BIAB

[Flan]

I’m just reading James Morton’s book ‘Brew’ and as i have most of the kit to be able to start AG brewing, which is my ultimate aim, i only have a 20 litre stock pot and can’t see me justifying another outlay for a 30litre+ pot, just yet. So I like his suggestion of liquoring back, he says the grain to water ratio should be 2.8 litres of water to every 1kg of grain but then in his recipes they are for a full boil up of 27litres+ so i have a few questions if there’s anybody that uses this process. As I understand it, making a thicker mash=a higher OG which you then dilute down to the target OG for the recipe by topping up the fv with cold water, if that is indeed correct or have i misunderstood this.
1. Do you still use the full recipe amounts but in less water, if not.
2. How do you adjust quantities to make this fit a 20-23 litre ferment.
3. Is the OG in the recipe set in stone or can you alter the OG to suit you, if the OG target is 1050 is there any harm done to the brew if the OG differs by a few points either way, by a few points i mean 1040-1060.
4. What is a minimum amount of brew that you should have in a standard 23litre fv. Would it be an idea to get a smaller fv, maybe a 15 litre one.
Thanks for any help, i know these questions will be a bit mundane for many of you but I’m just trying to get my head around the process and i haven’t even started on sparging yet.

 

[Obadiah Boondoggle]

I’m just reading James Morton’s book ‘Brew’ and as i have most of the kit to be able to start AG brewing, which is my ultimate aim, i only have a 20 litre stock pot and can’t see me justifying another outlay for a 30litre+ pot, just yet. So I like his suggestion of liquoring back, he says the grain to water ratio should be 2.8 litres of water to every 1kg of grain but then in his recipes they are for a full boil up of 27litres+ so i have a few questions if there’s anybody that uses this process. As I understand it, making a thicker mash=a higher OG which you then dilute down to the target OG for the recipe by topping up the fv with cold water, if that is indeed correct or have i misunderstood this.
1. Do you still use the full recipe amounts but in less water, if not.
2. How do you adjust quantities to make this fit a 20-23 litre ferment.
3. Is the OG in the recipe set in stone or can you alter the OG to suit you, if the OG target is 1050 is there any harm done to the brew if the OG differs by a few points either way, by a few points i mean 1040-1060.
4. What is a minimum amount of brew that you should have in a standard 23litre fv. Would it be an idea to get a smaller fv, maybe a 15 litre one.
Thanks for any help, i know these questions will be a bit mundane for many of you but I’m just trying to get my head around the process and i haven’t even started on sparging yet.

Hi Flan

Have you seen this

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator
1 & 2. I tend to brew in 19L batches - I just scale all the ingredients (inc water). So if the recipe is for 27L I would divide by 27 and multiply by 19 to reach the new quantity

Also have you looked at the Brewfather app Brewfather

You can use it for free and it will do all the clever stuff for you

3. The OG is a totally movable feast that you can detemine. More sugar will mean a higher OG. The question is which source of sugar to use to increase the OG. If you bung in a lot more refined sugar it will be a higher OG but might taste a bit "thin". If you use a dark malt it will make the brew darker, if you use a crytsal malt you will produce more caramelly tastes. The key question is mantaining the balance of flavours. If you scale your brew to say a 24L brew but use the amount of water required for a 23L brew this should increase OG whilst maintaining the flavour balance

4. There is no minimum amout of brew for a particular fermentor; I have used a 25L fv for a 10L brew

 

[Covrich]

If you plan to do a full single mash BIAB I think even maxi BIAB top ups you will be limited what you can get with a 20L stock pot.. maybe 15l brew?

Or do you plan to break it down from a biab and just do a mash in the pot and a sparge in a seperate vessel then top up your pot?

