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My first BIAB

Post #1 made 11 years ago
by rbcon2
Hello Friends,

Please review the APA for me. I was not able to get the required grains on the grain bill.
I substituted JW traditional Ale with Maris Otter at 8.50 LBS
Substituted Munich 1 with German Munich Grain at 2.5 LBS
Substituted Caraamber with Crystal 75L at 1 LBS

Being this is my first time how if any will this affect the recipe?
Not that it going to change because the grain have been crushed and mixed.Tomorrow Saturday 8-23-14 is brew day
Am i going to be ok?
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Roger Barnett

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
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Post #2 made 11 years ago
by goulaigan
My very first Biab was the NRB's APA and I used Marris Otter for my base grain as well. I haven't tried the recipe with the suggested ingredients so I can't compare the two, but I can say that it turned out great! I would guess probably with a bit more malt backbone from the Marris than the original but it worked well in my opinion. As for your other substitutions, may affect colour a bit but I wouldn't be too worried, I'm sure it will taste great.
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Post #3 made 11 years ago
by PistolPatch
rbcon2 wrote:Am I going to be ok?
As goulaigan has intimated, you are going to be fine :thumbs:.

There is a lot less to be scared about in all-grain than in other styles of brewing in many ways. And this recipe has a heap of leniency.

Looking at your file though I can see a few misunderstandings. You are copying the NRB APA recipe of PR1.3K. When copying a recipe, you should never change anything on the left hand side of Sections C or D. So, what you need to do is type your substitutions in on the right hand side not the left. (Remember, the BIABacus should always be simple to use not hard. When it becomes hard and you find yourself doing a lot of typing, you are probably not using it correctly.)

In Section D, you have left Galaxy and the AA%'s in. Unless you are magically substituting Galaxy at 14.0% and Amarillo at 8.9% then the only thing we should see on the right hand side is the AA% of the Amarillo hops you are buying or have on hand.

I have attached a file of what I think your file should look like. All you have to do is change the ridiculous 20% I have put on the right hand side of Section D to the AA% of the hops you will be buying (or have bought). (I've also used PR 1.3 T as it is now the latest pre-release version.)

REMEMBER: YOU ARE USING/BUYING WHAT IS ON THE RIGHT HAND SIDE OF SECTIONS C AND D
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Last edited by PistolPatch on 22 Aug 2014, 21:55, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #4 made 11 years ago
by rbcon2
Hey Guys, Thanks for all the encouragement, Today is brew day! the first BIAG epic event. My oldest son is coming to help the ol man pull it off. I missed one important detail. the wine refrigerator I was going to use is not big enough for a 6 gallon glass carboy with airlock attached, Darn! How did I miss that! So I am going to transfer into a airtight plastic jug and keep it until I can get a refrigerator to handle it. if anyone has a better idea, please let me know. After we are done i will post the results. Whow who, ridein beer boy!
Roger Barnett

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
    • SVA Brewer From United States of America

Post #5 made 11 years ago
by rbcon2
Hello Friends, I am reporting on the days events for brewing my first BIAB. I had a few hiccups but nothing that did not get dealt with. Ran out of propane towards the end of boil then forgot the whirfloc. Replaced the propane bottle restarted boil and finished the whirfloc. I did not pay attention to the VIF which caused me to have more wort than I planned. The mashout gravity was 1.040 and the OG gravity was 1.047. So I missed the targeted gravity of 1.058. not sure what I did wrong there.I feel the lessons learned today we well placed.

Thanks to PP for his assistance in helping to get me on track. Not having a fermentation frig. is a pain so I am looking frantically for something to use. How about a pan of water and ice to get to the temperature? any Ideas until i can get a proper used refrigerator?
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Roger Barnett

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
    • SVA Brewer From United States of America

Post #6 made 11 years ago
by monkeyman
I set my fermentor into a larger container with some water. I have some small frozen water bottles in the freezer that I keep swapping out during the day to keep the temp down.
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Post #7 made 11 years ago
by PistolPatch
Congratulations Roger :salute: :thumbs: :clap:,

Had a look at your file but there are no actuals in it. From what you wrote above though, it sounds like you may not have had as much evaporatin as predicted therefore leading to more wort but at lower gravity. Just make sure you boil with the lid off and have a good rolling boil. This recipe is very forgiiving no matter what you do with it. In fact...

