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Barley Belly's Maiden Biab Brew Day

Post #1 made 15 years ago
by Barley Belly
After 26 2V/3V AG brews under my belt I decided to take the step up to BIAB and I have the pictures to prove it.

WARNING:- There are heaps of pictures

Here is a brew log and some pictures of my cherry poppin maiden Biab brew day for your pleasure/critique (feel free to comment on any improvements I can make or mistakes I might of made):-

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12.45PM Fill to 32ltr 26 degrees celcius water, urn temp control 110c, 2400w handheld in, lid on
12.55PM Water 50C
1.05PM Water 70C
1.10PM False bottom in, bag in, grain in, quick stir, temp 68C, too high, added 1l water, mash 5/10 mins
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1.20PM Mash 66c, foil on foam on, lid on for 60 minute mash
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2.25PM Heat on, lid off, stir mash until 76c
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2.40PM Mash 76c, lid on for 10 minutes

2.50PM Heat on, raise bag and give gentle twist/squeeze
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2.55PM Bag out and into sparge bucket, false bottom out, 2400w element in
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3.00PM Sparge grain in bag with 2 litres 76c water, collect and add to wort, squeeze bag, collect and add to wort
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3.10PM Rolling boil, element out to stop boilover
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3.30PM 40min hops
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4.00PM 10min 1/2 whirlfloc
4.05PM 5min hops
4.10PM Flame out, hop bag out, whirlpool, lid on for 20 minutes
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4.25PM 0min hops in hop bag
4.30PM Drain to cube and cleanup (ended up with about 2.5 litres trub, will try 1 litre initial volume less next time)
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All in all a good day for my cherry popper :peace:
Last edited by Barley Belly on 25 Jan 2011, 05:00, edited 5 times in total.

Post #2 made 15 years ago
by wizard78
Good stuff there BB, you could reduce the final volume by skipping the sparge step
Let us know how it tastes.
[center]"All right, brain. You don't like me and I don't like you, but let's just do this and I can get back to killing you with beer."
[/center]
[center]Homer Simpson[/center]
[center]K.I.S.S., B.I.A.B.[/center]

Post #4 made 15 years ago
by Barley Belly
wizard78 wrote:Good stuff there BB, you could reduce the final volume by skipping the sparge step
Let us know how it tastes.
Was gunna do the "No Sparge" thing, but I thought if I'm gunna drain the bag into a bucket I might as well sparge and maybe gain an efficiency point or two???
Last edited by Barley Belly on 25 Jan 2011, 09:30, edited 5 times in total.

Post #5 made 15 years ago
by PistolPatch
Just got home Belly after a long day. Thanks for posting all the pics above. Very good of you!

Your set-up looks tops. As the boys above mentioned, with your set-up, don't sparge. You have a very elegant set-up to let the bag just drain. You are also a very good, detailed poster so for your sake, and ours, brew clean, without any complications for at least five brews. Take your measurements, write them down and then make a change.

If you do this, you will teach us all something. If you don't, your great and detailed posts will become just other posts though very nice to look at!

I'm really hoping you take on this challenge and am loving your enthusiasm / equipment! So, if possible, please commit yourself to a 5 brew plan with no sparging on the first 5 but put your focus on making careful measurements. There are no/few brewers who do this. Does that make sense? (I'm tired and slightly inebriated so it mightn't :whistle:)

Well done,
PP
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Post #6 made 15 years ago
by Barley Belly
PistolPatch wrote:Just got home Belly after a long day. Thanks for posting all the pics above. Very good of you!

Your set-up looks tops. As the boys above mentioned, with your set-up, don't sparge. You have a very elegant set-up to let the bag just drain. You are also a very good, detailed poster so for your sake, and ours, brew clean, without any complications for at least five brews. Take your measurements, write them down and then make a change.

If you do this, you will teach us all something. If you don't, your great and detailed posts will become just other posts though very nice to look at!

I'm really hoping you take on this challenge and am loving your enthusiasm / equipment! So, if possible, please commit yourself to a 5 brew plan with no sparging on the first 5 but put your focus on making careful measurements. There are no/few brewers who do this. Does that make sense? (I'm tired and slightly inebriated so it mightn't :whistle:)

Well done,
PP
wizard78 wrote:Good stuff there BB, you could reduce the final volume by skipping the sparge step
Let us know how it tastes.
hashie wrote:I agree with Wiz. I never do any sort of sparge.
All in all, sounds like a very successful day :)
When you say no sparge, just let it drain, do you guys still squeeze all the wort you can out of the bag and add it to the boil??

