My first BIAB

Finally got to do my first BIAB this weekend, been planning it for a few weeks now but its been pretty windy, following is my house the first day of spring....

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Snow isnt such a bother but the wind is a pain for the propane burner. Anyway, first step was to shovel a flat spot in the 3or 4 feet of snow on my deck and setup the burner...

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Followed BIABacus, got water up to strike, threw in grain, got a friend to help me bring it inside, threw it in front of the fireplace and wrapped in a comfortor and sleeping bag for 90 mins. I decided to skip the stirring and temp checks cause I didnt feel like bringin it back outside to reheat, only lost 2.5 degrees over the 90 mins so it worked out OK. Following pic is reheating for mashout...

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Next up, 90 min boil, since I like hops and I get em in 1 ounce packs, I decided to just use a full ounce for each hop addition step...

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Boil complete, everything going to plan, now for the chill, Goulais River style Post boil gravity at 1.056, was going for 1.058, I'm happy with that for a first attempt

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All in all the day went well, BIABacus was pretty much dead on for volumes, had slightly more evap than expected but it got a little windy during boil so I expected that. Airlock was bubbling in less than 12 hrs, pretty excited to try this out.

Next up will be the Samuel Smith Oatmeal stout I found on the recipe conversion thread but I will use maple sap instead of water, for a maple breakfast stout. I was going to do that as my first brew, but I figured I should do a reccomended one to test things out, and also the sap just started running yesterday...

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Well done goulaigan!

Great pics as well, what a view you have whilst brewing.

Have you read this thread here regarding maple syrup? Just thought it may help.

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Thanks for the link Mally, I think I won't bother adjusting anyting in the original recipe and just use the sap, as I am not really going for a clone necessarily, just something oatmeal stout-ish, but some good info there for sure. Bob thanks, it is actually 40 to 1 from sap to syrup, so there may be no maple flavour at all, but I figure theres only one way to find out right? I will be making syrup as well so no need to buy any, perhaps when bottling time comes I'll prime with homemade syrup if there isn't any maple goodness in the samples...

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Tried a few of these out last couple days, this beer is great! Only been conditioning for around 2 weeks but I'm impatient, and thirsty hah. It is just slightly under carbed, which I am sure will be resolved in another week or so, but happy to say my first AG batch is very good. Thanks to everyone here for all the info on how to do it right!

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goulaigan,

Congratulations on your successful brew!

(Hop)efully the carbonation will increase but even if it doesn't? You have a good beer! Patience is needed when brewing. But screw patience! Drink up!

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I can't tell you what it is like to read a post like this and see the pics. You guys that brew in the snow are all completely mad .

If I lived in your climate, I'd be a distiller I reckon . Crazy!!!

Only two things to throw in here... 1.056 versus 1.058 is about as close as you will ever get. Volume also plays into this a lot. A higher evaporation rate than expected means a higher gravity than expected. But, even if yur evaporation was bang on with every brew (which it won't be) don't expect gravities to ever match estimates perfectly. (You probably already know this goul .

Don't expect you r beer to get any more carbonated after two weeks of being kept at say 18-20 C / around 68F. There is no consistent advice on priming around and we suspect the formula in the BIABacus could be improved a lot. Pleaselet us know if you followed the BIAbacus priming recommendations or somehting else.

Great post/pics and congratulations goul ,
PP

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Bob, agreed on all counts.

Pistol, figured as much as far as the original gravity, I have actually gotten more accurate measurements of my kettle since this brew so that may have played a small role but there are a lot of other variables obviously as well, and many can only be controlled so much, but I figured that was pretty good and definitely happy with it. As far as the carbonation goes, it is very close to perfect now, as yesterday was actually the 2 week mark. I didn't use the biabacus calculator, just one of those popular online ones, I know, shame on me , but I will from now on. Thanks again guys!

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Thanks for the tip, hopefully we'll get some decent weather around here soon and then I will be able to mash outside, when I have to lug the kettle in I only want to do it once, so I figured skipping the stir breaks would save me from reheating... If I can mash outside I can stir and reheat as necessary. Thought I recognized a few CHB names around here

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