The Bar Towel

My first two BIABs are in the works.

Did an American pale (aka "pail") ale last week that is now in secondary with some dry hops. It's very promising, got an 1.58 OG to 1.12 span in the attenuation. Tastes pretty good already!

Last night I brewed up a frankenstein of sorts. I call it a cranberry porter, but it's more of a robust brown ale with cranberries. I'm trying to get a dryer less boozy flavour than the normal jam beer category. It's got some serious lag in fermenting, but there is a wee bit of activity after 18 hours. I suppose there was quite a lot of complex action for the yeas to figure out.

dutchcanuck wrote:I'm curious Matt, what is your setup like? After the Learn2Brew event I'm sold on the Brew In A Bag (BIAB) method...any thoughts?

In my limited experience, BIAB rocks!!!

I just got a huge sheet of cheap muslin and doubled it up. I have a small wire false bottom in the pot (it's a recycled round microwave rack. Drape the muslin into the pot as close to the contours of the pot as you can. I hold it in place with a bungee cord around the pot.
Bring up to strike temp (160F for me) and add your grain, I mash between 152 & 154 F. . Stir to keep the clumps out and mash away. I do a 168F mashout and gather and slowly lift the bag.
Here it can get messy, I slip a wire rack between the bag and pot to drain. As it drains I twist the bag (hot, hot hot) to squeeze out the wort. It takes about 10-15 minutes to drain out. Mash is done!

I have been doing 5 gallon batches (about 7 gallons of water to start) in a 9 gallon pot. The biggest grain bill so far was 14lbs. After that it's pretty heavy to get out of the pot and a more elaborate system would be required.

For small batch or experimental brewing, this appears to be the best way to go.

Tonight to prep for a brew this weekend, I made some Belgian candi sugar and made a starter with WL530. Hopefully I'll be doing some approximation of a tripel on the weekend.

Tapsucker wrote:

dutchcanuck wrote:I'm curious Matt, what is your setup like? After the Learn2Brew event I'm sold on the Brew In A Bag (BIAB) method...any thoughts?

In my limited experience, BIAB rocks!!!

I just got a huge sheet of cheap muslin and doubled it up. I have a small wire false bottom in the pot (it's a recycled round microwave rack. Drape the muslin into the pot as close to the contours of the pot as you can. I hold it in place with a bungee cord around the pot.
Bring up to strike temp (160F for me) and add your grain, I mash between 152 & 154 F. . Stir to keep the clumps out and mash away. I do a 168F mashout and gather and slowly lift the bag.
Here it can get messy, I slip a wire rack between the bag and pot to drain. As it drains I twist the bag (hot, hot hot) to squeeze out the wort. It takes about 10-15 minutes to drain out. Mash is done!

I have been doing 5 gallon batches (about 7 gallons of water to start) in a 9 gallon pot. The biggest grain bill so far was 14lbs. After that it's pretty heavy to get out of the pot and a more elaborate system would be required.

For small batch or experimental brewing, this appears to be the best way to go.

Be careful not to twisting the bag too much. In my experiences it can bring some astringent qualities to your brews. Which a little would be ok for a stout or something similar, but not for your hoppy brews for example.

Thanks for the tip Phat Matt. I could see myself squeezing the bag to get every last drop of wort out. I have some work to do around the house to prep the area where my brewery is going to be built and I plan on brewing my first batch in January.

I really appreciate all the tips I'm getting from you guys.

Well, it was -22 here this morning (-32 with the windchill), but I got my last batch of 2010 done. Despite the frigid cold, I still nailed all my target temps, and my final volume and gravity were bang on. It is a hoppy saison/belgian IPA sorta thing, should be interesting.

A westmalle clone before the sun (and the children) rise on a Saturday morning.

icemachine wrote:Recipe I'm putting together for next weekend, not sure I'm in entirely done tweaking it, any comments? I'm aiming for a winter pumpkin warmer.

