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**C-Rider** · 08-23-2011, 07:41 AM

Just picked up a 5 gallon Colman cooler for $25. I'm doing small 1 1/2 gallon batches and they cool off fast during the mash. Hope this solves that problem. Looked around here in the islands for a 3 gallon one but could not find one. Online the price was OK, but shipping was twice the cost of the cooler.

SkylerChaBro · 09-04-2011, 09:31 AM

This is the system I have been using recently, and I have to say it works very well. I still sparge but this is a great how to on BIAB style brewing. Fantastic little setup by the way,that brew pot looks fantastic.

**Brewitt** · 09-05-2011, 11:39 PM

I have been doing BIAB for my last three brews (including today). In terms of setup and execution, everything has been going quite well. My first two I did a partial volume mash followed by a batch sparge to bring up the volume since my pot is small. Although the beers have turned out great I have missed my numbers every time with efficiencies below 70%. I have gotten close to my target ABV because my fermentations have been more complete than expected. I figured my low efficiency of mashing must be because of the partial volume mashes. Today I was able to do a full volume mash in a 13 gal pot without a batch sparge. Today was also my worst efficiency yet, just over 60%. I should say that this is a wheat beer and I did make one mistake, I forgot the mashout and just went right to boil. I should say that I have also been doing 60 min mash and 60 min boils.

Any suggestions are welcome.

tektonjp · 09-06-2011, 03:11 AM

Low efficiency? How was the crush? ph? I mashed last night at 67C for 90 minutes, mashout @ 75C for 10, and got about 85%. One thing on wheat is you really need a rest at 40C.
How is your insulation? Holding temp ok?
Some report lower eff. with larger batches too.

**Brewitt** · 09-06-2011, 04:11 AM

I had 13.25 lb total grain and 7 lb was white wheat, the rest was 2 row and caravienne. I ordered the grains online and didn't really know how to evaluate the crush. I do know that the caravienne that I used had a lot of powdery material so it was pretty well crushed but the wheat I couldn't judge since I haven't used it before. I also havent used the vendor before (farmhouse brewing supply). The wheat had a lot of white gritty material so I presume it was crushed OK.

The temperature started at 67 C and went down to 66 C over an hour so it was quite good. I generally wrap a couple layers of towels around the pot and it holds quite well. I didn't do a 40 C rest and I didn't mash out. The latter was intended but somehow overlooked. I got a lot of wort out of the grain when I removed the bag so I don't anticipate the loss was too great there.

I went back to my volumes and calculations and I got maybe 65% at most but I know that folks are getting in the 80% range pretty reliably.

tektonjp · 09-07-2011, 06:04 AM

What were your gravity readings? How did you calculate efficiency? And how much water? Were you doing a ten gallon batch? Tough to do a 10 gallon biab in a thirteen gallon pot. Most use double size kettle. I'm totally maxed out in my 7.5 gallon pot, in fact, I try to brew smaller than 5.
This is how I calculate:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/brewhouse-efficiency/

**Brewitt** · 09-07-2011, 11:16 PM

My preboil was 1.042 at about 7.5 gallons. My post boil was 1.048 at 6.5 gallons. I let BeerAlchemy calculate the efficiency. Your calculator gave me 62.5%. It was a 5 gallon batch in a 13 gallon pot starting with about 8.25 gallons.

Mysticmead · 09-08-2011, 03:39 AM

change the batch size to 6.5 gallon and see how you ended up.

**Brewitt** · 09-08-2011, 04:37 AM

If I put in 6.5 with my 1.048 postboil I get 61%.

CrystalShip · 09-10-2011, 08:59 AM

This question may have been answered already but how does one sparge when doing BIAB? I only have a 7.5 gallon kettle and would like to make bigger beers but cannot fit the full grain bill and preboil volume of water into it. I brewed a beer with 12# of grain and filled the thing to the brim but still came up short after the mash. Any suggestions?