Obligatory 1st BIAB post

[Coolhand78]

Hey everyone,
Finally did my first BIAB yesterday. Was a Maris Otter – Citra SMaSH (also a first for me). All went really well, except for one tiny, tiny boil over—could have been a lot worse. Finished with 3.5 gallons, 1.061 OG. According to one calculator, I had 66% efficiency. Next time I'll squeeze the bag. I didn't do a sparge, but I did let the bag drain and added that to the boil. The grain had been double milled.

Recipe in pics.

As a followup to a previous post (had trouble doing a test boil of 6 gallons on gas stove), I had no problem boiling 4.5 gallons with this batch. I used 2 burners and partially covered with a lid while bringing to a boil. I thought because of my previous boil troubles, plus only having 4.5 gallons in an 8 gallon kettle, there would be no way I would have a boil over. Was I wrong—and lucky. I caught it just in time to minimize the mess. I foresee a bottle of fermcap in my future.

I really enjoyed doing this brew. I hope it turns out, and can't wait to do my next biab. Thanks to Wilserbrewer for the great grain bag.

 

[TexasWine]

Congrats on the first BIAB. I'd say it's pretty encouraging that you had a boil over, given your previous boiling woes.

 

[RM-MN]

Congratulations of your successful BIAB brew day. If you do a small pour over sparge and squeeze the bag or let it hang to drip your efficiency will go up. You might raise the efficiency by milling finer too but I can't tell how fine the milling is from the picture.

One caveat. From your picture it looks like you have overfilled the airlock and when the ferment is over and the wort cools, you may suck some of the liquid from the airlock back into the beer. I'd take some out until the inner element just reaches the liquid so that it forms a lock but cannot suck the liquid back in.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Good job, well done! Couple minor comments er compliments...

-hard to tell from the pic, but looks as if you could crush a little more

-The way you have your bag sitting over the kettle, it would be very easy to pour some sparge water slowly gently trickling over through the bag, even a cold water sparge is fine. This may up your efficiency a tad. Just mash in a few quarts short, then sparge to get your preboil volume.

The way you have your fermenter wrapped so well could let it get a little warm once fermentation kicks in strong, on second thought, your in WI, may just keep it from freezing as well. Point is watch your ferm temps of the actual beer, not ambient.

You likely learned a valuable lesson regarding boilovers, watch that sucker and when you see it beginning to foam on the surface, around 200 degrees, turn down the heat and be patient! An extra 5-10 minutes spent approaching boil can save you an hour cleanup best case, or a new stove worst case

well done - cheers!

 

[thaymond]

-The way you have your bag sitting over the kettle, it would be very easy to pour some sparge water slowly gently trickling over through the bag, even a cold water sparge is fine. This may up your efficiency a tad. Just mash in a few quarts short, then sparge to get your preboil volume.

+1. I took an extra Bucket and zapaped it (see Joy of Homebrewing by C. Papazian) and use my bottling Bucket to sparge. I set the bag in the zapap which sits inside the bottle Bucket. I get my pre-boil volume to roughly the mash temp, and sparge with that. I will then squeeze the bag once it's all drained out. This gives me a consistent 80% accuracy.

Great work on the BIAB. I hope it turns out!

 

[soccerdad]

I'm glad you felt obligated Now you are indeed obligated to tell us how tasty the beer is - no rush - we can wait.

 

[wilserbrewer]

+1. I took an extra Bucket and zapaped it (see Joy of Homebrewing by C. Papazian) and use my bottling Bucket to sparge.

At the risk of being a nit picker, I will say that I would not advise using the same bucket for the mash and the finished beer. The pre boil mash is not sanitary, so in essence you are contaminating your bottling bucket every brew day. I know you intend to sanitize before use, it is just bad practice to intentionally contaminate...
Get another bucket IMHO and don't mix containers b/w hot side and cold side...

 

[Coolhand78]

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and feedback. This hobby would be so much more difficult—and less enjoyable—without this community. I'll let you know how the beer turns out, and for the next batch I'll make some of these adjustments. Cheers!

 

[nutty_gnome]

At the risk of being a nit picker, I will say that I would not advise using the same bucket for the mash and the finished beer. ...

Get another bucket IMHO and don't mix containers b/w hot side and cold side...

I agree with this simple precaution. 15 bucks for a dedicated bottling bucket that will last for years is money well spent. Somewhere on these forums is a lovely bottling bucket tweak to add a standard PVC elbow to the inside of the bucket so that you get darn near all the beer out of your bucket without messing with tipping at the end.

 

[thaymond]

I agree with this simple precaution. 15 bucks for a dedicated bottling bucket that will last for years is money well spent. Somewhere on these forums is a lovely bottling bucket tweak to add a standard PVC elbow to the inside of the bucket so that you get darn near all the beer out of your bucket without messing with tipping at the end.

I haven't bottled with that bucket in a long time, and haven't planned on bottling since I started kegging. That was about the time when I also started the sparge on my ag batches. It's a great suggestion, and echo the above sentiments.

Get a separate bottling bucket if you're doing this. If your meticulous in sanitation it may not become an issue. But for 15 bucks, why chance it?

 

[dkennedy]

Congrats, and great choice on the inaugural BIAB batch.