My 1st BiaB SMaSH :)

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Strollon15

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I know, lots of similar posts but it's a positive thing, everybody progressing from kits to all grain.

So, after 2 kits, both pretty successful and one extract kit, very nice, i've decided to have a go at my first BiaB, a pretty simple (hopefully) SMaSH, it's as follows, if there are any glaring mistakes i'd appreciate any feedback.

2.0kg Maris Otter

Heat 6 lts of water

Mash 1 hour at 67C

Rinse to sparge at 77C and bring volume up to 9 lts ??

60 min boil

12g Magnum AA15 for 60min
1 tsp Irish Moss for 15min
15g Cascade AA7 for 10min
15g Cascade AA7 at flameout (literally turn the flame out when the hour is up chill to 80 degrees then stop cooling.. dump in all your flame out hops stir them in and then leave it to steep for 20-30mins)

Add to FV and top up to 10 Lts (maybe 11) ?

Chilled to 21C and pitch US-05 yeast.

OG 1.048
FG 1.009
ABV 5.06
IBU 49.03
SRM 5.25

How does that seem, hoping to do this on Tuesday 31st so time to change things if there are mistakes in the recipe. :drunk:
 
Last edited:
Sounds like a beautiful beer. Not strictly a SMaSH though ;)

How big is your boil pot? Topping up is fine but ideally you want as much of your wort in for a full boil.
 
Brew_DD2 said:
Sounds like a beautiful beer. Not strictly a SMaSH though ;)

How big is your boil pot? Topping up is fine but ideally you want as much of your wort in for a full boil.
Click to expand...

I know it's not really a SMaSH but I read somewhere that Magnum hops are brilliant for bittering, a really clean taste so thought i'd give them a go.....

Boil pot is 12 lts, maybe I should boil as much is possible in it without the risk of it boiling over, that way it'll be less to top up later.

Thanks for your input, roll on Tuesday.
 
Hmmmmm, disappointing response, I was hoping for a few pointers to help me have a successful brew day tomorrow, still i'll just press ahead and keep my fingers crossed that I produce some drinkable beer, time will tell.

Times like this I miss the input from clibit :sad:
 
The only other advice I'd give is to trust your instincts. Magnum does make a great bittering hop and the only issues you're likely to have is the limitations with your boil size. I have the same issue but it is easily overcome through either splitting some wort off into another pot or as you say, topping up as you go.

Was there anything else you were unsure of?

I'd imagine you've not had many pointers as you seem to know what you're doing and have it under control. Enjoy your brewday.
 
Looks good, I love cascade pale ales.

I used to do hob top biab before getting a peco boiler. I always topped up the pot with boiling kettle water, rather than top up in the FV. I used to pour through a sieve with sterilized muslin cloth, into the FV, clogs a bit but worked well.

Take notes so you can improve future brews through learning along the way with your kit.

Beer should be good even with a few errors, enjoy your brew day!
 
Just finished this brew, everything went far better than I hoped, temperatures spot on.................but................just checked the OG and it's only 1.025, way off my predicted 1.048 and far too low, I can only think it's because I had to add a couple of lts of water in the FV to get me up to 11 lts total.

Is there anything I can do to save this beer, at the moment even if it has a FG of 1.003 that still means a very weak under 3% beer, yuk :(:(
 
beechwood said:
Could add some DME:thumb:
Click to expand...

Yes, I wondered about that, If I add some Light Dry Malt Extract can I take out some of the wort and boil that before adding the LDME to it and then dumping the whole lot back into the FV ?? Hopefully a small amount of hot DME added back to the FV won't raise the temperature too much.
 
Yeah that should be fine. :thumb:
U'll probably have abit more bitterness than expected as your boil gravity was lower than expected (more hop oils extracted at lower gravity)
500g for dme should raise it to about 1045
All the best with the brew :)
 
beechwood said:
Yeah that should be fine. :thumb:
U'll probably have abit more bitterness than expected as your boil gravity was lower than expected (more hop oils extracted at lower gravity)
500g for dme should raise it to about 1045
All the best with the brew :)
Click to expand...

Many thanks, i'll give it a go, nothing to lose I suppose.........just wondering if I can just stir it straight into the FV, that way I won't be raising the temperature, not really sure about the working of DME except that doing an extract brew you add it when boiling but I assume this is a different scenario :thumb:
 
1025 thats at pitching temp right?? if so somethings gone a bit wrong.. you got about 40% efficiency, if you have dme yes it can save it, with the lower gravity it may end up being a fair bit bitter than you anticipated..
 
Covrich said:
1025 thats at pitching temp right?? if so somethings gone a bit wrong.. you got about 40% efficiency, if you have dme yes it can save it, with the lower gravity it may end up being a fair bit bitter than you anticipated..
Click to expand...

Yes, pitching temperature, pathetic eh, not sure what I did wrong as the temperatures seemed spot on, as I said I think I probably diluted it too much when I topped up with more water in the FV to make 11 lts.

Maybe add another kg of grain next time.............DME it is then to try and save the day, still unsure if I should take some of the wort out of the FV and boil it and add the DME and then put it back or if I can just stir the DME directly into the wort in the FV, any thoughts ???
 
Strollon15 said:
Yes, pitching temperature, pathetic eh, not sure what I did wrong as the temperatures seemed spot on, as I said I think I probably diluted it too much when I topped up with more water in the FV to make 11 lts.

Maybe add another kg of grain next time.............DME it is then to try and save the day, still unsure if I should take some of the wort out of the FV and boil it and add the DME and then put it back or if I can just stir the DME directly into the wort in the FV, any thoughts ???
Click to expand...

It is your first go, my first go I had poor efficiency too.. mine was about 55%..

Just got to look at your methods.. look at your thermometer and you grain everything and we can try and work it out to help next time..

2KG of grain for 11liters at a base of 70% efficiency should yield around 1040 starting gravity.
 
Thanks for your help, its really baffling and i've no idea why the OG was SO low, I can't think of anything I did wrong, especially if you say the efficiency was only 40% and it should have been 70%, that's a huge difference.

As I said, the temperatures were about prefect, both for the mash and the sparge............
 
Regarding the DME, I'd dissolve it in 500ml or so of fresh boiling water and boil for a bit to sterilise. Then chill it to the temperature of your wort before pouring it into the FV.

That way you don't risk contamination of the FV by taking wort out to boil, and don't raise the temp of your FV.

Good Luck!
 

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