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BIAB Equip for newbee


AlanT58

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39 minutes ago, MartyG1525230263 said:

Also I assume the fermentables all come from the grains so no other fermentables  are needed, is that correct ... 

Generally, yes.

There are some exceptions like some Belgian beer with candi sugar and sometimes English beers have added cane sugar.

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I have a 40 litre urn. Wouldn't use anything with a lesser volume as I do like making 25 litre batches; something of 30-35 litres wouldn't cut it unless I sparged the grains instead of the traditional BIAB method of adding the entire volume of water at the start. 

My brew days usually take about 6 hours but that's because I am pretty relaxed about how long things take. I'm happy to let the bag hang and drain for half an hour after the mash for example, rather than squeezing it after 10 minutes to drain it quicker. 

I usually have a 2-3 litres or so left behind after transferring the wort to the cube, which as greeny said is mainly just rubbish not wanted in the fermenter. 

Most of my batches range between about $15-30 depending on what ingredients are in them, but since I buy pretty well everything I use in bulk, it's not an expense that directly comes out on a brew day. I don't usually count the yeast cost either because I reuse it that many times that I hardly ever buy it.  

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3 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

I don't usually count the yeast cost either because I reuse it that many times that I hardly ever buy it.  

Just to echo kelsey. This is one of the best ways to save money on a brew. You have to buy grain and hops everytime but you dont have to buy yeast. Building starters and harvesting is a great skill to have and its dead easy. Have some strains 3 years and still going. Have only had one mutate and it actually hasn't given a bad profile even after the mutation. 

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On 4/21/2019 at 6:52 PM, WildIslandBrewer said:

Put a real AG brew through my 1/2 batch DIY kettle and it went brilliantly.  The $7.90 KMart jug heater element is too powerful, boiling up a real volcano.  That also made mash control a bit iffy but found with the lid on it held the temp fine with minimal attention.  

My end game is to run it all on CraftBrewPI so I'll be able to temp control the mash a bit easier and I'll be able to control the boil max power.

Still a small leak around the earthing bolt - I'll hi-temp silicone that.

All up I'm pretty happy with it.  Next up is to drill it for the thermowell then build the CraftBrewPI controller - gonna be a touchscreen beauty!

The batch was an Irish Stout.  

Update

After the brew I found the spiral element very hard to clean in-situ and it's a bit awkward to remove to clean fully.  Tried dishwasher tablets and percarbonate cleaners but still some crud stuck to the element.  I could probably get under it with a toothbrush or loosen the screws to rotate it in-situ for cleaning. 

We detected a weird odour during the boil and it might have been this crud burning.  This might go away when we reduce the boil power.  I'm not happy with the AC connections to the element either, might solder on some spade lug males so I can get a firmer connection AND replace the original jug cord with something heavier - gets too warm.  

If this element has to go then I'm looking at one of those 1" screw-in elements - I think it'll fit the 3/4" brass garden hose screw fittings for the bulkhead.  It'll also give me a simpler mount to build a cover around.

Kegged the brew yesterday, 9.5l keg with 70gm dex to carbonate.  I find that self-carbonate in the kegs is finer bubbled than forced and gives that nice Caffrey's swirl in the beer.  I miss Caffrey's - loved it!

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21 minutes ago, WildIslandBrewer said:

Update

After the brew I found the spiral element very hard to clean in-situ and it's a bit awkward to remove to clean fully.  Tried dishwasher tablets and percarbonate cleaners but still some crud stuck to the element.  I could probably get under it with a toothbrush or loosen the screws to rotate it in-situ for cleaning....

I think @Otto Von Blottouses a citric acid boil to clean. 🤔

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Yep, half a cupful or so in a few litres of water (or enough to cover the element), boil for a few minutes and it comes right off. I usually give it a bit of a scrub to get any remaining after the boil off, once it cools down enough to touch. 

Last weekend I did the same with the kitchen kettle after noticing a bit of crap in the sight glass bit. Didn't use as much citric in that, but yeah just filled it up and boiled it, came up like new.

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4 hours ago, Otto Von Blotto said:

Yep, half a cupful or so in a few litres of water (or enough to cover the element), boil for a few minutes and it comes right off. I usually give it a bit of a scrub to get any remaining after the boil off, once it cools down enough to touch. 

Last weekend I did the same with the kitchen kettle after noticing a bit of crap in the sight glass bit. Didn't use as much citric in that, but yeah just filled it up and boiled it, came up like new.

Thanks @Otto Von Blotto and @Worthog

 

You mean a half cup of the powder?  Tks

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On 3/27/2019 at 6:11 AM, Otto Von Blotto said:

That is correct. Same with CO2, and pretty much any other gas that can be dissolved as far as I know. 

spot on re gases and solubility in water... one interesting thing re salts solubility which one would expect in general would be greater solubility as solute temp rises... the festive converse to this is Calcium Carbonate as its solubility increases as the temperature of the water decreases.... 

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9 hours ago, AlanT58 said:

Got my BIAB kit on friday YIPPEE

Good stuff! Now brew that bad boy. 

What’s the actual recipe that came with the set up. 

Looks like a nice little recipe to begin with. Classic pale style. 

9 hours ago, AlanT58 said:

u know that dont u

Yep, sure do. 

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  • 11 months later...
On 4/29/2019 at 8:41 AM, The Captain!! said:

Also @AlanT58 do you have brewing software? If not I would urge you to get one. BeerSmith mobile has a biab urn equipment set in so makes it easy. 

At the same time, it’s the only one I’ve used so I’m a bit bias. 

hi capt,  yep got the beersmith 3. it seems a bit daunting since i dont know what i want to brew.

grew up in nsw drinking tooheys new then moved to brisbane and switched to xxxx heavy, so my varietal experience is sadly limited. but i realy liked the pale ale recipe that came with the BIAB kit.

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13 minutes ago, AlanT58 said:

hi capt,  yep got the beersmith 3. it seems a bit daunting since i dont know what i want to brew.

grew up in nsw drinking tooheys new then moved to brisbane and switched to xxxx heavy, so my varietal experience is sadly limited. but i realy liked the pale ale recipe that came with the BIAB kit.

Put your current idea of a recipe on it. Don't worry about beer styles. 

Use Beersmith as much as you can on your mobile. Don't get hung up on it, use your own common sense regarding your recipe. You will gradually use more and more of Beersmith as you learn and it makes sense to you. 

It is part of your evolutionary learning and will ultimately improve your knowledge of beer making.

That's what I did and never looked back.

Cheers

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