First BIAB Checklist

[MrTCS]

Been a while since I brewed and just purchased some new equipment to do my first AG batch. It's been several months since I brewed my last batch and with the new steps for BIAB I wanted to verify I wasn't missing any obvious steps. Below is what I have lined up, am I skipping anything?


3 Days before brew day
-Yeast Starter - 1.4 Quarts Water, 4.5 Ounces DME

1 Day before brew day
-Place yeast starter in refrigerator
-Prep equipment and fill kettle with 7.97 gallons of water with camden tablet

Brew Day
-Sanitize everything
-Remove starter from fridge and decant
-Bring water to 156°
-Add grains and stir, verify target 149° temp
-Cover kettle and wait 60 minutes
-Heat to 170 and wait 10 minutes
-Remove bag and drain/squeeze
-Verify 6.62 gallons water and check OG (target 1.042)
-Bring to a boil and add 60 minute addition
-Place chiller and whirlfloc in 15 minutes before end
-Add 10 minute addition
-Turn off heat and start chiller flow
-Bring temp to ~70°, check OG (target 1.056)
-Drain to ferment bucket and shake
-Pitch yeast, cover, move to ferment location

Thanks in advance!

 

[BrewerE]

you don't NEED to put the chiller in at 45min...you can put it in at flame out and you'll be fine...

Plenty of time with plenty of heat (and it doesn't jack with your boil)

I spray mine with starsan first though just to be anal about it.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Sanitize everything change to sanitize everything that will touch the chilled wort. No need to sanitize anything pre boil.

I would decant the starter prior to pitching, not at the beginning of your brew day,
don't even open it...less exposure the better. Moot maybe, but no need to open and decant it hours before pitch....

The heat to 170 mash out is not needed IMHO, and may cause you issues, aka scorching burnt bag etc....skip it unless you are sure what you're doing. First time around the track, skip it IMO.

The gain minimal to zero, and the debate is still going on lol.

 

[RM-MN]

Been a while since I brewed and just purchased some new equipment to do my first AG batch. It's been several months since I brewed my last batch and with the new steps for BIAB I wanted to verify I wasn't missing any obvious steps. Below is what I have lined up, am I skipping anything?


3 Days before brew day
-Yeast Starter - 1.4 Quarts Water, 4.5 Ounces DME

1 Day before brew day
-Place yeast starter in refrigerator
-Prep equipment and fill kettle with 7.97 gallons of water with camden tablet

Brew Day
-Sanitize everything
-Remove starter from fridge and decant
-Bring water to 156°
-Add grains and stir, verify target 149° temp
-Cover kettle and wait 60 minutes
-Heat to 170 and wait 10 minutes
-Remove bag and drain/squeeze
-Verify 6.62 gallons water and check OG (target 1.042)
-Bring to a boil and add 60 minute addition
-Place chiller and whirlfloc in 15 minutes before end
-Add 10 minute addition
-Turn off heat and start chiller flow
-Bring temp to ~70°, check OG (target 1.056)
-Drain to ferment bucket and shake
-Pitch yeast, cover, move to ferment location

Thanks in advance!

Forget the step in red. It isn't needed and does give you a chance to melt the bag to the bottom of the pot.

The chiller should go in before the wort cools below 150. Anything above that will pasteurize it. It doesn't need to be boiled.

Chill more if you are able to. I'd prefer my wort to be in the high 50's over wort that is too warm. Once the yeast start (and it looks like you are making a big starter so the yeast will start quickly) it will be difficult to bring the temperature down as the yeast activity will want to raise it instead. Higher temps usually lead to off flavors and possibly fusel alcohol. Cool ferments are cleaner.

I'd probably start the yeast starter only 2 days before brew day and pitch the entire starter without decanting. There will be nearly as much yeast in the beer that you plan to decant as there will be settled to the bottom in such a short time and a quart of starter wort won't affect the flavor of your 6.2 gallons of wort much at all.

 

[TexasWine]

-Remove bag and drain/squeeze
-Verify 6.62 gallons water and check OG (target 1.042)

I'd swap the order of these two. Take the sample first. If you find your gravity is low, mash a little longer and continue to periodically measure your gravity. If the gravity plateaus and you haven't hit your pre boil number, proceed with the boil and be ready to take some corrective action, like add some extract or boil longer (adjusting your hop schedule of course). Or you can do nothing and accept the lower gravity.

 

[seven9st_surfer]

Been a while since I brewed and just purchased some new equipment to do my first AG batch. It's been several months since I brewed my last batch and with the new steps for BIAB I wanted to verify I wasn't missing any obvious steps. Below is what I have lined up, am I skipping anything?