I just noticed that I accidentally had posted a variation of this recipe up instead of the original. (Sorry about that!) It is now fixed in the first post of the pre-release thread (first file). Nothing to worry about with that though.

Another thing I forgot to explain was the file being called A0 (Alpha zero). This means it is the master for that recipe. You would call your first batch A1 and if you ever changed the recipe considerably, you would call the new version B0. Main thing though for you is to remember to re-download the corrected file and use that as your master.

monkey's method of keeping the fermentor cool works well. I used a few things before I set up a fermenting fridge. First I used what is called a 100 can cooler with freezer bricks..
100 Can Cooler1.jpg
100 Can Cooler2.jpg
100 Can Cooler3.jpg
Then I bought a large esky which fitted my fermentor and used freezer bricks again...
Esky.jpg
Fermenter Box.jpg
Then I went overboard and made myself a mini immersion chiller to put inside the fermentor. Then inside the dispensing fridge below, I had a ten litre container of cold water (middle top) and that had a mini pond pump in it which in turn was attached to a temp controller. Tubes ran up through a hole in the top of the fridge and into the bottom of the esky. :lol: but actually worked a treat :party:. I'm often tempted to get it out again to help me get lagers to pitching temperature faster.
MiniIC.jpg
10LTContainerinFridge.jpg
All good fun!

Congratulations again :salute:.
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Last edited by PistolPatch on 24 Aug 2014, 17:49, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #8 made 11 years ago
by rbcon2
Thanks PP for the encouragement!

I went back and reviewed the file with the new excel format. Although I am not yet comfortable with the entire program, it is far less intimidating.

When seeing your pictures I started thinking outside the box and came up with a fermenting plastic food grade 10 gallon water storage jug that will fit my mini fridge.

This morning after a night of sleeping on yesterday. I am very satisfied with the days brewing. The ol saying goes "the journey of a thousand miles begin with the first step".

My favorite beer is the Porter, any suggestions on this one?
Roger Barnett

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
    • SVA Brewer From United States of America

Post #10 made 11 years ago
by rbcon2
Gosh Contrarian, that's a great idea. I think that will work. How does the gas get out, I assume around the rubber band.
Roger Barnett

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
    • SVA Brewer From United States of America

Post #11 made 11 years ago
by mally
rbcon2 wrote:Gosh Contrarian, that's a great idea. I think that will work. How does the gas get out, I assume around the rubber band.
I have never done it, but I am sure I have read that Bobbrews does and he just pin-pricks the film for the gas to escape.

BTW - nice pics Pat :thumbs:
How much excess brewing gear must you have :scratch: :think:
Last edited by mally on 25 Aug 2014, 15:03, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #12 made 11 years ago
by BobBrews
mally wrote:
rbcon2 wrote:Gosh Contrarian, that's a great idea. I think that will work. How does the gas get out, I assume around the rubber band.
I have never done it, but I am sure I have read that BobBrews does and he just pin-pricks the film for the gas to escape.
Yes! If the no-chill is used for a fermentation and it is too full? I use a rubber band and a sanitized plastic bag. I use a pin to make a small hole to keep it from popping?
three-ferments.jpg

Or Else?
_B232786.JPG
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Last edited by BobBrews on 25 Aug 2014, 19:40, edited 1 time in total.
tap 1 Raspberry wine
tap 2 Bourbon Barrel Porter
tap 3 Czech Pilsner
tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV

http://cheesestradamus.com/ Brewers challenge!
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Post #13 made 11 years ago
by rbcon2
Thanks Bobbrews, that's another great idea. How about this one, why can I not use the no chill jug that is currently storing the wort in my small wine fridge at temperature and pitch the yest directly into it using your bag method?

I am really enjoying this out of the traditional box thinking.
Roger Barnett

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
    • SVA Brewer From United States of America

Post #14 made 11 years ago
by BobBrews
rbcon2,

Those two no-chill containers both had yeast pitched directly into them. One was too full for some reason so I used the bag. the other was correctly filled so I used my cap fitted with a traditional air lock.

