First all grain boiling...and first boil over out of the way...oops.
I'm a big boy now!!!
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BrewPilot74
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Congrats on the first all grain! Don't stress the boil-over, happens to me about half the time. 
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BrewPilot74 said:Congrats on the first all grain! Don't stress the boil-over, happens to me about half the time.
I'm not too stressed. Just pissed that I let it happen. It came on real slow and I just stood there like a deer in headlights and watched. It would not have happened if had I just killed the heat. Oh, well. This is a very light hopped beer and I lost a good chunk of the first addition. I just added a little more and now don't know the real hop schedule. Could be a LOT worse.
GeorgiaTiger
Well-Known Member
eh...you still made beer!
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My biggest concern with all grain was cooling it without a chiller. Using this set up, it's at 100 degrees in 10 minutes. Not bad. The hose is constantly running so that the water just overflows and never has a chance to heat up. Water is very cold...I spent the duration of the mash thawing the ice out of the hose so I could use it.
EDIT: 75 degrees at 20 minutes. Nice.
EDIT AGAIN: 65 degrees at 35 minutes... and pitched.
EDIT: 75 degrees at 20 minutes. Nice.
EDIT AGAIN: 65 degrees at 35 minutes... and pitched.
I'll bet your boilover was when you were at hot break. If you have a spray bottle you can spray it and it will settle down. I just kill the heat for a few seconds and it drops back into the wort.
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RM-MN said:
Exactly what happened.
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My other concern was with holding mash temp without a proper tin (did BIAB). But that thin aluminum pot held al but 5-6 degrees for an hour with a thick sleeping bag wrapped around it.
ron,ar
Well-Known Member
I have to admit that I have never had a boilover....but I have mastered the art of stuck sparges..
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According to Brewsmith, I had an efficiency of 62.6%. Also ended with half a gallon less beer than expected.
Was mash temp too high if this was the efficiency? Not too concerned, as I didn't want this to be a really high ABV beer, and I hit 4.7% expected ABV, based on Beersmith. Just want to know if I should do something different in the future.
EDIT: related to the boil over? I did not lose 1/2 gallon in the over boil, though...but obviously some if that.
Was mash temp too high if this was the efficiency? Not too concerned, as I didn't want this to be a really high ABV beer, and I hit 4.7% expected ABV, based on Beersmith. Just want to know if I should do something different in the future.
EDIT: related to the boil over? I did not lose 1/2 gallon in the over boil, though...but obviously some if that.
I'd expect the efficiency to be related to the crush of the grain or the failure to squeeze the bag of grain enough. If you notice being less pre-boil than you planned, do a pseudo sparge to get the right amount. That will raise your efficiency(unless you were already doing that).
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Thanks. I added sparge water to get to my expected pre-boil volume. Looking back at my notes, I noted that Beersmith only called for 0.7 gallons of boil off, which I thought was low...and then the boil over. So, that's the volume issue, I suppose. I guess I need to do more to get all the wort pulled out of my grains.
If you sparged even a little and didn't get better efficiency than that, look hard at the crush. BIAB allows a very fine grind or crush. I have a Corona style mill and before I put any grains in the milling plates rub when I turn the crank. The grains come out looking like coarse cornmeal with ripped up husks. My efficiency runs from 80 to near 90% depending on how much I sparge to get my preboil.
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RM-MN said:
Hmmm...had it cracked at the home brew store. I do not own a mill.
Many homebrew stores aren't very familiar with BIAB brewing and their mills are set so the typical brewer won't get a stuck sparge from grains being milled too fine. You can ask for double milled which will help or you can ask for the mill clearance to be set tighter (this may be refused) or spend about $30 for a cheap mill like I have and mill your grains when you want to brew.
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RM-MN said:
Good to know, thanks.
Spinrathen
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I'm surprised you didn't lose the whole batch when you were cooling it. From the picture it looks like your tote is hanging over the edge a good ways and your kettle is sitting against that edge.
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Spinrathen said:
Looks much more precarious than it was. It was very stable, with only a small portion hanging over the edge (where holes in the bottom were helping it drain). The brew kettle is actually floating in the water.
BIAB efficiency is all about the crush. Get a Corona mill for $20 and crush the crap out of it. Your bag can handle the finest crush that a Corona can produce. There are many Corona mill modifications that you can make - the most common ones being (1) adding the the ability to grind using a drill and (2) mounting the mill in a bucket to reduce the mess and make collecting the grains easy. Search for Corona Mill on this site, YouTube, or just using a Google search and you'll see lots of info.
