Volume Loss from Lauter

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First post by makemyday21, 14 years ago

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Hello again fellow BIAB'ers!

I've been struggling with how to maximize wort extraction from the grain bag after mashing is complete. While we claim that a stuck sparge can't happen with our beloved method, I have been reading a bit about the fluid dynamics of liquid flow through a grain bed (Appendix F of John Palmer's How to Brew book), and how it might differ with BIAB versus traditional lautering in a cooler-type mash tun.

My conjecture is that when we pull the bag out of the wort to...

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After trying several different ways teh one that works best for me is to place the bag on an oven rack, over the pot, after it's drained for a few minutes, and squeeze it (with gloves) and press it down on the over rack. I seem to get a lot of wort out that way.

These are the gloves, they work great:

Converter Question

First post by kzimmer0817, 13 years ago

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For some reason, I can no longer get the Units Converter to work. I remember reading about it after first joining, and was using it so that I could follow many of the volume discussions in quarts/gallons/etc. I think I was using Mozilla Firefox as my browser at the time. I've used McAfee Internet Security for several years.

Anyway, I can't seem to get it to work on biabrewer regardless of whether I view the pages using Firefox or Internet Explorer. I have the latest versions of each, and I'm...

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Thanks for replying. I had been wondering if I had made changes in my computer that were interfering with it.

Blichmann Burner + keggle?

First post by cazadoro, 13 years ago

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I have a Blichmann burner and that I have been using with my smaller pot for the past couple of years, but just got a keggle and am going to start BIAB now. Blichmann's come with an aluminum diffuser plate to help spread heat evenly on the bottom of normal pots. I tried to use it in the same capacity last night for a test boil with my keggle and could not get enough heat to bring 5 gal to a boil. I did manage to warp the aluminum plate because I cranked the heat up so high.

My question is do...

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No need for a diffuser and no issues with uneven heating/scorching.Set the keggle on there and have at it. Only exception is if there is a sight glass or thermometer mounted in the keggle, you way want to cut a small piece of metal to act as a diffuser so the flames won't boil the liquid in the sight glass or melt the thermometer.

---Todd

Calculator Question

First post by kzimmer0817, 13 years ago

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I hope to brew my first BIAB (after 4 extract + steeping grains) brews - I know, I said that about a year ago when I first joined this forum. Things have been busy and hectic. The weather should cool down a bit pretty soon.

Someone, I belive Stux, put an incredible amount of energy into developing the calculator.

I want to update my Calculator . At the moment, I have a calculator on my computer that, I believe, is the Maxi-BIAB Calculator Jun29. I just saw where a next generation of Maxi-BIAB...

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Welcome back kz :salute:,

Have to race but #2891 here has some info on the full-volume bit and #2789 here has a small update on the calculator.

If you need a hand on scaling or anything, let us know.

:peace:
PP

cubing

First post by alanem, 13 years ago

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I've been having trouble with my BIAB'S tasting sort of sour/bitter and I am not sure why. I am very thorough and careful with sanitation and clean/sterelise everything post boil. I have been eliminating any and all causes of the problem and I have come down to the cubing. I usually wait for 10mins after I finish my boil then I put a sterelised funnel into my cube and turn the tap on my kettle and let it run down into the cube, lately I have been doing a lot of reading up and it appears that is...

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I pulled it apart and there was no smell/no grime etc whatsoever Bugger! I was hoping for an easy fix :lol:.

Three things for the moment...

1. Fine Grind - As hashie said above, it's not a good idea to fine grind although you'll often see it stated on the net that with BIAB you can grind as fine as you like. (I'll add some more below on this.)

2. Different Palates - If someone says, I always fine grind and never have a problem with astringency, you shouldn't believe that it doesn't cause an...

Belgian IPA

First post by kartoffel, 14 years ago

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Just the facts Ma'am...
ABV - 7.0%
IBU - 60
Calories - 201
Hops - Simcoe, Centennial, Cascade, Amarillo
Malts - Pale, C-120
OG - 19.5
TG - 2.4
this is off of the new belgium website for the belgo IPA.

So I wanted to clone this beer starting with this, but I ran into a problem right off the bat. This beer is 7%abv 19.5plato/brix is 1.081 and 2.4 would be 1.010 if you calculate the abv based on those numbers you get about 9% so where's that discrepancy coming from?? Any one know somthing I...

