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Am i a bad BIAB'er ?

Post #1 made 15 years ago
by maheel
this is mostly about what ends up in my no-chill cube and fermentor
i take cleaning and temp control seriously i am up to about BIAB brew 7...

today i did a "pilsner", mostly a cheap experiment as i had some SAZZ in the freezer from some other experiments

this is my "normal" procedure
boil for 70 mins
chuck in my hops (i use a hop sock) as per schedule
at flame out i hook on my silicone hose to the ball valve and run the whole lot into the cube
i didn't use Irish moss, i didn't whirlpool and i had massive convection currents while draining :champ:
when the pot ran low i tilted it to fill the "cube" the last 500ml ( wow look at that break get sucked in :pray: )

i even chucked 10g of hops into the cube for "flame out" addition

lots of hot and cold break went in (nearly all of it).... not a lot of hops sludge apart from the 10g
i will (most likely) tip it into the fermentor sludge, break and all...

if my batches were bigger i would try to exclude more break etc but on 13L batches it hard to "waste" wort...
to go larger i need a bigger pot and burner...

am i a bad brewer ? will it taste like boiled cabbage or rotten vegies ?
what do others do ? does it matter ?

it sure is fun but :thumbs:

your thoughts ?

Post #2 made 15 years ago
by BrickBrewHaus
Seems to be a mixed bag of opinions regarding this topic. Some will include all the break material and claim no ill-effects. Some go to great lengths to keep the wort as clear as possible. There's really no right or wrong answer here. Do whatever makes the best beer in your opinion.

I personally try to keep as much trub out of the fermenter as possible, but I don't fret if some makes its way over.

But to answer your questions...Are you a bad brewer? There are far worse things that would classify you as a bad brewer, sanitation probably being the biggest. If you feel your beer is tasty using this particular technique, then that's what matters. Will it taste like boiled cabbage or rotten veggies? I suppose that different people have a different taste threshold. Give it a shot and let us know what you think.
:drink:

Post #3 made 15 years ago
by stux
I fill my cubes... if that means more break goes in... so be it.

I then dump the entire cube into the fermenter.

I have found brew days where I've had a good few litres of left over wort there is a a LOT less break material in the cubes come dumping time... which is probably a good thing.

But my priority is filling the cubes.

When I have a few litres left over, I filter the remaining break through kitchen towel, boil it down, then freeze to use as a starter when I brew the beer... which is normally a month or three later!
Fermenting: -
Cubed: -
Stirplate: -
On Tap: NS Summer Ale III (WY1272), Landlord III (WY1469), Fighter's 70/- II (WY1272), Roast Porter (WY1028), Cider, Soda
Next: Munich Helles III

5/7/12

Post #4 made 15 years ago
by Beachbum
No chilling isn't BIAB specific. However what I do is to use a good floccing agent based on Irish moss, 15 mins before end of boil. Then cover the pot (40L electric urn in my case) with a clean beach towel and walk away for 20 minutes. Provided the cube is well sanitised there's virtually no risk of infection if you are going to pitch the next day.

After 20 mins I come back and just run the wort into the cube, it's usually crystal clear after the first couple of seconds. I wouldn't want to get too much hot break into the cube as it could causes flavour and haze issues, but the cold break that forms later on cooling isn't a problem - I just pour the entire cube into the FV with splashing and aeration.

Post #6 made 15 years ago
by Ralph
Horses for courses. If you want to pour from kettle to fermenter after chilling, use some whole hops in the boil, they make an excellent trub filter via a sieve or colander, but all the hops in pellet form are crap in that case. Conversely, whole hops could be bad news for urn taps or other situations where there's no pickup per se.
I guess it really boils down to what suits your own particular equipment and situation... (Pardon the outrageous pun!)
[center]Give me a beer and I will move the world. Archimedes[/center]

Post #7 made 15 years ago
by NME
I'm not too picky when dumping it into the cube, but I run it through a sieve while pouring into the fermenter. Works for me.
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Post #8 made 15 years ago
by stux
NME wrote:I'm not too picky when dumping it into the cube, but I run it through a sieve while pouring into the fermenter. Works for me.
Which is clever as you get to filter out the hot *and* cold break then.

The cold break forms in the cube, not in the kettle ;)
Last edited by stux on 13 May 2011, 15:54, edited 5 times in total.
Fermenting: -
Cubed: -
Stirplate: -
On Tap: NS Summer Ale III (WY1272), Landlord III (WY1469), Fighter's 70/- II (WY1272), Roast Porter (WY1028), Cider, Soda
Next: Munich Helles III

5/7/12
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