Ben Cull performs a routine brew day with camera in tow. Check out his process for a Brew in a Bag brew day from start to finish. Includes milling grain, mashing, sparging, the boil, cooling and pitching yeast.
Simple and effective! I searched for hours and hours for a setup that doesn't cost a fortune. This video was that video. Thank you, and keep up the videos mate
I like how when you are transferring to your fermentation vessel, that little bug jumps into your fermentor at 17:42ish. Its running around the handle and stuff for a while and then he decides to go for a swim. I love 4k.
Good to see you back and to do a full brew day. Your responsible for getting me into this awesome hobby and spending all our money. Lol 20 months been AG now. Still adding to my set up all time lol. Now my pump has broke. 🙄 Started off Biab. Now I’ve got a basket. Looking forward to more videos Ben. Cheers 🍺
Nice. Great to see the diversity of brewing beer. We all have our own idea,s about how it should be.Nobody is wrong or right, as long as it tastes good.
18:40: That White Labs yeast packet is double bagged like that for a cool reason. They grow the yeast in the inner bag. By adding the yeast to the bag in a clean room and sealing it, there is almost no chance of contamination afterwards.
I'm about to start my first Brew-In-A-Bag batch and was looking for a simple and effective way to get that extra bit of sugars off the grain mash. Your method is just what I'm looking for. By using cold water to rinse your mash it allows for a good squeezing of the bag with less chance of burns. (I'll have to get a refractometer now so I can see just how much sugar is in the rinse.) Just enough detail in your presentation, Thanks. Skol
Thumbs up for your videos - amazing how simple things look during your brewing process. One question though: Isn't there a possibility of contamination of the wort while being syphoned in the fermentor? First you cool down the pot in the tub (with pot valve being exposed to the water in the tub), then all the cooled wort gets syphoned through the same valve? Or do you maybe sanitize the valve before the syphoning? Cheers!
A tip for you take a credit card and set your rollers to that thickness for grinding. Not trying to be a ass just trying to help others. Even if you’re brewing in a bag it help make a more clearer beer. If not just brew with flour.
Curious - couldn't you put the hops in a small bag of the same material you put the grain in, and avoid the hop gunk? Or does that inhibit the hop flavouring?
Whats a good recipe for around 20 litres of water and pale malts and how many pale malts. Already watched about the water conversion still dont get it.
Any reason why you switched from no-chill to the bathtub? Looking to start BIAB but on water restrictions, so curious if you're avoiding no-chill for a specific reason
+Shaun Eaves Nope, I sometimes chill, sometimes no chill, depends how I feel. Chilling is quicker and means I don't have to account for extra bitterness, but it can also be a pain :)
Great video, I’m completely new to brewing so it has been very helpful! One question: what specific fittings do you have on your kettle? I see there’s a little guard to block some of trub and a curved “tube-like” thing pointing toward the bottom of kettle. Can you tell me exactly what setup/pieces I need for that?
That's the trub shield and pickup tube that comes with the SS brew tech kettle. To be honest I wouldn't bother with it. Instead I'd get what I use on my other system: a simple stainless steel elbow fitting. Something like this www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003GXF4K4/ref=mp_s_a_1_4/141-4914950-0684269?ie=UTF8&qid=1520320378&sr=1-4&refinements=p_n_feature_seven_browse-bin%3A5485702011&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&dpPl=1&dpID=513sZW0ZbmL&ref=plSrch With a standard hose Barb as well. Twist it towards the bottom of the pot and you're good to go.
Mash Hacks thank you for the advice! This may be a dumb question but what exactly does the standard hose barb look like? And I’m assuming with angling it towards the bottom, it prevents all the trub from going in your fermenter?
Hello Ben, I'm a pretty new player in the grain brewing game. This means I haven't done one yet, heheh. You mentioned brew toad for recipes but I see they are not operational. Any ideas on where to go next?
Thanks for the video! I’m pretty new to brewing. I’m brewing on a BIAB(asket) setup. Curious to know how you calculated the amount of strike water and sparge water? Thanks
How did it turn out? I'm thinking of trying the San Diego Super Yeast myself. I'm a pretty new brewer and doing BIAB too so I got a few good tips from this. Is there a reason you don't use an immersion chiller?
What should i do about protien clumps? Do i need to skim them off or try to stir them in? I often cant keep a great head and wonder if thats my problem?
Hey, maybe its stupid qution, but am new brewer :P, how much water did you start with? another thing i want really to understand how did u regulate the temperature of water? 6:40 you lett the mash for one hour but it keeps on 65 C? thank you :)
I recently made my first beer using cold sparge method, and I ended up with an OG 1034 (instead of 1055 specified in the recipe). I have to say that the average temperature during the mash was a little higher, but I don't know if that (or the cold sparge) was the problem.. what's your opinion?? Thanks in advance
Usually the problem is the how fine the malt was crushed. You might see small differences when the temp fluctuates, but mostly in the finished beer, not the OG. If the homebrew store crushed this for you, you can ask to have it crushed finer, alternatively, use this as a data point to know how much extra malt to use in future.
