Welcome to the forum RF ,

It's great that you have found this forum - you are now in the right place. This forum was started because of the vast amount of confusing, let alone incorrect, new brewers are exposed to. I first discovered brewing forums ten years ago and it was easier then than now. Personally, I have no idea how new brewers manage these days if learning from the net. I take my hat off to you (and them) .

Okay, down to business...

Firstly, all-grain kits were unheard of ten years ago when BIAB was being pioneered. BIAB, unfortunately/fortunately, allowed them to happen. I say fortunately, because, all-grain kits (AGK's) aren't a bad way of having a crack at all-grain. I also say, unfortunately, because they get you thinking incorrectly.

An AGK makes you think that you will get such and such volume of such and such gravity from the kit. This is not correct. The wording that comes with them is also often very ambiguous or poor.

In your post above, I can see that you are trying to blame yourself for the problems with your first few recipes. Don't!

You've tried the kits twice and they haven't worked so let's forget them (as you have by ordering ingredients) and cover some basics.Let's start with a fresh mind as I think you want to do - that's fantastic and impressive you have jumped into the BIABacus - most brewers would open it up and say "that looks too hard!" - you've done a great job .

The Basics

- Firstly, you plan your brew first, based on your equipment, and then buy the ingredients. (AGK's work the opposite way - don't worry if that doesn't make sense.)
- Mash temps are critical. Thermometers are often inaccurate at mash temps so you can't rely on a sinlgle thermometer.
- Before taking any temperature reading, you must agitate the water, or if you have mashed in, the mash, really well as extreme temp differences occur in non-agitated liquids.
- Mash for 90 minutes. That extra 30 minutes makes a difference on nearly all grain bills.
- Boil for 90 minutes. This will correct some problems that a 60 minute boil will not.
- Don't use hot water from your tap to mash unless you have an instantaneous gas hot water heater.
- Don't use water from your garden hose.
- Create a process where you can double-check weights of ingredients and volumes of water; for example, some jugs you buy are not marked correctly for volumes (I'm possibly the only person in the world that has a jug that says 4L but only hold 3. Go figure!)
- Use the BIABacus and this forum (which you are).

Moving On to You

I've had a bit of a look online but can't find the 1 gallon AGK you bought.

Before writing more, I just want to quickly mention that the smaller the "batch" size, the harder things are to measure so don't be disappointed if you are a bit out on your 'actuals'. Even large commercial breweries have to continually adjust each batch and they are dealing with pounds of yeast, assuming dried, while we are dealing with grains. Same goes with hops.

Brewing a Cream Ale

I don't want you to try and copy the kit you have already brewed. It's really hard to try and find recipes online, AGK's or, in many books, that have what we call 'integrity'. There's a few stickied posts in the new member forum I think that contain the word integrity. What it basically means is that a high integrity recipe is one that is written in a manner where other brewers can copy them easily. They are really rare.

To date, whilst not perfect, the highest integrity recipes we have found are in "Brewing Classic Styles" and "Modern Homebrew Recipes" which you'll find, at time of writing, at the bottom of this page. Buy one or both in electronic or book form, whatever suits you best.

I'm going to have a look at both those books now and see if we can come up with a Cream Ale (a style I've brewed several times) using the ingredients you have that will work. I'm going to assume that you have bought the following ingredients...Based on the above, this BIABacus file shows what I think you should do... A Few Notes

You'll need 13.79 L (top of Section K) for your mash. After the mash, but before or when the boil starts, you'll need to add 3L of water (see Section W).

Your first hop addition of 4.7 grams should be added after mash-out (after you pull the bag).

Your original fermentation temp and time was too high and too long. Aim for 18 C / 64.4 F. 10 days will be plenty of time.

I think that's it!!!


PP