BIAB without the Bag?

I was thinking about this and isn't BIAB essentially a full-volume mash with no sparge? If I've already got a MLT, wouldn't doing a full volume mash essentially give me the same sort of results as full-volume BIAB? Without having to lift a heavy bag of grain?

Pros? Cons? Thoughts?

You may as well just sparge at that point.

BIAB is nothing but another way to mash. The difference is in the milling of the grain. If you plan on using the grain milled at the LHBS, it won't make much difference since you already have the equipment. If you mill your own grain and if you don't already have a mash tun, then BIAB makes a difference as you can mill the grain really fine without worrying about getting it out of the mash tun and with that fine milling comes faster conversion and higher efficiency, plus you don't have to buy/convert a cooler for mashing. I have learned to plan on 80 to 85% efficiency when I make a recipe instead of 65 to 70%. As I went through the learning process though, I ended up with several "session ales" at about 7% ABV.

So, you're doing a full volume mash, ie no sparge.

Pros: Simplified brewday, pH control (b/c you're not rinsing the grains, the pH buffer is protected)
Cons: Less efficiency

Try it out and see if you like it. I've heard of people who normally sparge liking no sparge for simple beers, like English Milds because the reduced efficiency only requires a small amount of increased grain. It may help give the beer a fuller body and more malt flavor by not sparging, but that's debatable.

Can you fit all the grain and full brew water volume into the MT? It seems to me this is the big issue - the efficiency comes from the crush, but also the thin mash. Doing a thicker mash (like conventional mashing) may leave too much behind to make this anything more than first runnings.

FlyDoctor said:

Can you fit all the grain and full brew water volume into the MT? It seems to me this is the big issue - the efficiency comes from the crush, but also the thin mash. Doing a thicker mash (like conventional mashing) may leave too much behind to make this anything more than first runnings.

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Well that certainly could be a problem depending on the batch size. I've been doing the NB BIAB 3-gallon kits in my 8-gallon kettle with the bag and gotten good results. Even with the smaller batch size, it's iffy to fit the full volume and the grain into a 5-gallon cooler, but certainly not a 10. I like the smaller batches.

I can see where the finer crush would be an issue for draining the MT through a false bottom or baffle.

I'v seen all sorts of contorted rigs people are using to lift large BIAB grain bills and was curious that if you've got the room in the tun, why not just use that with the full volume and skip the sparge?

When I do BIAB full volume for my English Mild, my brewday is only a couple of hours usually, since I usually do a short 20-30 minute mash. I have been considering shortening the boil as well, as it's not like I need a lot of bittering. My only concern would be DMS, really.

weirdboy said:

When I do BIAB full volume for my English Mild, my brewday is only a couple of hours usually, since I usually do a short 20-30 minute mash. I have been considering shortening the boil as well, as it's not like I need a lot of bittering. My only concern would be DMS, really.

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Dms is mostly a concern if you are using pilsner malts. There will be very little in pale ale malts. I worried a bit about it until I made a batch with a short boil (30 minutes) and no chill but I couldn't detect it in the beer. What might have been there was probably lost in the ferment.

Yeah it is basically doing a full volume no sparge... but if you have a MT why not do a regular brew. If you have a pump you can just start recirculation after mashing is done (heat water in brewpot to 180 or so).

I think the BIAB bag allows a finer crush and you can squeeze extra liquid out of the bag to minimize grain absorption. Both help improve efficiency and offset the fact that you are doing no sparge and no mashout.

I BIAB and do a batch sparge. Doing it in a cooler would be basically the same without the bag.