Recommendations for my first BIAB

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chuff76

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Hi guys

Finally took the plunge and ordered all my BIAB gear: 40l Buffalo GL349, bag from www.brewinabag.co.uk, stainless steel hop spider, and a stainless steel immersion chiller.

To begin with, I am going to leave the buffalo alone, am hoping that the bag and hop spider will avoid too much hop debris etc. If I need to mod it or put a hop filter on later, so be it.

I've pored over the equipment for months, and now I need to decide on a recipe.

I guess I'm pretty one dimensional in the style of beer I like, and prefer American Pale Ale or American IPA's; Goose Island, Lagunitas, Sierra Nevada etc, so am looking for the easiest recipe possible in this style.

There are so many recipes online, but I don't know how to convert the quantities so that they are accurate for my set up - If anyone can help I'd be very grateful

Cheers
 
Hi Leon

I got a spreadsheet called BIABacus but it just makes my brain melt when I look at it.
Information overload.

Is there an industry standard that everyone uses ?
 
Brewmate for Windows PC is a good (and free), I have moved on mainly to beersmith on my Android tablet just for the portability of moving around between kitchen and garage on brew day (think Beersmith Mobile was about £8 to purchase the app).

They all do a pretty similar job to be honest.

If you like hoppy pale US ales for your first brew I would probably recommend a single hop pale ale, 4.5kg - 5kg of Base Malt (I use Marris Otter), 200g - 250g crystal malt and then buy a 100g pack of one hop variety - something that can be used for bittering and flavour/aroma. Simcoe, Centennial or Amarillo all work well in that regard.

Use Safales US05 yeast for us pale ale.

Make sure you buy crushed grains, and whole leaf hops are better in the boil in my experience, less likely to block a tap.

EDIT:
If you do like hoppy US pales then I would aim for 50-70 IBU's bitterness when putting a recipe together.

If you post up the hop you buy and its Alpha % (will be printed on the label of the hops you receive) then happy to pop a quick recipe together.
 
Spapro said:
Brewmate for Windows PC is a good (and free), I have moved on mainly to beersmith on my Android tablet just for the portability of moving around between kitchen and garage on brew day (think Beersmith Mobile was about £8 to purchase the app).

They all do a pretty similar job to be honest.

If you like hoppy pale US ales for your first brew I would probably recommend a single hop pale ale, 4.5kg - 5kg of Base Malt (I use Marris Otter), 200g - 250g crystal malt and then buy a 100g pack of one hop variety - something that can be used for bittering and flavour/aroma. Simcoe, Centennial or Amarillo all work well in that regard.

Use Safales US05 yeast for us pale ale.

Make sure you buy crushed grains, and whole leaf hops are better in the boil in my experience, less likely to block a tap.
Click to expand...
£5.99 on the Apple Store. I'm looking to upgrade my Brewers Friend Free app and I'm torn between Brewers Friend Premium (£4.99) and the Beersmith one, which I hear is better.
 
BIABacus looks daunting because everything is crammed onto one page, but actually it is pretty straight forward once you get your head round it. I would recommend something simple like a SMaSH, or get an all-grain kit.
 
I seem to have brewers friend on my pc desktop, I'll see if I can make head or tail of it before I buy one for my tablet.

I like the look of your recipe Spapro, and I know I like those hop varieties. I think I'll go ahead and order some Maris Otter, Crystal and 1 or 2 hop varieties. I'm hoping the hop spider will allow me to use pellets as well as whole (this one)

What I need to figure out is the quantities/ratios of everything - grain, hops, water and yeast!

I have watched a proper AG brew(on a day course), so fairly confident with the actual mash/boil process

cheers
 
Brewer's Friend and Brewtarget. I've found both to be intuitive and accurate.
 
chuff76 said:
I seem to have brewers friend on my pc desktop, I'll see if I can make head or tail of it before I buy one for my tablet.

I like the look of your recipe Spapro, and I know I like those hop varieties. I think I'll go ahead and order some Maris Otter, Crystal and 1 or 2 hop varieties. I'm hoping the hop spider will allow me to use pellets as well as whole (this one)



What I need to figure out is the quantities/ratios of everything - grain, hops, water and yeast!

I have watched a proper AG brew(on a day course), so fairly confident with the actual mash/boil process

cheers
Click to expand...

The software will help you figure out quantities. What size batch are you planning
 
chuff76 said:
What I need to figure out is the quantities/ratios of everything - grain, hops, water and yeast!
Click to expand...

Thats where the recipe software or app comes in - you can build in the ingredients and tweak quantities and timings to get your desired Starting gravity (and hence ABV%) and IBU's (bitterness rating).

In terms of volume I assume you will be popping 23litres or thereabouts into the fermentation vessel at the end of your brewday ?

As mentioned, post up the hops you receive and their alpha % and happy to pop a recipe together giving you the amount to use at 60 min, 15 mins and flameout to achieve 50 IBU's and 70 IBU's (punchy, hoppy pale ale territory).
 
I've bought the 40l Buffalo even though I've got no idea where I'll keep it :whistle:

This was to allow me to brew full 23litre batches.

I've got a 25Kg bag of Maris Otter, 3Kg of Crystal in my shopping basket.

Can you tell me the roughest of rough quantities? I guess around 5kg grain per brew? how much hops should I be buying, they come in 100g packs for about a fiver. Do I need a few of these? half a dozen?
 
Is now the time to be messing about with loads of hop varieties, or should I stick with 1-2 ?

I've got 100g Simcoe, Centenial, Cascade and Amarillo in my basket. Would I be better just selecting a couple and doubling up on quantity ?
 
For each 23 litre brew you will need 5kg of base grain and 250g of crystal (for 5% ABV beer give or take).

100g-150g of hops for a standard brew (depends if going to dry hop etc). So 5-6 packs of 100g hops should be good with your 25kg marris otter.

The maltmiller will supply 25kg in 5kg sealed bags which keeps the crushed base malt fresh for each brew. The maltmiller isn't the cheapest (but still competitive IME) but are very good.

Make sure you buy crushed grain.

Thats all rough but should get you started.

EDIT: those are all nice hop varieties - I would double up on the cheapest 2 of those 4
 
500g of Munich Malt would also give you a nice flavour addition for an IPA style beer in the future
 
I found the geterbrewed custom recipe builder really good and helpful. Even if you have your own hops you could try the grain and yeast and see if it is cheaper than else where
 
cheers! I love Get er Brewed have bought most of my gear from there, but really do like the look of maltmiller.

Maltmiller

Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt Thomas Fawcett Type: Crushed - 5 x 5Kg
Crystal Malt Type: Crushed x 2kg
Munich Malt Type: Crushed x 1kg
CENTENNIAL x 200g Alpha 10.7%
CHINOOK x 200g Alpha 11.95%
Amarillo x 200g Alpha 10.5%
Simcoe x 200g (? Alpha)
Cascade x 200g (? Alpha)
Safale U.S-05 11.5g x 3

Do you think we could make a decent APA / AIPA from these ? I do plan to dry hop
 
Last edited:

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