My first BIAB attempt

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EDF713

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I know there are other "my first all grain/biab/etc" posts, but this is mine and I thought I'd share it. I have brewed and enjoyed several extract recipes, so I decided to dip my toes in the all-grain pool with BIAB. The nice folks at Defalcos helped me with a blonde ale recipe, and I used a Wilserbrewer bag, both highly recommended.

Here is my keggle setup, heating the water.
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I then added my bag and grains. We added more grain expecting not so great efficiency, more on that later.
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60 minute mash, with occasional stirring, followed by a 10 minutes mashout at 170.
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Then I drained and squeezed, using a ratchet pulley that came with my wilserbag.
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On to the boil, with a hop bag and improvised holder.
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After a 60 minute boil, I chilled with an immersion chiller/prechiller setup. The tap water in Houston is about 80 now.
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Into the fermenter, pictures of me spilling wort all over the garage floor not included, but 5 gallons made it in.
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After pitching and sealing things up, into the swamp cooler, then lots of cleaning.
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My OG ended up 1.064, target was 1.052 (67% efficiency). We added 2 lbs to the grain bill and double crushed, so we were a little too pessimistic. No biggy, I'd rather be too high than too low, and I'll tweak the next try. Big thanks to all of the people active on HBT, I spent a lot of time browsing your posts to get to this point. It also helps to have an awesome LHBS, Defalcos, just 5 minutes away. We'll see how it turns out in a few weeks!
 
Great stuff. Just ordered the last of the gear for my BIAB set up so great to see what other beginners are up to!
 
I live in the southwest part of town, near Meyerland. How about you?

I know that area well! Live in Timbergrove area now, but lived in your part of town for 8 years until we moved a couple of years ago. We were around Willowbend, east of South Post Oak. Still own the house, rented it out, on Hummingbird.
 
Nice. That's gonna be a MOFO of a Blonde! :) Just remember to do things the same way next time and adjust grains accordingly, given the mash efficiency you're getting.

Also if you end up with too-high efficiency, you can literally just add water to reduce the original gravity. I just all-grained a blonde that had 86% mash eff instead of the expected 78, and adding a gallon of water before the boil (and chucking out some of the wort) fixed it up with no difficulties.
 
Forgot to mention, enjoyed the post as well! Let us know if any questions come up along the way. And show us some pictures of the final product when you pour your first glass!
 
TexasWine - the background in my pictures should look familiar, Hummingbird's pretty close.

oljimmy - I thought about adding water after boil, but figured I'd let it ride. I guess I'm learning what a preboil gravity should be...

Gavin - Your BIAB article is a big help, I envy your setup.
 
When work and a home remodel aren't kicking my butt! Sadly probably thanksgiving...
 
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