I have won a first place for a black IPA that was repitched into another no-chill yeast-cake? What I said wasn't clear. I brewed a double batch of black bear IPA and no-chilled them both. After cooling. I directly added yeast to (one) no-chill. After three weeks I siphoned that beer into a secondary for dry hoping. I then opened the second (stored) no-chill and added it to the yeast cake in the first no-chill. That beer took the first place!! One yeast two beers. I dumped the yeast after the second batch because the yeast really had to work hard and I felt it had done its job!
tap 1 Raspberry wine
tap 2 Bourbon Barrel Porter
tap 3 Czech Pilsner
tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV

http://cheesestradamus.com/ Brewers challenge!
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #15 made 11 years ago
by rbcon2
Thanks Bobbrews, that is really helpful. I have the co chill container in the mini fridge now at temperature. This is very reassuring. I will pitch today and do
followups later.
Roger Barnett

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
    • SVA Brewer From United States of America

Post #16 made 11 years ago
by cwier60
I don't know if my comments really belong in this thread, but I'll keep them here since they are responses to posts in this thread.
PistolPatch wrote:I just noticed that I accidentally had posted a variation of this recipe up instead of the original. (Sorry about that!) It is now fixed in the first post of the pre-release thread (first file). Nothing to worry about with that though.
You really threw me with that one. I brewed my 2nd batch of the Amarillo Ale yesterday and decided to use the new PR1.3T. Even though the 1st batch was awesome, I decided to go for the higher IBU (45 vs 36) posted in that file. However, I kept the mash temperature at 66C. Your file still shows 64C, which is awfully low for this type of beer. Is this intentional, or anther error or variation? Can you point out what other changes were made to that file? I couldn't get the PR1.3T water volumes to match up to my previous batch with PR1.3K.
BobBrews wrote:I brewed a double batch of black bear IPA and no-chilled them both. ... That beer took the first place!!
Bob, can you share your recipe? I had some Cascadian Dark Ales in Seattle last week and really enjoyed them. I'm looking for something with some malt flavor, not just an IPA with black color.

I also have to praise the merits of no-chilling, which I did for the 2nd time. My fermentation controller is still tied up trying to get a Saison to finish, so I'm not ready to pitch yet. It sure was nice putting my wort into my NC containers to wait until I can accurately control my fermentation temperature. I doubt I'd be no-chilling (much less BIAB brewing) if it wasn't for this forum and Bob's podcasts on Bot-Ul-Ism. :lol:
Last edited by cwier60 on 26 Aug 2014, 11:18, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #17 made 11 years ago
by Pat
Saw your post above to PP cwier60. I'd forgotten that PR1.3T is a version that was half-way through making some changes to how 'Total Water Needed - (TWN)' will work later. I've made a few notes re this here.

Thanks for letting us know. We're rushing to get help written so have not paid as much attention to that PR1.3T release as we should have.

Thanks again,
Pat
Last edited by Pat on 26 Aug 2014, 18:23, edited 1 time in total.
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Post #18 made 11 years ago
by rbcon2
hey guys,

I have a concern. I pitched the yeast on the Amarillo. The no chill jug was in the mini fridge at temperature. Around 60 degrees F.H. There appear to be no yeast activity. I used the clear plastic bag that Bob suggested and pierced it with a few small holes. I am having trouble with the temperature . It seems to be holding around 60-61 degrees F.H. The yeast has been pitched for 48 hours at this point. I cannot see that the bag has begun to fill or show signs of activity. Do I need to be concerned? Should I remove the jug and allow the temperature to rise? Please advise.
Roger Barnett

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
    • SVA Brewer From United States of America

Post #19 made 11 years ago
by BobBrews
rbcon2
I have a concern. I pitched the yeast on the Amarillo. The no chill jug was in the mini fridge at temperature. Around 60 degrees F.H. There appear to be no yeast activity. I used the clear plastic bag that Bob suggested and pierced it with a few small holes. I am having trouble with the temperature . It seems to be holding around 60-61 degrees F.H. The yeast has been pitched for 48 hours at this point. I cannot see that the bag has begun to fill or show signs of activity. Do I need to be concerned? Should I remove the jug and allow the temperature to rise? Please advise.
(Safale US-05) Optimum temp is 59-75 You seem to be on the low end of the scale. What temperature was your yeast when you pitched it? Was it about the same as the wort? Did you oxygenate the wort? I let the sanitized bags fill with air first (to check for C02) and then used (one) pinhole to keep it inflated but not enough to burst.

