I think this is true. I simply quit participating elsewhere because of what I can only describe as arrogance from more vocal members.
Homebrewers - Whats Fermenting?
- Thread starter BeerAdvocate
- Start date
Just grabbed a ball valve, a bunch of cpvc, and fittings to build a manifold for my 100qt cooler. If I can find a big enough kettle I can start doing 1bbl batches and if you wanna come brew with me and my buddy we will be able to split it 3 ways and split the labor too... Just sayin
Been lurking the HBT forum pretty heavy to obtain information and how-to, but have posted very little. Just reading everything I can get my eyes on, sorting the BS from reality and double checking facts if I have questions.
Next question...
Since I don't know what my efficiency will be until I do a few batches, should I increase my grain bill to compensate, or should I just boil longer if I miss my target OG?
Next question...
Since I don't know what my efficiency will be until I do a few batches, should I increase my grain bill to compensate, or should I just boil longer if I miss my target OG?
Grain is cheaper than propane. Just add more grain. Plus keep some extra light DME (dried malt extract) to make up any short comings. Boiling longer messes with your hop utilization unless you account for that. As long as you boil the DME for 15 min your done. In a pinch you could separate 1 gallon of wort and boil the DME separately and add it to fermentation later if it bugs you. Just brew and figure out your own style of doing things.
Just remember the basics. Keep it clean up to the boil. Keep it sanitary after the boil. Use the yeast your comfortable with and control your ferment temp. Swamp coolers (wet T shirt and a fan) work well with ales or brew in colder weather or just brew beers that are not as temp sensitive. Beer wants to be beer. As Charley P. Always says, Relax Don't Worry and have a homebrew.
Just remember the basics. Keep it clean up to the boil. Keep it sanitary after the boil. Use the yeast your comfortable with and control your ferment temp. Swamp coolers (wet T shirt and a fan) work well with ales or brew in colder weather or just brew beers that are not as temp sensitive. Beer wants to be beer. As Charley P. Always says, Relax Don't Worry and have a homebrew.
Last edited:
^^ exactly this. For dryer styles some simple sugar can be added to bump the abv too
Oh and be careful of HBT. There are a metric crap ton of people that just know how to brew beer on there and just can't wait to tell you what you are doing wrong. Lol. All of the good ones I've dealt with are now here on BOTL.
Being someone that has done a fair number of BIAB (because I'm lazy) I can tell you, it is not as complicated as it seems.
First- you will have to add more grain. You can sparge but that is kind of defeating the purpose. Depending on the recipe, I have had to add about 2-3 lbs of extra base malt.
Second - because of the much higher water to grain ratio, you are going to see your mash temp drop pretty significantly. Don't worry and just let it ride. Don't turn in the burner, don't add water. Just let it go. It will be fine.
First- you will have to add more grain. You can sparge but that is kind of defeating the purpose. Depending on the recipe, I have had to add about 2-3 lbs of extra base malt.
Second - because of the much higher water to grain ratio, you are going to see your mash temp drop pretty significantly. Don't worry and just let it ride. Don't turn in the burner, don't add water. Just let it go. It will be fine.
I thought you had to start with your total water volume? For a 5.25 gallon batch I was going to start with 6.5-7 gallons preboil. Is this correct depending on evaporation? This is the recipe I was going to use. You think it should be 10 lbs of 2 row? Do I need the rice hulls since it won't be sparged?
8 lbs. Pale 2-Row (UK)
1 lb. Flaked Barley
0.5 lb. Carafa III
0.5 lb. Crystal 40
0.5 lb. Chocolate Malt
0.5 lbs. Rice Hulls
1.75 oz. East Kent Goldings (4.5% AA) 60 min.
Rice hulls aren't necessary when you biab. Crush those grains pretty fine to help extraction. You need to plan on about 1gal of water absorption for every 10lbs of grain and also approx 1 gal evaporation per hour boiling. If you want to end with 5.5 gal and have a 10lb grain bill and boil for one hour you theoretically need 7.5gal to start.
Got my Scottish 80/- bottled and the Belgian dubbel is coming up to a boil. It's been a good day for beer gents
It depends how far off you are IMO. A couple points can be made up by adding 15mins to the beginning(before bittering addition) of the boil. But that's just if your a few points off. Usually this is just to make up for accidentally adding too much water to the mash or sparge. Not so much to make up for poor conversion in the mash.
Dialing in your efficiency never hurts but as long as your in the ball park of 70% each batch your doing alright. If your not around 70% on average strength beers then you've got some things to work out.
Yeah. This +1.
Yes, you start with all of your water unless you are going to sparge. Check out http://simplebiabcalculator.com/ for water values and temps. Has worked well for me.
Forget the rice hulls.
You can try with 8lbs if you'd like to get a starting point for your efficiency. I'm pretty sure your OG will be lower than anticipated, though. For me, I've just added a little more base malt so I didn't have to worry about it.
Alright getting this done today no excuses. If the recipe turns out close to what Im aiming for we'll probably end up brewing a bigger batch for Paddys day.
Irish Red
OG - 1.051
FG - 1.010
IBU - 22.4
SRM - 15.4
ABV - 5.2%
Yeast - Nottingham
Fermentation - 17 days @ 62f, 28days @38f
Grain Bill - step mash, 15mins @135f, 60min @152f
9# Fawcett Maris Otter
6oz Crystal 80
6oz Crystal 60
3oz Roasted Barley
Boil
1.25oz Kent Goldings FWH
Whirlfloc @ 10min
Irish Red
OG - 1.051
FG - 1.010
IBU - 22.4
SRM - 15.4
ABV - 5.2%
Yeast - Nottingham
Fermentation - 17 days @ 62f, 28days @38f
Grain Bill - step mash, 15mins @135f, 60min @152f
9# Fawcett Maris Otter
6oz Crystal 80
6oz Crystal 60
3oz Roasted Barley
Boil
1.25oz Kent Goldings FWH
Whirlfloc @ 10min
It's a bit early to fully tell but I'm already thinking I used a touch too much roast. Like 1oz too much. Looks more nut brown than red or amber. If 1 damn oz of roast barley makes me totally botch the color on this I'm going to be a little pissed lol.
Tightrope walkin'
Woke up at 0300 and rather than drink a glass of water and go back to bed I decided to go to the garage and brew a big Belgian quad.
Looking for a brew kettle to start BIAB batches. Have been doing a bit of research and I think I'll go with SS over aluminum because of cleaning ease and reactivity issues. I also think I would like a steamer basket with it to make it easier to lift/strain the grains and keep the bag off the bottom of the pot. I found this.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000FTEQBK/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Wondering about the correct size. I'm thinking for $20 the 62 quart would suit my needs if I moved up in batch size or brewed a bigger beer. A 5.5 gal batch would be close to 8 gal of water and 13lbs of grains. This would be very close to the 10 gal pot I was originally looking at.
Would the 62qt be too much headroom? Maybe I'm overthinking it and should just buy a big ass cheap pot and brew already...
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000FTEQBK/ref=ox_sc_act_image_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
Wondering about the correct size. I'm thinking for $20 the 62 quart would suit my needs if I moved up in batch size or brewed a bigger beer. A 5.5 gal batch would be close to 8 gal of water and 13lbs of grains. This would be very close to the 10 gal pot I was originally looking at.
Would the 62qt be too much headroom? Maybe I'm overthinking it and should just buy a big ass cheap pot and brew already...
Buy the biggest pot your budget will allow. I use aluminum and the only special thing you need to do is clean really good and boil water for about an hour in it before you use it to brew