I do plan to run with as basic configuration as possible and take measurements to justify any changes. The first two brews I've done were more to dip my toes in the water (I did two straight up as I always ferment two beers at a time in my fermentation fridge)and see if I need to do any big changes early.

One change I need/want to do is how I add hops to the boil. I bought and used initially what I thought was the ducks nuts from Craftbrewer
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But I don't like how fine it is and how it resricts the hops from flowing around the full boil. I'm tossing up trying to adapt my Beerbelly hopscreen to the original tap with a pick up tube so I can just chuck my hops straight into the boil as I did with my old 3V method. It will also let me drain more of the sweet wort from my urn and possibly strain more hot break. Through talking to Beachbum/BribieG, he uses a 24" x 24" grain bag which will be my second option if I can't adapt the hopscreen.

What are your thoughts?
What do you guys use for hops?
Last edited by Barley Belly on 26 Jan 2011, 13:53, edited 5 times in total.

Post #7 made 15 years ago
by Bec26
Barley Belly wrote:
One change I need/want to do is how I add hops to the boil. I bought and used initially what I thought was the ducks nuts from Craftbrewer

What are your thoughts?
What do you guys use for hops?
I found that I lost a fair whack of my amarillo aroma/bitterng cos I hadn't organised a hopsack and ended up using a off cut of voile. The hops were quite compacted but still had good aroma (and didn't think of just throwing it in)

Still tastes great though (from hydo readings . . .)

I'm thinking the 24x24 from craftbrewer


Cheers
Last edited by Bec26 on 26 Jan 2011, 20:18, edited 5 times in total.

Post #9 made 15 years ago
by hashie
Barley Belly wrote:
When you say no sparge, just let it drain, do you guys still squeeze all the wort you can out of the bag and add it to the boil??
I hang my bag over the keggle and let it drain for 15-20 minutes then give a squeeze to get any residual wort from the grain. I don't stress about squeezing every last drop, sometimes I haven't squeezed at all. Mostly I just let it drain.
Last edited by hashie on 27 Jan 2011, 04:48, edited 5 times in total.
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #10 made 15 years ago
by PistolPatch
Barley Belly wrote:When you say no sparge, just let it drain, do you guys still squeeze all the wort you can out of the bag and add it to the boil??
I think have the same attitude as hashie. The set-up you have in your bucket to drain the bag is great. If left there for 20 minutes, I think most of the wort will have drained anyway. I let my bag hang in a bucket, raise it up a few times in the twenty minutes while waiting for my wort to go from mash-out temp to boil and then give it a quick squeeze.

The only reason I give it a squeeze is to reduce dripping. You, I or anyone else could continue, after the boil starts, to let the bag hang and/or squeeze it and you might get even another 0.5 to 1.0 L from it. Traditional brewers can do the same but they don't.

Just make things easy, manageable, sensible, consistent and convenient. Like hashie said in one sentence :lol:
Barley Belly wrote:One change I need/want to do is how I add hops to the boil. I bought and used initially what I thought was the ducks nuts from Craftbrewer
Image
But I don't like how fine it is and how it resricts the hops from flowing around the full boil...

Through talking to Beachbum/BribieG, he uses a 24" x 24" grain bag which will be my second option if I can't adapt the hopscreen.

What are your thoughts?
What do you guys use for hops?
I used to use the Craftbrewer hop bag you linked but no longer do. I found it awkward to suspend and then deal with when I was immersion chilling. I also had the same fears on hop utilisation as you but never really noticed any difference but this is a few years ago now.

I then went through a stage where I used my BIAB bag as my hop bag. A BIAB bag will work very well as a hop bag. It is certainly fine enough but has the advantage of being large and easily suspended if you have a skyhook. I certainly would use my BIAB bag in preference to the above. I stuck with this method for quite a while but it still annoyed me when I got to the immersion chilling stage :angry:.

I now just throw all my hops into the kettle but I syphon my wort. If you have read any of my posts on kettle taps / ball-valves, you'll know I am almost always against them. Taps look good but, in many situations, can end up being a real PITA :angry:.

You are no-chilling and have a very nice bottom though :lol:, so in your case, I'd keep the tap and use your BIAB bag as your hop sock. I think this will work very well and prevent you from having to do anything else.

