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Brewday planned for Sunday, first BIABacus run in anger

Post #1 made 9 years ago
by meryvn
Have been using Brewers Friend to put my recipes together previously but thought i would give BIABacus a go as it seems a bit quicker to use and i like all the information it provides. I've attached my recipe for an Albino Squid Assassin clone from Brewdog's DIY DOG v2 PDF.

I have already bought the ingredients for this and have set the VIF to 17.35L to match the amount of malts that i have bought as close as possible. I may be slightly low on hops, as i have 20g of Magnum, 165g of Chinook, and 100g of Citra. Has nyone got any suggestions about what i can do to compensate for this, bearing in mind that i don't think i will be able to pick any up before i start to brew?
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Post #2 made 9 years ago
by goulaigan
Hi mervyn,

According to your file you have enough hops with what you list above, except being only a couple grams short on chinook if the math I just did in my head is anywhere close... If you are 3 grams short chinook i don't think it will make any difference whatsoever with the amount that recipe is calling for. Maybe I'm not understanding the question?
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Post #3 made 9 years ago
by meryvn
Just had a look again, turns out i uploaded a different version than what i was looking at previously.

If i set the VAW to 20L then i have enough hops, but i then miss the IBU target as set in the DIY DOG PDF. When i set the IBU target to 65 then i am low on hops. From what i have read the DIY DOG hop calculations are pretty up in the air anyway as they don't specify AA % for each hop. I think i will just go with the 20L VAW and hope for the best.

Post #4 made 9 years ago
by PistolPatch
I'm still trying to work out your topic title mervyn :lol:.

Yep, go for 20L. I did a post here on the Brew Dog recipes - I think the 20L is the best we can do with the info given.

:luck:
Last edited by PistolPatch on 19 Apr 2016, 18:19, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #5 made 9 years ago
by meryvn
Cheers, i'm gonna go with the 20L as i have a set amount of hops already purchased i've played around with the figures on the left of section D to make the figures on the right hand side match what i have (mental note for next time to check on BIABacus before i order my hops). The reason i'm not just keeping the hops over is that it is less than 20g out and don't think it is worth keeping this small an amount of hops. The upside to this is that i am closer to the IBU count in the original recipe and have used the 20L VAW figure.

I've also made a slight change to the evaporation rate, last brew i did i got 3 L/hr evaporation but it was a lot less volume (therefore more headspace in the pot) and a lot colder when i was brewing, which caused slight gas issues which slowed the boil quite a bit. I'm hoping to get about 4 L/hr this time, but may just extend the boil period until i hit the correct OG.

Would boiling for more than 90 minutes cause a lot of issues, if i'm not getting a decent evaporation rate?

Thanks for all the help so far.

PS. sorry about the topic title, maybe British slang that doesn't travel well!
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Post #6 made 9 years ago
by PistolPatch
Bit short on time sorry mervyn so I'll just write quickly...

Firstly, teach me the slang!

Secondly, no need to write stuff on both the left and right hand sides of Setions C and D. Only do that if you are using something different from that on the left. In real life, this normally means that you'd type nothing on the right hand side of Sections C and D except for the AA% of the hops you will be using as these are nearly always different from a recipe you are copying.

Leave your evaporation as is. The BIABacus hopes to set things up so that you'll end up needing to dilute a little. This is an in-built safety margin as you can't predict what will happen on any brew day.

So, leave the BIABacus defaults alone and then at the end of 90 mins, what will usually happen is that you'll end up with a slightly stronger wort that needs a bit of diluting or you'll end up with a bit more volume of wort at the gravity you wanted.

The above things don't have any significant/worrying impact on IBU's etc.

....

In other words, what we always want to see on a brew is you ending up with at least the amount of "sugar" you need and never having that sugar in more volume than you want. Diluting up to 15% with water (assuming it's not crappy water) is safe and simple. Trying to strengthen a wort through increasing the boiling time you planned on, is fraught with so many problems. If you decrease your evaporation rate, you increase the likelihood of ending up on the wrong side of the fence.

