BIAB Blonde Ale

[JohnSant]

I thought I would try a simple BIAB recipe. This will be my first and with running the numbers through Brew Mate this is what came up with:

Batch size: 2.5 gal
Total grain : 4.706 lbs.
Total hops : 1.0 oz.
OG: 1.048
FG: 1.012
ABV: 4.72
SRM: 5.8
IBU: 33.0
Efficiency: 70%
Boil time: 60 min.

Grain Bill:

3.75 lbs. American 2-Row
0.406 lbs. Carapils (Dextrine)
0.275 lbs. Crystal 10
0.275 lbs. melanoidin or Vienna

Hops:

0.30 oz. Cascade Pellet @ 60 min.
0.30 oz. Cascade Pellet @ 20 min.
0.40 oz. Fuggles @ 5 min.

Single step infusion at 152 deg. for 60 min. Fermented at 68 deg. with WLP-051.

It looks good on Brew Mate and it was a modification for a recipe for 5 gal., any help or comments would help and like I said my first BIAB so want to keep it simple.

[jimjohson]

Brew Mate give you a pre boil gravity?

[Inkleg]

Looks like a nice Pale Ale to me and I do enjoy Fuggles. I'd go with the Vienna.

[JohnSant]

JJ no pre boil gravity just the OG and FG do I need to have a pre boil? If so why?

Inkleg I was thinking of going with Vienna not sure about the Melanoidin.

doing some more reading should I do a mash out at 170 deg. if so how long? (60 min.)

[jimjohson]

I use it to help when my efficiencies go south. I got BeerSmith so I do the pre boil OG and volume to get an efficiency. If it's way lower than the expected, I switch back to design change the effic. to what it really is and figure out how much DME I need to fix it.

[Inkleg]

You could do a mash out. Raise the temperature to 168* while stirring so your bag won't burn, hold for 10 minutes then pull the bag.
I have done this MANY ways and have not been able to tell the difference between any of them.

Left the bag in while stirring to 168*, hold for 10, lift, squeeze.

Withheld 2 gallons of water from the mash, heat in a separate pot to 168*, pour over the bag hanging above the pot, squeeze the bag.

Withheld 2 gallons of mash water, pour 68* water over hanging bag and squeeze. (results in a cooler bag to squeeze)

All have resulted in great beer. Oh, I do 5 gallon batches.

[mashani]

Or as I do, heat some reserved water in a separate pot, let it sit a bit, then dunk the bag in it like a tea bag in a cup of tea, let it sit a bit, dunk again (repeat a bunch of times), pull it, squeeze bag, and then add that to the wort. That's what I call a t-bag sparge. This only for smaller batches (2.5 gallon target). Bag gets to be a bigger pain to handle when you got to large batch sizes and/or higher gravities with a lot of grain.

[JohnSant]

Thanks all not sure what I'll do but I'll think about and get back to you. At the moment I'm putting instructions on paper so I won't miss any steps.

[myhorselikesbeer]

I think that the Vienna will be good like Ink said as well as what he said about the mash out. The mash out in Biab is supposed to be 2-fold... first is to stop enzyme activity( which will occur once you start heating for your boil.....so if your starch/sugar conversion was not complete then a little more enzyme activity is not a bad thing.) 2nd is to thin out the mash so it is not as viscous and you will get more sweet wort.
If you are doing a full volume biab then dunking up and down and squeeze like Mashini said is all that is needed. If doing a partial volume the the second pot of heated water is needed for either dunking or pouring/rinse.

The recipe looks good.n Love Fuggles.

[JohnSant]

I think I'm going to do the mash out not to sure I could hit my target wort level if I tea the bag(only 3.3 gal. on pre boil).

Will use Vienna not Melanoidin .

I going to see if Qbrew will give me a pre boil OG if not I'll look elsewhere.

I guess I should pick up some DME when I get my other stuff

[jimjohson]

I worked it up on BS and I got you having an OG of .049 and a pre boil of .039 @ 3.10 gal

[mashani]

The mash out in Biab is supposed to

I agree with your reasoning, but just to be totally open minded - in old school (as in how the Aussies started it) traditional full volume BIAB there actually isn't a mash out or sparge at all. You don't have to do either. You might get better efficiency by doing so. Or you might get just as good efficiency by simply mashing for a longer amount of time (which also extends enzyme activity) and/or simply by stirring the grain a lot to release locked up goodies. It depends on your setup and what you make in it.

[JohnSant]

JJ thanks for the pre boil OG. I think I'm going to have to get BS to get my numbers where they will help. (I need all the help I can get)

Mashani; so if I increase the mash time to say 90 min. and stir often I may not need to do a mash out?

[jimjohson]

It isn't the pre boil gravity as much as it is BS giving you an efficiency rating. If the % it gives me is off a lot I then go to design and change my effi. to what I was just told and see how much DME I have to add to bring it up to the numbers I was shooting for. I guess you could do the same by just adding DME gradually and take readings till you get the gravity your looking for in the pre boil wort.

[myhorselikesbeer]

Mashani wrote:
I agree with your reasoning, but just to be totally open minded...


I agree completely... I was just trying to show that there are different ways to achieve the same basic results. I have done most of them and have adapted to what gets me the highest efficiencies. It is nice to know when moving to the next level of brewing that there are options and that in the end, 99% of the time great beer will be made.