First I'd like to say thanks to the creators of this site and the BIABicus and also to its members for all the work and time that has gone in to making such a great rescource. I stumbled through sites thinking it would take forever to afford a 3V system. If my beer turns out ok then Id have to say BIAB is very easy and way cheaper to build than 3v.
I started extract back in October so Ive been making beer for a relatively short time, but it feels like Ive been building this BIAB rig FOREVER!
So I finally did my first brew last Sunday. I have a 70lt SS pot that I got from Ebay for $135. It turns out to be a 65lt pot but I dont care I can still make a lot of beer in it. It has a 45 outer diameter but a 43 inner. I also got a 5500w hot water element like the ones on the Electric Brewery site. I made the decision to get it after I saw a video on YT that used a dimmer/potentiometer rated at 9500w. I got one of these of Ebay for $18 dollars I think. So the bare basics all up cost me about a bit over $200. Luckily I have a mate who is an electrician who installed a 20a power point in my garage for $0. If I had to pay for it would have cost well over $1000 I reckon. I sold a guitar to the same electrician mate for $350 so if I had of stopped spending there Id be making money
The good thing about it taking so long to build is that I got time to read up on brewing. The bad thing was that it gave me time to blow money on crap that I probably did'nt need. But I would have bought them any way in the long run so no probs
. Hiding the purchases from the wife is the hard part 
In the end the bit that took the longest was getting my mate to put in the power point and getting my mum to make the bag. I went to a few demo's at the G&G ( they do BIAB demos too) and they recommended Brewing classic Styles which I read (along with How to Brew). Then I got BeerSmith 2 which I liked because of the drop down ingredients menus, good for learning. Then I found BIABrewer site. Got the BIABicus, didnt like it because it didnt have grains and hops menu's but kept reading up on the site. Then I put BCS recipes into BeerSmith and discovered that I couldnt actually buy alot of the grains listed in BeerSmith to make a recipe
. Then in conjunction with BS2 (and extra downloaded grain company listings) I went back and sussed out BIABicus. On first look BIABicus actually looked pretty easy, it was only the grain bill part that put me off coz I didnt have a clue about grains. Moving on.I made NRB's APA. I figured one hop would be a good starter for learning. I might try it with different hops. So everything went pretty well. The hardest bit I found was waiting.Too much time to get pissed. I mashed at 66c for 90min. It stayed steady for 30. It dropped to 65 so I left it a bit more and then gave a good stir. Then it dropped to 59 while stirring so I turned on the heat and stirred like mad. Got it back up to 66 and it stayed there for the rest of the mash. I used a pizza screen propped up with 3 100mm bolts to keep the bag off the element. It worked really well but its a bit weak so I might get some SS mesh as in Wolfys 3v Build.
I went No Chill because I got 4 20lt (23lt?) cubes off Gumtree for $25. 4 cubes that will let me have 4 brews ready to go any time OR I could buy/make a chiller for $100+ that would make my brew day longer. No brainer really. I didnt change my hop timing for the first brew. Maybe another time.
The only thing out of the ordinary was that end of boil volume was about 3 litres under (maybe to much vigour in the boil. The 5500 element is a beast!). My gravity into kettle was spot on at 1.042. When I tested my OG today it was 1.058 which is spot on for end of boil gravity but I only put in 18lt to the fermenter after trub loss. It was 15c ambient in my garage which could have been abit to do with it. A bit weird but no probs. I added extra water to bring it up to 23lt and pitched 2 packs of hydrated us-05 in tonight at 15c
Never used it this cold before. The fermentis site says it can go as low as 12c so should be good. Should make for a very dry beer.My pre wet test took 3 1/2 hours. Brew day took over 6 so obviosly I have to work on my process.
Questions I have,
Any tips on whirlpooling,
How much whirlflock should I use for 23/20lt batch. 1/2 tab or 1?
What the best way to transfer from the cube to fermenter? Racking cane or just tip it in like I did tonight?
What beer do I make next? Too many to choose from. With winter coming on I might go for a stout or a porter. I hear their easier to make.
Here's some pics.
on your first one. So pleased you took the time to tell us about it.
