Ready to Bottle my first batch

First post by ReeflifeGlass, 8 years ago

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Had so much fun brewing and watching the process and changes that the beer goes through. Didn't hit my mash target temp. Was actually really low at 125. But was my first time learning where my strike temp should be and what my equipments efficiency is. My target was 1.072 OG and I only achieved 1.050. So I did another batch a couple days ago and had my grain milled twice and increased my strike temp and was able to start at 155 and ended up at 152 at the end of mash with a 1.072 OG. Used the...

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Reeflifeglass, I will make your account inactive as we do not delete accounts.

I'll also close this thread and your other thread .

This site is diligent at giving members the highest quality information. Experienced members strive to come across as friendly and welcoming, their intent is always aimed at making your life easier and saving you time and money. No one here intends to be condescending, quite the opposite.

Anyone is most welcome to PM me or any other member of The Team if they...

First Brew Questions

First post by Peakey, 8 years ago

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Hi,
First of all this site has been so good to help me get going into BIAB and I've spent quite a lot of time looking around the forums at the wealth of knowledge and it's so good. I have a few questions coming up for my first brew which will be a 4 Pines Pale Ale clone (possibly should have gone something a little easier for my first...). See attached for BIABacus and the link to the original recipe: . I just wanted to see how I went with my conversion. I left off the simcoe as finishing hops...

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Good stuff Peakey and congratulations :thumbs:.

All you have left to do now is post a pic of your beer in the thread and then go back to post #1 and edit it so there is a tick beside it :lol:.

Good on you,
PP

American Honey Ale - Total Newb - Low ABV

First post by FatDog, 8 years ago

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Hi all,

Great info on this site and it's been really helpful.

I brewed an American Honey Ale and only got 2.4% Abv. I've attached the BIABacus file.

Fermented at 68% for 10 days, clod crashed for 2.5 days.

Any pointers would be appreciated. Possibly more yeast or fermentation time?

Thanks,

FatDog

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FatDog, if you have the partial wort in the fermenter, you could get some US-05, or another cheap dry yeast, re-hydrate it, and add it to the fermenter.

Even some Bread yeast, may get it started, to a Good Finish.

Measuring Mash Temps

First post by Jomay, 8 years ago

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Hi All

Had about 6 BIAB sessions. All have gone reasonably well, no disasters - yet ;) although I have had a few mishaps and made a few mistakes, all the beers I have made have been well drinkable.

One thing that really irritates me is measuring the temperature of the mash water and the actual mash itself. I am using a ss 50 litre boiler with a tap and ss hop filter on the side, and heated on the bottom with a propane burner. Currently I am using an spirit thermometer to measure the...

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I knew a plumber who worked at a hospital and one of his jobs was to ensure that water coming out of taps was at the correct temperature. For obvious reasons it's fairly important to get that right!

He had an awesome thermometer that I was admiring one day. It was digital with a probe but it was worth about $400 and he sent it away to have it calibrated at 40C twice a year at a decent cost.

I guess my point is that precision measurement that is reliable is expensive but for the average home...

First attempt at Biabacus

First post by Duffer, 8 years ago

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Having great fun wading through the wealth of knowledge and information on this site and looking forward to getting my first all grain biab brew going at the weekend!

In preparation I have been having a play about with the impressive Biabacus spreadsheet...and what a feat of spreadsheet engineering it is!

For my first brew I was planning on attempting a go at the Brewdog Dead Pony Club as this is my default session ale and the prospect of being able to churn out a batch of this is very...

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Nice job Duffer and fantastic labels too :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:.

Adding Sugars to Fermenter

First post by xfumbler, 8 years ago

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I brewed a Belgian Triple. It’s been transferred to the secondary for another two weeks before bottling.

I added honey in the fermenter and this has caused me some confusion. I wanted to run by you all my measured gravities and have some specific questions I'd like answered if anyone can indulge me.

The honey was added to the grain bill in Biabacus (section C), I indicated it was added to the boil ( B under method) though this is obviously a lie.

Here are the actual measured numbers:
Day 1:...

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:lol: :lol: :lol:

Thanks for the info on the Belgian Trippel. That all sounds sensible and I certainly didn't know any of that :peace:.

Nice work on your gravity calcs :salute:.

Have a look at Section P. In theory, Efficiency into Boil and Efficiency of Ambient Wort should be the same. EIB is difficult to measure because of the swelling of the near boiling wort and, problems can occurr with taking gravity samples. For example, I notice on the Unit Conversion sheet that the temp of your...

Brewday planned for Sunday, first BIABacus run in anger

First post by meryvn, 8 years ago

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Have been using Brewers Friend to put my recipes together previously but thought i would give BIABacus a go as it seems a bit quicker to use and i like all the information it provides. I've attached my recipe for an Albino Squid Assassin clone from Brewdog's DIY DOG v2 PDF.

