Black IPA BIAB#1

[rodabod]

Hi, this was my first BIAB brew. The recipe was discussed in the recipes discussion section, and I posted it originally to be brewed to 5% or thereabouts.

The beer recipe which I had actually copied was for a session version with a lower grain bill which gave circa 4% for the original brewery. They also offered a "fully leaded" version at circa 7%, and I decided to do this as I had plenty of ingredients and prefer the flavour. The hop recipe is slightly simplified compared to the original brewery's hop schedule.

Anyway, here's what I followed for this brew on last Thursday:


HOME BREW RECIPE:
Title: Black IPA
Author: Roddy

Brew Method: BIAB
Style Name: American IPA
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 12.6 liters (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 14 liters
Boil Gravity: 1.059
Efficiency: 75% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.066
Final Gravity: 1.013
ABV (standard): 7.01%
IBU (tinseth): 78.18
SRM (morey): 18.8

FERMENTABLES:
2.1 kg - United Kingdom - Maris Otter Pale (58.5%)
0.7 kg - German - Vienna (19.5%)
0.35 kg - Flaked Oats (9.7%)
0.35 kg - Torrified Wheat (9.7%)
90.7 g - German - Carafa III (2.5%)**

** 150g extra Carafa III added during sparge as suggested by Clibit.

HOPS:
15 g - Chinook, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 13, Use: First Wort, IBU: 19.88
15 g - Citra, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 11, Use: First Wort, IBU: 16.82
10 g - Citra, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 11, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 6.71
10 g - Mosaic, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 12.5, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 7.63
10 g - Nelson Sauvin, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 8.39
15 g - Citra, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 11, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 5.54
15 g - Mosaic, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 12.5, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 6.29
15 g - Nelson Sauvin, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 6.92
15 g - Citra, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 11, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days
15 g - Mosaic, Type: Leaf/Whole, AA: 12.5, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days
15 g - Nelson Sauvin, Type: Pellet, AA: 12.5, Use: Dry Hop for 7 days

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 81%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temp: 12.22 - 25 C
Fermentation Temp: 18 C
Pitch Quantity: 5.75g

My photos are a bit ****, as I wasn't that familiar with BIAB so wasn't sure what I was doing next and when to take any photos.

Hops (Nelson are pellets):

Grains:

Weighing out Carafa III:

My pan is a 15.2L eBay job. First thing was to get the water (I use Tesco Ashbeck as I live in London and the tap water is foul) up to temperature for mashing. Annoyingly, the online BIAB calculator I used estimated the strike temperature far too low at just a couple of degrees above 67C. It ended up combining to a temperature of 64C, so I had to top-up with boiling.

I mash in a plastic fermenting vessel and then wrap in a sleeping bag:

I stir after 30 minutes and check temp. Back down to 64 which was less then I was hoping for (I'd prefer to try to extract more complex sugars for sweetness), so I actually top up with boiling again, and this time give it another 60 minutes (I'd originally just planned an extra 30) as I was paranoid about not achieving great enough efficiency and didn't have iodine to test for conversion.

Bag removed from mash vessel, and it's smelling excellent and tastes lovely, like an extremely sweet Ovaltine.

I now heat up some sparge water to around 76C in my pan and dunk the bag with the sticky grains still in it. I also add the additional 150g of Carafa III. I leave the sparge liquor in my pan, and remove the bag to squeeze out. I squeeze it over the mash as its cooler and easier:

The contents of the mash liquor are then added back to the pan with the sparge liquor in it, and we start to boil:

The hops are eventually added, plus an eighth of a tab of protofloc.

All has gone to plan so far, but when I go to siphon the wort through my chiller via a hop filter bag, it just won't go. It's not the hops, but the protein sludge and some hop residue. Eventually I have to run the entire hot work back through a mesh bag to filter it before chilling. I need to correct how this is done next time around.

Anyway, gravity was slightly overshot on the wort, so I watered down slightly to 1064. I will effectively gain a little extra gravity when I bottle ferment.

Steady bubbling starts after 24hrs, and the krausen is maybe only an inch high.

Today (6 days later) I have measured the gravity at 1010. So, I've actually reached a lower gravity than expected. It could be that those lower mash temperatures have led to more fermentable sugars being extracted, however the flavour of the fermented wort is actually nicely sweet, and definitely not dry. Best of all: it's already tasting fairly reminiscent of the beer which I was trying to replicate.

I will report back later with how things are looking when I get around to bottling.

Thanks to forum member Clibit for persuading so many people to try a simple BIAB brew. I maybe wouldn't have tried this otherwise.

