New to BIAB

[ElezEspana]

Hi all.

So I have done 2 extract kits bought in Wilko's and the Range, and now I want to try BIAB. But I have a few questions I was hoping someone might be able to help me with.

1. Looking at buying a bag, I have seen fine and coarse options. What is the difference?
2. My urn is 15 litres max capacity, so if I use the BIAB method and sparge back into the urn, what should be my realistic finished volume of wort? (Is 3 gallons too optimistic after the boil?)
3. The yeast I got in the extract kits was less than when I have purchased separately, I have got Safale US-05 and each sachet is 11.5g. How much of this would I need for the wort size I am going to be achieving with my urn?
4. I get very confused with all the different grain mixes and measurements that I have to calculate for the size I am going to need for my Urns capacity. Is there an easy IPA or Lager recipe that just uses one type of grain (preferably with Challenger, Chinook or Citra hops as that's what I have) so that I don't have to spend the world on different types just to have a go at it?

Sorry if these questions seem stupid. Just trying to make sure that I can have the best brew day possible to get me more into all-grain brewing and off the kits.

Thanks in advance

 

[doug293cz]

1. Get the finest bag you can, as it will minimize the amount of flour that escapes the bag into the wort. Wilser makes excellent custom fit bags for a reasonable price. The bag should ideally be sized so that your kettle will just fit inside it, and about 4" excess height to fold over the rim when mashing. Too small a bag will bunch the grain up during the mash and possibly reduce mash efficiency. Too large a bag just gets in the way when stirring during mash in.

2. You should be able to get 3 gallons post boil with that urn. You will need to sparge in order to do so. Simplest, is probably a dunk sparge (with a separate bucket) using room temperature water. Using unheated sparge water will slow your heat-up to boil, but will not adversely affect your efficiency.

3. Just use the full 11.5 g of yeast. If you try to save a partial packet, you risk contaminating the yeast - not worth the trouble. If you want to save money on yeast, learn about yeast harvesting from your just finished batch.

4. You can do a single grain brew with just about any base malt - pilsner malt, 2-row pale malt, maris otter, etc. You can experiment with using a single hop, or combinations of the hops you have on hand. Use something like Brewers Friend to do the calculations for your recipes, so that you can get close to the bitterness you want, depending on the AA of the particular hops you have.

Brew on

 

[FlabbyRoach]

i would also add; to get your grains double crushed or buy a grain mill and set to credit card thickness.

 

[ElezEspana]

Thanks for the information. I have looked on brewers mate and tried filling in a simple recipe.

15 litres, 3kg Munich malt, 20g Chinook (60m), 20g Challenger (15m), and 20g Citra (0m)

But the calculation is coming out at an ABV of 3.51%. How would I make this stronger?

I am looking for a decent german lager at around 6% ideally.

 

[RM-MN]

But the calculation is coming out at an ABV of 3.51%. How would I make this stronger?

There are 3 ways to make the beer stronger.
1. Use less water and end up with less beer but stronger beer.
2. Increase your brewhouse efficiency over what the recipe is made for. Without making a few batches this will be nearly impossible if your intention is a 6% beer.
3. Add base malt or malt extract. Without having done a BIAB batch you won't know what your brewhouse efficiency will be so calculating how much base malt will not really be possible. A common way to get the ABV you want is to use dry malt extract to boost the OG. Make your wort, check the gravity you got (rather than the calculated one), then calculate how much DME you need to add to get the OG you want.