I have already bought the ingredients for this and have set the VIF to 17.35L to match the amount of malts that i have bought as close as possible. I may be slightly low on hops, as i have 20g of Magnum, 165g of Chinook,...

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Ah right, sugar i dissolve in about 100 - 200mL of boiled water and add to the bottling bucket and give a quick swirl to try and mix it evenly.

I have read that it is best to add the sugar solution first then rack on top of it which i may try for my next brew as i think it sounds easier and safer than stirring, no need to sterilise another item to stir with.

Usually use a couple of online calculators and take an average amount of sugar required, i use corn sugar for priming also rather than...

Here we go

First post by Wyoracer, 8 years ago

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for starters I'm working off a Beer Smith Wookey Jack clone. I put all the information :I think: correctly into the BIABacus. The starting point of water in brew kettle is SWN correct? then how does TWN figure into the equation and does it matter? I'm not planning on any scaling either or should I have as BIABacus shows under WYWU? and I thought this stuff would be easier -Mash-Boil-Ferment-Drink with a few smaller steps in between. please critique my entries please hope to start the process...

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292 billion if you get all 5.5g into the fermenter. With hop losses it'll probably be closer to 5.25G. So, around 280 billion.

380 billion if you want to over build to save 100 billion for future use.

Mix the packs up thoroughly before pouring in the yeast, or else the stuff will come out like peanut butter.

Here is the calculator I like for over building.

First Attempt - Maris Otter Cascade SMASH -BIABacus

First post by kyle, 8 years ago

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Hi everyone,

I have received so much help so far on this forum and i think I've been able to understand the basics of the BIABacus.

This will be my first attempt at a BIAB. I have got a 19L kettle and intend to use my hob/stove to do the brewing. I found a basic SMASH recipe (link in the BIABacus) and I think I've been able to convert the recipe for my 19L kettle. There may be some sections I've missed in the BIABacus, however I'm just looking for the main points to be covered from my first...

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Thanks MS!

PLEASE HELP--FIRST EVER BIAB--SIMPLE SMASH RECIPE-19L POT

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First post by kyle, 8 years ago

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Hi everyone! And thanks for having me on the forum! After boggling my mind trying to suss out BIAB I'm praying that you guys can help me and/or guide me in the right direction.

I'm new to brewing, got my first FV this January and have three extract tins under my belt. Really enjoying it and and want to move into all grain and I think BIAB is the way forward for me. I want to make smaller batches in order to practice AG and find and learn the flavour I want etc.

So I've basically ordered a...

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Sorry, there is too much misinformation, confusing or incorrect information offered above for me to continue contributing to this thread.

Kyle, I reckon start a fresh new thread once you get the BIABacus sorted. Evanspa, go to the Full-Volume Variations forum for more info.

Mods, I think this thread should be closed. I can't even keep up with it and I do try!

First BIABacus Brew

First post by Wadey82, 8 years ago

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I'm planning my second BIAB and first time using BIABacus, I going to brew the APA recipe from Brewing Classic Styles. I've uploaded this into the BIABacus, played around with the VIF to suit my kettle. I've added 3 liters before the boil as I'm being greedy and want to get the most beer out of my kettle.
The only thing I'm not sure about is the hop bill. The total IBUs in BIABacus are 34.6, the recipe lists 40 IBUs and I have read that BCS recipes can be a touch light on the hops, I also had...

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Good on you Wadey82. Definitely keep us posted on how it turns out.
Did you adjust your hop additions to account for the longer boil?

Scaling Miscellaneous Ingredients

First post by xfumbler, 8 years ago

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I was setting up Biabacus for a brew with some miscellaneous ingredients and noticed that the amounts seemed off. I'm making a smaller batch (3 gallons) than the original recipe was meant for (5 gallons).

However, when I enter the original amounts in the Miscellaneous section the amounts suggested under the WYWU section for my smaller batch size are larger.

Here is one example:
Bittersweet Choc 2.5 Boil 15 Flavor
For this entry I get 3.77 under WYWU.

I'll post the file if need be, but for...

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Lol!

I can't believe I actually buggered that formula up (or that none of us spotted it before - we probably did, expecting PR 1.3U would be released a few weeks after T.) It's actually one of the easiest formulas in the BIABacus...

There are some that are about eight lines long. For example, imagine this but eight times longer...

=IF(OR(OR(AW98= DH ,AW98= DR ),AND(ISNUMBER(BD98),BD98=0)),(1-EXP(1)^(-0.04*0.001))/4.15,IF(BD98>0,(1-EXP(1)^(-0.04*BD98))/4.15,IF(BD98=...

