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First BIAB brew, Kolsch! Sugestions needed.

Post #1 made 11 years ago
by swrandall70
This is my 1st BIAB recipe. I have is as sort of a hybrid BIAB/all grain and extract. Mashing 4lbs Kolsch grain in 7.5 gal and then adding 5lbs of extra light DME at the last 15 minutes (was told elsewhere that adding it at the end will allow the color to stay correct). Also the hops additions, I was wondering about the addition times as far as the style is concerned if anyone is familiar with a Kolsch. I wanted opinions on the recipe as well as the process. Here is a screen shot of my recipe with notes on the bottom as to how I was going to proceed.
Image
I also wanted to make sure that I should start with 7.5 gallons. I am trying to hit a target of about 5 gallons as I am going to keg the beer. Although I guess if I have leftover I could bottle it.
Last edited by swrandall70 on 26 Dec 2013, 22:34, edited 2 times in total.

Post #2 made 11 years ago
by PistolPatch
Welcome to the forum sw :salute:,

I see from your first post that you have yourself a nice new 10 gallon kettle :thumbs:. Now, what this says to me straight away is that you can get rid of the DME in your recipe. Just do this recipe as an all-grain. The only thing the extract is going to do is potentially reduce the quality of your beer.

On the malt bill side, I haven't heard of a grain called Kolsch so I can't make any comments there sorry.

The hop additions are a bit odd for a kolsch. There should be very little or no flavouring hops used.

As for times, you need to be mashing for 90 minutes and a boil should also go for 90 minutes. See here.

As for volumes and quantities, a few of uis on this site have spent masses of hours over quite some years researching other brewing software and finding so many errors and/or difficulties in using them, that we ended up writing a whole new spreadsheet called The BIABacus which makes the difficult decisions for you automatically.

What I'll do here is attach a BIABacus file for the Kolsch that is the same as that written about in The Commentary. The file will look like a lot of information (too much) when you open it. All you need to do though is type in your kettle dimensions into Section B and then look at the 'What you will use' sections of Section C and D.

Also note that I have held back 5 litres from the mash (see Section W) so as your kettle isn't too full during the mash.

The posting of BIABacus files is generally restricted to certain threads but I'll keep an eye on this thread so all is good.

The above is really the best advice I can give on this sw. You are much better, especially when starting out, going for an all-grain recipe that has what we call 'integrity' and using the BIABacus which has been designed in a very particular way that keeps the beginner safe while also giving a mass of power and flexibility to the advanced brewer.

On the other side of the coin, you could probably go ahead and brew the recipe you posted above. The good thing about brewing, especially if you do go all-grain (no extract), is that you will usually end up with something pretty good at the end of the day.

Let us know what you decide ;)
PP

P.S. If you need a blank of the below, just blank the entries out.
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Last edited by PistolPatch on 27 Dec 2013, 10:50, edited 2 times in total.
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Post #3 made 11 years ago
by swrandall70
PistolPatch wrote:Welcome to the forum sw :salute:,

I see from your first post that you have yourself a nice new 10 gallon kettle :thumbs:. Now, what this says to me straight away is that you can get rid of the DME in your recipe. Just do this recipe as an all-grain. The only thing the extract is going to do is potentially reduce the quality of your beer.

On the malt bill side, I haven't heard of a grain called Kolsch so I can't make any comments there sorry.

The hop additions are a bit odd for a kolsch. There should be very little or no flavouring hops used.

As for times, you need to be mashing for 90 minutes and a boil should also go for 90 minutes. See here.

As for volumes and quantities, a few of uis on this site have spent masses of hours over quite some years researching other brewing software and finding so many errors and/or difficulties in using them, that we ended up writing a whole new spreadsheet called The BIABacus which makes the difficult decisions for you automatically.

What I'll do here is attach a BIABacus file for the Kolsch that is the same as that written about in The Commentary. The file will look like a lot of information (too much) when you open it. All you need to do though is type in your kettle dimensions into Section B and then look at the 'What you will use' sections of Section C and D.

Also note that I have held back 5 litres from the mash (see Section W) so as your kettle isn't too full during the mash.

The posting of BIABacus files is generally restricted to certain threads but I'll keep an eye on this thread so all is good.

The above is really the best advice I can give on this sw. You are much better, especially when starting out, going for an all-grain recipe that has what we call 'integrity' and using the BIABacus which has been designed in a very particular way that keeps the beginner safe while also giving a mass of power and flexibility to the advanced brewer.

On the other side of the coin, you could probably go ahead and brew the recipe you posted above. The good thing about brewing, especially if you do go all-grain (no extract), is that you will usually end up with something pretty good at the end of the day.

Let us know what you decide ;)
PP
THANK YOU!

I unfortunately was given all the ingredients as a gift already so unless I want to buy more/different ingredients then I am going to need to stick with what I have. However, I am so glad you supplied that spreadsheet. It is similar to the Brewers Friend one in my picture above but is specific to BIAB so much more accurate as to what I needed. I am excited to try my first BIAB beer. I know that my next beer will be all grain BIAB. Cant wait! I will report back with results when completed.
Last edited by swrandall70 on 27 Dec 2013, 18:51, edited 2 times in total.

Post #4 made 11 years ago
by PistolPatch
No worries sw. You may have already started your brew and if so, I hope all is going or has gone well :peace:

It's very hard when we start with an external recipe on a first brew especially one that contains extract and dilutions so I'm not sure if much of the below will be of any use. Furthermore...
swrandall70 wrote:I unfortunately was given all the ingredients as a gift already
This makes things harder again to explain :). I've attached a file below though and to handle this last bit, what I basically have done is changed the Volume into Fermentor in Section B until the right hand side of Section C matches the weight of the ingredients you have on hand.

The BIABacus is not perfectly set up for extract/sugars. It will handle them but there are some limitations, nothing to really worry too much about. For example,the BIABacus assumes all fermentables are added before the boil so, in your case, where you won't be adding the DME until towards the end (which is correct), the 'Gravity into Boil' value will be wrong. I have also used Section Y to adjust the 'sugar' value of your DME.
swrandall70 wrote:I know that my next beer will be all grain BIAB.
Excellent. Recipes without sugars etc are much easier to explain and learn from. Before your next brew, let us know what you want to brew and we'll find a recipe with integrity (I've had to totally guess some numbers in the original recipe as there is information lacking.). Most recipes you find on the net do not have integrity. More info here. It will also give a bit more time to explain the critical numbers.

In the files I have added above and here I have had to guess your pot height and diameter. It's important we know those, especially the diameter, as this auto-estimates your evaporation rate. If I guessed the diameter right, with your ingredients, you'll be getting about 22.3 L (5.89 gal) of wort into your fermentor. You'll need 33.77 L (8.92 gal) of water to do the brew. You'll be holding 5 L (1.32 gal) of this back which means you'll add 28.77 L (7.6 gal) to your kettle. When you heat this to mash temperature,it will have expanded to 29.34 L (7.75 gal).

I wouldn't worry too much about any of the above for now. Just get your brew done and that will give you something tasty to drink while you plan your next one.

;)
PP
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Last edited by PistolPatch on 29 Dec 2013, 18:22, edited 2 times in total.
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