Well my first attempt at BIAB went well. Definitely need a bit diff set up to maximize efficiency. And need to use more strike water. It's currently cooling down to pitch temp. Excited to see it. Def will need to strain it out. I did an RIS. See how it goes,,,
First Biab
- Thread starter sok454
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First measurement adjusted for temp was 1.055. Based on grain bill and water was about 45-50%. Considering no sparge and no real good way to drain the bag I'm happy w it. I was able to meet my recipe OG within .001-2. OG after boil was about 1.113-5. Didnt have to add extra DME vs what recipe was.
I'm doing my second BIAB tomorrow. Same recipe as the first. I got 62% efficiency last time (according to BeerSmith). I've done a few things to boost that.
1. I bought a grain mill and am going to crush really fine.
2. Found a pot lid that is roughly the same diameter as my Ale Pail, for squeezing the day lights out of my bag [giggle].
1. I bought a grain mill and am going to crush really fine.
2. Found a pot lid that is roughly the same diameter as my Ale Pail, for squeezing the day lights out of my bag [giggle].
timduncan200021
Well-Known Member
Squeeze that baby like it owes you a $1.50. I've never had any problems squeezing , just higher efficiency. That old school science of squeezing causes tannins is out the door!
woknblues
Well-Known Member
Next time you brew a big beer like that, consider brewing another small beer after, especially with mediocre efficiency. I bet you could have easily pulled a 1.040-1.050 out of your spent grains and got a cda or small stout with a bit of tweaking.
I went to bed,bath,& beyond & got a SS collander for about $9. with the handles,it fits across my 5G BK to put the grain bag in for sparging. Better to add wort than just water to get up to boil volume. That & a good,even crush went a long way to raising my OG's. I finally got a grain mill to get a better crush.
I'm getting 75-77% using my E-BIAB rig which recirculates wort (via a sprayer head) back on top on the grain bed during mashing. My LHBS lets me set their Monster Mill for my batches. I've been using .035 and that seems to be working pretty well, although I could probably go a bit finer.
sok454 said:
Today I used 5 gallons for a grain bill of roughly 10 lbs.
SpacemanSpiff
Well-Known Member
You can definitely go finer. I'm currently at .030 and get around 72% usually. I'm planning to drop down to .025 for my next brew.
I don't sparge anymore now that I have an ebiab setup, but I have come up with a 3 bucket squeeze method that works pretty well to get all that sweet wort out if the grain. I drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom of one bucket and it goes in the 2nd bucket. The bag goes in there then I put a 3rd bucket on top of the bag and sit on top of the whole contraption to really squeeze. I don't think I lose more than 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon to absorption anymore since doing this.
I don't sparge anymore now that I have an ebiab setup, but I have come up with a 3 bucket squeeze method that works pretty well to get all that sweet wort out if the grain. I drilled a bunch of holes in the bottom of one bucket and it goes in the 2nd bucket. The bag goes in there then I put a 3rd bucket on top of the bag and sit on top of the whole contraption to really squeeze. I don't think I lose more than 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon to absorption anymore since doing this.
I use 2 gallons for 5-6lbs of grains & sparge with 1.5 gallons to get a boil volume of 3.5 gallons in my 5 gallon BK/MT.
Crushing with my malt mill was a LOT tougher than I thought. Hope I got a better crush than I get at the LHBS because it was a lot of damn work.
sok454 said:
I don't necessarily think that's too much. I think traditional wisdom in a mash tun is roughly 1.25 quarts per pound, which puts you at about 4 gallons for 13 pounds if my quick math is correct.
SCBrewster
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I think the suggested volume per lb of grain in the mash is 1.25qt.
Whether I do 13/4 or 13 x .25,I get 3.25 gallons. 13 x 1.25= 16.25 qts,or 4.0625 gallons. So you're basically correct. Now 13 x 1.5 = 19.5qts,or 19.5/4 = 4.875 gallons. Easy way to figure out how much water. 1qt to 1.5qts per pound of grain is the normal range to my current understanding.
Damn. Only got to 69% efficiency according to BeerSmith. Need to keep changing my process I guess.
PackerfaninSanDiego
Member
1.1- 1.25 quarts per pound, 10 lb's=11 quarts for 1.1, and 12.5 quarts for 1.25
bobeer
Fermentation Specalist
I usually use 1.5qts x grain bill and it seems to work pretty well.
I second the collander technique to sparge. I have one that fits right over my pot and it works well. Then I squeeze the hell out of the bag to get the rest out. I've read it doesn't really matter what temp your mash water is at. What do you all think about that? It sucks to squeeze a bag that's 150+ degrees. I've mashed with various water temps and it doesn't really seem to have an affect on the beer at all.
I've only bothered to check my efficiency once since I switched over to the biab style but I think it was 80 something... I usually stir the mash every 15 minutes, give or take, and it seems to help when you're brewing a big beer. Either way the beer always turns out well.
I second the collander technique to sparge. I have one that fits right over my pot and it works well. Then I squeeze the hell out of the bag to get the rest out. I've read it doesn't really matter what temp your mash water is at. What do you all think about that? It sucks to squeeze a bag that's 150+ degrees. I've mashed with various water temps and it doesn't really seem to have an affect on the beer at all.
I've only bothered to check my efficiency once since I switched over to the biab style but I think it was 80 something... I usually stir the mash every 15 minutes, give or take, and it seems to help when you're brewing a big beer. Either way the beer always turns out well.
All of it.
Batch size + grain absorption + boil off
For a five gallon batch, I start with 7.5 - 9 gallons (depending on the grain bill) of strike water about 5° above mash temp.
Mash temp vary much matters. Lower temp,more fermentable,higher temp,less fermentable. But it also matters that you hold it at that temp for what fermentability/body you want. So it depends on how much body vs fermentability you want for a particular style. And mash water to grist amounts matter as well. I'm no pro or anything,but I go by the basic rule of 1-1.5qts per pound of grain. And my grain bag cools down pretty quick when it's drained all it can by gravity. Then I put the lid from the BK or the cake cooling rack out of the bottom of the kettle to squeeze my bag with. Yeah,I'm a glutton for punishment sometimes. 
