Started brewday at 10:30 this morning and got everything mashed in no problem. 90 minute mash and everything up to the boil by 1:30pm, have now noticed my tap leaking. Not sure what I can do about it other than just live with it while the boil is underway. Will need to get some decent heatproof o-rings for next time, and check the tap at boil temperature!
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Post #2 made 9 years ago
Issue number 2 has raised its head, my hop bazooka gives lovely clear wort but took about a minute to fill my testing tube to get a gravity reading. I could be waiting a while to transfer
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Post #3 made 9 years ago
I must say mervyn that I really regret the day I added taps to my kettle. A search of posts by me of "kettle tap" should bring up a few whiney posts 
.
Next brew, use your BIAB bag as a hop sock. Bazookas have a very small surface area. I imagine we'll see another post from you on your kettle transfer difficulties
.
It's all fun and games!
Hope you got it sorted okay without too much trouble
.
.Next brew, use your BIAB bag as a hop sock. Bazookas have a very small surface area. I imagine we'll see another post from you on your kettle transfer difficulties
.It's all fun and games!
Hope you got it sorted okay without too much trouble
.If you have found the above or anything else of value on BIABrewer.info, consider supporting us by getting some BIPs!
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Post #4 made 9 years ago
Cheers PP, i did get it sorted by sterilising my siphon and using it to transfer enough wort so i could reach the hop bazooka with a sterilised gloved hand and remove it. Quite a bit of material came through to the fermenter but hopefully it will settle out quite well in there. For this brew i think i'll cold crash in the garage where i plan on bottling so once settled i don't have to move too often.
I was wary about using the BIAB bag in the boil as i didn't want to get it too close to the bottom of the pot and risk melting it. I was thinking of getting a few of these -> https://www.amazon.co.uk/niceeshop-Extr ... XSZEGH9JZ2 for my hop additions, or just some smaller bags that i can chuck in the boil. Though as i use pellets i'm not sure if they will stay within or if they will reduce the utilization of the hops.
I was wary about using the BIAB bag in the boil as i didn't want to get it too close to the bottom of the pot and risk melting it. I was thinking of getting a few of these -> https://www.amazon.co.uk/niceeshop-Extr ... XSZEGH9JZ2 for my hop additions, or just some smaller bags that i can chuck in the boil. Though as i use pellets i'm not sure if they will stay within or if they will reduce the utilization of the hops.
Post #5 made 9 years ago
Gave it 7 days in primary fermentation then decided to move to secondary to dry hop. Lots of trub settled out, but got about 15l in secondary for dry hop, plan is to bottle this weekend after a couple of days crash chilling in the garage. Though the ambient temperature has increased to about 12C rather than the chilly 4C last week which may effect my crash chill slightly.
Also meant to say tested gravity when transferring and was down to 1.012ish, I could do with a better hydrometer to read at these levels.
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Also meant to say tested gravity when transferring and was down to 1.012ish, I could do with a better hydrometer to read at these levels.
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Post #6 made 9 years ago
Apologies mervyn, I meant to get to your second last post earlier but had too many strings pulling on me .
Lol on the transfer! I'm about to get a price on patching the holes in my kettles - I'll let you know how much it costs
.
Okay...
You mention cold crashing before bottling. Why is that? I've noticed this a few times recently. Cold crashing if you are kegging is great but, if bottling, it will cause you all sorts of priming problems (I suspect). I don't bottle but, if I did, I would seriously consider a racking on an all-grain brew before bottling using a closed transfer. How to do a closed transfer is another story. If bottling though, I really think a cold crash should be avoided.
As for using the bag as a hop sock, that works beautifully. Your bag won't melt unless you have a "narrow-flame" burner and dump a weight on the bag (e.g. chiller). If you are worried about that, devise a method of hanging the bag so it dangles lazily in the boil but doesn't touch the bottom. If you use a chiller, push the bag to one side when you add the chiller. Don't worry about utilisation with this method - worry about it though if you do buy a hop ball! The bag does not restrict the hop oils. Pellets are great assuming your BIAB bag is of the right porosity.
...
On to your last post...
Good, you used the secondary. We covered the crash chilling above so the only other question is, "You say you got about 15L into secondary. What was in your primary?"
From memory, you used the BIABacus. If you managed to measure some actuals on your brew day, then don't hesitate to post your BIABacus file. If you didn't get time or things became hectic, not to worry - it still happens to me on some brew days.
...
