It's a great overcast Sunday. Perfect day to brew. That's enough small talk. Let's get to it. Our mission for today is to make the best damn IPA ever. Actually this one is kind of basic but should taste good all the same. I use the Brew In A Bag method. Also called BIAB. It has worked great for the past 20 batches and I am finally starting to see the bag fall apart. This allows me to buy 50 pound bags of grain for around 35 dollars USD in Oregon from my LBHS. I usually wash my yeast from previous batches and normally I use White labs. Today I am using Safale US-05 just to try something different. I bought a Corona grain mill from Amazon for around 35 dollars to mill the grain. I would recommend getting a unit with rollers such as the Barley Crusher because it will be much easier than a Corona mill and save some time if you want to spend a little more. You will sweat a lot less this way(using a larger mill than the Corona) but I like the workout. Here is my setup for milling:

I milled 10 pounds of Great Western pale ale malt and about 1/2 pound of 120 Crystal. I will be using 1/2 ounce of Magnum, Simcoe and Chinook hops. They all smell pretty incredible.

Okay welp I have 9.5 gallons of tap water ready to go in my 15 gallon stainless pot. Water is heated up to 156 degrees. I use cheepo cookie cooling wire thing a mabobbers as a false bottom so the bag does not burn on the bottom of the pot.

When the water is up to temperature I put my bags in. They can be purchased in most hardware stores and I cut them in half so I could sew two together. I used four bags which made two large bags when sewed together. The bungee cords hold them in place. Then the grain is added.

Stir it up well so you do not get dough balls. I also mill the ever living out of the pale malt to increase efficiency. This increases surface area which translates to more starches in the wort. Or a better party buffet for the yeast. So the temperature is 156 degrees. Propane is turned off and the lid is placed on the pot to maintain temperature. Now we wait an hour and drink some beer from a previous batch.

Alright, now I do a mash out by bringing the temperature up to 165 degrees. This is basically the same as using hotter water in the shower to wash soap off. In this example the starch is the soap. The increased temperature gets more starch out of the grain. Lift the bag out carefully. Dispose of the grain. A garden is good for grain dumpage. Clean out the bag of grain particles. Bring the temperature up to boiling or near 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Then add the bittering hops to the bag. I use a clamp to hold the bag to the side of the pot.

I am using the Magnum hops for bittering. They will boil for half an hour and then I added 1/2 ounce each of Simcoe and Chinook hops at the 45 minute mark for aroma. It smells pretty damn good at this stage. You can boil the hops a little longer for better utilization if preferred. I put my copper wort chiller into the pot to get it somewhat sterilized.

The wort is being cooled off and when it gets down to 75 degrees I can pitch the yeast. I usually use a stir plate and starter but today is lazy day. I should also mention my new favorite brewing tool. A Thermoworks thermometer. It reads in about 5 to 6 seconds. Far improved from the cheep thermometers found in the grocery store.

The beer is cooled off and poured into the primary fermenter and yeast is sprinkled on top. I then place the primary into my newly constructed fermentation chamber where it will live for three weeks. The beer smells great.

Thanks for tuning in.