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Shibolet,,

I was worried That you were going to miss that reference to your off morning? I had a shot and I took it! :shoot: :lol:

Thinking of doing first BIAB - Help please

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First post by Beer Drinker, 14 years ago

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Hi Everyone

New to the site , thinking of doing first BIAB with recipe from GW brew your own BRE, here's where I'm at;

Equipment: Woodfordes Starter Kit, Sieve, 2mtrs Viole, Campden tablets, thermometer, brewing paddle, 'the calculator'
Plan to buy: Buffalo 40ltr boiler , Custom BIAB & Hop Sock

Would like to brew OP recipe, as follows;

OG 1058 / FG 1015 / ABV 5.7% / 23 Litres

5460g Pale Malt
295g Crystal Malt
215g Chocolate Malt
29g Challenger Hops
14g Fuggle Hops
14g Golding Hops
3g...

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Hi Barticus

Glad you liked my thread - got there in the end

Yes very happy with the boiler - had thought about changing the tap but had no problems once the pipe was connected to transfer the wort so just left the original one on

Cheers

Lee

How small can you go with Mini BIAB?

First post by Trizza, 14 years ago

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I'm thinking about upgrading from kit brewing by trying Mini BIAB on a very small scale, using equipment I already have. My biggest stock pot is 9L when full to the brim. I made up a brew bag to fit it on the weekend - the materials were so cheap that I figured its good practice even if its ultimately useless. If I like BIAB then I'll invest in a bigger pot, wort chiller, etc.

So - how small can/should I go for a little experimental batch? What size batch could I make with my existing 9L pot?...

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I'm in a similar situation in terms of limited size for brews; my stockpot is an 11 ltr jobby.
I've just done my first kit and to be honest, I was a bit bored...not nearly enough to do to make it interesting! But then, I have been making mead for some time...
Anyways, I'm trying to hone in on a recipe for a good Premium Ale, in the vein of Spitfire for example. Something with some good hoppiness, preferably EKG (hell, I live in Kent...can you blame me for my loyalist tendencies?!)
Any ideas for...

McEwans champion no1 clone ??

First post by MrBr, 14 years ago

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looking for a clone of mcewans chapion ale no1 as its strong and tasteywould be much appreciated .

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thanks for that ,will let you know how i get on when i try this :thumbs:

36 Quart BIAB vessel...

First post by DawnoftheWill, 14 years ago

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Im going to do my first BIAB this weekend and I am going crazy trying to figure out exactly how I want to do it...(trying to plan absolutely everything to minimize any mistakes). One of my many questions is probably the simplest though...I have a 36 Quart turkey fryer. How much water & grain can I fit in there at once? Can I get 5 or so Gal. of water and #10 of grain in there all at once?

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Well I have about 3.5-4 gallons (I think) of beer fermenting nicely right now. As for going smoothly yesterday...not so smooth lol. I used a 5 gal. paint strainer bag in the basket that fits in the turkey fryer. Well some of the grain actually floated over and around the bag and basket and settled into the wort and ended up being boiled. I scooped a bunch of it out but didn't get it all. It clogged my racking cane which made racking difficult. Also I didn't pay close enough attention to my wort...

separate calculator spreadsheet for different batch sizes?

First post by laserghost, 14 years ago

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I have a 6 gal and a 5 gal carboy, and I have yet to secondary. The pattern has gone that if I have a batch in the 6 gal primary, I might have a smaller batch in the 5 gal primary.

My first BIAB was a 4.3 gal batch that I put in the 5 gal carboy. Moving forward, should I save separate Calculator spreadsheets for each fermenter (equipment profiles)?

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Thanks Pistol, I guess i was thinking in terms of averages, and that I'd have different amounts of trub loss and such due to batch size. But it wouldn't be that different between a 4 and 5 gallon batch. I would prefer to just use one spreadsheet anyhow, so I'm glad to hear that that's just dandy.

Keggle set up

First post by Brendandrage, 14 years ago

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Hi Guys,
Dumb newbie question, im getting a keggle set up and thinking about the outlet tap.
Do i need to set up a false bottom?
Do i need to set up a suction pipe into the back of the outlet tap?

Thats about it for now

Thanks in advance :headhit:

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To me, it sounds like you are going really well Robbo. I think it's too early to start worrying about your volumes and gravities being a bit off. Maybe after a few more brews, run through this list here and make sure you have everything covered.

On your next brew (or even for the ones you've done now), you could put your recipe and numbers up here and we can see if there is something obviously out of whack.

At the end of the day, if you have a bit less wort or a bit more and a bit of a...

New BIABer, best method in a 33L boiler?

First post by robwalker, 14 years ago

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Howdy. I've had a good ol' look through some topics and have been using Mini-BIAB to make All Grain beer for some time, 2 gallon batches, some of which have been fantastic. My Xmas beer is already bottled and conditioning, that's how tasty is was by the 6 month mark last year! So now, I'm thirsting to go AG.

I'd like to go the full whack and I'm in the process of buying and building a 33L boiler.

What's my best method for getting a full 23L out of this size boiler? I would be mashing in the...

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Looks like it's another £12 for a food safe 60L bucket, a bit space occupying so I'll have to clear out the summer house a bit! lol. that's not really an issue though, as I guess it will save space on a mash tun.

cheers for the advice so far, it's coming together nicely :)

Confusion over my pot!

First post by makka, 14 years ago

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Heyup fellow beer lovers,

I have been making a few extract brews over the last few months and am almost ready to delve into the BIAB world.
I think I am getting myself confused (which isn't hard to do) about the amount of liquid I can have in my pot and how much grain. After looking around on the forum and trying a few beer engines I am finally in a position of confusion:)

I have a few questions which I hope you can help me with.
I should be fine with the actual brewing process once I start...

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I take great exception to that Lylo :angry:.

We have an excellent working reltionship. I write messy rambles and he cleans them up and steals the good bits :lol:.

Last brew day here you would have hardly noticed him. The next day though he was here cleaning up all the mess the other guys had left.

I am now missing a lot of silver cutlery though :scratch:.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Woohoo got my kettle

First post by Brendandrage, 14 years ago

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Well almost :thumbs:
I got a 50 litre keg for free today and dropped it off at the engineer so he can cut the lid out for me :headhit:

Now just have to do some homework on the gas burner or electric element/s :smoke:

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Thanks for all the info guys this has been a real eye opener and from what i can see a three burner will do the job but a four burner is optimal for the job. Thats the info i was looking for so thats great.

Cheers

yeast starter

First post by alanem, 14 years ago

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Hi people, I have never really made a yeast starter except for early on in HB days with kits when I made one with just warm water and a packet of yeast in a pot, covered it in cling wrap and let it sit for an hour.
now I look online and find its like a bloody chemistry course and you near need a diploma in chemistry to make one.
can some one please tell me a simple way of making a yeast starter that I can add to my fermenter after I empty my 15 litre BIAB cube into it? I would normally just get...

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I have some Nottingham in my fridge and I noticed on the packet it has to be dehydrated , not sure now what to do...

That looks like a typo to me. We only want to rehydrate dry yeast be it in tepid water or wort.
Personally I sprinkle it on top of the wort once I have aerated it. I'm lazy so this removes an extra step for me to do!

HC

Typo all fixed :thumbs:

Fermenter Heating Query

First post by grogmonster, 14 years ago

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Since moving from the tropics, this is my first 'winter' in 6 years, so I have never needed to heat my fermenters! Is the 'heater pad' or the 'heater belt' considered best?

I have read that the belt can reduce/prevent autolysis as the yeast cake/trub is not heated from beneath. On the other hand I have also read that the pad provides a more even heat :scratch:

I brew ales and use the plastic bucket-with-lid style fermenters in a temperature controlled fridge - which I doubt will be able to...

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My method is to put the fermenter into a tub with water and drop an aquarium heater in along with a small fountain pump to circulate the water.

I tried that minus the pump and couldn't keep the temperature down below 22 when it was 19c I usually brew my ales at

Milling grains

First post by Dr. B, 14 years ago

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Hi,
New member here, still building my equipment, but I have a question.
In the master guide here, and in various forum posts, we talk about milling the grain.
I have never heard mention of milling grain in any other brewing forums or books.
Do you only need to mill if you buy whole malts?

The stuff I buy is crushed:

I suppose this means it doesn't need milling?

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Good stuff Valvefan :peace:

A double crush through a mill that has small diameter rollers is often necessary to give a 'good' crush. Grains missed before will get squashed on the second run although I can't work out the logic of why :scratch:. Remember though that you don't want flour - a fine crush is not the same as a good crush :P!

Yet another way to get a better crush is to mist the grain with a water sprayer prior to the crush. This means the grain gets a better grip on the rollers and...

Draining wort from the grain bag

First post by ArcLight, 14 years ago

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After you lift the bag, you naturally want to get as much liquid out as practical.

Someone said they got a lot more runnings by holding the bag up, than by placing it in a colander.

Another person said what they do is place the bag in a plastic bucket, suspended so its not touching the bottom, and press it against the side with a pot lid.

