First BIAB preguntas

[TinyHands]

Got my 10-gallon pot recently, and I am excited beyond belief to dive into BIAB. Finally!

I was wondering if you good people could offer your experty expertise to make sure this witbier is crazy good, instead of just crazy. When the Tigers' relievers blow a save, I don't want my beer to make it worse, is what I'm saying. So, here's my recipe:

5# American Pilsner
5# Flaked wheat
0.5# cane sugar
Mash @ 152 for 60 min
1oz Tettnanger @ 30min
1 tsp coriander @ 10 min
WLP400
OG: 1.049, FG 1.011
Peeled, boiled cara cara oranges in primary (inspired by this recipe)

I'm a little confused on the amount of strike water. I've searched around a bit for some guidelines on calculating this, but it doesn't look like there are hard and fast rules. Any suggestions?

 

[slym2none]

I have heard anywhere between 1 & 2 quarts per pound of grain, but it seems most of the experienced brewers around here go with 1.25 to 1.5 Qts per pound.

That's what I am going with when I make my first AG batch, anyway.

 

[photobru]

If you're doing a full volume mash, no sparge, you'll just need to figure out your pre boil volume, which you should know based on your batch size and boil off rate, and then add extra water to account for grain absorption. I usually add a 1/4 to a 1/2 gallon depending on my grain bill and batch size.

EDIT: If you go with slym2none's ratio you'll need to do a sparge.

 

[Rhaop]

I'm curious about the flaked wheat, I have been subbing out a pound or two of red wheat with flaked, will 50% flaked wheat fully convert?

Edit: and yes I usually do a full volume mash 7.5-8 gallons, pull the grain bag and let it drain into a colander to add back at the boil

 

[Rhaop]

And depending on your water profile may need a few oz of acidulated malt to help drop mash ph

 

[TinyHands]

I'm curious about the flaked wheat, I have been subbing out a pound or two of red wheat with flaked, will 50% flaked wheat fully convert?

Edit: and yes I usually do a full volume mash 7.5-8 gallons, pull the grain bag and let it drain into a colander to add back at the boil

Good to know-- I was thinking about 8 gal. And I don't know about the conversion. I'm assuming it's not totally converted, not being malted. There is a real and present probability that I am 100% wrong on that, especially since I'm too lazy to source my information.

I saw on another thread that official guidelines say you need unmalted wheat for a good bit of the bill. I'm not usually one to let that type of thing bother me, but I figure I'll go for form for once.

 

[doug293cz]

Here's an easy to use water calculator for BIAB. If you want to do a full volume, no-sparge mash, just enter 0 for sparge volume. The 1.25 - 1.5 qt/lb strike volumes are what people use for traditional 3 vessel brewing, not BIAB.

Brew on

 

[slym2none]

If you're doing a full volume mash, no sparge, you'll just need to figure out your pre boil volume, which you should know based on your batch size and boil off rate, and then add extra water to account for grain absorption. I usually add a 1/4 to a 1/2 gallon depending on my grain bill and batch size.

EDIT: If you go with slym2none's ratio you'll need to do a sparge.

See, that's why I usually preface my comments with "I am just a noob, but..."

Thanks for the clarification, you are definitely right!

 

[lowtones84]

Like people have said, you can use your whole water volume to mash, or you can do two-vessel BIAB brewing, which is what I do. Basically I mash in 1.25 qts/lb. of grain, and heat the remainder of the water to about 170F and do a "dunk sparge" after pulling the grain from the mash pot and letting it drain some.

You might be okay with 50% flaked wheat because pilsener malt should be 100 lintner or higher. 0 Lintner from the wheatx5=0 Lintner. 110 (theoretically) lintner from the pilsenerx5=500. 0+500=500. 500/10 (total grain weight)=50. Theoretically only 30 degrees lintner is needed to convert. I might do a 90 minute mash and stir halfway through though.

