- Joined
- Nov 2, 2017
- Messages
- 312
- Reaction score
- 137
- Points
- 43
I just started homebrewing with BIAB, totally from scratch. I brewed my first IPA about two weeks ago and tried a British Special Bitter yesterday. When I finished my brew yesterday I tasted the sample from it as I took the OG, and I also checked the SG on the IPA and had a sample taste from it. Disappointed I suppose is the word for it. I won't get into it much more, but I think my conclusion now is that I'm a bit too eager to experiment and play around with things I don't know too much about (yet).
So, my plan now is do a BIAB brew as it's supposed to be (and yes, I know I should have done that from start... but I'm too much of an engineer and got carried away!). But reading up on BIAB, once more, I see so many variations and alternatives I don't even know now what would be the "right" way to do it. For instance we got:
I might as well throw in a bonus question here, considering my first brews. Would a sample from those mentioned above tasted good (or sort of good) or should I not give up hope on them just yet? The IPA tasted...not much (haven't done the dry hopping yet though) and the Bitter tasted... bitter
So, my plan now is do a BIAB brew as it's supposed to be (and yes, I know I should have done that from start... but I'm too much of an engineer and got carried away!). But reading up on BIAB, once more, I see so many variations and alternatives I don't even know now what would be the "right" way to do it. For instance we got:
- Start with the full amount of water in the kettle from time zero ... OR....
- Start with X amount of water for the mashing, and then add Y amount of water to get to the boil size (no real sparging, just squeezing the bag somewhat and add water afterwards) ... OR ...
- Start with X amount of water for the mashing, and then sparge add Y amount of water (I'm sorry if I formulate this wrong, not only new to brewing but also not having English as my native language)
- Mash time, some say 70 minutes, but some say 90 minutes
- Boil time, some say 60 minutes, some say 90 minutes
- ...etc ...
I might as well throw in a bonus question here, considering my first brews. Would a sample from those mentioned above tasted good (or sort of good) or should I not give up hope on them just yet? The IPA tasted...not much (haven't done the dry hopping yet though) and the Bitter tasted... bitter