First time biaber. Going for it. I have my boil off estimate. Making a Belgian Wit, I think 8 lbs of grain. Can anyone tell me how you estimate the water you add for grain absorption. I am using a big pot, no dunk sparge. Ive read where some use 3qt to lb of grain.
BIAB. Water to grain ratio
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mb82
Well-Known Member
In my setup it would be .8gal of water or so. .1 gal per lb of grain. I squeeze the bejezzus out of the bag and no I am not afraid of tannin extraction.
Don't worry about qt to lb of grain ratios, BIAB that idea gets thrown out the window unless you sparge and even then it does not really get calculated. Put all the water in you will need and mash in.
Don't worry about qt to lb of grain ratios, BIAB that idea gets thrown out the window unless you sparge and even then it does not really get calculated. Put all the water in you will need and mash in.
I'm not a BIABer but I've seen absorption rates anywhere from .1 to .16 gallons per pound
8 pounds x .1 gallon per pound, you would lose .8 gallons to absorption.
8 pounds x .16 gallon per pound, you would lose 1.28 gallons to absorption.
So you're going to lose between ~3 and ~5 quarts.
3 qts per pound would give you 24 quarts or 6 gallons. Seems low. You're going to lose ~1 gallon so if you want to start your boil with 6+ gallons, I'd start with ~7.something gallons.
You're going to have to try it a few times and take notes to find out what your actual absorption rate is. At first I'd shoot a little high with the strike water until you get it dialed in. You can always boil a little longer if you collect too much.
Good luck!
8 pounds x .1 gallon per pound, you would lose .8 gallons to absorption.
8 pounds x .16 gallon per pound, you would lose 1.28 gallons to absorption.
So you're going to lose between ~3 and ~5 quarts.
3 qts per pound would give you 24 quarts or 6 gallons. Seems low. You're going to lose ~1 gallon so if you want to start your boil with 6+ gallons, I'd start with ~7.something gallons.
You're going to have to try it a few times and take notes to find out what your actual absorption rate is. At first I'd shoot a little high with the strike water until you get it dialed in. You can always boil a little longer if you collect too much.
Good luck!
Agreed with elk shadow. I usually start with 7.5-8 gallons depending on grain and boil time. With excess trub usually going into the fermenter I like to have a slight excess to make up for this loss as well. Happy brewing!
KIAKillerXJ
Well-Known Member
Final beer vol+ trub loss + grain absorption (for me it's total grain weight *.1) + evaporation
So for instance for the stout I did yesterday with 17lbs of grain:
5+.75+1.7+1.5= ~9 gals
So for instance for the stout I did yesterday with 17lbs of grain:
5+.75+1.7+1.5= ~9 gals
DMosPickles
Member
Don't bother calculating it. Measure out your total preboil volume needed in your kettle, make a mark on your spoon or paddle, then bring up to temp and add grains. Raise temp to 170F to mash our your grain. Remove the grain, and add back whatever water is needed to get back to your pre-boil volume!
No math is better than good math anyday in my opinion!!!
If you want, you can check how much you had to add back, then determine what your grain absorption is from there. So much easier to do after the fact.
No math is better than good math anyday in my opinion!!!
If you want, you can check how much you had to add back, then determine what your grain absorption is from there. So much easier to do after the fact.
This exactly!
Sorry, while I agree that overcomplicating things is silly, undercomplicating and watering down the wort is an idea I can't get behind.
So simply put, preboil volume plus a gallon...or batch size plus two gallons.
This kind of assumes a 5 gallon batch w/ around 10 lbs of grain.
Yeah, I've pretty much gave up on the math for BIAB too, for now. I'm only losing a gallon an hour with my kettle during boil, so I'll just dough in at 6.5 gallons. Then I'll top off right before I boil, or just top off when I pour the wort in the carboy. A bigger mesh bag makes it easier too. Big grain bills make the 5 gallon paint straining bags a pain to deal with. The paint strainer bags are awesome for my 3 or 5 gallon kettle. They're just too small for my 10 gallon pot.
NivekD
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jmaichel
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I just did my first BIAB yesterday. I used a simple Kolsch recipe that beersmith had on their website. I used BIAB calculator app on my iphone. I used a 35qt (9gal) kettle, the app asked for usable kettle volume. I enter 28 qt because that is what I thought work best prior to adding the grain and it did but my my water to grain ratio was 2.35 qts per lb of grain. or 6.25 gal and I collected about 5.25 gal preboil and 4.5 gal post boil. What I have heard is that a good ratio is 3 qts per gal on water for BIAB. How does using lower ratio affect efficiency? I am worried that in my 9 gal pot, 10.5 lbs of grain is about the max I am able to mash. If I want to brew something with a higher grain bill I am now looking at much smaller amount of wort collected then my target volume of 5 gal. Could I mash with 2/3 of the water and then add the last 1/3 after the mash for the full pre boil volume?
I just bought beersmith, how do you guys set up your recipes for BIAB?
James
I just bought beersmith, how do you guys set up your recipes for BIAB?
James
Not sure how you figure its watering down the wort? When mash is complete, pull the bag, give a squeeze, and top your water level up to your pre boil mark. If you like, pour the water over your bag and call it a sparge. Once you have your boil off rate nailed down, you will hit your targeted wort volume every time, and you won't need a calculator. 74-79% efficiency for me.
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