West Coast Beginning IPA

[TimG]

Going to take a shot at my first BIAB brew on Sunday. Looking for a hoppy West Coast IPA, thoughts appreciated (I don't know what happened with the order of the grains/hops..):

[mr x]

If that's V2, check the website for a patch that fixes that. I'm not so big on the citra to bitter. Too hard to get, and too valuable at the end. Otheer than that, looks good to me.

[TimG]

Yup, had Warrior in to bitter initially.. may use that instead.

[CorneliusAlphonse]

Did you end up brewing this last weekend?

[TimG]

I did actually. The final recipe went like this:



BIAB seemed to work fine. I actually found my temp jumped up 2-3 degF when I cut the heat and covered it up. So mash temp was probably 155degF or so, no biggie.

Other than that, typically full boil brew after that. I did find I got a TON of coil break trub though.. like a ton! I did use a tbsp of irish moss at 15 min left.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure I achieved about 74-75% efficiency (squeezed the bag a big).

Couple pics from the brew:


My grind..








Is this band of 'stuff' in the middle of the carboy the yeast? The wort was cooled down to about 16degC or so when I pitched.. did that cause it?

Tim

[mr x]

Nice pics. I've always been paranoid about brewing in the sun though, lol. That band could be anything, I've seen lots of nutty stuff floating around my beers. I wouldn't worry about it.

[TimG]

Ya it went away pretty quickly, SO much cold break (or whatever it is) on the bottom though.

[sleepyjamie]

here's a pic of my amber ale i made today using BIAB. i also threw in a irish moss tablet.


Amber ale by sleepyjamie, on Flickr

[GAM]

Is that Mash keg cut normal? I have never seen one lik that.

Sandy

[NASH]

Is that Mash keg cut normal? I have never seen one lik that.

Sandy

Those are the handles cut out of the top of the keg after it was removed then welded back on to the body

[mr x]

I think you can cut the keg like that too. IIRC, one reason was removing the brewery name from the keg.

[GAM]

Other than removing the brewery name why?

It looks like a lot of extra work.

Sandy

[mr x]

It can make it easier to fab up a false bottom without hinges. And cleaning can be easier.

[Jimmy]

It's also easier for removing a BIAB, but would be harder to keep insulated during the mash

[NASH]

I think you can cut the keg like that too. IIRC, one reason was removing the brewery name from the keg.

True enough

[TimG]

Ya, I cut the keg like that. Really not that much work really, as the cutting is easier (less akward) than the typical way. Some pros/cons:

Pros
- easier to clean
- easier for BIAB removal
- false bottom options are better (though I don't have anything on it yet.. need a valve and side pickup!)
- looks cool

Cons
- lose a bit of capacity I'm sure (not sure how much)
- tougher to 'cover', though for my BIAB I just used HD tin foil, blanket on top.. temp held just dandy