First all-grain since I ditched the old bag...

jimp2003 · Post by **jimp2003** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 10:38 pm

......the BIAB bag that is.

After 15 BIAB brews which have all turned very well I thought it was about time I joined the big league and put together a 3 vessel system and will be giving it its first run out tomorrow. I have my trusty 50l stainless stockpot for the boiler, a 25l ritchies electric HLT and a converted 48 quart coleman cooler mash tun:

Ritchies HLT

Coleman mash tun with 15mm copper manifold. The manifold sits nicely on the bottom of the cooler and when I did a leak test and checked the run off it only left about 150ml of water behind. Not sure if it will perform this well when the grains are in there but we will see.

50l kettle (pic taken a while ago before I fitted a tap)

I have treated the water ready for a early start tomorrow (hopefully) and feel more organized than ever. I still feel a little bit on edge about being out of my comfort zone though.

I have decided to go with a simple recipe and here it is:

Delta Bitter (Standard/Ordinary Bitter)

Original Gravity (OG): 1.042 (Â°P): 10.5
Final Gravity (FG): 1.011 (Â°P): 2.8
Alcohol (ABV): 4.13 %
Colour (SRM): 11.8 (EBC): 23.3
Bitterness (IBU): 34.8 (Average)

87.91% Pale Malt
7.69% Crystal
3.3% Torrified Wheat
1.1% Black Malt

1 g/L Celeia (4% Alpha) @ 75 Minutes (Boil)
1.1 g/L Fuggles (5.2% Alpha) @ 75 Minutes (Boil)
1.2 g/L Delta (OLD) (5% Alpha) @ 10 Minutes (Boil)
1.2 g/L Fuggles (5.2% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes (Boil)
2 g/L Delta (OLD) (5% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes (Aroma)

0.1 g/L Protofloc @ 15 Minutes (Boil)
0.1 g/L Yeast Nutrient @ 15 Minutes (Boil)

Single step Infusion at 66Â°C for 90 Minutes. Boil for 75 Minutes

Fermented at 18Â°C with WLP037 - Yorkshire Square Ale

The grains have been weighed out - not a very pretty shot as one of the kids decided to give the bucket a shake before I could take a pic...

Will update tomorrow after the brew.

Cheers!

Jim

Skittlebrau · Post by **Skittlebrau** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 11:17 pm

Good luck!

jimp2003 · Post by **jimp2003** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 8:44 am

Cheers Skittlebrau!

Mashed in at 7.45 this morning and managed to get the temp at 65.9 without having to add any hot or cold water so I hope that is a good omen. Just checked the temp after just under an hour and it sits at 65 so not too bad.

I pre-heated the MT with a kettle of boiling water beforehand and noticed that the lid was losing a lot of heat (I don't think there is much insulation in the lid) so I made sure I gave it a good cover with a sleeping bag - we have plenty of those lying around after an aborted camping holiday earlier this week

ok - time to get some breakfast and see how the HLT is getting on heating the sparge water.

Goulders · Post by **Goulders** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 10:03 am

Good work! I may go 2v (ie no hlt) from BIAB next year. You batch sparging?

jimp2003 · Post by **jimp2003** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 10:12 am

Hi Goulders!

Yes I am batch sparging. its a nice easy method but found it took forever to run free of very small bits of grain. It was taking so long that I resorted to running the wort through a sieve lined with a folded piece of voile

. It finally ran clear towards the end of the sparge. I think my problem was a lack of care when recirlculating and possibly the fact that the bulk of the pale malt was from the end of a bag and was quite floury.

Lessons to be learnt and I am going to carefully dig out my manifold from under the grain bed to make sure that none of the joints opened as it is not soldered.

The photo taking took a back seat during the sparge but I will post what I have later....

Barticus · Post by **Barticus** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 11:15 am

Got be the best thread title of the month

jimp2003 · Post by **jimp2003** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 7:15 pm

Here are some pics of the day. Nothing wildly exciting but as I took them here they are...

Firstly the mash..

and the temp at the beginning was very close...

It lost a couple of degrees over the whole mash but there are a couple of things I can do to improve that. Also this batch is one of the lowest strength beers I have brewed so the mash volume is likely to be higher in future efforts.

Here is the set up before the sparge. I used a 3l jug to transfer the sparge water to the MT.

Grains after the wort had been run off...

Bags of hops..bit of a dull pic I know...

These are the Delta hops which were very dusty (which is why Rob gave them away FOC a while back). I was concerned that this might cause my hop strainer problems and cause it to clog or for a lot of bits to make it through to the FV. Neither of these things happened fortunately.

First lot of hops go in..

First lot of Delta have gone in here and the froth turns green thanks to all the fine hop dust.

Boil proceeded uneventfully and wort was cooled with the IC.

Now this is what I was after - I never got a clear run off like this with the BIAB brews

Ended up with 24l rather than the 25l I was after but the OG was absolutely spot on. (Sample was taken before chilling hence the floating break material).

I ended up pitching a pack of SO4 rather than the WLP037 starter. The starter had stepped up ok but when I tasted some of the clear liquid there was a distinct vinegary taste so I thought that I would not risk it.

The brew is all tucked up in the fridge at 18 degrees now and thats where its going to stay for the next couple of weeks. I really enjoyed doing this brew and found it was not as much faff as I thought it would be compared to BIAB.

Froggit · Post by **Froggit** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 7:27 pm

jimp2003 wrote:

Now this is a fantastic photo!

jimp2003 · Post by **jimp2003** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 8:13 pm

Cheers froggit - it's my favourite one of the day.

WishboneBrewery · Post by **WishboneBrewery** » Sun Jun 10, 2012 8:32 pm

Looks like it went pretty well

darkonnis · Post by **darkonnis** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 10:20 am

Good times! I was surprised myself how easy AG is compared to BIAB which seemed like a lot more faff. Glad it went well and thats a nice clear pic of clear wort! Nice one.

Goulders · Post by **Goulders** » Sat Jun 16, 2012 11:20 pm

darkonnis wrote:Good times! I was surprised myself how easy AG is compared to BIAB which seemed like a lot more faff. Glad it went well and thats a nice clear pic of clear wort! Nice one.

Er..BIAB is AG

jimp2003 · Post by **jimp2003** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 3:27 pm

Goulders wrote:
darkonnis wrote:Good times! I was surprised myself how easy AG is compared to BIAB which seemed like a lot more faff. Glad it went well and thats a nice clear pic of clear wort! Nice one.
Er..BIAB is AG

Let's not start that old chestnut up again -

. I can still see myself using BIAB AG in certain circumstances and traditional AG methods fo the bulk of my brews.

Anyway, the brew is exactly where it should be at 1.011. I will probably bottle it next weekend just to make sure and I have some work being done in the kitchen so I don't fancy bottling with a load of old dust floating about the place.

The sample tasted really really good. The hint of toffee from the crystal was pretty well balanced by the bitterness and there was a lovely aftertaste from the fuggle and delta hops. I had forgotten how much I like fuggles and if this brew continues to improve during conditioning I will definitely be making it again.

Goulders · Post by **Goulders** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 3:52 pm

jimp2003 wrote:
Goulders wrote:
darkonnis wrote:Good times! I was surprised myself how easy AG is compared to BIAB which seemed like a lot more faff. Glad it went well and thats a nice clear pic of clear wort! Nice one.
Er..BIAB is AG
Let's not start that old chestnut up again - .

Awww

Seriously, BIAB (full volume) isn't much of a faff, but I can see myself going the mashtun route at some stage so I can do higher gravity brews

Barticus · Post by **Barticus** » Sun Jun 17, 2012 4:07 pm

When I read threads like this I can feel myself being hypnotised over to the Dark Side.

Just sounds so much more fun than using a tin opener!

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