3 kg Canadian 2 Row
2 kg Rye Malt
1 kg Amber Malt
250 g Chocolate Malt
1.3 kg Demara

60g whole Cascade at t60
3 kg pie pumpkin t30
30g whole Cascade at t15
1 tsp each at t10:
Clove
Allspice
Cinnamon
Nutmeg

28L pre-boil
23L post boil

Danstar Nottingham Dry yeast

Anticipated OG 1062
Anticipated OG 1012
Anticipated ABV 6.5%
Anticipated IBU 26.5

Starting boil now on this, I did take the Rye down to 1.5 kg, the Demara to 1 kg and added 750g of Carafa. Also dropped the second hop addition while bumping the first to 80g and and cut the spices to 1/2 tsp, except cloves which I'll do a 1/4

Plan to brew 10 gallons of Stone-inspired IPA this weekend. I'm going to split the batch and ferment half with US-05, and the other half with a Belgian yeast strain. I have WY1214 and Safbrew T-58 on hand. As far as I can gather, Stone use a strain similar to WY1388 in their Cali-Belgique (which works out great IMO). Anyone have experience in fermenting an IPA wort with Belgian yeast, and have thoughts on what definitely does not work?

cannondale wrote:Anyone have experience in fermenting an IPA wort with Belgian yeast, and have thoughts on what definitely does not work?

Go with a simple grain bill, I prefer 100% 2-row, maybe a smidge of light/med crystal.

markaberrant wrote:

cannondale wrote:Anyone have experience in fermenting an IPA wort with Belgian yeast, and have thoughts on what definitely does not work?

Go with a simple grain bill, I prefer 100% 2-row, maybe a smidge of light/med crystal.

That's what I've been thinking. Pale and ~5% either C20 or C55. I think if you try to get cute and start adding things like aromatic and special B to 'belgian it up', you're going to end up with a muddled result. There is enough going on as it is with the ameri-hops and belgian yeast.

Any thoughts on yeast? The belgian IPA's that work seem to employ strains that throw complex esters and some phenolics. I think the 1214 may work, but it's a difficult thing to predict.

cannondale wrote:

markaberrant wrote:

cannondale wrote:Anyone have experience in fermenting an IPA wort with Belgian yeast, and have thoughts on what definitely does not work?

Go with a simple grain bill, I prefer 100% 2-row, maybe a smidge of light/med crystal.

That's what I've been thinking. Pale and ~5% either C20 or C55. I think if you try to get cute and start adding things like aromatic and special B to 'belgian it up', you're going to end up with a muddled result. There is enough going on as it is with the ameri-hops and belgian yeast.

Any thoughts on yeast? The belgian IPA's that work seem to employ strains that throw complex esters and some phenolics. I think the 1214 may work, but it's a difficult thing to predict.

i like 1388 for belgian ipas

also keep your ibus low ~30, OG @ 1.055 and dry hop the hell out of it

matt7215 wrote:

cannondale wrote:

markaberrant wrote: Go with a simple grain bill, I prefer 100% 2-row, maybe a smidge of light/med crystal.

That's what I've been thinking. Pale and ~5% either C20 or C55. I think if you try to get cute and start adding things like aromatic and special B to 'belgian it up', you're going to end up with a muddled result. There is enough going on as it is with the ameri-hops and belgian yeast.

Any thoughts on yeast? The belgian IPA's that work seem to employ strains that throw complex esters and some phenolics. I think the 1214 may work, but it's a difficult thing to predict.

i like 1388 for belgian ipas

also keep your ibus low ~30, OG @ 1.055 and dry hop the hell out of it

Game plan is...

10.5 Gallon Split Batch:
Target OG: 1.075
Target IBU: 70
Fermentables: 90% MO, 7% Crystal 55°L & 3% Cane Sugar
Hops: Magnum/Perle (bittering), Centennial (flavour/aroma)
First Half: Ferment with US-05, dry hop with Centennial/Chinook
Second Half: Ferment with WY1214, dry hop with Amarillo/Columbus

I'm curious what flavours will that hop combination impart to your brew?

dutchcanuck wrote:I'm curious what flavours will that hop combination impart to your brew?

Magnum/Perle will give a smooth bitterness to both.
The US-05/Centennial/Chinook should be piney/citrusy. Going for something along the lines of Stone IPA.
The WY1214/Amarillo/Columbus will be citrusy/fruity, to go along with the esters that the yeast will throw. Going for something along the lines of Flying Dog Raging Bitch.