Live BIAB

[kylelp]

Well Folks,

I am currently doing a BIAB and am failing.

So far i have missed temp to dough in. I was aiming for 148, using a calculator online it said i needed to be at 157, well it went down to 153. Then i over compensated with too much cold water. No i'm fighting to get it from 142 to 148.

the struggle is real.

 

[BigJoeBrew]

Best recommendations next time are Ice cubes and a tea kettle for fast warming water!

 

[2trout]

These are the things that many of us struggle with on our first brews! It is a learning process. Keep plugging away, you WILL make beer!

 

[kylelp]

I am still struggling with the temp. I'm at 145.

I did at 15% more grain since this is my first BIAB (could you tell)

My wife wanted to get a kettle just to have one around, but i said it was unnecessary.

 

[kylelp]

Update: Finally at 149

 

[theowlman16]

That's what the HLT is for.

 

[PADave]

Should have just let it be at 153.

 

[kylelp]

I had a small pot for a HTL, it was not enough (thats what she said)

I'm currently am letting the bag drain. I added too much water to try and raise the temp. i don't want to sparage.

 

[casualbrewer]

Here is how to never miss your mash temp with biab: get full volume of water to within a few degrees of mash temp then dump your grains in and stir like crazy with the heat still on. Within a minute or two you will be up to temp and you can shut heat off. Perfect every time.

 

[kylelp]

Thanks for the tips.

Unfortunately it was a failure. I am depressed and don't want to share my gravity reading but it was not good. The wort even smelled water down (if that makes sense). I assume the temperature is the reason for the low yield. I have it fermenting even though 99% chance it is gonna taste like flavored water.

Plus side I somewhat expected failure and bought alot of grain to do some other batches.

 

[RedlegEd]

Thanks for the tips.

Unfortunately it was a failure. I am depressed and don't want to share my gravity reading but it was not good. The wort even smelled water down (if that makes sense). I assume the temperature is the reason for the low yield. I have it fermenting even though 99% chance it is gonna taste like flavored water.

Plus side I somewhat expected failure and bought alot of grain to do some other batches.

Hi. Just for giggles, did you measure the temp of your grain before calculating the strike temp? If not, you really need to do so, otherwise, the formula(s) won't work. As to you being depressed...brighten up! It's all about doing and learning...the result is almost always BEER! Just like other things, sometimes it's better than others, but it's still beer.
Ed

 

[soccerdad]

Just curious - who crushed your grain?

 

[d3track]

Technically speaking, you were successful! Until fermentation it is flavored water ��

 

[kylelp]

I didn't measure the grain itself but I took the room air temp from the thermometer and knocked it down 1 degree.

Grain was bought from homebrew supply. I put the grain (little by little) in big cooking bowls and used a smaller bowl to crush the grains, kinda like a large mortar and pestle. It was a pain and will never do that again. Next time i will see if i can get it double crushed.

 

[soccerdad]

I didn't measure the grain itself but I took the room air temp from the thermometer and knocked it down 1 degree.

Grain was bought from homebrew supply. I put the grain (little by little) in big cooking bowls and used a smaller bowl to crush the grains, kinda like a large mortar and pestle. It was a pain and will never do that again. Next time i will see if i can get it double crushed.

and how long did you mash?

 

[soccerdad]

I try not to get stuck on the 90 minute mash idea (I mash shorter ever since milling my own grain) ... but think of it this way

A three vessel brewer mashes for 60 minutes (typically) and then either batch sparges or fly sparges which can easily take another 30 minutes ... 90 minutes total (give or take) .. they tend to use a coarser crush (like what the brew shop would give you) so as not to get a stuck sparge. Ergo (is that a real word?) .. coarser grist, longer time in hot water.

 

[TANSTAAFB]

If you have too much volume and too low gravity, just boil longer to concentrate the wort. You could even boil it now to reduce the volume and raise the gravity. It will kill the yeast but you could chill and repitch.

 

[RedlegEd]

Ergo (is that a real word?) .. coarser grist, longer time in hot water.

Yes, it is, and you used it perfectly!
Ed

 

[kylelp]

I struggled getting the temperature right, but once i did i let it go for about 60 min. But it took me along time (i will leave it at that).

I just don't understand how my gravity is so low when i added 15% more grain. My thermometer could be off i guess. Next time i'll use 2

 

[NSMikeD]

Temperature, crush, water volume and PH could all affect the gravity. With the unusual crush method, the changes in water volume and temperature, they could all affect the PH (notwithstanding the original water chemistry).

