First BIAB

[brnooewb]

Well last week I went for it and jumped in head first from full boil extract to doing my first all grain BIAB.
I brewed a Hefeweizen.
6.6lbs of weyerman wheat
4.4lbs best pils
.5lbof rice hulls.
1oz Hallertauer for 60 min
While Labs 300

I mashed at 154 for 60min, then did a 10min mash out at 160. No Sparge full volume mash. And hit 75% effecience(not too bad for my first try I think). I wasn't able to get a post boil gravity as I broke my hydrometer during the boil.
Dang it man!
It's been fermenting at 66 for one week. I took a gravity reading tonight and it was down to 1.006 the sample I tried was very good but I felt it was lacking some banana flavor I really wanted. Is it too late to up my temp to get more banana flavor or is it pretty much done?

Thanks for the replies!
It smelled a lot like sulfur while it was fermenting. I may just call it "who farted Hefe"

 

[NivekD]

Nice job...but why the rice hulls?

 

[brnooewb]

My LHBS suggested I use them to help prevent a stuck Sparge. But thinking back I wasn't sparging and doing BIAB probably didn't need them.

 

[PJoyce85]

It is pretty much done at this point and raising the temp will do very little. At 1.006, the yeast have done their job and are starting to slow/stop activity and will go dormant.

Also, just a point for the future, you really don't need the rice hulls for BIAB so save your money. Rice hulls are to help fortify the grain bed to make sparging easier with troublesome grains/adjuncts like wheat, rye, flaked what-have-yous, etc.

I'm glad your first BIAB was successful. Good luck with future brews.

 

[brnooewb]

Thanks for the replies! So my original plan was going to be to let it sit for 2 weeks then check to make sure fermentation was complete and bottle. Being that my gravity is already down to 1.006 should I bottle it now or go ahead and wait the full 2 weeks?
Also according to ibrewmaster to bottle carbonate to style it's saying I should add 8.76oz of corn sugar. Is this right? It seems like an awful large amount. Co2 range says its between 3.6-4.5 so I chose 4.0. Am I way off?

Thanks!

 

[Snisup]

I'm no expert but that may blow up some bottles. I'm pretty sure 3.5 volumes is the safe "high" for bottle carbing.

 

[PoorBoy]

8 oz is a ton. I rarely use more than 4 in a 5g batch. Frequently it's 3ish

 

[Euphist]

I would let it sit on the yeast cake for 2-3 weeks. That carb level is WAY high. I usually do my wheats at 2.5-2.8 volumes.

 

[brnooewb]

Well I took everyone's advice and here's how it turned out.
This is after about 8 weeks in the bottle I forgot to take a picture of the first carbed beer. It seems to have darkened a little bit as its aged. Is that normal? The flavor is great nice balance of banana and bubble gum and clove.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

never seen a beer that color

 

[Cider123]

If it tastes good, then it's normal enough. Looks great, congrats.

I love the BIAB method. Check out the folks over at BIABrewer.info too. You have to try out the BIABacus. I like it so much better than Beersmith and its free.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Nice work! It only gets easier as you go. Cheers!