Roddy

 

[GHW]

Sounds/looks amazing. Mia black IPA was a much simpler recipe but is still fantastic (though I am clearly bias0ed in that opinion). Report back!

I didn't condition mine for as long as usual before starting to drink (3 weeks in bottle), and it was really up front with the hops, exactly what I wanted. It was only about 4% though as I cocked up my measurements. yours might benefit from a bit longer at that strength.

 

[clibit]

Congratulations, you've dived in and got your round it all very quickly.

 

[MyQul]

I've only ever tried one Black IPA when I was round my LHBS/microbrewery buying ingredients and they were taste testing one that they made. To my surprise I actually quite liked it as usually I find IPA's too hoppy

I'm also sure that the Quality Steets will add a certain something to the beer

 

[Slid]

Hi Roddy

Looking at your Pics, I suddenly think:

Why did I never use the cake-cooling wire rack to stand the collander on?
I've been using a barbecue fork across the side of the pot and sort of fiddling the collander into place.

 

[GHW]

Also it hadn't occurred to me to use an fv for mashing. Might give that a go as it would save me fannying about trying to fit a false bottom to my boiling pot.. I think a 15L fv would work better for a 10L batch as there will be less empty space to cool the brew.

Just goes to show - watching someone else do stuff is the best way of learning.

 

[rodabod]

Why did I never use the cake-cooling wire rack to stand the collander on?

I actually grabbed it in an emergency when I was holding the colander over the "mash tun". I was squeezing the very hot bag, and I needed the support.

I think a 15L fv would work better for a 10L batch as there will be less empty space to cool the brew.

You raise a good point; perhaps that's why I lost a few degrees while mashing, despite using a sleeping bag.

Last night I dry-hopped as I don't expect the gravity to fall further.

Can anyone comment on me using my mesh bag again after the boil to filter out the hops and hot break material? I'm aware that I could be oxidising the hot wort at this point as the wort has to be poured from my pan back into another vessel.

 

[MyQul]

Can anyone comment on me using my mesh bag again after the boil to filter out the hops and hot break material? I'm aware that I could be oxidising the hot wort at this point as the wort has to be poured from my pan back into another vessel.

The mesh bag will filter out the hops and a lot of the floury suff (provided the mesh is fine enough) you get in the bottom of the grain bag that goes towards the trub but wont filter out the break material as it seems to go through even the smallest mesh.

You wont be "oxidising the hot wort" You only need to worry about oxidising your wort after it has been fermented into beer. In fact you need to add oxygen (by aerating) just prior to pitching so the yeast have oxygen to metabolise as when you boil wort it boils all the oxygen out of it.

Another tip: I found that folding a towel and placing it on top of the pot before wrapping everything up in your sleeping bag will really help keep the heat in. Guess it's something to do with heat rising?

 

[GHW]

If I'm brewing on my electric cooker I put a folded towel on the lid of the pot to heat up water/wort, for exactly the same reason, it speeds up hitting boiling point (though obviously it has to come off when the lid does).

Also, if you have a spare fv, put one inside the other when you mash and it'll insulate better. I've seen mash tuns built like that but with foam or fibre insulation between the two fvs.

Might give that a go on my next biab.

 

[GHW]

Here's a link to instructions on making a proper mash tun from fvs
http://m.instructables.com/id/Build-Your-Own-Brewery-for-Under-100-STEP-1-/

 

[Tony1951]

Excellent account of the brewing process up top.

Thanks. Very instructive.

 

[clibit]

There is a thing called 'hot side aeration' which is deemed a problem, getting oxygen onto the wort while it is hot. But this is disputed in terms of its effect on the final product. I just try to be careful.

 

[MyQul]

There is a thing called 'hot side aeration' which is deemed a problem, getting oxygen onto the wort while it is hot. But this is disputed in terms of its effect on the final product. I just try to be careful.

Not heard of hot side aeration before. Will have to do a bit of googling on it, especially as I no chill in the FV and just chuck my boiling wort from the pot into the FV with a jug - cheers for bringing that to my attention :hat:

 

[rodabod]

Five days of dry hopping have passed, so siphoning via a hop bag to another vessel to add brewing sugar for bottle fermentation. I added 45g dextrose for 10L of beer.

Sampled a taste. Seems very tasty: not roasty, smooth already, and a nice sweetness. Of the hops, the Nelson is very pronounced (it was the only hop in pellet form too), so I'd maybe adjust the balance to compensate next time. It needs time to develop in the bottle though, and the carbonation will also affect the hop aroma. I'll try a young carbonated bottle in a week's time.