Hi guys,

First EVER brew tonight and obviously first ever BIAB. What an experience! I haven't even tasted the fruits of my labour but i'm already hooked.

I'm just using a cheap 19L stock pot but held up well. I followed Ralph's awesome BIAB guide with the Amarillo APA and couldn't have gone smoother. I added 3L of water into the pot after mashing just to top up the volume. Got a really good rolling boil going and the house smelt fantastic...lucky the wife is away!

The cooling of the wort was the thing i was a little nervous about as I was reading it can take a long time without immersion chillers etc. But just over an hour and i was down to 20C. Just kept changing the water in the sink and then added a bag of ice after about half an hour. All good on that front.

I got the wort into the fermenter without an issue. The OG was 1.06 which seems good? The only issue i've got was leaving a litre or two in the pot with the trub (is this the correct term?) i was only left with about 7 litres in the fermenter. What can I do in the future to boost my VIF? There seems to be a range of different measures i can take to do this but using my existing (first time) equipment how can i maximise my volume?

Lastly, i won't try it with this batch, but i'd love to give dry-hopping a go in the future. Any tips, best time to add the hops etc. I have a few good ideas in terms of flavours.

Cheers guys, glad to be part of the brewing club now!!

Joel