15ltr Pot - Compact Stove Top BIAB

[joules]

Hi, I wanted to make a ~7% ABV AG 10ltr batch and it turned out great.

All up about 2.90kg of grain and efficiency of ~74%. OG/FG 1.066/TBA

This means I could probably get away with a 15ltr batch of a lower ABV.

 

The problem I feel was sparging ~1.75ltr of 70°C water - it probably wasn't enough.

 

60min boil took it down to from (10.5 pre sparge) 12.25 to 8 liters.

 

Anyone else have experience with stove top BIAB?

1) Is there any issue with creating a more concentrated wort? Of course I had to top up with cold water and refridgerate the FV (pitched @ 1am )

2) Who has experience with a concentrated mash? (I suppose mine ended up being 5:1?)

2) Is it ok to sparge with more much more water (say 4 liters and damn that boil will be close to the top!) for a longer boil?

 

I'm still learning as I go and this recipe is a bit of a hybrid.

Critique encouraged.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I've not done stove top BIAB or concentrated worts like that, but one thought I had re the boil size, you could top it up with water during the boil maybe? This way you're not pushing the limits of the pot so much and risking a boilover.

[porschemad911]

G'day Joules,

 

1) I've done a few batches ending up with 50% of my target fermenter volume post-boil. I chilled with an ice bath and then topped up with tap water in the fermenter and everything tasted fine. I didn't do any hop utilization adjustments for the partial boil and the bitterness turned out pretty much what I was after. I simply used my target fermenter volume in IBU calculations.

 

2) I wouldn't call 5:1 a concentrated mash. I usually mash in my cooler at around 3 litres/kg, so yours is a fairly thin mash. I've done full volume BIAB batches at around the same ratio before and they turned out fine.

 

3) It's also fine to withhold more water and sparge with it. With my cooler mashes around half of my pre-boil volume comes from my batch sparge. Honestly I don't notice any difference in beer quality with a full volume no-sparge BIAB brew in my kettle vs a batch-sparged brew in my cooler. I still use a grain bag in my cooler as a false bottom.

 

One thing I have learned, you definitely want your pot to be at least double your post-boil volume - if only for peace of mind re boil-overs which are a mess on the stovetop. I wouldn't try and squeeze a larger boil volume into your pot. So I guess that means you are limited to an 8 litre batch size, or have to resort to post-boil dilution in the fermenter.

 

The only catch with partial boils is that you're limited to about 100 IBUs in your post-boil volume, which will obviously reduce by a variable amount depending on how much this is diluted into your fermenter. So if you target a 100 IBU double IPA in your brewing software and your post-boil volume is half your fermenter volume, you might end up disappointed with the result.

 

Good luck!

 

John

[joules]

Thanks for the replies.

G'day Joules' date='

 

The only catch with partial boils is that you're limited to about 100 IBUs in your post-boil volume, which will obviously reduce by a variable amount depending on how much this is diluted into your fermenter. So if you target a 100 IBU double IPA in your brewing software and your post-boil volume is half your fermenter volume, you might end up disappointed with the result.

 

Good luck!

 

John[/quote']

Alright 100IBUs! I forgot to mention that this is a 15ltr stock pot, I couldv'e gone with a 19ltr, but I need to draw the line somewhere. This was my third AG, the previous one I boiled out for 30mins before the 60min boil/hop schedule. Going for a big ale @ 7% was a bit of a risk. The original recipe was 80% for 10.5ltrs so when I took a post boil SG I realised it wasn't going to happen.

At this stage and probably for sometime - I'm pretty much stuck with this setup. Next time I'll allocate more water to the sparge.

 

Brew day isn't usually planned. I find out I have a window of opportunity and it's action stations. You can probably gather that from the recipe.

Cheers!

[Beerlust]

One thing I have learned' date=' you definitely want your pot to be at least double your post-boil volume - if only for peace of mind re boil-overs which are a mess on the stovetop. I wouldn't try and squeeze a larger boil volume into your pot. So I guess that means you are limited to an 8 litre batch size, or have to resort to post-boil dilution in the fermenter.

 

The only catch with partial boils is that you're limited to about 100 IBUs in your post-boil volume, which will obviously reduce by a variable amount depending on how much this is diluted into your fermenter. So if you target a 100 IBU double IPA in your brewing software and your post-boil volume is half your fermenter volume, you might end up disappointed with the result.[/quote']

One thing to take into account with stove top boiling is that you have more than ONE burner. Thus you can use more than one vessel to boil wort if required. It really isn't as restrictive as some would have you believe if you use a bit of commonsense.

 

You can cut a few corners while partial mashing with the total amount of wort you produce with your mash & sparging processes as you can compensate with extract to hit your OG marks. With pure AG though you are reliant on that mash & sparge process solely. It's a little bit of trial & error with each individuals setup to perfect the water to grain ratio & sparging volume that works best for themselves.

 

Cheers,

 

Lusty.

[joules]

I'm definately glad I'm doing small batch all grain on the stove top BIAB, before going full on into something with like an urn.

Sparging nearly 3kg ball of wet grain isn't easy. Is this the weak spot for BIAB generally? and is ~75% efficiency considered pretty good for BIAB?

Anyhow this big ale is going to be ok - if I don't screw something up. It's going to be a gift for someone (thus the low'ish IBU).

Thanks!

[joules]

Just did a tasting after a couple of weeks in the bottle..

 

VERY happy. Everything was pretty spot on managed to hit the ABV that I wanted as this is a B'day present for a friend.

 

This is my 4rd (stove top) all grain effort so after an intense period of learning the fundamentals - I'm pretty much sold.

 

Joules.

(note below the line is a rant...you are advised to stop here if you can't be bother with rants - which I understand)

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I think kit tins are great.

 

I think what got me straight to all grain along with the extra effort is totally bad advice and a totally ruined kit beer thanks to the LHBS selling me an immersible with a straight face while show casing his AG brew setup for all to see (so obviously GETS IT when I raised an issue of not being able to control temps with this POS).

 

That's $100+ down the drain (including the immersible @$50) as it cooked my wort to bits.

 

I'm looking at incorporating kits as extract additions to my AG (can only brew 15ltr batches at this time) while taking into consideration IBUs. I think this will be the way to go for me to increase batch sizes to a practical level.

(The LHBS is the only place that actually sells extracts - thus a self imposed restraint to avoid smashing the immersible over his head.)

 

So if theres going to be antiquated elitist attitudes into the perceptions of how ignorant people are that walk in off the street and the assumption that they have no idea about beer and won't tell the difference between their swill and commercial beer "LOL I'll sell him an immersible that will cook his wort but LOLs he'll probably drink it anyway...". - Then that will push people to AG sooner than later (or to just not bothering).

 

So perhaps coopers needs start a campaign with these LHBS and ask them to not sell junk equipment and bad advice to customers along with their kits.

 

Full me once, whatever.

 

Cheers