Boy-howdy it’s been a while since I brewed some beer! Too long in fact. The inside of my converted chest freezer is cold, lonely and neglected. This travesty must end.
So indeed, it has.
grains
To get back on the horse, or, back in the bag so to speak, I went for a simple 3 gallon BIAB recipe. I had some grain on hand, hops to use and a bit o’ time. Nothing fancy, nothing overly technical and really just the right way to get some beer in the household.
I wanted something in the range of 1.060 OG, 60-75 IBU’s and designed to chase away long cold days on a steelhead river. I have a trip planned for later this month with Mr. Dawson and 6 other punters. I thought a 3 gallon keg would be a nice donation to the beer-ammo dump.
So, a relaxed brew day on my stove, while I tie some new streamer patterns.
Recipe:
Grist-
6 lbs – US 2-Row
1 lb – Crystal 60 (don’t hate)
Hops –
.5 oz – Chinook – 45 minutes
.5 oz – Chinook – 10 minutes
1 oz – Palisade – 10 minutes
1 oz – Zythos – 5 minutes
1 oz. – Centennial – 3 minutes
Yeast –
1 packet – US – 05
Notes –
Mash at 152 degrees for 75 minutes with full volume. No sparge. Remove grains and bag, bring to boil. Make wort. Started fermentation at 62 degrees. Fermentation after 24 hours, done in 4 days. On day 6, add Biofine, move to converted chest freezer and cold-crash. Transfer on day 7 to 3 gallon keg. Place in converted chest freezer and leave for another 7 days, carbonate on days 15/16, tap by day 17. Drink fresh, drink much and drink fast.
Righteous brew to keep you warm on the river… I gotta do that!
Nice pics – gotta love the simplicity of BIAB (especially stove-top).
No C-60 hate here, player. Gotta have balance.
How big is yer kettle and where’d the awesome bag with handles come from?
I was using an 8 gallon economy kettle from Polarware. The bag came from – http://www.bagbrewer.com/order-a-bag.html – he will custom make the bag to the specs of your kettle. Cheers!
Nothing wrong with C-60 – this isn’t a SMaSH for Gambrinus’ sake. Haven’t BIAB’d yet – but I may do it for a beer that doesn’t justify my usually 10 gallon volume, like a sour, say.
Nice bag, Mr. Keeler. Care to disclose your source? I’m looking at jumping into BIAB, and have not seen such a bag at my usual suppliers.
http://www.bagbrewer.com/order-a-bag.html – he’ll custom fit the bag to your brew kettle! Cheers
Just listened to the episode of the Sunday session that you mike and chip were on at the beginning of 2011. That was one hell of a funny show. Hope to see ya on a mic or in front of a camera soon.
Cheers from Canada
I did a semi-BIAB batch this weekend, but had the bag inside the cooler for the mash and did a sparge. What do you use as a grain-to-water ratio in your kettle if you don’t sparge? How close do you come to hitting your starting gravity?
It depends a bit on how fine the crush is, and the boil off that will occur in your particular kettle. For my kettle, which is a 8 gallon economy kettle from Polarware, using a fine grist, I use roughly a 5/8 – 3/4 gallon per pound of grain. I’ve been getting pretty close, and have tweaked that ratio a bit. BeerSmith is a good program to use, and he has a good deal of info online as well: http://beersmith.com/blog/2009/04/14/brew-in-a-bag-biab-all-grain-beer-brewing/
I’ll be missing that stovetop from BTV, Mr Keeler 😦 :crying: