1st BIAB this weekend

[meridianomrebel]

I will be doing my 1st BIAB this weekend, after having done extracts for years. I have finished building by BIAB stand and got in my Wilser bag last week.

I was taking a look at the Priceless calculator, and I'm having a bit of a problem really understanding it so I figured I'd just ask.

This is the kit I got in to brew: http://www.boomchugalug.com/downloadables/recipes/flat_tire_all_grain.pdf

As far as my kettle, I have a 8.5 kettle, and I also have a smaller 5 gallon kettle I can use for sparging perhaps?

Anways, I was trying to plug the numbers into the Priceless calculator, and it was coming in way over what my brew kettle could handle and I couldn't figure out how to adjust it to figure out what I should start with, how much I'll need to sparge with to get to the correct preboil volume, etc...

Any thoughts?

 

[jtratcliff]

You can either change your mash thickness or sparge volume... start with mash thickness of 1.75-2.0 or with sparge volume of 2 gallons.

See how that affects the "volume of mash with grains"... which needs to be less than 8.5 gallons for you.

Adjust either of those until volume of mash will fit your pot then, the "2nd runnings" will be the amount of sparge water needed.

You might want to stick with no more than 7 gallons of mash volume instead of maxing out at 8.5... You'll need some room to stir the mash and a little room for manipulating the bag without splashing over.

 

[jtratcliff]

I just added an edit to my initial response, so I'm pinging this thread again to make sure you see my volume recommendations

 

[Aristotelian]

Is the calculator giving you numbers for full volume mash? To me, that is a lot more water than you actually need at mashout--your target volume, grain absorption, boiloff, etc.

I do BIAB 2.5 gallon batches in a 3 gallon pot. My technique is to mash with the standard 1.25 qt/lb, then do a pour-over sparge up to the level of my target volume. Then instead of overcompensating with additional boil-off water, I simply add water throughout the boil to keep the level constant.

 

[meridianomrebel]

Thanks everyone. So, if I do 1.75 gals for my sparge, I'm looking at 6.94 gallons as my mash with grains. So, that should give me enough room to stir and everything. I think I was "over thinking" things. I'll be sure to post pics and my notes after Saturday.

 

[BeardedBrews]

Thanks everyone. So, if I do 1.75 gals for my sparge, I'm looking at 6.94 gallons as my mash with grains. So, that should give me enough room to stir and everything. I think I was "over thinking" things. I'll be sure to post pics and my notes after Saturday.

Over-thinking happens quite often! The nice thing about BIAB is that it's pretty forgiving.

If you have an extra bucket, I would heat the full volume requirement up to strike temperature, then pull ~2 gallons out into the bucket. That way you know you have room in the kettle before you start adding grain.

Once the grain is in and stirred up, you can add the water back in to get it right up close to the top. When you lift the bag out, whatever water didn't fit you can use to "rinse" the bag out a little. and get up to your target volume.


Good luck, and have fun!