Did my first BIAB this past Wednesday. Made a mistake when milling the grain, and got it somewhat too coarse, so my OG was off from what I had initially calculated (Calc: 1.063, actual 1.046).
The recipe was supposed to be a 5-gallon batch of 'Space Needle IPA', which appears to closely mimic Seattle's Pike Place Brewing 'Space Needle Golden Anniversary IPA' that they worked up.
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Grain:
Pale Malt 2 row: 8.5 Lb
Pale Maris Otter: 1.5 Lb
Crystal (60L): .75 Lb
Munich (10L): .75 Lb
Pilsner 2 row: .5 Lb
Wheat Malt: .5 Lb
Hops:
Chinook 13AA, 1 Oz, 60 minutes (Substituted for Columbus 13AA)
Centennial 10.5AA, 1 Oz, 15 minutes
Cascade 8.9AA, 1 Oz, 10 minutes
Citra 13.5AA, 1 Oz, 5 minutes
Summit 18.1AA, 1 Oz, 5 minutes
Cascade 8.9AA, 0 minutes
Summit 18.1AA, 0 minutes
90 minute mash @ 152 F
90 minute boil
Wyeast #1056 - 1 packet
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I got everything drained out of the pot and into the primary, got the temp down to 60F, pitched the yeast, put on a blowoff tube, and waited 2 days. I saw about a 1" kreusen that then fell on the first afternoon within about 6 hours of pitching, but nothing ever reached the blowoff. I put on the fermentation lock on Friday and saw about 1 bubble every minute or two - not a very active fermentation. I thought that it was not going, or that I had a bad seal and CO2 was leaking out, but when I took a small sample yesterday I realized that it appeared to *have* gone through the full fermentation already - although very fast! It looked and tasted pretty much like beer. I racked to secondary today to get it off the trub (and used the spent yeast sludge to make some yummy 'beer soft pretzels'). I'll keep an eye on it for a week or so then bottle it after everything looks nice and clear. FG reading today was 1.012, so it looks like a somewhat light (~4.5 ABV) brew instead of the 6.4% IPA that I was aiming for.
When I examined the spent grain I realized that I had a lot of whole grains, not cracked in any noticeable fashion. I believe that I probably had the mill set wrong at the local homebrew shop. This should account for the somewhat lower OG figures.
What I tasted when I took the FG was actually quite tasty. I never did a brew that was essentially done with fermentation in 2 days though.
Overall the process was quite easy. I used the various tools available here (the Commentary and the Checklist, mostly, along with the Calculator). I need to make a few minor adjustments to how I do things to make it go a little more smoothly. Looking forward to cracking open a few bottles of this, and working up the next batch.
Thanks, folks, for all the help I was able to get from the various messages here before I got started!
First BIAB - lower OG, and a strange (fast) fermentation
Post #1 made 13 years ago
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