A few weeks ago I tried my hand at a form of All Grain Brewing. It’s a method called Brew In A Bag and it differs from regular All Grain brewing in that
- You don’t require as much equipment and therfore as much space
- It’s like a “no sparge” method, however I do I mirco sprarge just to help attenuation
- You use a giant bag that holds all your grains in the pot. When mashing is complete you simply remove the grain bag (after doing the mini sparge I mentioned above.
The Recipe
| Target Wort Volume Before Boil: | 24.00 l | Actual Wort Volume Before Boil: | 24.00 l |
| Target Wort Volume After Boil: | 21.00 l | Actual Wort Volume After Boil: | 18.00 l |
| Target Volume Transferred: | 20.00 l | Actual Volume Transferred: | 18.00 l |
| Target Volume At Pitching: | 20.00 l | Actual Volume At Pitching: | 20.00 l |
| Target Volume Of Finished Beer: | 19.00 l | Actual Volume Of Finished Beer: | 19.00 l |
| Target Pre-Boil Gravity: | 1.043 SG | Actual Pre-Boil Gravity: | 1.047 SG |
| Target OG: | 1.049 SG | Actual OG: | 1.043 SG |
| Target FG: | 1.012 SG | Actual FG: | 1.011 SG |
| Target Apparent Attenuation:: | 75.4 % | Actual Apparent Attenuation: | 73.7 % |
| Target ABV: | 4.9 % | Actual ABV: | 4.2 % |
| Target ABW: | 3.8 % | Actual ABW: | 3.3 % |
| Target IBU (using Tinseth): | 18.0 IBU | Actual IBU: | 18.1 IBU |
| Target Color (using Morey): | 7.4 EBC | Actual Color: | 6.9 EBC |
| Target Mash Efficiency: | 70.0 % | Actual Mash Efficiency: | 77.3 % |
| Target Fermentation Temp: | 18 degC | Actual Fermentation Temp: | 18 degC |
Fermentables
| Ingredient | Amount | % | MCU | When |
| German Pilsner Malt | 4.000 kg | 86.0 % | 2.5 | In Mash/Steeped |
| German Munich Malt | 0.350 kg | 7.5 % | 1.1 | In Mash/Steeped |
| German Wheat Malt | 0.300 kg | 6.5 % | 0.2 | In Mash/Steeped |
Hops
| Variety | Alpha | Amount | IBU | Form | When |
| German Hallertauer Hersbrucker | 4.7 % | 30 g | 18.0 | Loose Pellet Hops | 60 Min From End |
Other Ingredients
| Ingredient | Amount | When |
| Strawberry | 4500 g | In Boil |
| Irish Moss | 15 g | 15 minutes before the end of the boil |
Yeast: White Labs WLP570-Belgian Golden Ale
As you can see I didn’t exactly hit my targets and I’m fairly sure this is because I was a bit lax with the water to grist rations. As in, I guessed it. Not far off but still a bit short.
Everything was as you would expect except I added the strawberries in to the wort at the end of the boil. I dropped the temp to 74C as suggested by Sam Calagione in Extreme Brewing. This helps keep a lot of the strawberry aroma and at the same time sterilises the fruit. It also pasteurises the fruit without boiling it, which would set the natural pectine and cast a haze in the finished beer.
The brewery! Pretty small set up because we live in a one bedroom apartmentGrain bag submerged in the wort.
Mash at 67C. I turn the stove off, put the lid on the pot and insulate it with these hot/cold bags I found ($2 each). I lose about 1C over 60 minutes and about 5c over the next 30 minutes. I turn the stove on a bit after an hour just to bump it up.
The boil. I think I'd just added the first hop additions.
2kg of strawberries, diced up to extract more flavour
The beer spent about 7 days in primary and then 2 weeks in secondary. For the first few weeks the ferment smelt strongly of sulfar and I was pretty certain I had stuffed it up. However a little bit of research and I discoverd that the strain of yeast I used does stink of sulfar for a little bit but that it naturally dissipates over time.
Steph and I have been drinking both the Regular Future and the Alternate Future for a few weeks and they are getting better and better by the day. Alternate future was a bit tangy at first, almost like fresh strawberries taste, but it’s mellowing out over time.
And the finished product:
Tastes good!
