BIAB 1st time set up

[Manngold]

Hi guys, after a lot of support in a previous thread, I now have all my gear, but have some general questions before I start (which I am sure you have heard before). I ended up buying my equipment from MrLard over at home brew builder, and have a 50l stainless pot, a electric heating component and a hop bazooka.

From searching around, most people recommend brewing software. I have purchased Beersmith 2 from the App Store (I don't have access to a PC or laptop so am doing all this from my ipad). A lot of people in threads recommend biabacus, but I don't think I can work that on this. I ideally want to get my first brew on next Saturday, the Belgian blonde ale from the malt miller.

My questions are really this:

1. Do I need to do anything specific before I brew, such as boil up water during the week to estimate times?
2. Does everything need to be sanitised like in a normal routine?
3. Should I boil my grain bag first to sanitise it, like I would a muslin bag for dry hopping?
4. In order to end up with a 23l brew length, how much water would I need to start boiling to begin with?

As I said, I have downloaded Beersmith, but currently find it quite overwhelming.

Any support is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

John

[jaberry]

1. You could but it takes as long as it takes
2 & 3. yes for things post boil but everything pre boil will be sanitised by the boil. I only sanitise my fv and airlock on brew day
4. Start mashing with around 35 litres, your boil volume will be approx 31 litres


And there's no reason you cannot use BIABacus to calc volumes for any recipe

[Manngold]

Sorry jaberry, I should have been more specific, I can't get biabacus to work on my ipad. Is there some special trick to get it to work on it?

Also, thank you very much for the info!

[jaberry]

No idea. You should be able to open it in any spreadsheet programme / app

[Manngold]

Ah ok. Will see if I can get one. Any advice on where to start with beersmith?

[jaberry]

Afraid not. Haven't really had much of a play with it. Others on here use it for BIAB though

[NobbyIPA]

beer smith takes a bit of work before you brew
go to INSERT
ADD EQUIPMENT

1 you need to tweek your equipment
so where it says equipment put in as much detail there to match your boiler
Add GRAIN
in ingredients get whatever your grain is in correctly EBC etc
add HOPS
also your hops might differ from what's in the program ibu etc
change the weight profile to kilos or what ever you accustomed to
the mash profile need setting to BIAB depending what your brewing
if you have any questions ask away
and ill try me best to point you in the right direction

[Manngold]

Hi Nobby, thanks for the response. I have been away so haven't been able to update. I plan to have a run through this weekend. I have been playing around a lot with beersmith 2. I have a 50l tin, that has a 40cm diameter that will use an electric component.

It gives me a couple of conflicting ideas though, that I just want to check.

It suggests that I add 39.31l of water at 72.4. Does this mean it thinks I should bring this much water up to this strike temp (correct terminology)? The only reason I ask is that it then suggests a boil vol of 35.98l with a post boil vol of 27.91l, with approx 3.82 grub loss. Does that sound about right.

What temp should I try to keepp the grain at. It suggests something called saccharification (68.9 c for 60 min). What does that mean?

If it helps I am doing the following recipe: http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... ductId=593

Thanks for your help. I am sure I will have more questions nearer the time, but ultimately see this as a bit of trial and error
, but would like something drinkable!

Thanks

John

[pobrien20]

Figures look ok.

I'm guessing there is 6-7kg of grain, that will absorb the heat when added to the water, dropping the Strike temp of 72.4°C down to your Mash temp of 68.9°C. (BeerSmith has calculated the figures based on your pot volume, pot material, amount of grain used, temp of stored grain.)

Wrap up your mash tun to keep it warm and leave for the 60mins (this allows the 'saccharifiction', converting the more complex, non fermentable sugars in the grain into simple, fermentable sugars that the yeast prefers).

After your 60min mash, you may want to do a Mash Out, raising the temp of the pot to about 76°C for 10 mins. This stabilises the process & locks in the sugars from further changing.

When you take the bag of grains out (turn your elements on to boil now), it will absorb some of the water dropping your volume to 35.98L. Initially there will appear to be a bigger loss, allow the bag to drain into a bucket/basin and squeeze the last amount out to get all remaining liquid out. Add this back to your pot.

After the boil there will have been an amount of loss due to evaporation (& absorption by the hops - don't squeeze these out), the 27.91L mentioned.

Suggestion: it may be handier selecting a smaller batch size to suit your fermenter, i.e. 23L or 19L. Just because the pot can handle 50L, doesn't mean you have to do full batches each time. A 27.9L batch may be a bit tight on headspace on a standard homebrew FV.

[NobbyIPA]

for wheat beers your best to step mash

typically i do a twin step
Mash when brewing wheats etc
10 litres 63c for 20
+ 8 litre 71c for another 60 min
but i fly sparge

your Belgium will benefit from step mashing
so you need to ask the BIAB expert about how to go ahead and do this
as said i am not familiar with BIAB

Maybe repost for help on step mashing BIAB etc
in a new post

[Manngold]

Thanks nobby. I will look into what you have suggested with the twin step. With regards to the 27l, I was thinking that after I drained it into my fv I would only be left with 23 l, due to trub loss etc. beersmith actually suggests raising the temp for 10 mins, and then after that for another 7.


Thank you for your help, I feel far more confident in what I am doing now!

[AnthonyUK]

For your first one I'd keep it simple and avoid step mashing. You'll have more than enough chances to makes mistakes
If you get a chance then look for BIAB specific recipes in Beersmith2.
I always try to put BIAB when I save mine.

http://beersmithrecipes.com/listrecipes/27877/anthonyuk

[beerlover1983]

Hi Nobby, thanks for the response. I have been away so haven't been able to update. I plan to have a run through this weekend. I have been playing around a lot with beersmith 2. I have a 50l tin, that has a 40cm diameter that will use an electric component.

It gives me a couple of conflicting ideas though, that I just want to check.

It suggests that I add 39.31l of water at 72.4. Does this mean it thinks I should bring this much water up to this strike temp (correct terminology)? The only reason I ask is that it then suggests a boil vol of 35.98l with a post boil vol of 27.91l, with approx 3.82 grub loss. Does that sound about right.

What temp should I try to keepp the grain at. It suggests something called saccharification (68.9 c for 60 min). What does that mean?

If it helps I am doing the following recipe: http://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/index.ph ... ductId=593

Thanks for your help. I am sure I will have more questions nearer the time, but ultimately see this as a bit of trial and error
, but would like something drinkable!

Thanks

John

That cant be right having that much water for a 23ltr batch ? I normally start with around 36ltrs for 23ltr brew and 5kg grain.
The above sounds too much giving you the 27ltr into fv


Presuming you want 23ltrs in fv.

[beerlover1983]

I would say ita more like this but this is my setup and losses so you cant know yours 100% till you have done a batch.

35 ltrs mash in

pull bag allow to drain in .

roughly 4 ltr lose to grain absorbtion.

31trs pre boil i have a 6ltr boil off in my kettle yours could be more or same .

leaves 25ltrs after boil my kettle has 1.5 ltr deadspace again something i can measure after first run.

Leaves me 23.5 so witj some trub at end of ferment should be on 23.

These figures could vary depending on higher grain bill or recipes with loads of hops.

But for recipe you have i would say above is closer not a 27ltr after boil.

[Manngold]

Ok. So I guess that I will try it with about 35 l, and then add more water at the end if I need to. Thanks for the advice fellas, really appreciate helping out a novice.

On a side note, I am currently in Bruges, and just been to the 'de halve Mayan' brewery. Some excelltn beers! I am smashed.