Cheers,
PP
Last edited by PistolPatch on 27 Jan 2011, 19:56, edited 5 times in total.
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Post #11 made 15 years ago
by stux
You, I or anyone else could continue, after the boil starts, to let the bag hang and/or squeeze it and you might get even another 0.5 to 1.0 L from it. Traditional brewers can do the same but they don't.
This is what I ended up doing on my Munich helles. Worked quite well, and even spilling a few L I still got 83% efficiency at end of boil!

Worked so well I plan to suspend my bag above the kettle and just leave it till late in the boil from now on
Last edited by stux on 27 Jan 2011, 22:13, edited 5 times in total.
Fermenting: -
Cubed: -
Stirplate: -
On Tap: NS Summer Ale III (WY1272), Landlord III (WY1469), Fighter's 70/- II (WY1272), Roast Porter (WY1028), Cider, Soda
Next: Munich Helles III

5/7/12

Post #12 made 15 years ago
by shibolet
stux wrote:
I plan to suspend my bag above the kettle and just leave it till late in the boil from now on
that's what i do.
I will try to post pics of my next brew.

by the way, i have lately acquired one of these:
untitled.JPG
68 Liters, insulated sides. two side ports and one drain port on the bottom, site glass.

it probably has not seen water upclose for about ten years. I have spent the last week cleaning it and now i just need to rewire it.
i hope it will up and running in the next few weeks.
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Last edited by shibolet on 27 Jan 2011, 22:38, edited 5 times in total.
Cube:
fermenter: Sourdough Spelt Ale, Classic Lambic, Oud Brune, Barrel Aged Belgian Dubbel
Kegs: Bob's Black IPA, Blanc Blond, Soda...
to be brewed:

Post #13 made 15 years ago
by Two If By Sea
I don't know. It isn't exactly difficult or rocket science to twist the bag over the kettle until it mostly stops dripping then plop it on top of an upside down colander inside a bucket for a bit until it is cool enough to squeeze it with a pot lid. I usually get around 0.05 gallons per pound absorbed for very little effort. In fact, I'd bet less effort than futzing around with hanging a bag somewhere/somehow.
Blog: http://littlehouseonthesandpit.wordpress.com/
Facebook BIAB Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7 ... 978&ref=nf

Post #14 made 15 years ago
by hashie
No fuss for me to hang the bag. I have a single pulley above the keggle to make raising the bag easy, so it's just a matter of tying it off and leaving it suspended for 30 minutes.
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #15 made 15 years ago
by stux
Exactly

Because I have my pot raised up so I can siphon, I found it very hard to get a 9KG grain bill out

I've decided a skyhook above the kettle is a necessity, for safeties sake, so I might as well just dangle the bag :)
Fermenting: -
Cubed: -
Stirplate: -
On Tap: NS Summer Ale III (WY1272), Landlord III (WY1469), Fighter's 70/- II (WY1272), Roast Porter (WY1028), Cider, Soda
Next: Munich Helles III

5/7/12

Post #16 made 15 years ago
by stux
shibolet wrote:
stux wrote:
I plan to suspend my bag above the kettle and just leave it till late in the boil from now on
that's what i do.
I will try to post pics of my next brew.

by the way, i have lately acquired one of these:
untitled.JPG
68 Liters, insulated sides. two side ports and one drain port on the bottom, site glass.

it probably has not seen water upclose for about ten years. I have spent the last week cleaning it and now i just need to rewire it.
i hope it will up and running in the next few weeks.
Nice, it's a hot water boiler right?

Will you use the built in tap? It looks quite high up?
Last edited by stux on 28 Jan 2011, 09:06, edited 5 times in total.
Fermenting: -
Cubed: -
Stirplate: -
On Tap: NS Summer Ale III (WY1272), Landlord III (WY1469), Fighter's 70/- II (WY1272), Roast Porter (WY1028), Cider, Soda
Next: Munich Helles III

5/7/12

Post #17 made 15 years ago
by Two If By Sea
hashie wrote:No fuss for me to hang the bag. I have a single pulley above the keggle to make raising the bag easy, so it's just a matter of tying it off and leaving it suspended for 30 minutes.
Already more fuss than needed. Lift, twist, drop, wait, squeeze. Done and more wort for less effort.