3 Days before brew day
-Yeast Starter - 1.4 Quarts Water, 4.5 Ounces DME

1 Day before brew day
-Place yeast starter in refrigerator
-Prep equipment and fill kettle with 7.97 gallons of water with camden tablet

Brew Day
-Sanitize everything
-Remove starter from fridge and decant
-Bring water to 156°
-Add grains and stir, verify target 149° temp
-Cover kettle and wait 60 minutes
-Heat to 170 and wait 10 minutes
-Remove bag and drain/squeeze
-Verify 6.62 gallons water and check OG (target 1.042)
-Bring to a boil and add 60 minute addition
-Place chiller and whirlfloc in 15 minutes before end
-Add 10 minute addition
-Turn off heat and start chiller flow
-Bring temp to ~70°, check OG (target 1.056)
-Drain to ferment bucket and shake
-Pitch yeast, cover, move to ferment location

Thanks in advance!

A lot of places say to add whirlfloc at 15 min, but anything past 10 minutes actually denatures the active ingredients. Also, for 5 gallon batches, anything over 1/2 tablet doesn't help anymore. I use 1/2 tablet at 5 minutes, and get a ton of coagulation that drops out. And if all that stuff makes it out of the kettle into the fermenter, it's not a big deal, it'll continue to settle out with all the trub.

And I second not decanting the starter at the beginning of brew day. I usually take mine out of the fridge at the beginning of brew day and let it get to room temp while I brew (or put it in my ferm chamber to get to my target wort temp). Then, when I'm ready to pitch, it's reasonably close to the wort temp to prevent thermal shock. Then, just decant and pitch.

 

[WBCo]

If you decide that you don't want to decant your starter (I don't) then there is some merit in starting your starter closer to brew day and pitching while your starter is at high krausen. No need to wake up the yeast, have them multiply, and then put them back to sleep in the refrigerator just so you can wake them up again when you pitch them into your wort. With similar pitch rates fermentation will start quicker with an active starter over a refrigerated one.

 

[MrTCS]

Great feedback everybody, really appreciate it. Mash out is out, whirlfloc pushed back to 5 minutes, and great info on the starter too. I'll also take a sample before I pull the bag out and make sure I'm close.

Thanks all!

 

[Build]

If you don't have a way to insulate the kettle while mashing you could drop below your 149F before you've converted completely. A wrap with reflectix or heavy blanket usually will maintain temp within a degree. Don't use this with the heat/burner on of course. Most of your conversion is within the first half hour.


I'd be sure to aerate the wort well. Shake it like crazy for 3-5 minutes or more. I also would try to bring the temp below 70F before I pitched. It can rise quickly and get away from you. Which yeast are you using? What's your recipe?

I hope you like biab. I think it's a great way to brew. I used to do multi vessel, but get the same or better results with biab. And only a 3.5-4 hour, start to finish brew day. I've seen a 2 barrel biab system that was amazing. Used a crane to pull the bag.

 

[MrTCS]

Hopefully I got the insulation part down. Been working on this reflectix cover for two days when my kids were napping. Double layer easy remove wrap and then a single layer cover for entire kettle. I'm brewing a saison and using Wyeast 3724 Belgian saison yeast. It's comfort range is supposed to be 70°-85° which is why I was originally shooting for a 70° pitch temp. View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1460258885.209131.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1460258902.626307.jpg

 

[Build]

Wow, that looks great. Is that single layer attached to the kettle? Is it easy to remove as well?

 

[The_Bishop]

If it isn't, you should make it easily detachable. No matter how careful you are, a drip or two will make it's way between the pot and the insulation. It will get nasty if not cleaned out. Voice of experience.

 

[MrTCS]

I can add and remove all layers in about 30 seconds. The top cover one just slides over the whole thing and velcros in the back. I can also un-Velcro the top if I need to stir without removing anything. I'll try and get a few more pictures later.

I'll have it off during any active heating of the kettle, add the double layer wrap before adding grains, and put the final layer on when mash time starts.

 

[tennesseean_87]

A lot of places say to add whirlfloc at 15 min, but anything past 10 minutes actually denatures the active ingredients. Also, for 5 gallon batches, anything over 1/2 tablet doesn't help anymore. I use 1/2 tablet at 5 minutes, and get a ton of coagulation that drops out. And if all that stuff makes it out of the kettle into the fermenter, it's not a big deal, it'll continue to settle out with all the trub.

And I second not decanting the starter at the beginning of brew day. I usually take mine out of the fridge at the beginning of brew day and let it get to room temp while I brew (or put it in my ferm chamber to get to my target wort temp). Then, when I'm ready to pitch, it's reasonably close to the wort temp to prevent thermal shock. Then, just decant and pitch.

I am one to decant early for this reason. The yeast cake compacts when it's chilled. It seems to me that it will stay more compact if you decant while it's chilled, then let the cake warm up.

I guess you could skip decanting if you calculate your recipe to include the volume and DME used for the starter. OP could subtract 1.4 qts from his total water and add 4.5 of DME to his recipe and subtract base malt to make up for it.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Then, when I'm ready to pitch, it's reasonably close to the wort temp to prevent thermal shock. Then, just decant and pitch.

This used to be a concern of mine also, but I recall Denny saying it's really not an issue to pitch a cold starter or saved yeast. I still try and take it out of the fridge early, but if I forget, in it goes. I think yeast dislike the warm to cold, more than the cold to warm.