Recipe Question.

[chatters]

So I've been brewing extracts for awhile and wanted to jump to an all-grain style. But at the same time I want to scale down to do small batches and more often..BIAB fits what I'm looking for.

I figured I'd would start with a clone of a clone. The Dead Ringer IPA from nothernbrewer.

I plan on doing a 2.5 gallon batch. Form my basic understanding it would be to take the 5gallon by half. But I've entered this recipe into ibrewmaster, beersmith and tastybrew.com to let them do it instead

I scaled it this way.

5lbs 10.3oz Pale Malt (2 Row)
8.4 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L

.99oz Centennial - 5min
.49oz Centennial - 20min
.37oz Centennial - 60min
.50oz Centennial - Dry Hop 7 Days

Safale - US-05 (1/2 the package?)​

I plan on using 3.88 gallons Pre-Boil Vol.

between each software/website I'm getting mixed results on amount of pre-boil vol.
I'm also getting IBU's of 60 (ibrewmaster), 76 (tastybrew) and 55.2 (beersmith). even after setting all to 10.0% alpha.

I guess I'm confused on if this looks right? I do not know my Boil off Rate. (I have a 5.5 gallon pot at 12 inch Diameter). But between the software/websites they all are saying 3.88 gallons for the pound of grains. I figured 2qt per pound instead of the 1.5qt as that looks like what beersmith is figuring.

I dunno I guess I'm just paranoid if this is correct, as this is my first BIAB , scalling to 2.5 and all grain. But how do I learn if its not a challenge

 

[wilserbrewer]

Looks reasonable to me at 3.88 preboil volume, I would add another 1/2 gallon to account for grain absorption and start with 4 1/2 gallons. Preboil volume and total water required are not the same as the grain will absorb some water, say .1 gal/lb. Calibrate your brewing spoon so you know how much is left in your kettle as you progress.

If your wort volume is low you can always sparge through the bag a bit, or add a touch of water to the boil. If your wort volume is high, simply extend the boil for ten minutes or so and hold your late hop additions so they are timed with flame out. Nothing says your boil needs to be exactly 60 minutes!

When I see someone carrying the brewing water measurements to two decimal places, I feel RDWHAHB is in order!
Pay more attention to the volumes in your kettle and less attention to what the software is telling you in theory!

Don't over-think it, it is not that hard!

edit...just realized your pot is only 5.5 gallons. Perhaps better to start with only 4 gallons and top the kettle a touch or sprinkle a quart or two through the grain bag as needed. When your done, you will look back and realize how simple it was!

 

[chatters]

Sweet thanks!, yeah I really wasn't planning on measuring out .88 gallon of water. That would be a little crazy. But was kind of confused as I kept seeing 1.5qt per lb of grain then I saw 2qt and 2.5qt.

 

[454k30]

I just did a recipe with a 7lb grain bill. I started with 3.5 gals in the brew pot, and when I pulled the bag the level was just below 3 gallons (which fits the .1 gal per pound thing). I used a half gallon of water to rinse the sugars out of the grain bag and then let the bag drain for half an hour. After a 60 minute boil I was back down to I think that at flameout I had right under 3.5 gallons which I topped off with water up to the 4 gallon mark. My OG put me at 77% efficiency, which I'm fine with. Basically what I'm saying is that you don't have to get to caught up in the volumes unless you really want to.

 

[C-Rider]

I do small 2 gallon batches. My "big" beer batches have had 6 lbs of malt. I mashed that in 3.25 gallons and only lost between .35 and .4 gallons to the grain. W/a small mash like this and your 2.5 gallon you can press the "hell" out of the grain bag using 2 coffee cups (one in each hand) and a collander under your grain bag dripping into your mashtun. Your boil off rate/hr will be the same no matter how big your batch. It's the amount of heat and diameter of your boil kettle.

 

[C-Rider]

I do small 2 gallon batches. My "big" beer batches have had 6 lbs of malt. I mashed that in 3.25 gallons and only lost between .35 and .4 gallons to the grain. W/a small mash like this and your 2.5 gallon you can press the "hell" out of the grain bag using 2 coffee cups (one in each hand) and a collander under your grain bag dripping into your mashtun. Your boil off rate/hr will be the same no matter how big your batch. It's the amount of heat and diameter of your boil kettle.

 

[chatters]

I ended up brewing the recipe above this last sunday.

I upped to 4gallons. Did the same grain bill above, but upped the hops like the .99oz to 1oz.
striked at 164F, it only dropped to 160F so I had to add cold water to get it 154-155F.

The grain took me down to about 3.5gallons after squeezing and letting it drain into a bucket through a strainer.

I ended up with a 1.052 OG, the orginal 5 gallon recipe says its a 1.064 from nothernbrewers site. (not sure how they got that. Their recipe in ibrewmaster is 1.053 og. ).
the 1.052 matched what I had in ibrewmaster. so I ended up with 70% efficiency.

after the boil I was down to a little less then 2.5gallons.

I've always done liquid yeast, so this was the first time I did US-05. was bubbling away (1 bubble every 2 seconds or so) at 67 degrees. Not a big krausen, about 1 inch. at 65 degrees, the Krausen is just starting to settle down today.

I might change the recipe above slightly, as my home grown cascades are almost ready to harvest. And should be dry in time to dry hop. So instead of using pellets of Centennials I may use those. (going back and forth on that one).

Overall the BIAB was way easier then I expected. Excited to see how this ipa turns out.