The Weary Pilgrim Brewery's Inaugural BIAB Brew Day

Comment by Pilgrim on July 27, 2009 at 8:30pm

Well it went into the keg tonight and I drank the trial jar after measuring a final gravity of 1.008. Boy did it taste good. Can't wait to get it on tap. But I will, for a few weeks anyway. 4.29ABV which is a bit low but it's a start. Beersmith reckons 58.2 IBUs with a colour of 12.6SRM.
What would I do differently? Well next time I will leave the lid partly on during the boil. It boiled down from 26.5 litres to 19 litres into the fermenter. The result of a 56 litre pot I guess. I made it up to 23 litres but in retrospect i think I would have been better to just top it up to 20 litres for 19 litres into the keg. That would have raised the ABV a bit, but I think I need a bit more grain. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Comment by James P on July 27, 2009 at 8:47pm

Hey Pilgrim, what did you dial in for your efficiency on beersmith? When I did BIAB i had it set to 70% and sorted my grain bill based on that. The 56litre pot gives you more surface area, try changing your boil off rate on beersmith, as loosing 7.5 litres from 26.5 is a boil off rate of 26%, way too high. Looks like you have a 3 ring burner, maybe you can drop it back to one or two rings to reduce the vigour of the boil to reduce the boil off? Putting the lid on can increase DMS production.

Comment by Pilgrim on July 28, 2009 at 7:33pm

Hi James, I originally left it at 75%, the default. After the brewday was over I let BeerSmith re-calculate it for me and the Brewhouse Efficiency came to 68.4%. With an efficiency into the boiler of 84.9%. Not bad. Once the pot was up to the boil I knocked it back to the middle burner but obviously it was still too high. A good rolling boil for the full hour rather than a simmer.

Comment by James P on July 28, 2009 at 7:54pm

Those are some good numbers for BIAB in my opinion if you are not adding a sparge step!. That's still a large boil off. If you are getting a rolling boil only on the middle ring you have a kick arse burner! I'm jealous.... Maybe that you need to increase your pre boil volume to compensate as you have noted. Although you did take it inside, which would have cut out any temp loss from wind etc.

Comment by John Christie on August 15, 2009 at 4:40pm

Great pics I see you have a three burner wish I had the same I'm a bit like a ducks bottom and got the two burner

Comment by Pilgrim on August 18, 2009 at 7:28pm

I'm lucky. My wife works for the local Gas Company so I get really good price :-)

Comment by Tom Innes on November 3, 2010 at 10:21am

Looks great! I see those pots on TradeMe. With 56 litres there should be plenty of room for a bigger grain bill. Assume you have fitted the tap yourself. What fabric did you use for your bag? Are you happy with the gas burner you have? Where did you get that one? I am keen to give BIAB a go myself, hence all the questions about plant. Thanks

Comment by Reviled on November 3, 2010 at 11:51am

Tom check out my blog, there are answers to all of your questions!

Comment by Tom Innes on November 3, 2010 at 12:02pm

Sweet. Thanks.

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