Oatmeal Cookie Brown Ale - First AG batch BIAB

[bosster01]

Hello!

I'm doing my first AG batch, and I figured instead of making a notebook I could document my recipes and experience on here. I decided to go with the BIAB method because I have a 10 gallon SS pot and I don't want to buy more equipment until I figure out what my next step will be (I like the 1 vessel systems like grainfather etc).

I plan on posting my process with photos & final product with reviews of how it turned out.

This is based on the NB recipe.

Recipe:
5.5 lb fawcett optic pale malt
1 lb flaked oats (didn't grind these, I considered toasting them but didn't have time)
1 lb Belgian Munich malt
1 lb Belgian special B
.5 lb brown malt
.33 lb fawcett pale chocolate

Total grain bill - 9.33 lb for a 3 gallon recipe.
Expected OG - 1.066

HOPS/Additions:
1 oz UK bramling cross hops for bittering (60 minutes)
1 oz styrian golding hops (10 minute boil at end for aroma).
1 cinnamon stick added at flame out.

YEAST: 11 gram packet of danstar nottingham ale yeast that I will rehydrate prior to pitching. I've never used dry yeast, I read that an 11 gram packet should have 200 billion cells which should be more than enough if that is true. - any opinions?

MASH:
I preheated 5.5 gallons of cold untreated tap water to 170 > added all my grain > and it only dropped down to 160 so I added like 8 ice cubes and got it down to my target match temp of 154-156. I will let the mash rest for 75 minutes with no mash out - because I've read that mash out is useless for BIAB? - any opinions?

I hope the temp mishap doesn't affect the fermentability of my beer IE I hope I didn't denature all the enzymes with the period of excess heat.

LAUTERING:
This is BIAB I will lift out my grain bag and squeeze the juices out without any actual sparging.

BOIL:
60 minute boil with the additions as listed above.

Fermentation
I cooled the wort using an immersion chiller to 79 degrees prior to transferring to my fermenter. I pitched the rehydrated dry yeast at 70F and placed in my fermentation chamber.

I plan on attaching photos later today of the process.
Other than the mash I had one addition mishap - while I was trying to let my grain bag drip into my boil kettle it fell back in and I lost like 2 cups of wort due to the splash. I then decided to quickly squeeze the bag to get as much liquid as possible out and then I just decided to throw away whatever liquid remained.

 

[hammis]

sounds tasty

 

[TandemTails]

Cool idea. What was your actual OG? Did it come close to your expected one of 1.066?

My only concern is regarding the cinnamon stick. If you're adding it at flameout it's only going to get like 20 minutes of steeping time while you chill your wort. Do you think that's enough for any real cinnamon flavor to carry through? I'm wondering in this application if it would be better to have used ground cinnamon or to add the actual stick after the first few days of primary fermentation has completed.

Keep us posted!

 

[bosster01]

Cool idea. What was your actual OG? Did it come close to your expected one of 1.066?

My only concern is regarding the cinnamon stick. If you're adding it at flameout it's only going to get like 20 minutes of steeping time while you chill your wort. Do you think that's enough for any real cinnamon flavor to carry through? I'm wondering in this application if it would be better to have used ground cinnamon or to add the actual stick after the first few days of primary fermentation has completed.

Keep us posted!

Hi! I still mean to post pictures of the brew day. I'll do that today. My OG was just about 1.066-1.068.

I will be bottling it after 3 weeks in primary. The fermentation process is just dying down.

This is my first time I've ever used cinnamon. I was too scared to leave a cinnamon stick in the primary because I was nervous about too much flavor being extracted over the 3 weeks in primary. I ended up adding 2 sticks at flame out > then filtering out the 2 sticks when I poured the wort into the primary fermenter.

Why do you say to wait until the first few days of fermentation complete? Also any idea how much cinnamon per gallon would be appropriate?

Appreciate the feedback!

 

[TandemTails]

Hi! I still mean to post pictures of the brew day. I'll do that today. My OG was just about 1.066-1.068.

I will be bottling it after 3 weeks in primary. The fermentation process is just dying down.

This is my first time I've ever used cinnamon. I was too scared to leave a cinnamon stick in the primary because I was nervous about too much flavor being extracted over the 3 weeks in primary. I ended up adding 2 sticks at flame out > then filtering out the 2 sticks when I poured the wort into the primary fermenter.

Why do you say to wait until the first few days of fermentation complete? Also any idea how much cinnamon per gallon would be appropriate?

Appreciate the feedback!

I was saying wait a few days due to what i've read about active fermentation consuming some of the subtle aromatics of fruits and spices. If you add it after a few days and fermentation has slowed down, you'll lose less of the cinnamon aroma and flavor.

It's the same reason people usually add fruit and spices in secondary but just throwing it in primary after a few days usually has the same effect without the hassle of having to actually rack to secondary.

as far as how much cinnamon to add... I'm not really sure. I'd probably just look in the recipe database here for some highly rated spiced beers that use cinnamon to get a rough idea of how much they're using. I'm sure a lot of it depends on whether you're using whole sticks or powder and how powerful it actually is

 

[bosster01]

This also ended up being my first kegged brew! And I love it. Initially it tasted weird but after a week or two post keg it really got pretty tasty.

Has a nutty flavor doesn't taste like any beer that I've had before. Just a faint hint of bitterness very smooth. It's darker than anticipated and cloudy, but I didn't use any fining agents.

Overall I'm pleased but next time I'm going to add more cinnamon and some raisins. I forgot to measure the FG sadly. But it's definitely strong. Not sweet/under attenuated tasting.