Not trying to sound snippy, but this is one of those things in some BIAB literature I don't agree with. BIAB is always so much into simple and less equipment. Pulleys and bags made to be tied off and having a place to hang it aren't simple and less equipment. I remember the first BIAB stuff I saw and they had a huge pulley system on a deck above and it could be swung. Then they went on about how BIAB was so much simpler and used less equipment than 3V and I just had to :scratch: I brew outside and I have no deck or anything overhead to tie off onto. I also bring my rig to various homebrew club member's homes for group brews. A bucket and colander can go anywhere, a pulley not so much. Don't like to squeeze? Drop the bag over the colander and wait then pour off the wort from the bottom. I once did it with 23# of grain and used a rubbermaid bin which I use for my sanitizer on brew days.
Last edited by Two If By Sea on 28 Jan 2011, 10:55, edited 5 times in total.
Blog: http://littlehouseonthesandpit.wordpress.com/
Facebook BIAB Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7 ... 978&ref=nf

Post #18 made 15 years ago
by hashie
Two If By Sea wrote: Already more fuss than needed. Lift, twist, drop, wait, squeeze. Done and more wort for less effort.

Not trying to sound snippy, but this is one of those things in some BIAB literature I don't agree with. BIAB is always so much into simple and less equipment. Pulleys and bags made to be tied off and having a place to hang it aren't simple and less equipment. I remember the first BIAB stuff I saw and they had a huge pulley system on a deck above and it could be swung. Then they went on about how BIAB was so much simpler and used less equipment than 3V and I just had to :scratch: I brew outside and I have no deck or anything overhead to tie off onto. I also bring my rig to various homebrew club member's homes for group brews. A bucket and colander can go anywhere, a pulley not so much. Don't like to squeeze? Drop the bag over the colander and wait then pour off the wort from the bottom. I once did it with 23# of grain and used a rubbermaid bin which I use for my sanitizer on brew days.
Horses for courses 2XC, my brewery stays in situ in the shed, with a portal frame directly overhead.

My pulley is only 50mm diameter with some old 10mm rope. The bag is not specially designed I just draw it together, put a slip knot around it and haul away. Depending on how you look at it, I have 2 extra pieces of equipment, a pulley and some rope. You have 2 extra bits as well, a bucket and a colander.
Yours works for you, mine works for me.

It's nothing to get your bag twisted over :)
Last edited by hashie on 28 Jan 2011, 11:28, edited 5 times in total.
"It's beer Jim, but not as we know it."

Post #20 made 15 years ago
by stux
We should split the bag draining into another thread :)

I've tried the bucket and collander method...

In the end with 10KG (22lb) grain bills I had great difficulty, and yes, it was actually dangerous, to get the bag out... maybe my voile is too tight a weave... who knows... point is, I've decided for safety's sake, and ease, to install a sky-hook/pulley

Once I have that, I think hanging the bag will be much easier than bothering to drain it in another vessel etc...

BUT that is a double batch, pulling 10KG of wet grain out.

I had no real trouble with the single batches

Its hard to pull the bag because the pot's top edge is just below shoulder height.
Fermenting: -
Cubed: -
Stirplate: -
On Tap: NS Summer Ale III (WY1272), Landlord III (WY1469), Fighter's 70/- II (WY1272), Roast Porter (WY1028), Cider, Soda
Next: Munich Helles III

5/7/12

Post #21 made 15 years ago
by Nuff
[center]MODERATOR NOTE[/center]
stux wrote:We should split the bag draining into another thread :)
A very sensible suggestion stux. I commenced "splitting" this topic but realised it would require several hours of editing individual posts etc to make a 'smooth' read. Instead I have started a new topic here.

This is the best I can do. Hopefully those of you who have written above on the subject of bag draining will edit and copy some of what you have written here to the new thread.

To prevent this sort of thing happening, it would be excellent if when older members saw a thread heading off-topic, that they search for existing topics on the subject. If one exists, they should reference it and say, "I'll post my answer 'here'." If the topic doesn't exist, they should feel very free to create a new topic such as I have just done and reference it.

So, it's back to you now BarleyBelly. You have probably created a few too many 'equipment' threads in a short time for a beginner but we love your enthusiasm :clap:. I'll PM you in the next few days with a few tips.

If anyone has any comments or questions on the above, please PM me or direct them here.

Nuff said ;)
Last edited by Nuff on 28 Jan 2011, 23:09, edited 5 times in total.
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