Advice for first AG brew

[Barrron86]

Hi,
I recently posted about my very first brew (an extract IPA) which i'm happy to say that has went without a hitch so far going throughbottle fermentation, there was a slight problem with my bottle capper crushing the necks of the bottles to the point of buying a new one but I haven't let it put me off.

Anyway, after the advice a lot of you gave me last time i'm giving all grain a go with BIAB.
This imperial honey porter
http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/267558/imperial-honey-porter

The boil size I am asuming is the amount that I start with. 1or am I just reading that wrong.

Is there any advice any one can give me before I get started?

 

[GHW]

Yes you are reading that correctly. Double check what metric the volumes are in though, as a U.S. Gallon is different to a UK one

UK gal =US gal lqd * 0.83267

 

[Barrron86]

Thanks
So the way I'll do it is,
Bring water to a high enough temp (67 if the biab video on here is remembered correctly) let the grains sit for an hour, lift the bag out, drain, pour over some of the liquid to make sure I get all of the wort I can, then continue as I did with the extract.

Am I on the right lines?

 

[clibit]

Boil size is the amount you start the boil with. You need more than that for the Nash cos the grain will absorb around a litre per kg.

 

[Barrron86]

Ok so I top the wort back up to the original amount and bring up to temp.

 

[clibit]

Your recipe is for 5.5 US gallons, which is 21 litres. It says the pre-boil volume is 8.3 US gallons, which is about 31.5 litres. Which seems high. And suggests a long boil.

I would aim for a pre-boil volume of 27 litres. You can top up in the FV if necessary. How big is the pot you are mashing and boiling in? You will lose 6 - 7 litres to grain absorption. So you ideally want 33-34 litres in the mash. If you can't fit that much in, add the amount you couldn't fit in to the mash after the grain has been removed.

 

[timcunnell]

Thanks
So the way I'll do it is,
Bring water to a high enough temp (67 if the biab video on here is remembered correctly) let the grains sit for an hour, lift the bag out, drain, pour over some of the liquid to make sure I get all of the wort I can, then continue as I did with the extract.

Am I on the right lines?

Hi mate - just on the subject of mash temp, you're right that 67 is a good temp. I think between 65 and 69 is okay, but in the middle ideal. What you want to do though is make allowance for the fact that the temperature will drop when you add your grains. For me, I have found through some trial and error that I need to heat my water to 71c. Then when I add the grains in the temp goes down to 67 pretty much every time. It will depend on the temp of your grain too - so if you kept it in the garage/shed for example and it got really cold, you might want to heat the temp to 74 or even more. Best thing though would be to get your grains to a room temp by keeping them indoors in the warm until you use them.

Depending on your heat source/mash volume I think it is best if you are able to avoid adding heat mid-way through the mash. I mash with typically 23 litres of water, and do it in the kitchen where it is around 20c. And I find that by wrapping a duvet under and around my mash vessel, the temp only drops by 0.5-0.6c in an hour, which is more than acceptable.

Just be aware that if you mash in a cold room, or you don't wrap insulate the vessel, or you sit the vessel on a cold floor (eg concrete) you run the risk of the mash temp falling below the magic 65, and you'll need to add heat. This in itself can be problematic if you happen to have grains contacting a heat element for example - and it is hard to maintain a stable temp as it is likely to be hot (too hot) nearer to the heat source.

A large mash volume in a well-wrapped container in a warm room is likely to stay warm enough for an hour.

Hope this helps - and best of luck! Look forward to hearing how you get on.

 

[Barrron86]

The pot I was going to mash in is 27 litres :S so by the look of things I'll be buying a bigger tub, bringing the water to temp and transferring it to the bigger tub.

Another question, does the honey in this recipe replace the brewing sugar?

 

[clibit]

Mash in as much water as you can fit in. Lift the bag into a bucket and prop it on a colander or something to drain. Add the drained out water to the pot as its heating up and then top up the pot. Top up the FV to 21 litres if you are short, you probably will be.

The honey is just part of the recipe. Not all beers contain brewing sugar. AG beers usually don't.

 

[dan125]

The pot I was going to mash in is 27 litres :S so by the look of things I'll be buying a bigger tub, bringing the water to temp and transferring it to the bigger tub.

I use a 50L pot for BIAB which doesn't leave much empty space when mashing a strong 23L batch

 

[Redron]

I use a 50L pot for BIAB which doesn't leave much empty space when mashing a strong 23L batch

Yep, me too .

 

[Barrron86]

Great, thanks for the help fellas, I'm starting this one as soon as my 40 litre plastic tub arrives.

 

[Barrron86]

Begin my brew, it was a lot easier and less daunting than I thought it would be. My brew is currently cooling over night under my stairs. I've got a good feeling about it.

 

[timcunnell]

Begin my brew, it was a lot easier and less daunting than I thought it would be. My brew is currently cooling over night under my stairs. I've got a good feeling about it.

Nice one mate - feels good to get your first AG brewday done doesn't it!?

One good piece of advice (which is probably a bit late now but useful for next time - unless you've already done it!) is to keep some really good notes. Everyone's setup and method is likely to be slightly different, so its hard to give definitive guidelines on stuff like how much water to start with, how much water to add and what temp to heat your water to before your grains go in.

It's likely that the first few brews might have some slight variation in terms of things like volume output and % ABV. But with good notes you'll soon learn what works and you can fine tune your whole process.

 

[Barrron86]

Yeah felt great, feels like my own unlike the extract which felt a bit like cheating. Looking forward to trying it. I'll also want to send some bottle to a few people on here to critique them if any one fancies it.