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BIAB Maiden Voyage finally!

Post #1 made 14 years ago
by Ziggybrew
Thanks for the help from everyone these past months. Our first BIAB was a success last night. (so far) Everything went smooth until after mashout! Even BeerSmith 2 was dead on. I didn't trust the strike water temp so I added a 3 degrees. and guess what? My mash was 3 degrees high. Shoulda listened to BS2. The burner legs cooled enough to wrap the kettle in a sleeping bag without melting any nylon. There was NO change in temp during the mash. Mashout went as planned to. The pulley system worked great.

The BIAB was a success, but I'm still waiting to start the boil! It was around 15F/-10C and my burner would just not get a rolling boil. So a wrapped the kettle back up in the sleeping bag and as of now --14 hours later in 15 degree weather--- The wort is still at 160F/71C. I just lit the burner and hope for the best.
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Post #2 made 14 years ago
by Yeasty
Float a stainless/food safe bowl on the surface and if you can build a wind shield. If you have more of those concrete blocks building a wall around 3 sides would be ideal.

Oh ! and well done on your first biab. :clap: :clap:
Why is everyone talking about "Cheese"
    • SVA Brewer With Over 50 Brews From Great Britain

Post #3 made 14 years ago
by Ziggybrew
Thanks, I like that bowl idea. I just put up a folding table on it's side as a windshield. It seems to be helping a lot. Maybe I'll grab another table. The temp is raising faster than last night. Getting that bowl now.

Post #4 made 14 years ago
by shibolet
OMG!
-10 C

it's around +10C here and we think it's as cold as we can bare.
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 #5 made 14 years ago
by Ziggybrew
I found the culprit! Low on propane. Propane wasn't pushing out so we threw on a fresh bottle and boom! a minute later. Thanks to yeasty's idea of floating a bowl and using windscreen. :headhit:
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Post #6 made 14 years ago
by Lylo
Don,t take that tank for refil until you warm it up and retry it.In these cold conditions sometimes the liquid propane won't vapourize.This may sound like a stupid thing to do but we used to actually turn a torch onto out tanks to keep them warm enough to burn.Sounds crazy and I don't recomend it but we did what we had to.Sometimes even pouring boiling water over them will work.Another trick is to keep 1 tank warm inside and trade them out as needed.
AWOL

Post #10 made 14 years ago
by Ziggybrew
The ambient temperature was just too dang cold for my banjo burner too get any useful evaporation data. We were almost getting 2 gallons an hour until the sun moved behind the roof. Then it was 1/4 to 1/3 gallon per hour. All time on fire was probably 6 hours or more due to temperatures between 15F/-9.4C and 23F/-5C(in sunshine).

This was an altered New Castle clone recipe shooting for 10 gallons:
18#/8165g of UK 2-row
3#/1360g Flaked Maize
1.5#/680g 60L Chrystal
.75#/340g Chocolate Malt
3oz/85g 60 minute Fuggles
2oz/57g 15 minute EKG.
Also used some 5.2, Irish Moss, Yeast Nutrient, Foam-cap.

One carboy got a WLP006 Bedford British yeast and the other carboy is fermenting nicely with WLP002 English ale yeast.

Efficiency needs some attention on the next brewday. The OG ended up as 1.054. Which is great, but not what we expected.
BS2 had the start of mash water volume around 17 gallons/64.3L. We mashed at 154F/68C for 90 minutes. Almost exactly 1 gallon of grain absorption gave a gravity of 1.036 @16 gallons (60.5L). Way lower than expected. Did not stir! Afraid of loosing heat.

Future plans: Switch to 5 gallon batches when bitter cold outside. Keep better notes. Recreate this recipe in warmer weather. Maybe back off the EKG hops a little... maybe. Let's see how she tastes first.

Not counting the LONGGGGGG wait for boiling and getting down to boil volume to start hops -- The choreography was excellent and equipment layout worked perfect. That was due to following all of your advice here and planning for months before our first batch! Thank you all!!!! :champ:
Last edited by Ziggybrew on 18 Jan 2012, 06:37, edited 3 times in total.
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