First AG/BIAB

[newnick]

Did my first today and it seems like it went pretty well. I used a Creme Stout kit from Midwest while listening to Cream and drinking a few homebrews. I missed the projected OG a little, ended up with a 1.058, was suppose to be 1.048, guess it will be OK. It takes a little longer compared to doing Extract batches but it's not really all that much more work. I played around with the simplebiabcalculator to get a idea how much water to start with and ended up hitting it very close to what I had wanted. I ended up with about 5.5 gal. in the fermentor with a very small amount left in the pot. All in all I'm glad I tried this method and plan on doing more in the future.

 

[mb82]

Congrats. Sounds like you got better efficiency then the recipe called for, not necessarily a bad thing.

 

[newnick]

Thanks. That's what I was thinking, but I don't know how to calculate efficiency. I had them double crush the grain, that's probably why it ended up like it did.

 

[mb82]

What was your Original Gravity and the predicted( from the recipe) OG?

Now that your doing AG brewing software makes life so much easier. Whether it is Beersmith or Brewtarget( FREE BTW) like I use or any other software. They do calculations like that for you. Also it is a great place to store recipes you like and notes about recipes as to tastes and whatnot.

 

[newnick]

I had a 1.058 after cooling the wort and transferring to the bucket, recipe said 1.048.
Are you asking the gravity prior to boiling? If so I didn't check that.
I'm going to check out Brewtarget before my next batch, I could use some help sometimes with all these numbers.

 

[RM-MN]

Congrats. Sounds like you got better efficiency then the recipe called for, not necessarily a bad thing.

This will be pretty typical for BIAB as long as the grain is double crushed or milled fine. Midwest probably assumes about 65% efficiency and you likely got closer to 80% efficiency. If you want the beer to come out like it was advertised, you can reduce the amount of grain to compensate for the increased efficiency or you could do like me and just learn to adjust your body to the increased alcohol.

If you continue to use BIAB with your all grain brewing you might want to learn to do a dunk sparge too. Reduce the amount of water in the brew pot before you mash and then use that amount to dunk the bag of grains in after you have squeezed out all the wort you can, then squeeze out the wort you get from dunk sparging. You will likely gain another 5% or more on your efficiency.

Good job on your first all grain and may you have many more successful brew sessions.

 

[newnick]

Thank you.
I saved back 3/4 gal of water from the mash because I wasn't sure everything would fit in the pot, had plenty of room though. After the mash was completed I raised the strainer basket above the pot and set it on some angles to drain into the pot. I used a bowl to press the grain down until most of the dripping stopped. I then poured the cool 3/4 gal of water over the grains and pressed again. I then set the basket over another pot to drain a while longer and pressed again, the cool water makes the bag very easy to handle. I might incorporate the same method next time.