µBIAB - 1 Gallon BIAB =Pic Heavy=

[Antony]

Okay, I've been bored recently, so decided to try all grain. I have a gallon pot, some muslin and made a recipie.

Recipie - Antonys SMASH

1kg MO - 60mins
8g Fuggles - 60 mins
5g Fuggles - 25 mins
5g Fuggles - 5 mins/flameout


I had originally been planning on 50/50 MO and Crystal, however I went to The flagon and cask and just asked for a kilo of grain, so I got a KG of MO
Next its time for the compulsary ingredient shot

Now time to get some water on, however my 1 gallon pan turned out to be barely three litres. So its 2-pan time.

Since this is a form of BIAB its time to put my grain in muslin, to do this I put the muslin over a spare pan to fill, this led to the least spillage out of what I tried

This then made two dumplings of grain, pretty tight though, I wonder how this will effect efficiency.

These where then put in the pans, and left to stew for an hour, with occasional turining. Unfortunately I realised I had not seeked permission from swmbo, so I decided I had to rush to hop, in another pan. But, oh no, How can I add all those hops at different times in seperate bags. So the only way was to loose hop in a pan, and strain it later.

Hops

Another Idea I had was to put my hops in some cups, to the big bag could be sealed away ASAP.

Now its time to wait, adding my hops at the correct time.

Now everything was done, its time to cool the wort. the simplest way was a waterbath, in the sink.

Now everything is cooled, the PET was filled, and the yeast added, finally to seal it I used a clingfilm airlock

And finally, off into the warm to ferment. From my hydrometer my OG is 1.035, against an expected 1.042. I think this is because of an inconsistent mash temp, and I think I was a little short on my boil time. thats still around 60% though, and should give a nice 3.7%


What do you guys think, is this vaguely like how a 'real' BIAB would go, just all in the same pan? is MO and fuggles a good combo?

Ant

 

[pittsy]

well done on your first go :thumb: your efficiency may be a little low cuz grain in a tight bag and the middle part may have had clumps in it from not being mixed . good work though

 

[Jeff Brewjubbly]

nice job Ant :)

 

[Duxuk]

Looks good. You could improve efficiency by doing a mashout. After mashing you reheat the mash, stirring vigorously until it reaches 78C or there abouts. It bashes the sugars into solution. The heat does something to the enzymes, but I've forgotten what!
Get a bigger pan from Ebay etc. , send SWMBO shopping and brew something bigger. You'll :drink: 1 gallon too quickly.

 

[pittsy]

Looks good. You could improve efficiency by doing a mashout. After mashing you reheat the mash, stirring vigorously until it reaches 78C or there abouts. It bashes the sugars into solution. The heat does something to the enzymes, but I've forgotten what!
Get a bigger pan from Ebay etc. , send SWMBO shopping and brew something bigger. You'll :drink: 1 gallon too quickly.

Don't stir vigorously , this may release tannins from the grain and also introduce air into the wort .
You've got the right idea though , what you are doing here is washing out any extra sugar that was left from the first lot of water , you can either just leave fresh water at 66c ish or raise it , but only to around 75/76c max , there is little point in raising temp though as it helps with stuck mashes (which ain't an issue here) .

 

[Duxuk]

Don't stir vigorously , this may release tannins from the grain and also introduce air into the wort .
You've got the right idea though , what you are doing here is washing out any extra sugar that was left from the first lot of water , you can either just leave fresh water at 66c ish or raise it , but only to around 75/76c max , there is little point in raising temp though as it helps with stuck mashes (which ain't an issue here) .

Yes, vigorously is probably the wrong word. Continuosly is more like it. If I don't stir continuosly I find the temperature measured with a probe, will shoot up suddenly, only going down with more stirring. Funnily enough I raise the temp to 75C. I have written 78C like a parrot, having read it in other posts! I believe that the tannins will be released at the higher temps, so keeping it to a max of 75C and avoiding hot spots by stirring is probably the best bet.

 

[Antony]

Thanks for the tips, I can only see myself doing one or two more brews in this way, then hopefully I should have cash for a big pan or maybe a burko

I have 'dropped' the beer into another Demijon, hopefully this should help in reducing yeast levels for a nice clear beer.

 

[PawsOfEvil]

I have had a lot of problems hitting efficency and OG on 1 Gallon batches. I use one pot to heat water and a cool box to mash with. I decant the worth back through the musiln bag/grain into the pot once or twice and re-mash the bag at a higher temp in the cool box. Sometimes this works other times not. Last run I hit OG of 1.064 which was what I was hoping for, time before I only managed 1.030 about half what I expected. Sparging seems to be the issue for me. Have you had any problems?

 

[Asalpaws]

Must say from back when I did BIAB, the bigger the volume of the mash, the better the efficiency (probably more stable temps). As above stirring also helps, put the bag around the rim of the pot while you stir. T

 

[Antony]

4 days in and it down to 20 gravity points. A few days after it hits 10ish I'll put a few hops in. Maybe 3-4 grams of fuggles. Then bottling a few days later.

The wort is looking remarkably clear, I could get used to this AG lark. It smellls lovely even at this early stage.. Although suspiciously like pale ale..

 

[Antony]

Little bit worried its stuck at 1.020, I think I'm going to have to work out a better place for my FV's the garage is pretty cold these days. Gave it a bit of a stir, and I'm going to move it up higher to hopefully be a little warmer.

 

[Antony]

Now at 1.015 :/ its slow, however I dont think its stuck any longer?

 

[PawsOfEvil]

Have you tried any more recipes yet? I have been using between 1 and 1.4 Kg of grain for my 1 gallon batches. My FG seem to stop around 1.010-1.012 for the IPA/Whit that I have made so far - im not sure if I am producing lots of unfermentable sugars because of poor temperature control but they smell and taste great!

Would be interested to hear how you get on with your brews in future!

 

[Antony]

Have you tried any more recipes yet? I have been using between 1 and 1.4 Kg of grain for my 1 gallon batches. My FG seem to stop around 1.010-1.012 for the IPA/Whit that I have made so far - im not sure if I am producing lots of unfermentable sugars because of poor temperature control but they smell and taste great!

Would be interested to hear how you get on with your brews in future!

Mine seems to have stopped at 1.013, so maybe its just a 1 gallon thing? However a lower alcohol brew with good body isn't a bad thing

Since this I've done a 1 gal extract brew (In a best bitter style, again with fuggles, 15G for 60mins, 10g for 30mins, 5g for 10min) Not sure if I'll dry hop it or not, maybe hyst a few cones to give a bit more hop aroma?