I brewed my first BIAB with my new system. I failed in many ways.
Batch Details:
11 lbs American 2-row
2 lbs Light Munich 10L
1.75 lbs Rolled Oats (old fashioned)
1.5 lbs UK Pale Chocolate
1.0 lbs Roasted Barley
1.0 lbs Flaked Barley
1.0 lbs Crystal 60
0.5 lbs Carafa II
19.75 lbs
Attempting 5.0 gallons of wort at 1.095 OG
Initial Setup was 8.0 gallons of water (might have been 7.5 gal), heated it to 165, dumped in my grains and stirred. Looked like 155 after mash-in, but 20 minutes later I checked and the thermometer read 160. Was stirring like crazy trying to get temp down, eventually added some ice to try and cool it down. Got down to 153 at 50 minutes in. Decided at 65 minutes I was done.
Then I put it back on the burner and got the temp up to 170 before killing the flame and withdrawing the bag. Had a lot of problems getting water out of the BIAB. I tried to follow the guide at the top, the difference being I dont have a steel basket for my BIAB, and I dont have a pully system. Both of those would have been very helpful.
I did not take a pre-boil gravity reading or volume measurement. (I don't have a way to do so). I boiled for 90 minutes, chilled, and poured into the fermenter. At this point I realized I had about 3.5 gallons in the fermenter.
Even though I was attempting a no-sparge BIAB, I really should have sparged, I really needed that extra water to raise my volume and extract the last of the sugars still in there. Even 10 minutes after I started boiling I was able to get a little bit of very thick, syrupy malts out of my BIAB by squeezing it tightly.
My diagnosis: grain bed was too compact (add rice hulls?), initial water volume may have been 7.5 gallons instead of 8, need more equipment to make this work better (basket and hoist), and would have benefitted from a sparge in this case. I also need a way to measure my kettle volume. I also need a better thermometer than my free-mercury floating thermometer that I was using.
Potential Problems:
1) Mash temp was too high. Beer will finish too high.
2) Calculated IBU, with the reduced yield, is exceptionally high (118)
#2 is a big problem. With a calculated IBU of 118, I may have 35 bottles of undrinkable beer.
One potential solution would be to brew 1-2 gallons of this beer with a lower IBU, ferment it out, and blend it in the bottling bucket to form a blend with the proper IBU. I figure 2 gallons with 40-50 IBU would balance out 3 gallons at 118. Thoughts?
Batch Details:
11 lbs American 2-row
2 lbs Light Munich 10L
1.75 lbs Rolled Oats (old fashioned)
1.5 lbs UK Pale Chocolate
1.0 lbs Roasted Barley
1.0 lbs Flaked Barley
1.0 lbs Crystal 60
0.5 lbs Carafa II
19.75 lbs
Attempting 5.0 gallons of wort at 1.095 OG
Initial Setup was 8.0 gallons of water (might have been 7.5 gal), heated it to 165, dumped in my grains and stirred. Looked like 155 after mash-in, but 20 minutes later I checked and the thermometer read 160. Was stirring like crazy trying to get temp down, eventually added some ice to try and cool it down. Got down to 153 at 50 minutes in. Decided at 65 minutes I was done.
Then I put it back on the burner and got the temp up to 170 before killing the flame and withdrawing the bag. Had a lot of problems getting water out of the BIAB. I tried to follow the guide at the top, the difference being I dont have a steel basket for my BIAB, and I dont have a pully system. Both of those would have been very helpful.
I did not take a pre-boil gravity reading or volume measurement. (I don't have a way to do so). I boiled for 90 minutes, chilled, and poured into the fermenter. At this point I realized I had about 3.5 gallons in the fermenter.
Even though I was attempting a no-sparge BIAB, I really should have sparged, I really needed that extra water to raise my volume and extract the last of the sugars still in there. Even 10 minutes after I started boiling I was able to get a little bit of very thick, syrupy malts out of my BIAB by squeezing it tightly.
My diagnosis: grain bed was too compact (add rice hulls?), initial water volume may have been 7.5 gallons instead of 8, need more equipment to make this work better (basket and hoist), and would have benefitted from a sparge in this case. I also need a way to measure my kettle volume. I also need a better thermometer than my free-mercury floating thermometer that I was using.
Potential Problems:
1) Mash temp was too high. Beer will finish too high.
2) Calculated IBU, with the reduced yield, is exceptionally high (118)
#2 is a big problem. With a calculated IBU of 118, I may have 35 bottles of undrinkable beer.
One potential solution would be to brew 1-2 gallons of this beer with a lower IBU, ferment it out, and blend it in the bottling bucket to form a blend with the proper IBU. I figure 2 gallons with 40-50 IBU would balance out 3 gallons at 118. Thoughts?