Will have more time tomorrow or, if you have specific questions on the above, ask away and someone might be quicker to answer than I can atm ;).
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Post #7 made 9 years ago
by PistolPatch
Oops, also...

21 days is too long a fermentation time. 10 days will be more than enough. Although some people do it on some styles, leaving beers in the fermenter for too long can cause problems ;).

Aim to dry hop at 7 days and hopefully package at 10 days.

And 1/2 Whirfloc on that batch size not a whole one ;).
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Post #8 made 9 years ago
by meryvn
Not sure where the slang comes from, i've always used 'in anger' to mean first time using it properly rather than just playing around and testing it.

The main reasons i'm changing things on the left and right of section C & D is that i would like to use all my malt and hops i've bought but wanted to see what it would do to the IBU. In hindsight i could just enter the weights and AA% i plan on using in the left hand side and leave the right hand side blank.

Thanks for the fermentation time advice, as it is easier for me to package at a weekend i think it will likely get 13 days fermentation (24th April to 7th May) so will aim to dry hop at 10 days.

1/2 a tablet sounds good also, helps save on tablets as well.

Another question i've just thought is that i have two packets of US-05 would i be as well using both or will just one suffice?

Post #9 made 9 years ago
by ShorePoints
meryvn, one packet of dry yeast US-05 will be fine. As long as you aerate the wort at correct pitching temperature, it will reliably start showing activity in the airlock inside of 24 hours. One can aerate by sealing up the fermenter (cover the grommet with a sanitized finger) and shaking it or whip air into the liquid with a stirrer for a minute or two. It always works for me with OG of not more than 1.070. No pre-hydrating is necessary, but you can do that if you like.
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Post #10 made 9 years ago
by meryvn
Thanks that will save me using a pack of yeast, I'll keep it spare for next time. My aeration tends to be letting it splash in from the kettle at about a two foot drop, may try a bit of shaking this time.

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Post #11 made 9 years ago
by meryvn
Had a few bottles of this now and am very impressed, though am finding some bottles taste much better than others. Though i think this is down to higher amounts of yeast in the dodgy bottles as it is a very yeasty taste in some and the brew looks a lot hazier. For future brews i'm thinking of going down the gelatin fining route to try and cut the amount of yeast coming through to the bottles, along with a kegging set-up once i get the funds together for it.

Post #12 made 9 years ago
by PistolPatch
Good stuff mervyn ;).

Before making any changes to your bottling process, I reckon write your process down here in detail as I'm pretty sure that there is going to be a simple answer to your problem (I think I actually already know what it is but don't want to affect your answer).

So, basically, what is your fermenting and bottling process?

(Saw your other thread as well re your next batch but, personally, I'd like to see this one sorted before focussing on the next one ;).

:peace:
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Post #13 made 9 years ago
by meryvn
Generally I will transfer to a bottling bucket from primary the day before I plan to bottle and leave to settle. For this brew though I only left to settle a couple of hours which I don't think was enough. I bottle out of a tap in an old fermenting bucket, and did tip to try and get as many bottles as possible. I didn't take note of which bottles were filled first and which were filled last to know which might be worst for yeast content.

I also leave primary in my garage about 10 - 12C for a few days before transferring to the bottling bucket by siphon.

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Post #15 made 9 years ago
by PistolPatch
meryvn wrote:Generally I will transfer to a bottling bucket from primary the day before I plan to bottle and leave to settle...
What I'm really wondering mervyn is the process of how you add your priming sugar. For example, do you add it to the bottling bucket or to the bottles individually?

If you add it to the bottling bucket or secondary, what's your process there?
Last edited by PistolPatch on 30 May 2016, 20:19, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #16 made 9 years ago
by meryvn
Ah right, sugar i dissolve in about 100 - 200mL of boiled water and add to the bottling bucket and give a quick swirl to try and mix it evenly.

I have read that it is best to add the sugar solution first then rack on top of it which i may try for my next brew as i think it sounds easier and safer than stirring, no need to sterilise another item to stir with.

Usually use a couple of online calculators and take an average amount of sugar required, i use corn sugar for priming also rather than table sugar.
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