Another Newbie AG - First IPA

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BottlesCansCraft

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Hi All,

First time commenting/starting up a thread, but for months I've been scouring the forum and seeing the progress and ideas of others and their brew, and how helpful everyone seems to be, which has inspired me to finally move from extract to AG.

I'm a stereotypical case of having read everything I possibly can about AG, but not actually doing it, and acknowledged I need to take the plunge. After following extract for a couple of years, I have had some (very suprisingly) cracking brews, but can't seem to shake that signature "tang" that seems to accompany it, so I want to try from scratch to see how much of a difference it makes. My ideal brews are NEIPA's, but with the knowledge of oxidisation, I know this can be extremely tricky without a closed system which i will hopefully move to with the dream setup of a robobrew, brewzilla, and kegs. My current system however is simply a 13l stove pot, and a fermentation bin.

My plan was to start simple with a smash IPA, using golden promise and citra, 2 classic ingredients that I have seen and tried in other's homebrews that show great results. What all of this waffle comes down to is simply asking for some advice on a first brew regarding using the BIAB process for a pretty hoppy pale/IPA.

I am having troubles with guessing some volumes, but have done some work to work out the basics, I know my grain absorbtion rate will be 1l/kg and my stove pot boil off rate is roughly 3l per hour. I am looking to get towards 6-7% abv, and as a first timer BIAB, I am keeping my expectations low at 55% efficiency. I essentially want to make as much as I can considering my pot size, avoid sparging (although with the pot size I may have to), whilst trying to maintain a decent personally preferred strength of 6-7%.

I have listened to alot of the Brulosophy podcasts and considered the results of their experiements, and due to the results, want to do my hop addition essentially when adding the yeast for a bio-fermentation effect, and leave dry hopping, therefore preventing opening the fermentation bin down the line and risking unneccessary oxidisation exposure. I will then bottle from my primary as I already have a wand attached to a tap, on a bin with an airlock, so essentially won't have to open from the initial fill all the way until the bottle (although I know bottling is one of the biggest oxisation factors).

For the BIAB recipe I am estimating:
3kg of fine crush golden promise
13l at a strike temp of 74 degrees
mash at 68 degrees C for 1 hour

Hopefully leaving 10l for the boil
Post boil I should be left with 7l (would welcome any way I can somehow boost this small volume)

I have used brewers' friend to assist with this, but not sure if I have done everything right.

I know water chemistry is important, but our ground water is pretty decent here, and I want to see the results of a "base line" brew, before I make changes to notice the results, and so won't be changing the profile.

Once the pot has cooled in an ice bath down to 20 degrees C, I'l use Lallemand new england yeast to pitch

I excited to try this tomorrow, but feel something will go wrong somewhere. Any helpful notes would be appreciated. I'm you are still reading this monsterous essay, then thanks!!
 
I am a new AG BIAB brewer myself so I will leave giving advice to people better qualified to do so, but wanted to say good luck. My first AG brew was a Maris Otter / Citra job, and it was good enough to rekindle all my excitement to brew, when I hadn't for a long time.

Looks like you have a pretty good handle on things to me but others can advise I am sure, and if mistakes are made (I used too much crystal malt meaning an IPA which looked more like a bitter for eg!) you will know for next time so no worries. One thing I would say is allow plenty of time, my first AG brew day took hrs, again this will shorten with experience, mine are getting shorter time wise and less messy!

Good luck and enjoy.
 
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