FIRST AG BREW DAY BIAB #1 PICS

[ECLIPSE]

Right, so today I did my 1st AG brew day! I also took a few pics...

The recipe was Idle Valley Brewing's English Bitter:

3.6kg Maris Otter
200g Amber Malt
200g Crystal Malt

29g East Kent Goldings 60 min boil
14g East Kent Goldings 10 min boil
14g East Kent Goldings added at flame out


I started the brew day at 8AM on the dot! Early considering it was my day off today, but I was excited to get my 1st AG under way


Heating 30 litres of water to 70C



Doughing in...


after 75 mins mash at 66.7C followed by a mash out over 10 mins upto 75.6C I removed the grain bag

Grain moved into bucket to continue draining before being added back to boil pot.

I then gently poured 2 litres of water over the grain bag and added the collected wort back to the boil pot.


Boil started with 30 litres in boil pot

Adding 1st hop addition

1hr later and the boil is over and I was left with 24 litres or wort, now being transferred to a no chill cube

moved into a trub of cold water to aid chilling quickly

23 litres of wort now at just under 30C, rehydrationg yeast (Safale S-04) ready for pitching.

Yeast pitched at 24C and fermenter cooled to 20C within an hour after pitching (hope this is ok)

Considering it was my very first AG brew day I am very pleased with how well it went. Everything seemed to go smoothly and to plan. The only thing I did notice was that a lot of fluffy looking white stuff seemed to be in the beer which also got transferred over to the fermenter, although it seemed to fall to the bottom very quickly. Is this protein/break material? and should I be worried about it?

So thats it guys, any pointers of things I can improve on for next time would be much appreciated :thumb:

Now to let the ceiling dry out in my flat!!! :

 

[Cononthebarber]

Looks grand and a good job well done! The fluffy stuff is break material and it should be there :) when you syphon off into a secondary after fermentation you will leave all this behind and the yeast gunk as well :thumb:

I can't see anything that you need to improve on although I'm not a BIAB'er maybe someone else will come along soon to offer some advice?

 

[nobyipa]

looking great

wet head and ceiling
happened to me prior to getting a good fan :thumb:

 

[morethanworts]

Nicely done! Hope it turns out great. :clap:

 

[ECLIPSE]

Cheers guys. Glad to know that the break material is not an issue. I will update once fermentation is complete

 

[desmosteve]

Good post and pics! How are you transferring from the kettle to the fv? The usual way would be to have a false bottom or perforated plate on stand offs in the bottom and a drain valve at the base. The false bottom traps the hops and they act as a filter to trap the break material and other fine matter. Try a Google image search on those terms, cheers!

 

[ECLIPSE]

Good post and pics! How are you transferring from the kettle to the fv? The usual way would be to have a false bottom or perforated plate on stand offs in the bottom and a drain valve at the base. The false bottom traps the hops and they act as a filter to trap the break material and other fine matter. Try a Google image search on those terms, cheers!

Cheers,

Im just using my auto syphon for the transfer from boiler to fv and no chill cube. But I do have a mesh tied over the end of the tube to try to aid filtering. Maybe next brew I will have to invest in a chiller coil and possible fit a tap and hop strainer to my pot.

 

[klaus]

Well done on your first BIAB - I am sure it will turn out good. My own #4 brew is in the barrel. After three days it's already drinkable but I will leave it a few more days.
I think I have the same pot as you, 50 L capacity but mine has the ball valve which makes draining the wort into the FV a doddle. Don't really worry about the break material I just put everything into the FV and find that the beer clears quite nicely. As for chilling the wort for pitching, it's ok from 35 C down that's the upper limit which is given on most yeast data sheets.
Cheers!

 

[dennisking]

Cherry popped :thumb: :

 

[joe1002]

Well done, the first of many :clap:

 

[craigite]

well done. Hope everybody else's first goes that well. :thumb:
It's a long time since I did a Brew in a bag but I can't see anything worth changing.
I trust your sterilising went ok.
Keep us updated, this is a good post for anyone about to pop their cherry to see how it can go.

I brewed my first BIAB in our kitchen. After I was finished SHMBO decided to mop up the ceiling drips. A few hours later I was sorting out a corner in the garage for the next brew day. Never have brewed in the kitchen again :wha:

 

[czechneck]

Interested to see you chill by sticking it in a trugg. I do something very similar but it seems to take a while and lots of changing of the ice water. How often do you have to change, do you have to attend to it constantly, and how long does it take?

 

[Goat Boy]

Nice work. :thumb:
Soon to be doing exactly this myself. More questions: How long did it take your hob to get the 30l up to temp? Take it you had 2 rings going?

 

[Titus A Duxass]

I also chill with a trugg but I just sit the FV in trugg and fill it with water from our borehole. It cools the wort down to 26 in about 40 mins.

 

[ECLIPSE]

Thanks for all the kind words guys.

In response to some of the questions I've been asked,

I sterilised the no chill cube, fv, syphon etc with star San (used this for about 4 -5 months now without problems)

With the trug cooling method it took around 90mins to get it down to 30ish. Every 15 mins or so I ran more cold water in to replace what was now hot. It seemed to work well but I think I'll invest in a wort chiller for my 2nd AG.

For heating the boil pot I had it across 2 electric hobs. With both on max it took just under an hour to heat cold water to 70 degrees. The boil took another 45 mins or so to get the wort up to 100 from 70. Plus I had to leave both hobs on max to maintain the boil.

 

[pittsy]

Another cherry popped , looking good hope it tastes good too :

 

[morethanworts]

For heating the boil pot I had it across 2 electric hobs. With both on max it took just under an hour to heat cold water to 70 degrees. The boil took another 45 mins or so to get the wort up to 100 from 70. Plus I had to leave both hobs on max to maintain the boil.

If your domestic hot water comes from a combi boiler and not from a tank, you can save time at the start by using water from that, rather than the cold tap. Mine comes out of the tap at around 50-60 degrees to start with.

 

[Muddy Funker]

Nice work,

I'd definately invest in a chiller, makes life a little easier. Maybe make a yeast starter as well. A simple recipe of 100G light dry malt extract boiled up for 10-15 mins with a litre of water. Then cool and put in sterilised demi john with your chosen yeast a couple of days before your brew day, fermentation takes off like a steam train!

I had to re paint my kitchen after my first biab haha! She wasn't pleased!!!

:

 

[ECLIPSE]

Nice advice re the yeast starter.

I took the plunge and spent 50 quid on a copper chiller yesterday. So my 2nd brew should hopefully be a lot easier in terms of cooling the wort etc.

 

[Rolfster]

Looks good!