Well the cherry is popped. BIAB number one is in the fermenter.... Golden Ale (the Doc's, with a few minor alterations)
I had finally got all the gear together, and unexpectedly found a day with the middle free.... So without any preparation, I decided it was time to brew. The major mistakes were as follows....
I had a check-list made up (from the BIABrewer forum), but I left it at work, so had to make another one up from scratch as the water heated.
I forgot to add the caramalt to the mash until 55 minutes in. So had to frantically run from the shed to the house to get it, weigh it, plastic bag it and smash it up with a rolling pin and mash it in.
Then, when I went to pull the bag, I found that it is a bit too big to pull easily through the opening in the keggle, so I had to suspend and squeeze it then pull it up a bit more, and repeat a few times. Fortunately I had a rope rigged to hoist from. Then I found the mash temp had dropped off to 63 degrees, and I did manage to run a fair amount of sweet liquor down the outside of the keggle and partly blocked the outer burners of the 3-ring burner, which made the time to boil blow out a little. So I had to shorten the boil time so I could go and pick up the kids from school on time.
But at the end, where I was aiming for 24 litres into the cube at 1.047, I had 25 and a bit, at 1.044 (with 72-ish% end-of-boil efficiency), so I am happy enough with that. It left enough wort to run into a sterile 700ml jar to make a starter with. Pitched into fermenter the next day, and tasted yesterday after 4 days - bloody fantastic! Only 25 sleeps till I can open a bottle....
So, while it was not at all a relaxing experience, I know it will be easier next time, because I will remember to print out the check-list and prepare my gear the day before....
Cheers
BD