Hey there. Great, GREAT video. I was wondering, what kind of burner are you using? I'm using a simple stove to heat up a 45L pan with +/- 25L of wort and it takes ages.
I use outdoor burners, higher throughput the better. EG right now I'm using this one: www.bcf.com.au/p/companion-megajet-burner/215772.html?cgid=BCF024015
Did you faced any problems with overnight cooling in boil pot ? In your earlier video you had done that but in this you cooled it down in bath tub, i am doing my first ever brew of cream ale right now as i write this comment and i have decided that i should cool down brew pot on ice slab.
Cheers from Boston! As a newbie I found your videos very informative. I am starting out with a Spike 15 gallon electric BIAB but looking to do 3 gallon batches. So you don’t bother with PH,hardness and alkalinity? I plan on using an RO system along with spring water so chlorine or other chemicals are not an issue but most of the videos I have seen they all emphasize brewing salts. I like your way much better. Looking forward to more videos! Charlie
+83E Roastery treating your water with salts is a great way to improve your beers, and if you're using RO water it's a necessity. I don't get into it because I think beginners don't need to think about it yet. I'll have some videos in future about it though :) pH is a great one to think about too, that's probably step 1 after dialling in some decent beers.
My first try with White Labs was a total failure as well. The trick is to make sure that it's warmed up properly before pitching. I gave it another shot on a batch last month, and got it bubbling within a couple hours. Love Safale too!
Hello, Congrats for your videos, very isntructive. Why not using "no chill" method this time ? Seems to me that a bath tub full of water is very little environment friendly ? Cheers !
+Naughty Goat Farm you sure can, but use a small bag tied to the handle, making sure to keep it off the bottom/any heating elements. Take a look at "hop spiders" for great ideas. Personally I just throw them in :)
Hi there! Started brewing recently and your videos have been really helpfull. I use a small stainless steel pot (7L), so I only do really small batches. I was looking to upgrade to a bigger volume but I'm still not sure if I should go for a gas burner + a big pot or to an electric pot. What are your opinions on both setups? Do you recommend one over the other? Keep on the good work!
Cheers :) I have a few thoughts. My recommended batch size to upgrade to would be 20L, which means you should be looking at a 40L pot. Using a gas burner is the easier way to get the heat you need to reach a boil nice and quickly. If you choose to go the electric route, a single 2200W (designed for standard 10amp circuits) element will *barely* get you there, but it can be slow and annoying. If you have a 15amp circuit you can use a ~3600W element and you'll be fine. Basically Gas = easy, electric = more complex, but you don't run out of gas :) PS, electric advice based on Australian 240V 10A circuits, forgot you could be from somewhere else :)
Thanks! Yep, you can add water during the boil if you're boiling off more than you thought, though do it before the last 5 mins of the boil to sanitize the new water/boil off any chlorine etc...
I needed to add some Acidulated malt to my Belgian beer as the water was pretty hard and high pH. In Australia it's less important, but I would absolutely play around with reducing your pH. Also not just for mash, but sparge water as well.
Ah I see! I'm pretty slack and just leave them open inside my apartment. There's no bugs here to get in. If storing properly it's a good idea to use airtight buckets/containers :)
Hey mate, just curious on a couple of things.. When you add the campden, do you just crush & add? Also with biab, how important do you think the water to grain ratio is?.. Coz I'm 4 brews into all grain biab & realize I'm mashing in with about 1kg : 5 L. Should any issues arise from this.. Thanks for your expertise.
Hey Chris, My campden comes as a powder, but a tablet will dissolve just fine, especially since you use so little in such a large volume of water. Water to grain ratio isn't really a big deal when it comes to small batches. It might affect how quickly your mash converts (I've noticed this in 20L batches) but overall full volume mashes are fine too as long as you give it enough time (an hour should still be plenty).
Thanks Ben, I drink outta 50L kegs so have started big with a 70L Nano pot - Mash in with 50L & sparge 10-15L to achieve a 55L boil which ends up being about 49L into the FV. After 4 brews my numbers seem to work.. I was just a bit worried about the grain/water ratio but all good, I'll continue with my happy brewing. Cheers for the advise.
Szatanki I can’t say what HIS reason is, but I’ve seen this discussed on home brewing forums and there appears to be evidence there’s no real advantage to sparging with warm water versus cool or room temp. The outcomes don’t support the necessity of sparging with warm water. If I recall correctly, it was HomeBrewTalk. I’m going to try it.
@@danc3693 since you bring the wort to a boil after sparging, and cold water lowers the temp of the wort, it doesn't really save any time, but not everyone has the space/equipment to heat a separate vessel for the sparge water, a cold sparge does just fine, especially if you already have the heat on while sparging.