 

[Flan]

Hi Flan

Have you seen this

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator
1 & 2. I tend to brew in 19L batches - I just scale all the ingredients (inc water). So if the recipe is for 27L I would divide by 27 and multiply by 19 to reach the new quantity

Also have you looked at the Brewfather app Brewfather

You can use it for free and it will do all the clever stuff for you

3. The OG is a totally movable feast that you can detemine. More sugar will mean a higher OG. The question is which source of sugar to use to increase the OG. If you bung in a lot more refined sugar it will be a higher OG but might taste a bit "thin". If you use a dark malt it will make the brew darker, if you use a crytsal malt you will produce more caramelly tastes. The key question is mantaining the balance of flavours. If you scale your brew to say a 24L brew but use the amount of water required for a 23L brew this should increase OG whilst maintaining the flavour balance

4. There is no minimum amout of brew for a particular fermentor; I have used a 25L fv for a 10L brew

Thanks Obadiah thats great, very helpful and much appreciated.

 

[Flan]

If you plan to do a full single mash BIAB I think even maxi BIAB top ups you will be limited what you can get with a 20L stock pot.. maybe 15l brew?

Or do you plan to break it down from a biab and just do a mash in the pot and a sparge in a seperate vessel then top up your pot?

Hi Covrich I’m just looking at the best way to do it with the size of pot i have to hand which is a 20 litre one. I am thinking a mash in the pot and sparge separately then boil up then transfer to fv and top up with cold water to the 20-23 litre amount dependant on OG target. Does this make sense or is it a half arsed way of doing things, or just plain wrong, please be blunt it’s how I’ll learn the correct way.

 

[NormanHurst]

If you are just getting started why not brew smaller batches to start? The big positive is you'll brew more often and learn more quickly. You'll also have a wider variety of beers to drink faster.

A 20L pot will comfortably do a half-batch of a 23L recipe on the stove. Just divide the recipes in half. You'll get 18-20 x 500ml bottles from an 11.5L batch which is plenty to enjoy if it's great but not so many if it's just OK.

You'll learn quickly and will be able to make an informed call on investing in a different set up once you have a few brews under your belt.

 

[Covrich]

If you are just getting started why not brew smaller batches to start? The big positive is you'll brew more often and learn more quickly. You'll also have a wider variety of beers to drink faster.

A 20L pot will comfortably do a half-batch of a 23L recipe on the stove. Just divide the recipes in half. You'll get 18-20 x 500ml bottles from an 11.5L batch which is plenty to enjoy if it's great but not so many if it's just OK.

You'll learn quickly and will be able to make an informed call on investing in a different set up once you have a few brews under your belt.

This is a good option. One of the beuties and attractions to BIAB s its is a simple one vessel system. Doesn't mean you have to stick to it but by doing a full volume in a 20l pot you could easily get 12l with just doing a mash in the full volume and then boil.

 

[UKSkydiver]

If you are just getting started why not brew smaller batches to start? The big positive is you'll brew more often and learn more quickly. You'll also have a wider variety of beers to drink faster.

A 20L pot will comfortably do a half-batch of a 23L recipe on the stove. Just divide the recipes in half. You'll get 18-20 x 500ml bottles from an 11.5L batch which is plenty to enjoy if it's great but not so many if it's just OK.

You'll learn quickly and will be able to make an informed call on investing in a different set up once you have a few brews under your belt.

This

I started BIAB on a 16 litre pot and it's plenty enough. In fact I still haven't gone to bigger brews yet.

 

[zeptobrewer]

I started off doing 5-10l batches in a 15l stock pot and dunk sparging in another pot (completely optional, mind). Worked really well, though the fixed time costs got me moving up in batch size fairly quickly.

Malt Miller's recipe builder is great if you want a pre weighed/milled recipe kit that's exactly scaled to your brew length and don't want to keep excess stock around.

With regards to headspace in a fermentation vessel, I'm sure there's some impact, but I wouldn't worry about it too much. There are dozens of other things that will have a bigger impact on your beer before you need to focus on that sort of thing. Then again, buckets are cheap, useful and nest neatly, so having a few around of different sizes isn't a bad thing.