Just been reading through all the posts I have missed. It's especially great to see guys who have been AGing for some time willing to have a crack at BIAB and furthermore, finding it worthwhile.
Also glad that Thirsty is answering the questions here as he has way more technical knowledge and brewing experience than I could ever hope for
Anyway, I had one such very knowledgeable and experienced brewer willing to have a crack at BIAB and he used my gear last weekend. To keep myself entertained, I thought I might as well ask a few other brewers around as well who were interested in the process. About 15 turned up - a big mistake - lol!
I asked a few judges along as well as I thought it was time to put a few BIAB's into some Aussie competitions. I have 5 beers on tap and thought I might throw the lot in the upcoming comp here in Western Australia. One of these beers, a kolsch, I had saved for three months I think - especially delicious!
There's one problem with my keg set-up. All 5 beers run through a manifold into one tap. Being the trusting bloke that I am I also put a label on the front of the fridge saying what ball-valve would give you what beer. Unfortunately I didn't say, "Make sure you turn off the last valve that has been used."
So, my Schwartzbier, after only an hour into the day, had drained into my Altbier, my Amarillo Ale, my mid-strength ale and my 2.5% ale!!!!!
Oh well, it's all good fun and we certainly had a great day which is what brewing, for me, is really all about.
The main worry though is that, from what I gather, there are no more comps here for bloody ages! A fellow brewer lives just around the corner and his first brew ever was only a few months ago and it was BIAB. I'll see what stocks he has and hopefully he has some. Be interesting anyway to see how a bloke's second or third brew (no prrior experience with any sort of brewing) went in a comp!
On a technical note, while my mate was brewing on my gear, I was busy watering and feeding the other 15 guys. I was a little dissapointed that on draining the wort from the kettle, it was a lot cloudier than I get. I've had this before when I have brewed a little recklessly
I forgot to tell my mate to use a hop sock with his hop pellets and to use whirfloc or koppafloc ten minutes before the end of the boil. These two things make a big difference to clarity.
The beer will turn out fine though as he's racking it.
Because of space limitations, I basically ferment my ales for say 7 days and then pump them under small CO2 pressure from my fermenter directly into the keg via a 1 micron filter. If I use a hop sock and Koppafloc, this works perfectly - the beer IS brilliant.
Racking, cold-conditioning for a week, koppafloc and hop-sock without the filter gives about a 70%-80% result of what I get above.
So I reckon my mate's beer will certainly taste great but I am a little worried about the clarity.
Cheers guys and have really enjoyed reading your posts above,
Pat
I'm not as think as you drunk I am.
