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- Jan 19, 2021
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Hey everyone!
So I have been wanted to try my hand at BIAB for a while so a few weeks back I took a day off and brewed up an IPA that I found in the recipes section of this site. I was going for as simple of a recipe as I could find from a process standpoint, just so I could focus some of the new techniques in the BIAB method and not have to worry about some of the more technical items, such as sparging, that I don't really have the equipment for yet.
After a week of bottle conditioning, curiosity got the best of me and I opened a bottle. What I had created was what I would best describe as hopped cider, it was sweet tasting and was fairly light colored and clear, but not recognizable as an IPA by any means. Not what I was aiming for. Have been doing a lot of research to see what adjustments need to be made, but wanted to turn here as well.
Some notes from grain to glass:
Sorry for the book, ended up typing more than I intended. Thoughts and suggestions are VERY welcome. I am not trying to win any comps with my beer, just trying to make a beer that I would be proud to show off.
Thanks!
So I have been wanted to try my hand at BIAB for a while so a few weeks back I took a day off and brewed up an IPA that I found in the recipes section of this site. I was going for as simple of a recipe as I could find from a process standpoint, just so I could focus some of the new techniques in the BIAB method and not have to worry about some of the more technical items, such as sparging, that I don't really have the equipment for yet.
After a week of bottle conditioning, curiosity got the best of me and I opened a bottle. What I had created was what I would best describe as hopped cider, it was sweet tasting and was fairly light colored and clear, but not recognizable as an IPA by any means. Not what I was aiming for. Have been doing a lot of research to see what adjustments need to be made, but wanted to turn here as well.
Some notes from grain to glass:
- I started off my mash with 4 gallons of RO water purchased from the local grocery store
- I was able to maintain my mash temp over the 60 minute mash, only losing about 3 degrees F in the first 45 minutes
- I was slightly below the targeted pre-boil gravity of 1.046 so I added about 1.3oz of DME and was able to hit the target, up from 1.033 before the DME addition
- 60 minute boil that followed the hop schedule. I also used a hop spider to keep as much of the hop particles out of the wort
- While transferring the wort into the fermenter, I did strain it through a separate hop spider to filter out any additional gunk as it went into the fermentor (there was very little)
- Fermentation was 2 weeks, with OG = 1.061 and FG = 1.008, using White Labs California Ale Yeast WLP001. This was my first time using this yeast and it came out mostly solid with a small amount of liquid. As a result, I over pitched by about double the recommended amount. Yeast was stored in a refrigerator until about 7 hours prior to pitch
- At the moment I do not have functional temp control. Temps during fermentation ranged from 63F (at yeast pitch) to 73F (at peak of fermentation). I have a Tilt and track my fermentations a couple of times a day. Data shows the overall average temp during fermentation was 67.7F
- Beer was bottle conditioned at about the same temp in 22oz bottles, using 2 tabs of priming sugar per bottle
- Add gypsum and calcium chloride to the RO water pre-mash
- Not squeeze the bag while it is draining
- Massage/shake/stir the yeast packet to hopefully break up the solid and turn it into liquid
Sorry for the book, ended up typing more than I intended. Thoughts and suggestions are VERY welcome. I am not trying to win any comps with my beer, just trying to make a beer that I would be proud to show off.
Thanks!