So look for consistency - meaning brew the same recipe a few times using the same methods to identify areas that need to be tweaked and refined. Focus on one aspect at a time to tweak.

First, have the LHBS double crush your grains for you so that you get fairly consistent crush going forward. Later you can ask him to adjust the crush or mill your own as desired.

Secondly, don't sweat that temperature. As already posted, you were probably in a good temperature to begin with that you could have just left it be and had good results. You have more flexibility in mash temperature than you realize. Single step mash (as in BIAB) uses a compromise temperature to blend the temperature ranges of the two desired reactions. Anything in the low 150s will generally result in a decent beer. So for now get close and focus in holding it there.

Thirdly, (at some point in time, but sooner is better) get a water report (most municipalities will provide them online) and a reliable PH testing kit/device for home brewing. The grains should naturally take the PH down to a good range (5.4 - 5.6 give or take depending on a few things) but this may not be the case for particularly hard or soft water. There is some good information on water chemistry here and some easy calculators to help if your mash PH is off. You really need only know 5 numbers, Calcium, Magnesium, Chloride, Sulfate and Alkalinity. FWIW, I've been brewing fairly decent beer but not consistently. I though my PH strips were no good - kept reading 5.0. Finally took a look at the published water chemistry and whaddayaknow. My Calcium, Magnesium and Sulfate were all below John Palmer's recommended ranges - which accounted for lower mash efficiency (via low PH) and the unbalanced flavors. My water is great from drinking, longevity of my plumbing and sparkling clean glassware, but it needs a little help for brewing. Either do this starting on your next brew, or wait until you have some more brews under your belt and still are not hitting your numbers.

Since we are chasing gravity in home brew. Know your water volumes, especially your evaporation rates. I use a measuring stick and an excel spreadsheet so I can quickly take a volume reading at different times (initial, after adding the grains, pre-boil, post boil and cooled). If you over shoot with too much water, you can continue the boil to get to your desired volume.

And, I always keep light DME on hand. If I miss my gravity by more than couple of points, I can use a calculator in my software (many have this ) and quickly boil up and add some DME to bump up the final numbers which makes me happier.

 

[cegan09]

How and when are you measuring temperature? The first couple brews I did I thought I was way off on temps because I was watching the thermometer when I should have been stirring. Trust the calculators for strike temp. Get to that temp, kill the heat, add grains, and then stir, a lot. My first couple brews I'd stir for 10 seconds then start looking at temps, and I could find different temps all throughout the kettle. Stir a lot. Make sure there are no clumps of grains. Then take some readings and see where you're at.

After learning this I've hit my mash temps dead on just about every time. Keeping them there is a different story. (hence my move from simple BIAB w/ propane to full electric RIMS single vessel BIAB, though that is probably an overkill solution)

Get your grains crushed by the store. I bet your self crush is most of your gravity problem. Temperature won't sway it nearly as much as the crush.


Oh, and take damn good notes. I am not good at this, and I need to get better. Write everything down. all your volumes, what you added, what you changed last second, everything. Next time you brew, read that first and plan how you'll fix the mistakes. After a few brews you'll be comfortable with your setup and hitting numbers.

 

[NSMikeD]

fwiw, I use three thermometers - all supposedly calibrated - even one high end. While they tend to get to the same place as the mash goes on, you could go insane when they take different paths.

Don't trust a single reading and don't read from the same spot.

 

[apl_seed]

Don't sweat the SG.! Weak homebrew is still good homebrew. Just call it a session beer. Nobody will know.

 

[kylelp]

I appreciate the tips. I believe i found the culprit to my beer. I used a wire cooking thermometer that has a wire leading to the probe. However I don't think it is water proof and got shorted out during my heating process. It currently is not reading correctly at all. I took some water that read 65 with my other 2 thermometers and the wired one read 85.

I guess it is only made to go into food and not submerge the whole prove in liquid. I should have just used a simple thermometer (KISS principle i guess)

 

[LateraLex]

Glad you got the thermometer worked out, I just ordered these for my BIAB:
http://www.thermoworks.com/DOT
http://www.thermoworks.com/TX-1002X-NP

As for your initial target temp - be very wary of online calculators unless they are BIAB specific. I use BeerSmith and just recently learned to uncheck "adjust temperature for equipment". Essentially these calculators are assuming you are dumping the hot water into a cold vessel and then adding the grain. In BIAB, the vessel is the same temperature as the water, so the temperature is only affected by the grain. If the grain is at room temp, you will likely only need to heat above your target mash temp by 5 degrees or less, but it will depend on your setup. Good luck.