Process Check (BIAB+no-chill in kettle)

[mykrausenhurts]

Hey guys, I am just now starting to do my basic research for my first attempt at brewing anything. I was going to run this by yall and see if there were any glaring mistakes that I was making from the get go. I am trying to brew on a shoe string budget in my apartment on an electrive stove so we shall see how this goes.

Right now I plan to attempt EdWorts Hefeweizen all grain 5.5 gallon recipe and have all the supplies I need for that on hand. I plan to mash the grains in two separate 4 gallon stainless steel containers in order to help my stove take the load. Here is a big remaining question: Should I only add hops to one of the pots or try to split them between the two? I also know I will need to do some adjustments to exactly when I add the hops because the no-chill will change those times.

After the grains and hops are out I plan to boil them both for the 60 minutes on my crappy stove. After that I will be consolidating the wort into one of the 4 gallon pots except for 1 gallon which I will use as a starter for my Wyeast 3068. Do I need to dilute this 1 gallon? Am I ok to just smack the pack and the pitch it in once its down to a good temperature? A

After the main portion of the wort has returned to room temperature about 24 hours later in the kettle I will combine everything into the Better Bottle and proceed with standard techniques from there. Any glaring issues yall see? Thanks for any help!

 

[porterpounder]

Adding hop to one of the boil pots should be sufficient with only 10 ibus. Don't mash the hops. You're going to want to dilute the starter to around 1.030 and you're only going to need a quart or so, not the whole gallon. That yeast will take off.

 

[mykrausenhurts]

Ok this may be a stupid question. But I have no intention at this point of measuring the gravity of my beer. I may be a complete moron but what good does it do me to know the alcohol percentage of the beer? I searched around for why I needed to measure the gravity of my beer but only found results for how to measure it hah. I am shooting for a specific taste and have no real desire to know how much alcohol is in the beer (if in fact that is the purpose of measuring the gravity).

 

[TexasWine]

Ok this may be a stupid question. But I have no intention at this point of measuring the gravity of my beer. I may be a complete moron but what good does it do me to know the alcohol percentage of the beer? I searched around for why I needed to measure the gravity of my beer but only found results for how to measure it hah. I am shooting for a specific taste and have no real desire to know how much alcohol is in the beer (if in fact that is the purpose of measuring the gravity).

One of the purposes of measuring your gravity is to know if you are making the beer you intended to make. For instance, if your extraction efficiency is lower than what you had intended you could end up with an out of balance IPA when you had planned on a big barley wine. If you have a stuck fermentation you could end up with a sickly sweet beer instead of the crisp pale ale you were shooting for. But you'll never know what's causing the issue unless you take gravity readings, both before and after fermentation. Knowing the ABC is simply a side benefit, not the purpose.

Also, gravity readings help show what impacts certain process tweaks have. For example, say I wanted to shorten my brew day by going to a 30 minute mash. The best way to know if this is a reasonable idea, without risking making a batch of bad beer, is to measure my gravity at the 30 minute mark to see if conversion is complete and I've hit my gravity.

In my opinion, if you want to make the best beer you are capable of, gravity readings will be one part of your process.

 

[mykrausenhurts]

One of the purposes of measuring your gravity is to know if you are making the beer you intended to make. For instance, if your extraction efficiency is lower than what you had intended you could end up with an out of balance IPA when you had planned on a big barley wine. If you have a stuck fermentation you could end up with a sickly sweet beer instead of the crisp pale ale you were shooting for. But you'll never know what's causing the issue unless you take gravity readings, both before and after fermentation. Knowing the ABC is simply a side benefit, not the purpose.

Also, gravity readings help show what impacts certain process tweaks have. For example, say I wanted to shorten my brew day by going to a 30 minute mash. The best way to know if this is a reasonable idea, without risking making a batch of bad beer, is to measure my gravity at the 30 minute mark to see if conversion is complete and I've hit my gravity.

In my opinion, if you want to make the best beer you are capable of, gravity readings will be one part of your process.

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I will look into getting what I need to measure.

 

[1MadScientist]

If it hasn't been said yet, you can find your bitterness to gravity ratio

 

[Bassman2003]

Sorry being obvious here but it sounds like you might benefit from researching basic brewing practice a little more before brewing. No chill might be a cool technique but you still have to brew the beer as always. I would focus on brewing correctly (sanitation, boiling hops ... yeast management etc...) first. Tons of info out there and on this website.

Maybe start with an extract?

 

[mykrausenhurts]

Sorry being obvious here but it sounds like you might benefit from researching basic brewing practice a little more before brewing. No chill might be a cool technique but you still have to brew the beer as always. I would focus on brewing correctly (sanitation, boiling hops ... yeast management etc...) first. Tons of info out there and on this website.

Maybe start with an extract?

'obvious' isn't the word for what you are being.

 

[Bassman2003]

Oh please... Just trying to point out that there are a lot of basics you would benefit from before you try to brew. Like making a starter prior to brewing so it is ready to pitch rather than using the wort you are brewing with.

Yes, you have to start somewhere but I think early success is more important than jumping in head first with all grain, BIAB, multiple pots etc... Not trying to discourage but maybe point to a better direction to start?

 

[mykrausenhurts]

Oh please... Just trying to point out that there are a lot of basics you would benefit from before you try to brew. Like making a starter prior to brewing so it is ready to pitch rather than using the wort you are brewing with.

Yes, you have to start somewhere but I think early success is more important than jumping in head first with all grain, BIAB, multiple pots etc... Not trying to discourage but maybe point to a better direction to start?

Thanks bud, so helpful. I am fully aware that I do not know everything there is to know about homebrew. Don't pretend your hobby is some amazing science and only you are the righteous holder of its knowledge oh holy Bassman2003. Yeah, I am starting somewhere. I have a 5.5 gallons of wort fermenting in my carboy right now. Tell someone new, "You are new go learn something" while they are asking questions for that purpose seems a little back assward.

 

[Bassman2003]

This is an awkward thread so please let me apologize and start over.

I want to you to join the hobby and be happy. This hobby is about learning. So when I say you would benefit from going and learning, that is par for the course.

Nobody is going to be able to teach you how to brew in a forum thread. You had a lot of things "off" in what you have written. Saying "go ahead, it's fine" does not help you in the long run does it?

Just seems starting in the middle rather than the beginning.

 

[Ninoid]

I regularly use the BIAB + No Chill method, but so far I have not used anything for wort fining.

Does this work no chill and yeast work correctly after wort fining?