Horizon Hop Substitute

First post by Wadey82, 8 years ago

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I'm after a substitute for horizon hops, my LHBS doesn't stock these. I'm looking to brew the pale ale receipe from BCS which calls for horizon hops for bittering.

Cheers

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A BCS recipe that I brew somewhat regularly calls for horizon, and I just use Warrior to keep from buying another hop ... and I think it's been very successful.

Grain bag making??

First post by Hoover, 8 years ago

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I read somewhere about you can make your own grain bag but cannot find the how to bit. Can someone please point me in the right direction?

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Over thinking things again ,lol

Getting close now, can't wait:)

So it happens I got a pretty weird equipment. Bear with me.

First post by rmachado, 8 years ago

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I´m a stove top micro-biabrewer 5 L. It fits my apartment.

Basically it is a single-vessel-biab-two-pieces. Makes sense?

Take a look. It´s not the actual but it will deliver the message.

24 cm diameter.

My mash max volumes are 6 L + 1 ~ 1,2 Kg with the top part. Then I can sparge with 2 L more lifting the top part.
Without the top part, it has a safe max heitght of 15 cm for the boil.

I already done some pretty good brews in it.

Any ideas in how to set this up with BIABacus?

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Thanks rmachado for the info on the hop and yeast measurements - that's great. :salute:

If you want to go the hop slurry route, I would wash it. I managed to use US-05 for over a year with that technique for over a year (and then I let a friend use my gear and replace the yeast :shoot:). I'll give more info on washing if you need it but I'm thinking a search of wash or washing of posts done by me might help me be lazy :). (Not sure on that so if you can't find anything, let us know).
The...

Advice on my first planned biab

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First post by Oldgit, 8 years ago

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I I've been hunting round for a first biab brew recipe
I would love to do a strong Ris, but for my first I was thinking of this

As it will be ready for my belly sooner :thumbs:
What's your options on this recipe for biab
I like STRONG beer so would hate to lose any adv, should I brew as is or add extra grain etc
Any advice would be great

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In the BIABacus, just reduce your Desired Volume into Fermentor to 25 L. Than buy the ingredients on the right-hand side of Sections C and D and start with the amount of water at the top of Section K.

Make sense?

Brew ABA wosit

First post by Hoover, 8 years ago

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Any chance of making the brew wotsit similar?
Maybe with a view to upgrading ??
It seems a lot to take in for meer numpties ?
In of the day, we want to make beer that's nice not perfect

Just a thought :argh:

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Thanks for that, will give it a try

Off flavor after fermentation but not before

First post by opalko, 8 years ago

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Very frustrated! I can't seem to avoid a grainy/corny flavor that happens after fermentation. I was meticulous in my brewing but when I went to check final gravity yesterday before bottling, ugh. The bad thing is before pitching yeast when I check the OG the stuff tasted great..malty, slight hops - wonderful!
My recipe (ordinary bitter - 2.5 gallons BIAB): (US units)
3 lbs Maris Otter
3 oz 40L crystal
1/2 oz EKG 60 mins
1/4 oz Fuggles 15
1/4 oz EKG 5
1/4 tablet Whirlflock 5 mins
4 gallons water...

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Really annoying when this sort of stuff happens :(.

There's a very good fault guide here . Check out the things the guys mentioned above. It also has Grainy there and you'll read things such as over-crushing (don't do that!) and incorrect pH (get a roll of pH paper as currently pictured at the bottom of BIABrewer pages).

I'd also be upping boil time to 90 minutes as this will fix some water problems. Try and read up to see if there are any water problems in your area.

Check how your home...

Priming sugar

First post by Esquid, 8 years ago

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Ok,so, haven't done huge amounts of BIABing (4th brew in FV now), but have done plenty of kits in the past. I've just had a bottle from batch 2, and the carbonation is disappointing. I do, in comparison to others, like my beer a little fizzy anyway, but still, disappointing is the word. I didn't take notes on this brew, so can't recall precisely what I did, but I'm guessing it was probably a level teaspoon or so of sugar in each bottle. On that basis it's around 120g in total for a 15 litres...

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Lumpy5oh, the links I have are...

onclick= window.open(this.href);return false; ... rew.41927/
and
onclick= window.open(this.href);return false; ... advice_on/

These are older bookmarks, but are still available.
Josh I have read these links and there was no mention of the corelation between high gravity and priming sugar levels. The links simply reinforced what I had said about yeast health. I think the statement that high gravity beers needing more sugar to carb is actually a dangerous...

No-chill Question

First post by Pilch, 8 years ago

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I have now completed two small batch BIAB brews, the first turned out very nice even though I missed a few of my numbers and, the second is waiting patiently in the FV for me to get home and bottle her in a week or so. With both of these brews I chilled the hot wort in an ice bath in my laundry trough which worked but took about an hour to achieve the pitching temp I was after. I have gotten hold of a nice clean 10lt cube and am thinking about using the no-chill method for my next brew but...

