BIAB experts needed!! - 1 gal batch

[Kennanwt5]

Hi Folks…

I am going to start off by saying that I am a new brewer with less than a year experience (9 months..6 extract & 1 AG), so I apologize if the answers to my questions seem obvious. That said, I read today’s article on brewing a mini batch in replace of making a starter, and after doing so, I decided I am going to attempt a small BIAB batch in replace of the starter I was planning on making for my upcoming 5gal American PA AG brewday.

I was at my LHBS, and I quickly googled a recipe for a simple American Pale Ale. I can up with this:

Classic American Pale Ale
(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.055 FG = 1.014
IBU = 53 SRM = 8 ABV = 5.3%
Grain-bill
11 lbs. (5.0 kg.) 2-row pale malt
0.5 lbs. (0.22 kg) crystal malt (40 °L)

Grain-bill (modified for 1 gallon batch)
2.2lbs. (5.0 kg.) 2-row pale malt
0.1 lbs. (0.22 kg) crystal malt (40 °L)


Real quickly I divided everything by 5 to get ingredients for a 1 gal batch (this will in effect be my yeast starter for my upcoming 5 gallon all-grain Sweetwater 420 clone).
-Now I am somewhat familiar with BIAB, but I am clueless on how much water I should use?
-Should I sparge?
-Do I have too much grain if I want to get closer to OG of 1.045? (I am not sure about the efficiency of BIAB and if I need to sparge at all)
- is there any good BIAB calculators out there?


Any help would be very much appreciated. Hopefully I didnt bite off more than I can chew!

Thanks!

 

[Foosier]

There are many good BIAB calculators. google Priceless BIAB Calculator. That seems to be a pretty good one. I am going to be using it going forward. Plus the developer is a site member.

 

[doug293cz]

There are many good BIAB calculators. google Priceless BIAB Calculator. That seems to be a pretty good one. I am going to be using it going forward. Plus the developer is a site member.

Here's a link to Priceless' calculator for your convenience: http://pricelessbrewing.github.io

Brew on

 

[lebucheron]

How much water I should use?
I use beersmith2 to tell me how much water I should mash with (and what the temp should be to get it into the good mash range).
-Should I sparge?
If you want to? you could just rinse the bag with some warm water as it sits in a colander over a pot. That's what I do.
-Do I have too much grain if I want to get closer to OG of 1.045?
No way to know until you try. Efficiency of BIAB tends to be pretty good.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Hopefully I didnt bite off more than I can chew!
!

Once you have done this, you will realize it is rather simple.

No expert here, just been around the block a time or two.

Your recipe looks fine for your 1 gal starter batch.

Since it is only a gallon, I would not bother calculating it to death

An issue with any calculator and small batch brewing is that your unknown variables are a huge percentage of the batch, and can skew things quickly and greatly.

I would advise something along these lines...

Mash your grain in 7 qts of strike water at 162 degrees, this should result in a mash temp of 153 - 155, place mash pot in a warm oven for 60 minutes.

Stir the mash well three times and remove grain bag.

Boil wort down to 5 quarts while hopping, (if less than 5, top up w/ water)
Chill and pitch yeast.
You will be surprised how easy it is...



Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

 

[whiskeyjack]

How I do BIAB water calculations is I take the amount of water I will need + the amount you will lose to boil off + the amount that will be absorbed by the grain (0.06 gallons per pound I think it is). You add all that up and that is the total water you have in your kettle. Have a kettle and pot that will hold all your grains and water. Get the water to about 10-13 degrees higher then mash temps and put all your grains in the kettle(In the bag of course). Get a steady temp and cover it up with towels, blankets etc and let it sit an hour. At this point I generally raise the temp to around 165-170 by applying low heat and making sure the bag doesn't touch the bottom by either lifting it up a little or adding a false bottom type contraption. Once it hits around 170 I yank it and hang it over the pot and squish it with 2 plates or just let it sit dripping the wort back into the kettle. Sorry if you knew this information I may have went into to much detail as far as basic BIAB goes.
1gals + Boiloff (This you will wanna know because if you boil off to much you wont end with 1 gal. This can be a problem for small batches because the boil off can run away from you when you get to low water levels) + .138 gals grain absorption, haha probably does not make a difference with this small grain bill.
With this small a batch you may want to do a 1.5-2gal batch because of trub losses etc. When the batch is this small any amount of loss with take a huge chunk out of your final product. That way you end with an actual 1g batch

 

[m00ps]

For BIAB, I think most people "sparge" by just yanking out the bagof grains and letting it drip. Its nice, you dont need to worry about using rice hulls for a stuck sparge. I typically get about 70% efficiency with my BIAB system which is perfectly fine for me. Being able to do the whole brewing process in my kitchen and Having only one vessel to clean at the end of the day greatly outweighs the 5% efficiency loss in my opinion.

I usually just start with the full pre-boil volume. I have an 8 gal kettle and I can just fit enough water volume in there at the start of the mash to end up with 5 gal after boil, trub loss, and loss from grain soakage. You'll get a good feel for it after a batch or two of how much water you need. With just 1gal it would certainly be easiest to do full-volume

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Thanks for the links guys.

I'd only suggest sparging if you get within an inch or so of the top of your kettle. Otherwise I'd just do full volume mash.

My efficiency started around 72% and varies atm from 70-75. I've implemented a few things new but expect to be over 75 next time.

Crush seems to be crucial for biab. Crush as fine as your bag will allow.

 

[doug293cz]

How I do BIAB water calculations is I take the amount of water I will need + the amount you will lose to boil off + the amount that will be absorbed by the grain (0.06 gallons per pound I think it is).

0.06 gal/lb is on the low end of absorption (ref). Priceless uses a default of 0.08 gal/lb, which is appropriate for a moderate squeeze. Typical values for various conditions:

• 0.06 gal/lb for aggressive bag squeeze
• 0.07 - 0.08 gal/lb for a moderate bag squeeze
• 0.09 - 0.10 gal/lb for good drain with no squeeze
• ~ 0.125 gal/lb for typical mash tun

To know for sure what your process will do, you have to make measurements. Everyone will be a little different.

Brew on