Also from memory, you were brewing an ale so I'm guessing you'll be wanting to ferment at about 18C. How are you going to handle that at 12C ambient or less? Brew belt???
Many brew days I wish I lived in your climate!!!
PP
.Lol on the transfer! I'm about to get a price on patching the holes in my kettles - I'll let you know how much it costs
.Okay...
You mention cold crashing before bottling. Why is that? I've noticed this a few times recently. Cold crashing if you are kegging is great but, if bottling, it will cause you all sorts of priming problems (I suspect). I don't bottle but, if I did, I would seriously consider a racking on an all-grain brew before bottling using a closed transfer. How to do a closed transfer is another story. If bottling though, I really think a cold crash should be avoided.
As for using the bag as a hop sock, that works beautifully. Your bag won't melt unless you have a "narrow-flame" burner and dump a weight on the bag (e.g. chiller). If you are worried about that, devise a method of hanging the bag so it dangles lazily in the boil but doesn't touch the bottom. If you use a chiller, push the bag to one side when you add the chiller. Don't worry about utilisation with this method - worry about it though if you do buy a hop ball! The bag does not restrict the hop oils. Pellets are great assuming your BIAB bag is of the right porosity.
...
On to your last post...
Good, you used the secondary. We covered the crash chilling above so the only other question is, "You say you got about 15L into secondary. What was in your primary?"
From memory, you used the BIABacus. If you managed to measure some actuals on your brew day, then don't hesitate to post your BIABacus file. If you didn't get time or things became hectic, not to worry - it still happens to me on some brew days
....
Also from memory, you were brewing an ale so I'm guessing you'll be wanting to ferment at about 18C. How are you going to handle that at 12C ambient or less? Brew belt???
Many brew days I wish I lived in your climate!!!
PP
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Post #7 made 9 years ago
Sorry just noticed this post, I'll try and answer from memory.
I can't quite remember exactly how much I had in primary (in fact I don't remember using a primary and secondary) think I may have gone straight to bottling bucket from primary and dry hopped in there. From memory I lost about 2L to trub and yeast in primary.
I have a pulley above my kettle so may try hanging my back from it and using it for my hops. Though my next brew is a RIS which doesn't have many hops so think I'll just go with them direct in the boil.
My crash chilling is basically my unheated garage, which is part of my house, which can get down to about 6C in winter but usually sits about the same temp as external ambient, as it is currently spring in Scotland it's a balmy 12C in the garage so not really crash chilling.
I ferment in a cupboard under the stairs in the centre of my house, I tracked temperature in this cupboard for a week or so and it was pretty steady at 18 - 20C, probe in a bottle of water and measured first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and at various points during the day if i was in.
The hop ball i bought was much smaller than I expected so will not be used at all.
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I can't quite remember exactly how much I had in primary (in fact I don't remember using a primary and secondary) think I may have gone straight to bottling bucket from primary and dry hopped in there. From memory I lost about 2L to trub and yeast in primary.
I have a pulley above my kettle so may try hanging my back from it and using it for my hops. Though my next brew is a RIS which doesn't have many hops so think I'll just go with them direct in the boil.
My crash chilling is basically my unheated garage, which is part of my house, which can get down to about 6C in winter but usually sits about the same temp as external ambient, as it is currently spring in Scotland it's a balmy 12C in the garage so not really crash chilling.
I ferment in a cupboard under the stairs in the centre of my house, I tracked temperature in this cupboard for a week or so and it was pretty steady at 18 - 20C, probe in a bottle of water and measured first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and at various points during the day if i was in.
The hop ball i bought was much smaller than I expected so will not be used at all.
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Post #8 made 9 years ago
Okay, just looked up Albino Squid Assassin as I hadn't heard of it sorry. As an IPA with 65 IBU's that would have taken a lot of hops and two litres primary fermenter trub from 17 litres is fine.
Don't throw the hops for the RIS straight in. Do the bag trick.
Also on the RIS, in Section L of your BIABacus, make sure you get some accurate measurements on at least KFL and VIF then, after your brew day, post your actual results in your other thread and we can take a look at things again there.
PP
Don't throw the hops for the RIS straight in. Do the bag trick.
Also on the RIS, in Section L of your BIABacus, make sure you get some accurate measurements on at least KFL and VIF then, after your brew day, post your actual results in your other thread and we can take a look at things again there.
PP
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Post #9 made 9 years ago
Thanks, i have better readings on losses this time i'll post my updated BIABacus in the RIS thread.
