My Apologies to all BIABers

[JimRausch]

Hey folks,
Background- I have been brewing now for 4 years, the last 2.5 AG using a 5G Dennystyle round cooler mashtun with a braid. Very happy with it and usually get mash efficiencies between 75-80%. However, with grain bills above 12 lbs, I run into volume issues. So last year I decided to go with a modified BIAB for large bills using 2 BIAB bags in a rectangular cooler.
My efficiencies using this system have been down around 65%, which I blamed on the BIAB. Here's my mea culpa.....
Last week I did NB's Waldo Lake Amber with a 14.5 lb grain bill, using my 'large bill system'. Mash efficiency was 66%. Today I did a Bock with 13.5lb grain bill. Decided to use my regular mashtun. Despite doing a decoction and mashing for a total of 78 minutes, my efficiency was only 53%. I've been blaming the BIAB for low efficiency, when I now realize it's more likely a large grain bill and a sub-optimal crush.

So, Brew on my BIAB brothers. I will never think or say anything bad about your method ever again.

 

[doug293cz]

Accepted.

Brew on

 

[bkboiler]

nice find! always feels good to know your system and find more efficiency!

 

[bransona]

Much appreciated, my man Squeeze those bad boys and see if you can't get your efficiency up Sparging is life

 

[Cyclman]

Crush it hard!

 

[brew-bandit]

Apology accepted! For BIAB crush really fine. I have my mill set to .025 and works wonders.

 

[C-Rider]

My guess is it's hard to get a good "mix" with really large amounts of grain in a bag. But I could be wrong too. LOL If you are "bagging" it grind your grain into flour.

 

[tektonjp]

I keep butting heads with people on this, but there is an efficiency curve which BIAB bumps up against as it hits 1.060. You seem to prove it to me.

 

[doug293cz]

I keep butting heads with people on this, but there is an efficiency curve which BIAB bumps up against as it hits 1.060. You seem to prove it to me.

There is an efficiency curve (actually a whole series of them), but there is no threshold at which efficiency makes a drastic drop. Below is a set of efficiency curves for a 6.7 gal pre-boil volume. Notice that there is a smooth decrease in efficiency as the grain bill weight increases for a fixed pre-boil volume. There is no sudden fall off in efficiency.



Brew on

 

[TexasWine]

I keep butting heads with people on this, but there is an efficiency curve which BIAB bumps up against as it hits 1.060. You seem to prove it to me.

I agree with Doug on this. I've done up to 1.100 beers with 23 pounds of grain in a 6 gallon batch and still hit 73% brewhouse efficiency. This weekend I hit 86% on a 1.063 dunkel.

It's more about the specifics of your process than the method you choose to separate the wort from the grain.

 

[rhys333]

I just got 83% efficiency on a 1.063 IPA this weekend. This with a relatively fine crush, dunk sparge and pH adjustments. I find if the pH is too high the efficiency goes down.

 

[Ungoliant]

I did an 18lb grain bill (5 gal batch) in a 10g kettle for an Old Ale recently. The mash nearly overflowed my kettle, and was like stirring thick oatmeal, but I only missed my target OG by .004. Rinsing and draining the grains well, as well as squeezing the bag can help your efficiency a good bit.

Grain bills from 12-16lbs seem to be the sweet spot for my system, as I usually hit my target OG with little issue on those. I also triple crush my grain