Display posts from previous
Sort by

Questions about my first AG and BIAB brew.

Post #1 made 10 years ago
by sh3rlock
Hi all,
Yesterday I finished my first BIAB brew and it went ok. I'm going to end up with beer so I'm happy, but I came in 10 pts low on my gravity. I was trying to brew BierMuncher's Cream of Three Crops but I did something wrong somewhere. Anyway, I was hoping that those more experienced than I could take a look at my BIABacus and try to shed some light on what I can do better next time. I filled out the chalkboard tab of it with notes that I took during the brew, too to try and give the most detail as possible.

Thanks!
-sh3rlock
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Last edited by sh3rlock on 01 Mar 2015, 01:40, edited 1 time in total.

Post #2 made 10 years ago
by Mad_Scientist
Hey sh3rlock, I am attaching a screenshot. I have rounded your gravities to match your actual volumes. Does this look right, only diluting with a half gallon/2L?
Screenshot_2015-02-28-14-52-59.png
MS
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Last edited by Mad_Scientist on 01 Mar 2015, 05:05, edited 1 time in total.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #3 made 10 years ago
by sh3rlock
Thanks for taking the time to look, Mad_Scientist.

In regards to volume additions, a couple different things happened; I put in the BIABacus the 8 L that needed to be withheld from mash due to my small volume kettle (2.5 L added before the boil and 5.5 L added to the fermenter), but even with the corrected SWN being 23.25 L, when I added the grain bill the kettle was going to over flow. So i took the water that was going to overflow and set it aside. After the mash I reintroduced that water (approx 1.9 L) and needed an additional 1.6 L to meet the VIB that the BIABacus said. Also, I added 0.5 L instead of 5.5 L into the fermenter, as that was all that was needed to make the 20.82 L VIF.

What is the difference between in Section N and Section W "Water added to fermenter" numbers? Every time I try to make the volume numbers match what happened, the grain bill changes. So I'm not sure how to make the BIABacus reflect what actually happened.

On a side note, I was looking through your flikr account and saw the crush on your grain. Mine looked like whole kernels in comparison. I think this might be the cause of my lower gravity measurement.

Post #4 made 10 years ago
by Mad_Scientist
Was this your first all grain? Sounds like you pale malt wasn't crushed. The BIABacus is pretty close on those volume estimates, mash volume is near spot on too. My thinking is that the mash water didn't absorb into the grain because it wasn't crushed, therefore spilling over. :dunno: .

Definitely keep your entries in Section W as it was. Sections L-R is for after the brewday.
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #5 made 10 years ago
by sh3rlock
Yeah, that's a bummer. Do you think it will still turn out if the pale malt wasn't very crushed, or will it just taste like corn? Looks like I will need to look into a cheap grain mill to try and make this work better. All the while saving up for a bigger kettle, too.

Post #6 made 10 years ago
by Mad_Scientist
Assuming all 2.57# of rice/corn converted, that would leave only 2.1# of barley that converted, that made a 1.033 gravity at 5 gallons.

I used the points per pound per gallon (ppg) formula.

So that's one third of the barley bill that converted.

MS
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #7 made 10 years ago
by sh3rlock
Sooo.... would you throw it out? Is it worth tying up my only fermenter for weeks?

Here is a picture of the spent grain I used. Dont' chastise me... I know now that it was wayyyy under milled; some don't even look crushed at all...
Image
Last edited by sh3rlock on 02 Mar 2015, 08:04, edited 1 time in total.

Post #8 made 10 years ago
by PistolPatch
Sherlock, congrats on your first BIAB :salute:,

I had this thread marked yesterday as there are some things that are not adding up.

Before we go any further, it is most important that you understand that the numbers from a single brew should be given little respect. You really can't learn anything from them until you see patterns develop after a few brews. People make out that measuring gravities and volumes is easy but it isn't.

Fore example, your gravity into boil is almost the same as your gravity at the end of the boil whereas there should be a much larger difference. Both your kettle efficiencies are way too low and due to you taking several sets of measurements, we can draw some conclusions from that. If I hadn't seen your pic above, I would have said that you could have been given a grain bill that was of less weight than ordered. An under-crush might be the reason but I'm still not sure from that pic - it's hard to see how many grains are not crushed.

Do any of these things ring a bell to you?
sh3rlock wrote:Also, I added 0.5 L instead of 5.5 L into the fermenter, as that was all that was needed to make the 20.82 L VIF.

What is the difference between in Section N and Section W "Water added to fermenter" numbers? Every time I try to make the volume numbers match what happened, the grain bill changes. So I'm not sure how to make the BIABacus reflect what actually happened.
There is a key phrase in Section W... All estimates assume dilutions below will be made so be careful!

You didn't add 5.5 litres to the fermentor so the estimates can't be relied upon. What you need to do is, in Section N, type a negative five (-5) beside, 'Extra Water Added to Fermentor'. This will make the necessary corrections without affecting the grain bill.

....

A few other things....

1. On your chalkboard, I see some ambiguities. On the chalkboard, sometimes gallons is written but on the first sheet, these are written as litres???
2. Never correct for Volume into Boil. VIB and GIB are hard to measure accurately. Just let your brew ride through until Section N. Pre-boil corrections are always a mistake.
3. Don't worry about this brew. On our next one, do something simpler with only barleys.

:salute:
PP
Last edited by PistolPatch on 02 Mar 2015, 22:12, edited 1 time in total.
If you have found the above or anything else of value on BIABrewer.info, consider supporting us by getting some BIPs!
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From Australia
Post Reply

Return to “BIABrewer.info and BIAB for New Members”

Brewers Online

Brewers browsing this forum: No members and 48 guests