First Time BIABer

[BassinBrewer]

Hey Everyone,

I've done 6 extract brews up until this point and tried my first BIAB this past weekend, however I believe I used too much strike water due to the low OG and extra wort at the end. Reading the instructions, it said to go with 1 gallon of water for every pound of grain. So this is what I came

Brooklyn Home Brew Oatmeal Stout (1 gallon)
Grain weight: 2.3lbs grain, 1 oz hops
60 min boil

So I used 2 1/4 gallons for my strike water. It yielded about a 1 1/3 gallons with an OG of 1.034. Did I just use too much water?

Thanks for any help.

 

[BigFloyd]

I E-BIAB using full volume to mash. My system runs at a consistent 75-76% efficiency. Basically, if you ended up with excess wort, you used too much water or didn't boil vigorously enough.

Don't stress too much about it. The first couple of batches using a new system are the ones where you gain a better understanding about techniques, volumes and efficiencies. You'll make adjustments and it'll get better.

 

[EJay]

You did, but you couldn't have prevented it since you didn't know your system until now.

I calc my water by taking my desired in-the-fermenter volume, add boiloff losses (0.7g per hour in my setup), and grain absorption (for me, this works out to a tiny 0.015 gallons/pound of grain), and that gives me my starting point.

Depending on your setup, you may have to add back in dead space in the kettle, trub losses, etc.

Measure at every stage to figure out the values for your system.

For your next brew, start with 0.3 gallons less, and you'll be off to a good start.

You can also boil water in the same kettle to get a sense of your gallons/hr boiloff rate. You'll get it dialed in.

You still made beer !

 

[BassinBrewer]

Awesome, thanks for your help. I do think it could partly have something to do with the boil because it was a very slow rolling boil.

 

[BassinBrewer]

You did, but you couldn't have prevented it since you didn't know your system until now.

I calc my water by taking my desired in-the-fermenter volume, add boiloff losses (0.7g per hour in my setup), and grain absorption (for me, this works out to a tiny 0.015 gallons/pound of grain), and that gives me my starting point.

Depending on your setup, you may have to add back in dead space in the kettle, trub losses, etc.

Measure at every stage to figure out the values for your system.

For your next brew, start with 0.3 gallons less, and you'll be off to a good start.

You can also boil water in the same kettle to get a sense of your gallons/hr boiloff rate. You'll get it dialed in.

You still made beer !

Great info. Thanks so much. That's what's so great about brewing. So many variables and possibilities, there's no way of getting bored of it in my opinion.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Agreed with ejay.

Run a test hour boil and get your boil off rate. Then plug it into a calculator, or do the math by hand if you want, and find out what you need.

To that end I will suggest my own calculator pricelessbrewing.github.io unless you want to set up a more intensive software like beersmith. Then I still recommend using my software to compare, as it'll be helpful in making sure you get to the same volumes, and my program has a couple features beersmith doesn't include such as heights of volumes.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Take some measurements of your kettle and mark a stick or your brewing spoon with volumes in the kettle. Next time you can be aware of how much volume you have at any given point. If you have extra, extend the boil yet time the late hops with the end of boil...if your short you can add top up water depending on gravity. Knowing what you have in the kettle is valuable information!

 

[BassinBrewer]

Great info. I appreciate the help very much. I will probably be putting this to the test this weekend.

 

[OkanaganMike]

Take some measurements of your kettle and mark a stick or your brewing spoon with volumes in the kettle. Next time you can be aware of how much volume you have at any given point. If you have extra, extend the boil yet time the late hops with the end of boil...if your short you can add top up water depending on gravity. Knowing what you have in the kettle is valuable information!

+1 - I use my brew spoon marked off to the gal with a Jiffy. Next time I think I'll spend a bit more time and make the lines thinner with 1/2 or even 1/4 gal increments between 5-8 gal

 

[wilserbrewer]

Next time I think I'll spend a bit more time and make the lines thinner with 1/2 or even 1/4 gal increments between 5-8 gal

Ok, knock yourself out....in my simple mind all you need is one mark at your pre boil volume....everything else is just a tree falling in the forest.

 

[madscientist451]

Take a 3/4 cup or so sample about 5 mins. before boil is done and chill in ice bath in small pan. Get a gravity reading before boil is done, if the gravity is low you can boil some more. If you are still boiling, you can add the sample back to the pot. After you do a few brews you'll have the numbers figured out. Cheers!!

 

[TexasWine]

all you need is one mark at your pre boil volume

Personally I'd at least have two. One for a 60 minute boil, another for a 90 minute boil. But then again, this only works if you make the same batch size every time.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Personally I'd at least have two. One for a 60 minute boil, another for a 90 minute boil.

Haha....I don't time the boil, but rather boil to a finished volume, estimated at an inch below my pre boil mark, typically bout an hour. Late hops are timed to flame out.

Gotten very lazy over the years but enjoy keeping it simple. cheers!

My 15 gallon kettle is roughly 15" high, so one gallon per inch is very easy to eyeball volumes to my brewery tolerance.

 

[OkanaganMike]

I guess we're not building watches eh? I've only got 4 batches under my belt so still pretty green and making a ton of notes and tweeking my methods each time. Once I've got it dialed in, I assume I'll have the same cavalier attitude as I do my cooking.
Only problem with that is every now and then I make something Frick'n awesome and can never reproduce it exactly but reckon thats the fun of it

 

[RM-MN]

In my mind, the only time getting the exact amount of grains and hops into the exact amount of water is if you are trying to make an exact copy of another beer and when you think you have it, the yeast will screw you over by over or under attenuating. I'm more concerned with making beer that is good to drink.