PhilboBaggins Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Hi all. Following Yob's drool-worthy pictorial the other day, I've noticed many people asking questions about AG rigs, burners, etc. At the risk of embarrassing myself, I'm going to attempt to construct a similar thread with my very minimalist and basic methods and equipment. I apologise if it's a long time between posts, and if anything goes wrong I'll be posting all of it later on in one go instead of as it happens. I'll start with the recipe: I've not used Simcoe before and initially this was going to be a single hop beer, but I've read that Simcoe can be a bit overpowering on its own, so I'm using old faithful to balance it out. You may notice that I've got a pretty high gravity for my 16L batch, that's because I brew high grav batches for dilution at pitching time. BrewMate is awesome for this, as it includes a dilution calculator. When I design my recipes I open the calculator first and adjust the left hand side until the figures on the right look how I want them, then formulate my recipe based on them. Here's what I mean: I'd like to make it clear that this is NOT a tutorial. The way I do things is probably not ideal in many ways, but I just thought I'd share my way of making what I consider to be a good beer. [cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilboBaggins Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Well, this is embarrassing.[crying] I ran out of ale malt with 450g to go! I've topped it up with some Maris Otter that I had lying around so all's well. [unsure] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Well' date=' this is embarrassing.[crying'] I ran out of ale malt with 450g to go! I've topped it up with some Maris Otter that I had lying around so all's well. [unsure] Ha ha [lol] The substitute is fine [cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdamH1525226084 Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Good start Philbo [lol] Looking forward to reading this mate [happy] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Eh!L Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Well, I was going to comment that the grain bill looked similar to the brew I just put down yesterday albeit a lot more of each. With the addition of the MO makes it a moot point. I've never tried Simcoe hops but I've been on Lake Simcoe and it was very nice![sideways] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilboBaggins Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 And on to the first bit of my brewery that needs improvement. My piece of s**t grain mill. No matter how hard I try I can't get my crush the way I want it with this mill. Not only that, but I've tried several drills, and the slowest I can find still sends bits of crap everywhere. [pinched] As you can see from the pic below, I still get a nice amount of husk, but there's some fine stuff in there too. Off to mash! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sticky Wicket Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Watching with anticipation[happy] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilboBaggins Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Two bits of gear I couldn't live without. Good stick thermometer, steel ruler. First thing I did with my stock pot was work out an average height in mm for a litre. No more counting multiple jugs. [happy] Water coming up to strike temp on my new burner.[love] Went WAY over strike temp. I'm still getting used to how friggin hot this thing is compared to the stove. [roll] Stirred for a while til it came down to ~70c. My bag from G&G. 20+ brews and not showing any signs of weakening. All mashed in. This is what it's all about for me. The smell of all that grain hitting the water. Why don't we have a drooling emoticon? Was still about 68c when I had finished stirring out all the lumps, so added one metric sploosh of chilled water to bring it down. Now it's wrapped in a sleeping bag and woolen blanket where it's hopefully doin' its thang! EDIT: Is there anything a bloke can't do with ocky straps? Now some clean up & lunch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 I also am looking at this in amazement....mind you im trying NOT TO LOOK.[lol] gawd im easily sucked into things lol awesome thread Phil[biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilboBaggins Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 I also am looking at this in amazement....mind you im trying NOT TO LOOK.[lol] gawd im easily sucked into things lol awesome thread Phil[biggrin] [lol] Cheers Ned. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewtownClown Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 I wouldn't worry about the crush. You are BIABing where a finer crush is more desired over a coarse one(many use a coffee grinder). After all you are not needing to create a "bed" to filter out particulate matter. In fact, when small batch brewing I will BIAB and run my grail through my mill a second time to get a finer crush than I normally do for 3V brewing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wal Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 I also am looking at this in amazement....mind you im trying NOT TO LOOK.[lol] gawd im easily sucked into things lol awesome thread Phil[biggrin] I can't help but feel that the next brew day thread will be yours Ned!!! [biggrin] [innocent] [cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Canadian Eh!L Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 I wouldn't worry about the crush. You are BIABing where a finer crush is more desired over a coarse one(many use a coffee grinder). After all you are not needing to create a "bed" to filter out particulate matter. In fact, when small batch brewing I will BIAB and run my grail through my mill a second time to get a finer crush than I normally do for 3V brewing. Good point, Clown! