Home Brew Forum

3rd AG in the morning and first go at a full volume biab

I will be brewing punk ipa from the recipe book brewdog recently released with a few small alterations. Early hops adjusted to get IBU to 40 and swapping simcoe out for mosiac as i have some left over. My last 2 AGs have been on my 3 vessel setup but im trying the biab this time in hope for a slightly shorter brew day. Also I can brew indoors this way which is alot easier as the garage doesnt have running water

I will also be trying some new kit out, A 3kw buffalo induction hob with ss brewtech 15gal kettle. I did a test boil with around 30l tonight and all seemed good, although im not sure how if the buffalo would be so good with 50l !

Water is in the kettle with half a campden tablet ready for the off at around 6.30am.

I`l update in the morning as things progress

Mashed in
Temps sitting a little higher than I'd like, obviously the kettles uninsulated so this should drop off then I can try and keep it steady with the induction hob if required.


Don't think my brew buddy was up for an early start this morning

Looks like I've made a small mistake, just realised I put a kilo less Maris otter than I should of

So it's going to be more of a session IPA

You could mash another Kg separately and add it to the boil, I wish you well.

Haha no it'll be fine
That's what you get for not preparing in advance and starting a brew straight after a night shift

Onto the boil now anyway

Chillin

Ended up with 20l at 1.040 instead of 1.046

Rehydrated mangrove jacks m44 west coast yeast

how did you get on with the induction plate?

1040...not bad for a kg short

cerbera84 wrote:how did you get on with the induction plate?

It worked ok but the boil wasn't that strong barely reaching 100 degrees
Il probably look at a bit of insulation around the kettle next time

The cooler isn't cooling as quick as I'd expect it to it just can't getting it down below 25 degrees
I recirculated it this time, not sure if I'm doing something wrong as the water coming out is never hot like i thought it would be

I was happy with 1.040 though
Gong to test again later today see what we're down to and possibly do the dry hop

Secla wrote:

cerbera84 wrote:how did you get on with the induction plate?

It worked ok but the boil wasn't that strong barely reaching 100 degrees
Il probably look at a bit of insulation around the kettle next time

I'm surprised to hear that - especially brewing indoors. I get rolling boils and have brewed outside (garage) when it was cold enough to freeze water as it hit my driveway (air temp was about 2C that day).
Wort temp is never going to go over 100 - my RTK probe shows 99.1 - 100.1 during a rolling boil.
What was your boil off volume?

Yeh I had the windows open etc due to condensation so I wouldn't say it was really at indoor temps, I was hoping for it to be a bit more vigorous
Perhaps the larger surface area of the 50l pot doesn't help

Also the bottom of the brewtech pots doesn't seem that flat, empty they spin on a point in the middle which is a bit odd

Down to 1.012 today il try again Monday

Secla wrote:Yeh I had the windows open etc due to condensation so I wouldn't say it was really at indoor temps, I was hoping for it to be a bit more vigorous
Perhaps the larger surface area of the 50l pot doesn't help

Also the bottom of the brewtech pots doesn't seem that flat, empty they spin on a point in the middle which is a bit odd

Ah - didn't realise it was the bigger pot, which might explain things (I've got the 10g). Some insulation should make a really big difference. I've considered it myself, just to get to the boil a bit quicker and boil on a lower power setting - something like a length of wet suit material glued/stitched together to form a tube with holes for tap & handles. Should be pretty simple to do - be keen to hear your results if you try it.

Although my pot doesn't have a "single point of contact" like yours, it shouldn't really make a difference for induction. It's about distance from the hob, not contact with it.

Try a foil lined camping mat held on with suitcase straps (foil inward facing). That's what I use with my 33l pot and 2.4kw element outside. Easy to remove the mat to clean the pot then.