First BIAB - Lunar Shock (Blue Moon clone)

[Carolina_Matt]

I started brewing last January and I have 20 extract batches under my belt. My wife bought me 3 all-grain kits from Morebeer.com for Christmas, so I decided to give BIAB a shot. The Wilser bag arrived this weekend and I brewed today. It was a pretty smooth process, although my efficiency sucked (according to Brewers Friend). I'm think part of it is because they didn't mill it fine enough - I saw a lot of kernels in the bag.

Strike temp was 162, and mash temp was 153. I covered it with a moving blanket, but didn't make it tight. After 30 minutes it was 150 degrees. By the end of the hour it was 149-150.

I held the bag over my 10 gallon kettle for a minute, then moved it into an extra stockpot with a pasta insert. I pushed down on the bag with a pot cover a few times, but mainly just used gravity. I poured all the drippings into the kettle as it started to boil.

The rest was easy. I liked not having to deal with LME, and the Wilser bag was surprisingly easy to clean. I'm used to the bags that come with kits, where the specialty grains get stuck. With this bag, they just rinsed right off.

As for efficiency, I started with 7 gallons and wound up with about 5.25. I poured virtually everything into the fermenter and didn't strain anything out. OG was about 1.052 (it read 1.050 at 77-79 degrees), which was right in line with the kit (they mentioned 1.052-1.055). Brewers Friend gave me a 60% efficiency.

The weird thing is their kit says it's made for 70% efficiency, but when I put the ingredients into Brewers Friend I get about 60%, which is in line with what I got (and that makes sense, since I hit the OG).

6 lbs 2-row
5 lbs American White Wheat
1 lb Flaked Oats
5 gallons wort @ 1.055 OG (according to the high end of the recipe)

The website gives me 60.44% for the recipe. Either I'm using the calculator wrong, or the recipe isn't optimized for 70%?

 

[RM-MN]

It was a pretty smooth process, although my efficiency sucked (according to Brewers Friend). I'm think part of it is because they didn't mill it fine enough - I saw a lot of kernels in the bag.

That's a common theme, especially with that much wheat as the kernels are smaller and harder than barley kernels and more prone to slipping through the mill without being crushed. Before you do the next kit, buy one of these mills, set it tight, and run the milled grain through it. Be prepared to drink beer with higher alcohol than the kit predicts.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ktaxon-G...t-Mill-Crank-Cast-Home-Kitchen-Tool/168845401

Once you have the last kit made you can buy grain in bulk and make up your own kits. The difference in the cost of the grain will pay for the mill shortly. These mills can easily be adapted to use an electric drill to power them too, making the job easier and faster.

 

[Carolina_Matt]

That's a common theme, especially with that much wheat as the kernels are smaller and harder than barley kernels and more prone to slipping through the mill without being crushed. Before you do the next kit, buy one of these mills, set it tight, and run the milled grain through it. Be prepared to drink beer with higher alcohol than the kit predicts.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Ktaxon-G...t-Mill-Crank-Cast-Home-Kitchen-Tool/168845401

Once you have the last kit made you can buy grain in bulk and make up your own kits. The difference in the cost of the grain will pay for the mill shortly. These mills can easily be adapted to use an electric drill to power them too, making the job easier and faster.

Thanks for the reply! I've had my eye on the Cereal Killer grain mill. If it's delivered in time before my next batch (which I assume will be the case), I'll run the milled grains through it and see how much of a difference it makes.

 

[Carolina_Matt]

I did my second BIAB today, a Fat Tire clone. I milled the grains through the Cereal Killer last night and it seems to have made a huge different. According to Brewers Friend, I had 86% Brewhouse Efficiency. I had 6 gallons in the fermenter and an OG of 1.060. The recipe called for 5 gallons at 1.050-1.056.

I hung the bag over the boil pot for about a half hour, and it was barely dripping by the end. I gave it a squeeze and a lot of wort poured down. I guess gravity didn't work as well as I thought it would.

The only negative is that I forgot to spray the fermenter with Star San like I usually do. I rinsed it off before adding the wort, but completely forgot to sanitize it.

 

[MakeDankBeer]

I did my second BIAB today, a Fat Tire clone. I milled the grains through the Cereal Killer last night and it seems to have made a huge different. According to Brewers Friend, I had 86% Brewhouse Efficiency. I had 6 gallons in the fermenter and an OG of 1.060. The recipe called for 5 gallons at 1.050-1.056.

I hung the bag over the boil pot for about a half hour, and it was barely dripping by the end. I gave it a squeeze and a lot of wort poured down. I guess gravity didn't work as well as I thought it would.

The only negative is that I forgot to spray the fermenter with Star San like I usually do. I rinsed it off before adding the wort, but completely forgot to sanitize it.

double crush? what was your gap set to?

 

[Carolina_Matt]

double crush? what was your gap set to?

It was originally crushed through Morebeer, and it wasn't crushed very well. I set the Cereal Killer to .025, although I trusted the label on the grain mill. I didn't actually measure it myself with the device people mention (I can't recall the name of it).

 

[Waunabeer]

It was originally crushed through Morebeer, and it wasn't crushed very well. I set the Cereal Killer to .025, although I trusted the label on the grain mill. I didn't actually measure it myself with the device people mention (I can't recall the name of it).

Go get a spark plug gap tool. Cheap and accurate for setting your mill to many different gaps, if you choose.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

It was originally crushed through Morebeer, and it wasn't crushed very well. I set the Cereal Killer to .025, although I trusted the label on the grain mill. I didn't actually measure it myself with the device people mention (I can't recall the name of it).

Its called a gift card
Many including myself use it to measure the gap. Slide one between the rollers and tighten the rollers till you can pull the card up and down easily but the roller move with the card....simple and effective for good efficiency

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Go get a spark plug gap tool. Cheap and accurate for setting your mill to many different gaps, if you choose.

Those are feeler gauges. Not sure why they are labeled “spark plug gap tool”.

 

[RM-MN]

Feeler gauges are flat, spark plug gap tools are round wires. Does anyone measure spark plug gaps anymore?

 

[RAIN5486]

I just use my vernier caliper to measure spark plug gaps. Nowadays they are pretty much good to go out of the box, unless you are really cheap and reusing a really old one or trying to diagnose something that doesn't want to run

 

[cloudybrewer]

Its called a gift card
Many including myself use it to measure the gap. Slide one between the rollers and tighten the rollers till you can pull the card up and down easily but the roller move with the card....simple and effective for good efficiency

I did the same, and routinely get 80-83% brewhouse efficiency, even with wheat. But zero dead space, 100% dumped into the fermenter helps.