First Brew In A Bag Attempt

When I brewed the Hefeweizen, I decided that I was going to try to do it as a Brew In A Bag(BIAB). I had seen several podcasts on the technique, but had never given it a try. I had purchased a couple of strainer bags from my LHBS, but hadn't given them a try yet. So, with a dirty mash tun, and me being lazy, I decided that today was the day. So first, I added 4 gallons of 60 degree water to my clean boilermaker. I then fired up my new Bayou Classic Burner, and brought the water up to the typical strike temp for a single infusion mash for the 9.5lbs of grain.

I then, with the assistance of my wonderful wife, put the grain into the straining bag. The bag was about 1.5' x 4'. In retrospect, I would have preferred a wider bag, as I the bag was too small to hold open on the sides of the boilermaker. Once the bag was in, my wife would hold the bag open, and I would stir the grist as I would if it were in my cooler mash tun. I kept the temp pretty steady at 154 degrees F for 60 minutes. I would stir the grist every ten minutes. Once an hour passed, I slowly pulled the bag up out of the wort, and slowly twisted it, trying to force as much of the wort back into the pot. I then set the ball of grain up onto a very strong strainer above the boilermaker.

I then heated up another couple of gallons of sparge water which I then poured slowly over the bag. Once it was all said and done, I had about 6.5 gallons of wort in the boilermaker, and had squeezed what I could out of the grist ball. If I do this again, I will definitely get me some nice Blichmann brewing gloves for squeezing the ball..... IT'S HOT!! From there its the standard boil process for your given style of beer. I boiled this one for about 75 minutes, enjoyed a home brew, got it into the fermenter, and inoculated it with some hungry yeast!

NB Irish Blonde Ale

This is the second beer that I will be serving at the upcoming KofC Pro-Life dinner. This beer was brewed with Brother Knight Carlos Rivas. This beer is going to be an interesting Guiness like beer without any toasted malt. A very toasty, and herbal beer that should mix well with the cajun New Orleans style meal that will be served.

Northern Brewer Irish Blonde

23-A Specialty Beer
Author: Michael Dawson
Date: 9/5/12

Size: 5.4 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 190.39 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.057 (1.026 - 1.120)
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Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (0.995 - 1.035)
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Color: 5.31 (1.0 - 50.0)
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Alcohol: 5.63% (2.5% - 14.5%)
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Bitterness: 32.8 (0.0 - 100.0)
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Ingredients:

9.75 lb (83.0%) English 2-row Pale - added during mash
1 lb (8.5%) Barley Flaked - added during mash
1 lb (8.5%) Oat Malt - added during mash
.75 oz (42.9%) Palisade™ (7.7%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m
1 oz (57.1%) Palisade™ (7.7%) - added during boil, boiled 15 m
2 ea WYeast 1084 Irish Ale™

Schedule:

Ambient Air: 70.0 °F
Source Water: 60.0 °F
Elevation: 0.0 m

00:03:00 Mash In - Single Infusion - Liquor: 4.0 gal; Strike: 163.56 °F; Target: 152 °F
00:03:00 Batch Sparge - Batch Sparge: 3.5 gal sparge @ 170 °F, 0.0 m; Total Runoff: 6.26 gal

Notes

Capped with a dense meringue of nose-dotting foam, this ale offers up suggestions of buttered toast, warm cereal, and a trace of fruity, herbal hops. A full body with thick mouthfeel, more buttered toast and fruity hops give way to a finish evenly split between malty and bitter. Flaked barley and oat malt build density and a viscous texture with supporting grain flavors.

Hefeweizen

This is the NB All grain Bavarian Hefeweizen recipe and setup. I typically use this as a good wheat base for my Blue Eyed Wheatie. This time however I'm going to serve this beer at a Pro-Life dinner. Should be a pretty tasty beer!

Northern Brewer Hefeweizen

15-A Weizen/Weissbier
Author: NB - Murrey
Date: 10/13/12

Size: 5.04 gal
Efficiency: 67.0%
Attenuation: 73%
Calories: 147.88 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.044 (1.044 - 1.052)
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Terminal Gravity: 1.012 (1.010 - 1.014)
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Color: 6.02 (2.0 - 8.0)
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Alcohol: 4.24% (4.3% - 5.6%)
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Bitterness: 16.7 (8.0 - 15.0)
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Ingredients:

5.5 lb (57.9%) Pale Wheat Malt - added during mash
4 lb (42.1%) Premium Pilsner Malt Extra Pale - added during mash
1 oz (100.0%) Tettnanger (4.5%) - added during boil, boiled 60 m
1.0 ea WYeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen™