New to BIAB

[eastbaybrewer]

I'm a 3 vessel brewer, and have been pretty happy with my beers. I found a 11 gallon steamer boiler with a burner from bayou classic for a great price. I couldn't resist lol. I'm going to use it for biab. I hoping to make my brew bay a little easier and less cleaning. I plan on using my pump to recirulate my mash, so I can fire the burner to maintain temp. Any advice??

 

[RM-MN]

Free advice, worth at least what you pay for it.

Forget the pump, forget re-circulation, forget firing the burner. Mill your grains finely, mix them in well, and your conversion will be complete before you lose enough heat to matter. Try it once and see what results you get.

 

[mongoose33]

When I went from a traditional mash tun to BIAB, and after the adjustments, I found that brew day was easier and more relaxing. And shorter.

Depending on your burner, you may find there is residual heat that continues to warm the strike water after you turn off the burner. What I'd suggest before you do it for real, put in the amount of water you want, warm to strike temp, stir reasonably well to mix it up, and then wait a few minutes and see if the temp goes up at all. It may not, but depending on how hot the burner gets, it may keep adding heat.

If that happens, you can adjust, maybe you stop heating a few degrees short of what you want, and wait for the burner to lose its residual heat into the kettle and strike water.

 

[wilserbrewer]

As said above, recirculating and intermittently firing your burner is a tail chase imo.

Hit an accurate strike temp, dough in your grain and insulate your kettle w a blanket or old winter coat.

Very easy and effective.

With experience and known volumes of strike water and grain, and accurate strike temp....checking your mash temp is just exercise....and will be very predictable.

 

[eastbaybrewer]

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to skip the pump. I'm making a insulation jacket out of reflectix. I'm going use 4 layers around the sides and top. Anyone make anything like this?

 

[Morrey]

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to skip the pump. I'm making a insulation jacket out of reflectix. I'm going use 4 layers around the sides and top. Anyone make anything like this?

Agree with your decision to NOT try maintaining temp with a propane burner and a recirculation pump. Temps are darn near impossible to maintain and you'll overheat in a hurry.

I use a quilted pad to cover my kettle as it sits on the burner (turned off during the mash), then drape an additional movers blanket over the kettle and quilted pad. Reflectix is great but can be semi-hard to manage, while the mover's blanket method is rather simple and easy to take on and off. I typically stay within 2F of strike temp for a 75 minute mash. Either way you head will be fine.

 

[PADave]

I use this setup, just an old winter jacket, and the mash temps only drop a couple degrees over 60-75 min mash. Having a small head space in your kettle during the mash will help maintain temps.

 

[BongoYodeler]

Much the same for me. I got a free mover's blanket from HF (free with a purchase of another item). I put the blanket over the kettle and a sleeping bag over the blanket. Secure it all in place with a couple bungee cords. Done. Temperature drop over 60 minutes is generally less than two degrees.

 

[North_of_60]

Thanks for the advice. I'm going to skip the pump. I'm making a insulation jacket out of reflectix. I'm going use 4 layers around the sides and top. Anyone make anything like this?

Good call an skipping the pump, after all, the reason you are doing BIAB to make it simple. If you find that you need to add heat because you under shot your temp, stir continuously and use low heat. As soon as the temp starts to rise cut the burner. It seems like I always over shoot when I do this.

The reflectix jacket should work fine. I use an old sleeping bag to slip over the kettle. After 90 minutes I lose about 2 to 3 degrees. I open the kettle every 20 to 30 minutes and give it a really good stir. I don’t know if this stirring is nesesary.

I do 90 minute mash because that was how I learned to do it 5 years ago. You can probably get by with a 60 minute mash if you need to. In that case you’d probably only loose 1 to 2 degrees. And if you don’t stir, even less.

 

[mongoose33]

Good call an skipping the pump, after all, the reason you are doing BIAB to make it simple. If you find that you need to add heat because you under shot your temp, stir continuously and use low heat. As soon as the temp starts to rise cut the burner. It seems like I always over shoot when I do this.

The reflectix jacket should work fine. I use an old sleeping bag to slip over the kettle. After 90 minutes I lose about 2 to 3 degrees. I open the kettle every 20 to 30 minutes and give it a really good stir. I don’t know if this stirring is nesesary.

I do 90 minute mash because that was how I learned to do it 5 years ago. You can probably get by with a 60 minute mash if you need to. In that case you’d probably only loose 1 to 2 degrees. And if you don’t stir, even less.

When I started doing all-grain, I had so-so efficiency. I read someplace that stirring would help, so I stirred at 15- and 30-minutes. My efficiency shot up. Stirring? I think it's a good thing.

Getting the temp right with BIAB was the biggest hurdle I had when I started it. I learned to get my strike water to what I thought was the right temp, then stirred it (no mash yet) and waited a couple more minutes and stirred again. There was always retained heat from the burner that made its way into the kettle, and I had to wait for it to settle down.

Eventually I learned how much additional heat would be added so I'd cut off the burner a few degrees short of my target, knowing it would rise the rest of the way.

 

[North_of_60]

When I started doing all-grain, I had so-so efficiency. I read someplace that stirring would help, so I stirred at 15- and 30-minutes. My efficiency shot up. Stirring? I think it's a good thing.

Getting the temp right with BIAB was the biggest hurdle I had when I started it. I learned to get my strike water to what I thought was the right temp, then stirred it (no mash yet) and waited a couple more minutes and stirred again. There was always retained heat from the burner that made its way into the kettle, and I had to wait for it to settle down.

Eventually I learned how much additional heat would be added so I'd cut off the burner a few degrees short of my target, knowing it would rise the rest of the way.

Thanks, I’ll keep stirring then.

Good advice on the temp control.

 

[nrjones89]

I just lift the grain bag up and heat for a bit. Otherwise I do some decoctions to keep mash temps. Gotta get some insulation for the keggle. I stir a little bit to make sure the temperature is even during the mash, but otherwise, I don't bother with recirculation or stirring all that much.

 

[RM-MN]

I just lift the grain bag up and heat for a bit. Otherwise I do some decoctions to keep mash temps. Gotta get some insulation for the keggle. I stir a little bit to make sure the temperature is even during the mash, but otherwise, I don't bother with recirculation or stirring all that much.

Read post #2. So many BIAB brewers get so hung up on keeping the mash temp constant for the 60 minute mash when the conversion is completed in less than 20 minutes. Milling the grains fine is the key. If your grain particles are sized to accommodate a conventional mash tun you need more time but you don't need the big particles nor the intact husks for BIAB.

 

[brew703]

I use a heavy sleeping bag to cover my kettle. In 60 min i see a 1 degree drop. The reflectix didnt really help.

 

[eastbaybrewer]

Ok just wrapped up my 1st biab brew day. I only lost 1 degree in the 60 minute mash. I got 73% mash efficiency on a 1.070 wort, which is about the same as my 3 vessel system. Brew day was about 45 minutes shorter and much less cleaning . I have to say I'm pretty happy with this brewing method.

 

[RM-MN]

Ok just wrapped up my 1st biab brew day. I only lost 1 degree in the 60 minute mash. I got 73% mash efficiency on a 1.070 wort, which is about the same as my 3 vessel system. Brew day was about 45 minutes shorter and much less cleaning . I have to say I'm pretty happy with this brewing method.

You're doing BIAB so take advantage of that by milling your grains finer. You should be able to achieve a mash efficiency of over 80% even on a 1.070 wort.

 

[eastbaybrewer]

You're doing BIAB so take advantage of that by milling your grains finer. You should be able to achieve a mash efficiency of over 80% even on a 1.070 wort.

I did double mill my grains

 

[jtratcliff]

I did double mill my grains

Crush till you're scared and then tighten the gap a bit more...

BIAB can withstand a much finer crush than you're used to with 3-vessel... A stuck sparge is
pretty hard to achieve.... (not impossible, mind you, but much, much more difficult).

And as @RM-MN mentioned, with the finer crush conversion happens faster... So you can cheat
with a 45min mash if you need to shave some time off of a brewday for some reason... Up your
hops and do a 45m boil, and now you've saved half an hour....

Throw in no-chill/overnight-chill and you save a little more time (and some cooling water).

I've been quite pleased w/Stovetop BIAB (gas stove supplemented w/ 1500W heat stick), w/nochill.
I built a counter flow chiller and still haven't used it!

 

[Beewrangler63]

I have been no chill BIAB for last 4 months, and as long as there aren't a ton of hop additions, (which I prefer anyways) I don't foresee my wort chiller getting any more use, in the distant future.

 

[RM-MN]

Crush till you're scared and then tighten the gap a bit more...

BIAB can withstand a much finer crush than you're used to with 3-vessel... A stuck sparge is
pretty hard to achieve.... (not impossible, mind you, but much, much more difficult).

And as @RM-MN mentioned, with the finer crush conversion happens faster... So you can cheat
with a 45min mash if you need to shave some time off of a brewday for some reason... Up your
hops and do a 45m boil, and now you've saved half an hour....

Throw in no-chill/overnight-chill and you save a little more time (and some cooling water).

I've been quite pleased w/Stovetop BIAB (gas stove supplemented w/ 1500W heat stick), w/nochill.
I built a counter flow chiller and still haven't used it!

[QUOTE="Beewrangler63, post: 8407371, member: 250948"]I have been no chill BIAB for last 4 months, and as long as there aren't a ton of hop additions, (which I prefer anyways) I don't foresee my wort chiller getting any more use, in the distant future.[/QUOTE]

I've been doing just a 30 minute mash and 30 minute boil quite often. I've read that the bittering is 90% complete in that 30 minutes and I'm satisfied with the beer I produce. Although I have done really short mashes I don't recommend less than 30 minutes. Conversion happens quickly, flavor extraction does not.

Hop oils continue to isomerize while the wort is above about 170F so your late addition hops, the ones you want to add flavor and aroma, become bittering hops. I now chill (pot in tub of cold water) quickly for a bit, then let the wort continue slowly from then on.

 

[North_of_60]

Ok just wrapped up my 1st biab brew day. I only lost 1 degree in the 60 minute mash. I got 73% mash efficiency on a 1.070 wort, which is about the same as my 3 vessel system. Brew day was about 45 minutes shorter and much less cleaning . I have to say I'm pretty happy with this brewing method.

73% is a respectable number. As you already know from your 3 vessel experience, consistence is the key not a high number. Before I bought my own mill I was getting 70 to 74% ME doing double crush at the LHBS. I was content with that because it was consistent.

What I wasn't content with was the eye rolls and the attitude I would get when I asked for double crush at the LHBS. So I bought a Cereal Killer and set it for .025 and do one crush now. On my last two beers I got 82.6% ME on a Stout and 86.4% ME on a wheat beer.

I still do a 90 minute mash and 90 minute boil. I keep thinking that I'll try 60/60 but when brew day comes I do 90/90. If it ain't broke don't fix it.