A good link explaining diastatic power: http://beersmith.com/blog/2010/01/04/diastatic-power-and-mashing-your-beer/

 

[Rhaop]

Ty for the explanation and link lowtones i've put out 30+ ag batches and haven't read many articles on DP

 

[RM-MN]

You should be good with up to 65% unmalted wheat. Your Pilsner should convert that much just fine. I've used pale malt and 60% wheat right from my bin here on the farm and it fully converts. Milled very fine it takes less than 20 minute for the conversion.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Lots of wheat options, red and white wheat, malted and raw wheat, wheat flakes...I have even heard of the Aussies using all purpose wheat flour.

I have also mashed pasta / thin spaghetti with good results as most pasta is 100% wheat....who'd a thunk.

 

[Rhaop]

Spaghetti hah i will definitely have to try that, i assume you have to cook it first?

 

[wilserbrewer]

Spaghetti hah i will definitely have to try that, i assume you have to cook it first?

Yes....overcook the heck out of it is what I have always done. Kinda like the mush noodles in Campbell's chicken noodle. Be warned, 5-6 lbs of pasta swells tremendously, it's like it wants to take over the kitchen. Also be warned it may want to stick to the bottom of the pot....low simmer long time works as well....

 

[TinyHands]

Thanks for all the pointers, friends! You'll make a forum supporter out of me yet.

 

[Rhaop]

Yes....overcook the heck out of it is what I have always done. Kinda like the mush noodles in Campbell's chicken noodle. Be warned, 5-6 lbs of pasta swells tremendously, it's like it wants to take over the kitchen. Also be warned it may want to stick to the bottom of the pot....low simmer long time works as well....

Ok cool, i figured no more then couple pounds in a summer wheat, and i BiaB so no lauter issues there

 

[Rhaop]

HBT app fail double post

 

[TinyHands]

UPDATE: I couldn't find WLP400 at LHBS, or anything comparable. I picked up Danstar Munich instead, on recommendation. Am I going to end up with a hefeweizen instead? Not that I mind, really.

 

[Cider123]

When do you plan to brew? If it's too late for this brew then next time try 3944 which is an excellent yeast for wits. I bought a pack from Morebeer, then saved some jars of yeast from the cake after fermenting.
I've never used Munich before but it is a hefe yeast so it will produce those esters when fermenting in the mid to high-end temp range. You can mellow these effects by fermenting cooler (while still being in the range for the yeast).

Either way it will taste good. You might offend a Belgian aficionado.

As always, I recommend using the BIABacus which is available for free at BIABrewer.info. It always gets me where I'm going and I do "no sparge" BIAB.

 

[TinyHands]

Thanks for the reply! I think I have the water figured out. And it's definitely too late... planning on firing up the strike water at 0900.

I like to keep my options mostly to what the LBHS has in stock, and their liquid yeasts tend to be staple types. There was a Belgian Ale strain, but I think that was more the dubbel/tripel types. I'm really at their mercy with that-- and I don't want to bother with mail-ordering liquid yeast in the summertime. :cross: I suppose I could have just gone with Nottingham? Maybe?

Whatever, we'll just go for it. I'm gonna open some Big Red Coq and have an awesome brew day.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Glad to hear you got an alternative, it's not really a similar substitution but should still make good beer even though it may not be intended. Many online stores have an option to ship with an ice pack in the summer.


If you need more help with volumes let me know, I'll help you out. Biabacus is a great piece of software but it's a bit overreaching for most folk.

As an alternative you can use my calculator at pricelessbrewing.github.io/BiabCalc

 

[Cider123]

The priceless calculator above looks great.
Tiny, You definitely want to use some calculator that designed to work with BIAB. So much easier hitting your numbers.

You mention that you got a 10 gallon pot. That will work for 5 gallon batches with the only problem being, based on your grain bill, you won't be able to go full volume mash with all brews.
Now I'll tell you that when I started BIAB, I also bought a nice SS 10 gallon brew pot. After 2 batches, I was annoyed with the lack of headspace during mashing because I like to mash with the full volume of water. You might not consider this an issue and you'll be happy. I sold my 10 gallon pot on ebay for a small loss, then went and bought a 15 gallon pot. Now I'm happy (until I decide I want to brew 10 gallon batches)

 

[TinyHands]

Glad to hear you got an alternative, it's not really a similar substitution but should still make good beer even though it may not be intended. Many online stores have an option to ship with an ice pack in the summer.

