First full BIAB

[user 62649]

I am making my first BIAB this weekend. I have a 5 gal recipe and it consists of about 10# of grains. I am planning on a strike temp of 165*F for a mash temp of 155*F for 60 min (I have heard of a 90 min mash for higher efficiency). I will then boil for 60 min, adding hops as scheduled and ten cooling in an ice bath. Place in primary and pitch yeast after it lowers to 80-90*F. I know that is really down and dirty but I am not positive that this is all correct. Any thought, comments or tips/tricks you have done in the past would be most appreciated.

 

[solbes]

Use a strike water calculator, especially in the beginning to figure out how hot the water needs to be to hit your 155F mash temps. Like the one below. The grist ratio is the water quarts per lb of grain. I usually mash in 20 quarts in about 10 lbs (so fairly dilute at 2 qts/lb). That would suggest 164 strike water temp.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash/

90 minute mash is okay if you are really trying for a low FG, like belgians. Otherwise 60 minutes is just fine. I usually heat my BIAB kettle and grain up to 170F for a mashout and stir thoroughly (helps to rinse the sugars off the grain). I also sparge, but many do not for the simplicity. So I think you could skip that if you had enough grain.

Pitching yeast between 80-90F sounds REALLY high to me. Depending on yeast strain, I would chill to the bottom of the yeasts working range before aerating and pitching (usually 62 -65F).

Make sure your crush is dialed in. Too coarse and your efficiency suffers. Too fine and you will have a lot of trub that makes it into your fermenters. Takes a few batches to get it just right.

 

[geoffm33]

+1 to what solbes said.

Also:

1) Wrap your kettle in a sleeping bag/blanket/winter coat to insulate during the mash. Keeping it at the proper mash temp for the beer style is most critical in the beginning of the 60 (or 90) minute mash. But keeping it insulated will allow you to stay within a few degrees throughout the mash.

2) The faster you can cool, the better the cold break and the clearer you beer will be. You may want to invest in (or DIY) an immersion chiller for future brews.

3) Will you be doing a full volume boil or will you be adding water to the fermenter to reach the desired batch size?

 

[RM-MN]

Get your grains double milled so there are no big pieces. Expect higher efficiency than predicted so don't be shocked to find you OG a bit high. If your grains are double milled I doubt you will find little difference between a 30, 60, or 90 minute mash except the second and third option will take longer. The beta amylase will be denatured pretty quickly with double milled grains so the long mash won't make your beer more fermentable.

The speed of chilling actually has little effect on beer clarity. Check out no chill brewing sometime.

 

[geoffm33]

The speed of chilling actually has little effect on beer clarity. Check out no chill brewing sometime.

I stand here before you, corrected

 

[RM-MN]

I stand here before you, corrected

Sorry, really wasn't aimed at you. There are a lot of mis truths and half truths in homebrewing and I try to get the correct info out if I can. I make mistakes too though so don't rely on me.:cross:

 

[geoffm33]

Sorry, really wasn't aimed at you. There are a lot of mis truths and half truths in homebrewing and I try to get the correct info out if I can. I make mistakes too though so don't rely on me.:cross:

No worries, at all. Glad to be corrected on an old homebrewing myth.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Sorry, really wasn't aimed at you. There are a lot of mis truths and half truths in homebrewing and I try to get the correct info out if I can. I make mistakes too though so don't rely on me.:cross:

Can we get a wiki addition about the effects of quick chilling and their apparent non-result? Why do so many people spend so much money on quicker chilling methods if it doesn't result in clarity as so many claim? Is it just the chill haze thing, and not clarity?

 

[geoffm33]

Can we get a wiki addition about the effects of quick chilling and their apparent non-result? Why do so many people spend so much money on quicker chilling methods if it doesn't result in clarity as so many claim? Is it just the chill haze thing, and not clarity?

The quicker I get my wort down to pitching temps, the quicker I get to bed that night. I want my yeast pitched and sealed up before I call it quits.

One day I may try no-chill and pitch the following day, but for now I want it at pitching temps as fast as I can get it there.

 

[RM-MN]

One of the real benefits to quick chilling is getting the beer through the "danger temperatures" quickly, the range from 140 to pitching temps where there is a chance of a bacterial infection getting started before you pitch the yeast. Keeping a lid on during the slower chilling probably minimizes this chance as the only way for bacteria to get in is where the air gets in as the wort cools.

I've begun dumping the boiling wort right into the bucket fermenter and putting StarSan in the airlock, a small enough amount that it can't get sucked back in but enough that the air entering the bucket has to go through the StarSan.

The true no-chill as invented by the Aussies (true? I don't know for sure) has one putting the boiling wort into a collapsible container and squeezing out all the air while it is still hot. That fills the space left with steam to pasteurize that space. They can apparently leave the wort in one of these containers for several months.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Thanks for the info and clarification. Haha... puns.