Is there fermentation activity? Krausen forming? maybe you are OK? If you have no activity after three days then you can warm it too 70F. Oxygenate if you forgot? You can add oxygen before fermentation starts, NOT after it's 50% completed. Re-pitch some yeast and let it go. Maybe a new bag with no holes?

You can download the recipe from this post. Read some of the other posts?? :salute:
http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php ... ear#p34016
Last edited by BobBrews on 26 Aug 2014, 22:54, edited 1 time in total.
tap 1 Raspberry wine
tap 2 Bourbon Barrel Porter
tap 3 Czech Pilsner
tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV

http://cheesestradamus.com/ Brewers challenge!
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #20 made 11 years ago
by rbcon2
Bobbrews,

I wonder if I did not kill the yeast. The wort temperature was around 60 degrees F.H. The yeast easily could have been ambient temperature. After 48 hours there is no apparent activity. i pulled the no chill jug from the mini fridge and set it on the table to warm. It has been there for 6-7 hours. No krausen or yeast activity. There is about 6.5 gallons in the jug. I am going to get more yeast tomorrow and pitch it at room temperature for both the wort and the yeast. i did shake the jug vigorously before and after I pitched the yeast and few times since removing it. I assume re-pitching the yeast will involve the entire packet,correct?
Roger Barnett

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
    • SVA Brewer From United States of America

Post #21 made 11 years ago
by BobBrews
rbcon2,

Yeast can be shocked by cold temps or killed with hot? You may have shocked it. Just have the wort at (about 70F ) and dump in the yeast. If you are using dry yeast than you may want to hydrate it first. Normally I just dump it in but to be safe you may want to sanitize a small glass and fill it with warm water first? One packet will do it!
tap 1 Raspberry wine
tap 2 Bourbon Barrel Porter
tap 3 Czech Pilsner
tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV

http://cheesestradamus.com/ Brewers challenge!
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #22 made 11 years ago
by rbcon2
Hello Bobbrews,

You were correct, the yeast was shocked. I brought the temperature to 70 degrees and within twelve hours the yeast stated up without additional pitching. Thanks for the insight. I cannot wait to try this, the excitement is worth the wait. Come on yeasty boys, make me happy!
Roger Barnett

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
    • SVA Brewer From United States of America

Post #23 made 11 years ago
by BobBrews
rbcon2,

Good new! As long as it's the yeast starting up and not a infection??? The reason we try to get it fermenting quickly is that the sooner your "yeast of choice" starts multiplying the less food (sugar) is available for a (unwanted yeast). Even if a unwanted yeast gets in a few days later? the yeast of choice is going to prevail with strength in numbers. I am sure your beer will be spectacular!
tap 1 Raspberry wine
tap 2 Bourbon Barrel Porter
tap 3 Czech Pilsner
tap 4 Triple IPA 11% ABV
Pipeline: Mulled Cider 10% ABV

http://cheesestradamus.com/ Brewers challenge!
    • SVA Brewer With Over 100 Brews From United States of America

Post #24 made 11 years ago
by rbcon2
hey guys, I think I blew my first batch of BIAB Amarillo. After ready so many success stories about how easy this was,I BOMBED! After 8 days in the no chill, there is no activity. The first three days had no activity after pitching the yeast. After discussing with Bobbrews, I thought I may have shocked the yeast by having the wort to cold. (approx. 60 degrees F.H.) I pulled the no chill from the mini fridge and let it set for a day and a half and it seemed to take off again. Then when put back into the adjusted temperature of 68 degrees and the activity stopped again. Friday I pulled the fermentor jug from the mini fridge and let the temperature come back up thinking I would pitch another yeast to the existing. Yesterday, Saturday I pitched the yeast and let it sit after giving it a serious shaking. Nothing is happening. I opened the jug to take a smell and the order although it smelt like beer had a strong order of fermenting grain,Which it should, but there was other smell that did not seem right. I also got a cough that I still have. Sadly disappointed! I am going to wait another twenty four hours and if nothing is happening it is going down the drain. I will try again.
I feel I have learned alot of what not to do so the next batch will be a medal winner, right BB?
Roger Barnett

It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one's mouth and remove all doubt.
Mark Twain
    • SVA Brewer From United States of America
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