Others say they place the bag on top of a grill/grate, not a colander.

Another said they press the bag with a pot lid.
Another said they press the bag...

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I had to get lasik surgery my eye's were so bad. I now need glasses to help the lasik! I just can't help it!

Just bought two Corny Kegs...what to do with Keg #2?

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First post by daddyo, 14 years ago

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Supposing I make a batch of beer, it ferments for 2 weeks, and then I rack it into Corny Keg #1 and force-carbonate it and then start drinking it.

Well, suppose I have another batch of beer ready to keg a few days later....

Can I put batch #2 into keg #2 and leave it there in my kegerator without my CO2 attached? Or should I leave it OUTSIDE my kegerator at room temp until I'm ready to carbonate it?

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Ps: I use a 6-way manifold with shutoffs and check valves. Helps to stop the keys equalizing each other and means I don't actually have to disconnect any disconnects

Have you a picture of this Stux ? Picture paints a thousand words and all that :thumbs:

Yeasty

Promotion Ale - My first BIAB

First post by Adman1966, 14 years ago

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Mid April I had a spate of events to celebrate. It was my birthday, I bought an electric boiler and a proper wort chiller and my football team, Charlton Athletic won promotion. :champ: Time to celebrate....time to brew!

Promotion Ale

4.1kg Maris Otter
550g Amber Malt
375g Crystal 55L

45g Fuggles @ 75 mins
10g E K Goldings @ 75 mins
20g E K Goldings @ 15 mins
20g Chinook @ 5 mins

90 min mash
90 min boil

1/2 Protofloc tablet @ 10 mins

Muntons Ale Yeast

10 days in fermenter

Kegged in...

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Hi Irishstavros

Yes I leave the lid off. I read somewhere that the evaporation gets rid of some nasties that you don't want in your beer.

To reduce evaporation I have also read about floating a tin plate on the boiling wort but have yet to try this.

So many variables, eventually we will find the best way of doing this, but until then I'll keep experimenting and drinking the results!

BIAB Water Volume Question #2 - Recipe Included

First post by scottvin, 14 years ago

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Alright, so now I have a water volume question on the other end. Here is my recipe:

6-Row 3 lb
Vienna Malt 3 lb
Flaked Maize 2.25 lb

8.25 pounds of grain

Is it alright to put the full 7.5 gallons of water in the kettle, mash for an hour and then boil? Meaning I only add water before the mash?

This would equate to about 3.6 Qt/G.

If this doesn't work, what should I do?

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Thanks! I will go for it tomorrow evening!

First one in the fermenter

First post by bobzed57, 14 years ago

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Yesterday I ran my first BIAB after a few years extract brewing. I used both Beersmith2 and the BIAB calculator as guides. I made Dr Smurto's Ale as it had a good write up around the traps and my local home brew man said it would be a good one to start with.

Followed the recipe and this morning the air lock was bubbling away happily. A couple of observations: It's a little difficult to hit the mash temps spot on with a gas burner although I sailed through by a couple of degrees starting the...

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Hey sorry to give this thread a bump:

But did we get a result to the comparisson Bobzed?

*I'm waiting to taste my second batch of NRB's Amarillo APA - first batch I screwed up the hop additions and didn't have a vigorous enough boil and had too much wort for the cube. 2nd batch went smoothly. Have almost finished the first batch was so delicious have save a bottle to compare with no 2.

Put dry yeast at bottom of carboy to start?

First post by daddyo, 14 years ago

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Instead of racking to a carboy and then pitching the dry yeast on top.....

Since everyone and everything tells me I should aerate my wort as I rack it into my fermentor (carboy), why couldn't I just pitch the yeast FIRST into the carboy and then aerate the wort as I rack it into the carboy ON TOP of the yeast, mixing the yeast into the aerated wort?

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I no longer rehydrate and haven't done so for several years but it certainly isn't a bad thing. I wouldn't put the dry yeast in first though daddyo as there are no advantages, only disadvantages. The disadvantages are shocking the yeast in either temperature or gravity. Sprinkling the dry yeast on to the foam of the aerated wort allows it to not receive any sort of shock.

;)

Thanks for the explanation! I'll keep doing what I'm doing then and won't change it up.

Washing the bag

First post by Zelig, 14 years ago

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How do you wash your polyestere bags after a brew?
Just a rinse with hot water?
Washing machine with socks and pants? :)

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Sort of like sparging the bag? I thought this was a no-sparge method!!! :)

OK I think I will do that with hot tap water.