Cascade SMASH BIAB

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So...... in the interest of experimentation, I ordered some single hop AG packs from GEB. My idea was to get to know individual hops and as I browsed the GEB site, i remembered that I had a 250g pack of Cascade Pellets burning a hole in the fridge. I could have ordered 5kg of MO to brew a Cascade SMASH but I fancied being bolder, darker and maltier. So I ended up ordering 6kg of Light Munich and brewed it all up yesterday.

This is my second AG large scale BIAB having done the Hoppy APA recipe pack that came with the BIAB kit from GEB. That APA is now 2 months in the bottle and about bang on for my taste, so my thinking was to brew something now to have in time for Christmas that is different.... I guess we'll see just how different it is !

So, here's the brew day(s):

22L Mash in Peco Boiler with 6kg Light Munich Malt at 66 degrees and kept at temp using the Karrimor puffer jacket method.
75 mins mash and a bag squeeze gave 18L to the boiler.
15 min dunk sparge in 12L at 75 degrees gave a further 10L to the boiler.

70 min boil with Cascade hop additions at:

70 - 75g
55 - 30g
40 - 30g
25 - 30g
10 - 30g plus 7g of Irish Moss
0 - 25g

27L remaining in the boiler after 70mins.

I use no chill so seal the boiler up and slosh it around then into the garage overnight. Before I sealed though, I grabbed a trial jars worth of wort and let it cool. Testing it later, OG came in at 1064 which would be too strong for what I wanted if I hit target FG so, a quick liquor back calc and worked out I needed to add 6L to get to SG of 1052 (not sure if i have my G terminology right there but I know what I mean !)

This is where I went a bit wrong. I should have based my liquor back calc on volume in the FV, not volume chilling in the boiler as the following morning, I only got 22L out of the boiler into the FV. Stupidly, I still liquored back with 6L of cooled boiled water and then wondered why my gravity reading came in at 1046 !!! Proper hand to head moment about 3 hours afterwards when I realised what I had done - but this brew was always going to be an experiment in many ways.......

So, I end up with 28L in the Fermentasaurus and pitched 2 packs of Lallemand BRY97 (all I had!) after rehydrating them as per pack instructions. First time using that yeast too, so will be interesting to see how quickly that ferments out.

Bubbling after 4 hours and decent airlock activity when I went to bed last night.

This morning, Krauzen etc, so we're off !!

So, in many ways a hybrid and purely a vehicle to experiment with for my next GEB or MM order. Enjoyed it despite the mistakes - every day's a learning day !!

Chris
 
Did you run the %AA/IBU through a calculator?
I ran the 70min and 55 minute additions (Cascade at 7%AA) through the BF calculator and ended up with 81IBU for 22 litres and stopped there. There again you might enjoy very bitter beers.
https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator
Thanks Terry,

I do enjoy very bitter beers and I was also aware that the Light Munich would give a much maltier flavours so was seeking to balance that. I think next stage in my learning journey is to really get to grips with software rather than doing by feel.

The cascade pellets I had were 5.5 - 6 AA if I recall the label correctly but will still be bitter which is what I like.

Thanks for running those additions ! You've just prompted me to research brewers friend properly !!
 
Hi,
How do you only manage to boil off 1L in 70 minutes? I use a Peco too and lose a touch less than 4L in a 60m boil.
Do you put the lid on when you boil?

I like how you mash with 22L and sparge with 12. I might try this next brew. I usually mash in 27-28L and then sparge to top up to a pre boil volume of 27 L.
 
Hi,
How do you only manage to boil off 1L in 70 minutes? I use a Peco too and lose a touch less than 4L in a 60m boil.
Do you put the lid on when you boil?

I like how you mash with 22L and sparge with 12. I might try this next brew. I usually mash in 27-28L and then sparge to top up to a pre boil volume of 27 L.
Apologies Moe I should have been clearer.... My pre boil vol I guessed at being 30L as it was well above the 25L line. It could have been 31L which would fit better with boil off. Funny enough I ended up booking my first BIAB for 75 mins due to limited boil off. I guess my boil isn't vigorous enough but the end result from BIAB #1 was good enough 😀
 
Hi,
How do you only manage to boil off 1L in 70 minutes? I use a Peco too and lose a touch less than 4L in a 60m boil.
Do you put the lid on when you boil?

I like how you mash with 22L and sparge with 12. I might try this next brew. I usually mash in 27-28L and then sparge to top up to a pre boil volume of 27 L.
By the way how do you transfer to FV and how much do you lose in the Peco..... I had massive issues with siphoning this time round and lost a lot to the boiler too!
 
Glad it all went well! 😀

I just hang the boiler over the edge of the kitchen counter, put the FV on the floor underneath and open the tap.
This aerates it quite well too.

there’s 3L dead space in the bottom of my boiler, but by tilting it at the end you can reduce this to 2.
 
Glad it all went well! 😀

I just hang the boiler over the edge of the kitchen counter, put the FV on the floor underneath and open the tap.
This aerates it quite well too.

there’s 3L dead space in the bottom of my boiler, but by tilting it at the end you can reduce this to 2.
Cheers. Suffer from tap blockage so looking at GEB hop tea bags for my next brew !
 
Cheers. Suffer from tap blockage so looking at GEB hop tea bags for my next brew !
I use the nylon fruit & veg bags you can get from Sainsbury, Lidl etc. and clip them to the side of the Peco
AB61C158-32DF-49D3-93BD-C3587FA8CB09.png
 

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