If you need more help with volumes let me know, I'll help you out. Biabacus is a great piece of software but it's a bit overreaching for most folk.

As an alternative you can use my calculator at pricelessbrewing.github.io/BiabCalc

It will definitely not be the same-- temp requirements are a lot different, and I'll have them young hefeweizen esters... ah bien, ce n'est pas une disastre.

I think I would have gotten a better result with your calculator. I used a different BIAB calculator (BIABacus scared the bejeezus out of me, to be frank, and BrewTarget has no idea what's happening) and overshot my water. Didn't get enough water off and it brought my OG down. Oh well, more beer. I'll bookmark your calculator.

You mention that you got a 10 gallon pot. That will work for 5 gallon batches with the only problem being, based on your grain bill, you won't be able to go full volume mash with all brews.
Now I'll tell you that when I started BIAB, I also bought a nice SS 10 gallon brew pot. After 2 batches, I was annoyed with the lack of headspace during mashing because I like to mash with the full volume of water. You might not consider this an issue and you'll be happy. I sold my 10 gallon pot on ebay for a small loss, then went and bought a 15 gallon pot. Now I'm happy (until I decide I want to brew 10 gallon batches)

Would "dip sparging" help with the volume issue? I don't mind using more than one vessel for more grain. Though I'm sure SWMBO more than expects this hobby to continue its steady escalation.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

It will definitely not be the same-- temp requirements are a lot different, and I'll have them young hefeweizen esters... ah bien, ce n'est pas une disastre.

I think I would have gotten a better result with your calculator. I used a different BIAB calculator (BIABacus scared the bejeezus out of me, to be frank, and BrewTarget has no idea what's happening) and overshot my water. Didn't get enough water off and it brought my OG down. Oh well, more beer. I'll bookmark your calculator.



Would "dip sparging" help with the volume issue? I don't mind using more than one vessel for more grain. Though I'm sure SWMBO more than expects this hobby to continue its steady escalation.

Did you take notes, and measurements of each step?

There's a reason I list the volume height at each step, so if you measure yours and it's different at pre boil (short means you have higher grain absorption, or could squeeze some more), short at post boil but accurate pre boil means you boiled more than expected, over at post boil means your boil rate is less than you expected etc

My guess is you probably used the simplebiabcalculator, as the biabcalculator.com is pretty decent.

Dunk sparging is useful if you can't fit all the volume in the pot, otherwise I don't find it to help much at all. Some claim they get a slightly higher eff. with it but I get the same so I don't bother with it

 

[TinyHands]

Did you take notes, and measurements of each step?

There's a reason I list the volume height at each step, so if you measure yours and it's different at pre boil (short means you have higher grain absorption, or could squeeze some more), short at post boil but accurate pre boil means you boiled more than expected, over at post boil means your boil rate is less than you expected etc

My guess is you probably used the simplebiabcalculator, as the biabcalculator.com is pretty decent.

Dunk sparging is useful if you can't fit all the volume in the pot, otherwise I don't find it to help much at all. Some claim they get a slightly higher eff. with it but I get the same so I don't bother with it

That's one thing BrewTarget is good for. I take pretty good notes with it (including a whole section of "Do this next time"), and it can calculate individual brew days' efficiencies and expected FGs on the fly. My impatience for discovering efficiency drove several temperature and hydrometer readings. And yeah, I used simplebiabcalculator. You know, all things considered, I expected my first AG brewday to be a bit more calamitous. So what if my efficiency was less than 70% and my ABV is going to register at a "session" level... at least I get beer at the end. And I'll definitely be more prepared for the next batch (maybe a red or a Maerzen).

Also... fermenting in the basement in a tub of water to keep the temp down. Hopefully I don't run into any killer spiders like unionrdr did.

Finally, ahoy from down the I-94/M-14 corridor! Didn't notice that the first time.