what I did wrong.

 

[RM-MN]

Looks like I only achieved 63% efficiency. Adjusted SG 1.041 (Measured 1.039 @ ~72F).

Going to have to work on it, figure out what I did wrong.

It's almost certainly the crush of the grain. Get those particles of grain small. You have a bag to form the filter so you don't care if the husks are ripped. My grain looks more like coarse cornmeal. I get over 80% every time. Even when I only mashed for 10 minutes I got over 80%.

 

[CountryGravy]

Unfortunately, I have no way of double milling my grain bill as I already have it pre-milled in my possession with no grinder.

I'll probably make these two batches the same way and buy a mill later in order to do it myself.

Maybe I'll try to roll it with a rolling pin, since it's only a few pounds for my small batches...

 

[RM-MN]

This is the kind of mill I have. It's not very expensive and works really well for BIAB. http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000U5NZ4I/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

I set it so tight that the plates rub when it is empty. Other people have used an electric drill to turn it but I just hand crank.

I tried the rolling pin. That's hard work. It still won't make the grain fine enough in my opinion.

 

[tooblue02]

Agree with what RM-MN said on the crush of the grain. I have been fiddling with my barley crusher for the last few batches and with the last batch I managed to hit a 75% efficiency with a 10lb grain bill (5.5 gal batch Blonde). For the larger grain bills I use for IPA's I am probably going to need a different method since the kettle is just too small to handle everything and get good efficiency.