First AG Maxi BIAB 19L Pot

[alexlark]

Right, I'm 50 mins into the mash and at the stage "Sit down and have a cuppa".

Few notes so far:
Get a bigger vessel to measure the malt, I didn't realise how much 4120g would be!
That malt is dusty

So far, so good.

[jaberry]

Right, I'm 50 mins into the mash and at the stage "Sit down and have a cuppa".

Few notes so far:
Get a bigger vessel to measure the malt, I didn't realise how much 4120g would be!
That malt is dusty

So far, so good.

Yup. Flour all over the kitchen when measuring grain out (I do it in the garden if it's not raining).

I use a small FV (15 litre) to take my grain bill, cheap to buy and easy to store

[alexlark]

Yep I'll measure outside in future, or in the shed!

Got the wort cooling in the sink at the moment. Took about 40 mins to get down, I'm just having a bite to eat and then into the fermenter with the wort.

I put the mash pot on a folded up camping mat covered in old towels and an old Helly Hanson jacket! After 90 mins the temp was the same! Result.

I'll get the SG and pics up tomorrow evening, I'm shattered now

Good brew day though. Thanks for all the advice.

[Clibit]

Well wrapped that man.

[alexlark]

Here goes my brewday!

My order arrives from The Malt Miller.


Got my pot filled to 15.5L and bringing the temp up to 71c as I weigh out the grain.


Temp up to 71c I add my bag and remove 1L using a measuring jug so that I can re-add once I stir in the grain.


Mashing in, top up with the 1L of water I removed and I'm at 63c so I apply some heat and stir until I reach 66c.


I placed my pot on a folded up camping mat, covered with some old towels and my old jacket!
I am pleased to say that this maintained the temp at 66c! This was the part I was unsure of but was quite pleased.


Removed the bag and placed on a cake rack on top of the pot to drain and then placed the bag in my FV. Added 4L of just off the boil kettle water.


Pot back on the hob and bringing to a boil.


Topped up with sparge water and rolling boil going I add the hops and start the timer.
I added another 3-4L of sparge water to the boil over the next 1hr and 15mins to keep it topped up and added the irish moss for the last 15mins.


Cooled the pot in the sink with some blocks of ice to speed things up a bit.
I left the tap running a bit into the overflow whilst I cleaned up. I got the wort cooled in about an hour.


I decided to stir the pot into a vortex and siphon from the side into a sieve suspended on top of the FV. The wort was very clear coming out!
This left behind almost all of the crud. I'm glad I did it this way instead of tipping it in. I ended up with 14L of wort, 1.064 @ 27c which equates to 1.066 @ 20c so spot on!
Topped up to just over 21L and I get 1.040 @ 21c. Happy with that!


Pitched with Safale S-04


I cannot tell you how smooth it all went and how chuffed I am at making beer from scratch. I keep checking on the FV like it's my first beer kit!
Thanks for all the help and tips. I hope this thread will encourage others to dip their toes into the dark side

Now, a few questions:

I normally leave my kit beer 3 weeks in the FV. Shall I do the same or just 2 weeks and get it off the trub?

My last addition will be 10.5g EKG dry hopped. How soon shall I add these, day 7 for 7 days? I normally dry hop kits for the 3rd week in the FV.

[PhilB]

Hi Alex

Well Done ... sounds like it's all gone very well

Now, a few questions:
I normally leave my kit beer 3 weeks in the FV. Shall I do the same or just 2 weeks and get it off the trub?
My last addition will be 10.5g EKG dry hopped. How soon shall I add these, day 7 for 7 days? I normally dry hop kits for the 3rd week in the FV.

... I'd say just do whatever you usually do. You've developed you approaches to fermentation and dry-hopping because that what's right for you ... and now that you've got that wort in your FV it's no different from any other beer you've made
Try to relax, the yeast knows what to do

Cheers, PhilB

[jaberry]

Nice one :thumbs

[alexlark]

Thanks Phil, couldn't have done it without your detailed thread!

I'll stick to what I usually do then. FV for 3 weeks, dry hop for the last 7 days.

I'm already looking at what to brew next!

[Manngold]

Thanks for posting me in this direction Alex. Having read through, I have found it very useful!

Thanks

John

[PhilB]

Hi Alex

Thanks Phil, couldn't have done it without your detailed thread!

... it's very nice of you to say so ... but, of course, I couldn't have done that thread without all the work that Ralph (RdeV, who posted above) and all the guys over at biabrewer.info put together ... and now, here are you posting a thread that's informing and inspiring John (Manngold) ... that's how this Brewing Community works I guess ... and we get to make and drink some great beers along the way ... keep up the good work

Cheers, PhilB

[alexlark]

PhilB, have you used the BIABacus spreadsheet over on biabrewer.info?

I am trying to input the London Pride clone but I'm a bit stuck!

[PhilB]

Hi Alex

I'm sorry. No. I've never used BIABacus ... it was still only available as a beta test version when I was maxi-BIABing and putting together that thread ... and since I'm no longer using that method for brewing, I've never felt the urge to put the effort into getting to grips with the new tool and re-writing the whole set of "instructions" for it when I'm not going to end up using it myself. I think your best bet is to go ask your question to the guys on BIABrewer.info

Cheers, PhilB

[jaberry]

PhilB, have you used the BIABacus spreadsheet over on biabrewer.info?

I am trying to input the London Pride clone but I'm a bit stuck!

I shall take a trek over to BIABrewer to see shortly but are you still having issues? I can probably help you if you say what the issue is

[alexlark]

Thanks PhilB, worth a try

jaberry, I only signed up to biabrewer.info today so that I could grab the latest spreadsheet and learn how to use it so that I can plan future brews.

As I know PhilB's recipe works http://www.brewuk.co.uk/forums/viewtopi ... =28&t=7655 , using this spreadsheet http://db.tt/kPGkoDkC on his thread, I plugged in the recipe into BIABacus as I know what grain bill to expect on conversion.

I've completed section B (Equipment), C (grains), D (hops), E (mashing). It tells me that my pot is too small so I gather I have to complete section W (Full-Volume Variations). It's this section that I am unsure what to input.

So basically I want to copy PhilB's results but using BIABacus

[jaberry]

Right, just had a fiddle around, haven't actually tried Maxi-BIABing using the BIABacus but the figures I have are as follows

Section W

Water used in sparge 6l
Water added before boil 1.5l
Water added during boil 8l
Water added to FV 6.5l

If you play with the figures the red warnings will guide you to where changes need to made as you do it

May be an idea to fill BIABacus in and post it on BIABrewer and I'm sure you will get more detailed info (bear in mind that the 23 litre batch size will need to be checked to see if that is into FV, into packaging or of ambient wort)