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilboBaggins Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 I wouldn't worry about the crush. You are BIABing where a finer crush is more desired over a coarse one(many use a coffee grinder). After all you are not needing to create a "bed" to filter out particulate matter. In fact, when small batch brewing I will BIAB and run my grail through my mill a second time to get a finer crush than I normally do for 3V brewing. Good point, Clown! Good point indeed. I was worried initially about powder falling through the holes in the bag, but I haven't actually seen it happen yet. Thanks for reading! [happy] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewtownClown Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 I should have added that efficiency improved by 7% with the finer crush... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Otto Von Blotto Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Dammit, ya beat me to it Phil! [lol] I did up a batch of American Pale Ale yesterday and took a whole heap of photos of it, from raw ingredients through the processes to getting it into the cube for storage. I'll take more photos of the fermentation/bottling and then the final product poured into a glass to get the whole pictorial from raw ingredients to glass of beer. [biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilboBaggins Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Sorry mate. [pinched] I reckon there's room on the forum for two BIAB threads. Aren't you electric, full-volume, no sparge? That's a fair bit of difference and I reckon people would still be very interested. I know I'd like to see it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guest1525228310 Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Thanks for sharing your method Phil. Agree with NClown - I prefer a finer crush than you appear to use. I double bag for the stupid reason that if thought it might reduce any finer crush getting out and also they are cheap bags I picked up in the US and I feel less anxious when I squeeze that one might rupture. Can you show us the Brew Day Mode screen mate. I assume you have Recipe Type set for BIAB in Default Settings. Can you give us some figures please mate. Max volume of the pot, volume of water at mash-in for what seems like 5.15Kg of grain. Did you stir mash at all or just leave it wrapped the whole 90mins? What temperature loss did you get? Do you mashout? Do you sparge? What were your preboil and postboil volumes? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilboBaggins Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Well, we're boiling now. [biggrin] While the mash was going, I measured out my hops and whirlfloc and put them in separate cups for the additions. About 20 mins before the end of the mash I heated up my sparge/mashout water on the stove top (to try and save myself from the RIDICULOUS gas prices we have nowadays.[crying]) to about 78c. Opened up the bag, stirred and took temp: Only lost 1.5c over the 90 mins. Not bad. Lifting the bag and draining (I don't squeeze.) One of the main attractions for BIAB is full volume, no sparge brewing, where the total amount of water (including absorption, boil off, etc.) is added to the kettle right at the beginning, so you just pull the bag and boil. Because of the limiting size of my kettle, I do a dunk-sparge/mashout to rinse some more goodies out of the grain. Here's the grain bag sitting in one of my many stockpots. I then fill it with the 78c water from earlier and let it sit for 10 mins stirring occasionally. Whilst this is happening, I put the kettle on to boil. After adding the sparge liquor it's pretty bloody full. I keep a spray bottle on hand for the beginning of the boil to collapse the foam back into the pot if it threatens to boil over. Got a decent boil happening now. [happy] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilboBaggins Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 [lol] Just read your post John. No worries mate, I can provide that info. My kettle is only about 32L. BrewMate told me I needed around 26L. If I added all of that to my pot it would be way too full to put grain in. What I did was use 17L for the mash and 9.5L for the mashout. Gives me roughly the right amount. However, I need to adjust for a more vigorous boil on this new burner, as the boil-off is pretty significant. I'll probably add a jug of boiling water just before my first hop additions to make up for it. As you can see, I'm not all that accurate with anything.[lol] I didn't check my pre-boil volume, but I will check post boil when it finishes. I don't stir the mash, as I am afraid of losing temp. I must say, it's nice that everyone is so interested! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilboBaggins Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 My bittering addition just went in. It smells nice now, but I've got another 80g to go in yet! [love] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 I also am looking at this in amazement....mind you im trying NOT TO LOOK.[lol] gawd im easily sucked into things lol awesome thread Phil[biggrin] I can't help but feel that the next brew day thread will be yours Ned!!! [biggrin] [innocent] [cool] oooooh no it wont..lol i dont have the space for that stuff....just K&B for me i reckon Wal. i enjoy my ritual of bottling etc listening to Acca Dacca George Thourogood and the gang lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilboBaggins Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 It's important to keep well hydrated on brew day, but also well fed to keep your energy levels up. For this I've chosen SWMBOs magnificent oatbran cakes. Hell yes. [cool] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Hey, I've seen those cakes in Amsterdam [innocent] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PhilboBaggins Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Hey' date=' I've seen those cakes in Amsterdam [innocent'] [lol] I thought I was finding it hard to concentrate today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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