[flbrewer]

Trying my first hand at a BIAB this weekend (perhaps you've heard) and I think I under-ordred 2-row. I'm planning on ending up with 2.25 or so gallons in the fermenter which based on the below recipe puts me at a measly ABV.
(Pale Ale recipe)
-3# Pale Malt 2 row
-8 oz. Crystal 20L
4.1% ABV

1) Should I just plan for a 2 gallon batch? Should I change around the crystal amount (I have a pound available).
2) I could get more locally, but was trying to stick to organic.
3) Should I just plan on adding DME and make it a fake all-grain?
3) Be a swell pal and kick in some ideas for my centennial and cascade hops as well!

[brewday]

I'd keep the batch size the same, cut the crystal back to 5 or 6 oz and add a 1lb of DME - that should get you close to 6% ABV with good balance.  This is actually a great use for DME.

For hops I'd use half an ounce of Centennial at the start of your boil (60 minutes) and a half ounce of each at flameout.  A Whirlpool/Hopstand might be good here.  For dry hops, maybe an ounce of Centennial and the other half ounce of Cascade.

Assuming Chico yeast with a mash temp around 152, that should get you in the neighborhood of 1.056 - 1.012, 6% ABV, 65 IBUs.

[erockrph]

I'd keep the batch size the same, cut the crystal back to 5 or 6 oz and add a 1lb of DME - that should get you close to 6% ABV with good balance.  This is actually a great use for DME.

For hops I'd use half an ounce of Centennial at the start of your boil (60 minutes) and a half ounce of each at flameout.  A Whirlpool/Hopstand might be good here.  For dry hops, maybe an ounce of Centennial and the other half ounce of Cascade.

Assuming Chico yeast with a mash temp around 152, that should get you in the neighborhood of 1.056 - 1.012, 6% ABV, 65 IBUs.

Agreed with most of this. Although if you really want to go all-grain on this batch, then pick up another pound or two of 2-row instead of using the DME.

As far as hops go, are you going for an APA or an IPA? For APA, maybe 45 IBU's of Centennial to bitter; for IPA go 60ish. For an APA, I'd hop stand at 170F with an ounce of each, and half an ounce of each for dry hops. For an IPA, double that.

[dmtaylor]

First ensure you have crushed hard enough.  You can take it down finer with BIAB than other mash methods.

I would play with volumes to hit your desired gravity.  Looks to me like with a good crush you can easily get up to 4.3-4.4% ABV with 2.25 gallons assuming a hard crush and 75% attenuation.  At 2 gallons this becomes about 4.8%.  At 1.75 gallons maybe 5.2%.  You would have to crush and drain pretty poorly to get just 4.1% unless my math is off for some reason... maybe you are making a bigger volume and are already taking into account the volume lost to hops in the boil?  I dunno.

Do not be afraid to undershoot your volume.  If your efficiency kicks butt then you can add boiled water later to bring the volume back up if desired.  It is really important to crush well and collect every drop of wort IMHO and then you do not need as much grain as you might think.

[flbrewer]

Thanks everyone.