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One quick one - no matter what you hear, silicone is the only hose you should use for no-chill transfers.

And don't be scared of trying a kettle chill ;).

New brewer and recipe help...

First post by Hydreliox, 8 years ago

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Mod Note: I have added a question mark icon to your post. Once your question has been answered to your satisfaction you can change the ? To a check mark.
Consider using the Topic Icons with a ? if you are asking a question or a an i (for information) if you are posting information about how to do something or perhaps an upcoming brewing event. Noted for future - Thanks for making it easy for everyone!

Good afternoon all,

I am currently out here in the sunny tropics - specifically the...

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Sounds like PP and others are well across the equipment side of things for you so I might chime in about recipes.

Technically speaking a porter would use chocolate malt and a stout would use roast barley but you can make a tasty dark beer with the ingredients that you have.

I would go with a bill of about 85% Pilsner, 8% roast barley and 7% caramunich.

Carapils is a very light crystal malt and is good for adding body and improving head retention in pale beers.

Caramunich is much darker,...

Advice on a botched brew

First post by naib, 8 years ago

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Hi everyone,

I recently tried the Brooklyn Brew Shop Tea and Toast recipe from their 52 Seasonal Brews book. It's my third time brewing. Unfortunately, my thermometer was off by 20 degF so I spent most of my mash above 170 degF. My target gravity of ambient wort was 1.070. I hit 1.030. It was late and I wasn't thinking so I just put it in the fermenter and pitched and decided I would figure out what went wrong afterwards. I got a vigorous fermentation for about 48 hours and it's quieted down...

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That's awesome. If it was drinkable at bottling it can only improve with conditioning :) And now the rest of us know what happens when you mash a beer at mashout temps, so thanks for that. Let us know how it tastes in a week or two!

BIABacus suitable for BIAB-like no-chill use?

First post by CarmineM74, 8 years ago

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Hi everyone,

This weekend will be a brewing one and I've stumbled upon the BIABacus while doing research on
the no chill method .

My setup consists, as of today, of 2 vessels: a mashing (38 liters insulated with RIMS), and a boiling kettle (50 liters non insulated).
I won't be doing any sparge and my aim is toward 15 liters of bottled beer.

All that said, I would like to know wether or not is it possibile to use BIABacus with my setup.
I've recently bought BeerSmith2 and already put up a...

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I read your post above the other day Carmine but never had a chance to reply until now. I really enjoyed the read and thanks for letting us know that you discovered the logic to the BIABacus :clap:.

On the no-chill (passive chill) versus active chilling, try not to get married to either method too much. See if you can have both methods at hand. (If you can afford a chiller, use an immersion chiller as they offer the furthest extreme from passive chilling). In other words, treat chilling...

Some suggestions for grains/hops etc

First post by Esquid, 8 years ago

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Just started out with BIAB and have a few brewdays under my belt. So far everything has been SMaSH, and I only have a sack (well 18kgs or so left) of Crisp's Maris Otter.

So not having researched too many recipes so far, and bearing in mind I have a fondness for IPA and also English bitters, what would be good hop and grain choices to add to the store cabinet. Although I would like to support my local brew shop, they're not that cheap so I really want to get a bulk order together and order...

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I have a mill at home and it is great. If you store your malt in dry, airtight containers it will last for at least 12 months with no dis wrangle difference to the flavour of the beer. My last stocktake I had over 20 different kinds of malt on hand so even if I don't have exactly the same malts as suggested in a recipe I usually have a reasonable substitute.

As a good jumping off point to cover a range of styles in addition to your Maris otter I would add the following:
Pilsner as a base malt...

Do I need a secondary?

First post by mikeamo, 8 years ago

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Hi,
I have a couple of new brewer questions I need some help with.

For my second brew I'm looking at doing a Passionfruit Wheat beer. In the recipe it says to add the Passionfruit pulp into the secondary (I'm kind of guessing secondary is when you transfer to another fermenter/brew bucket after fermentation?) and leave for 10 days. I don't have secondary, so is there a way I can do this without one? I see other recipes that specify adding hops at secondary as well. I was told that if you...

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Secondary, there are many reasons to use one ... but you actually have to have a reason for added oxidation and infection risk to be worth it. Personally, I don't sweat the latter ... but I do the former for many styles that I plan to age.

Personally, I only secondary my hoppy and sour beers right now. The hoppy beers I just want to reclaim lost VIP by squeezing the dry hops, and having yeast soaked in is far from ideal. Sometimes I want to collect the yeast, and don't want the hop debris (I...