JNye

Recipes 

Something off the wall happened and i don't know what it was. I did my first BIAB last night to check it out for smaller grain bills. SMaSH with Maris Otter. 5LBS. normal LHBS crush. used a paint strainer bag.

brought temp to 154*, added grain. stir. 20 mins 148* stir, bring heat back to 154* 20 mins, stir 152*, 20 mins stir. bring temp up to 175 for 20 mins. stir, drain bag. check gravity @ 1.012! for 3 gallons...SICK!!! since i already killed the enzymes i was screwed.
Luckily my LHBS is also a liquor store so I ran over there at 10 pm and got 3.3LBs of DME to save 3 hours of labor. final gravity of 1.048.
My Beersmith is on the fritz so if anyone wants to give me some stats I'd appreciate it. The efficiency must have been ~30%?

Possible problems....bag too small? but i was able to stir just fine and i have read of others using paint strainer bags.
Crush not fine enough...but this can't account for this bad of efficiency could it? something off the wall i don't know about like bad grain? maybe they gave me 6 row, i dunno?

2-0turbo

Recipes 

Well, I'm not sure. You don't say, but did you cool your sample before measuring the OG? If you measured at 175°F, a 1.012 reading would be something like 1.039 corrected. You're not clear on that.

I have done stove-top BIAB for my last five batches now. You should have brought your strike water up to something like 165-170 before adding your grain to hit your target mash-in temp of 154. From my experience, trying to control the temperature of the mash with the burner is tough. I try to hit my strike and grain temps on target and not touch it. Perhaps as you said, you killed the enzymes--hard to say.

I use a large mesh bag I got from my LHBS. But, I see no reason why the paint back wouldn't work. I don't know your efficiency, but it was crappy. Not sure why. I suggest trying again and using Beersmith to adjust your strikewater temps to get your mash at the right level. Like I've said, I've done BIAB the last five batches. I never test for conversion, I've been hitting my gravities with a batch sparge after (I take the grain back out and put it into another pot and pour sparge water on top and let it sit for 10-minutes). My beers have been turning out great.

Anything different with the grain? Perhaps you didn't really get Maris Otter? Maybe the bag was bad?

__________________
-Matt

BB Primary 1: O'Flannagains Standard Stout
BB Primary 2: DFH-60 minute clone
BB Secondary 1: Dark Soul of the Night Russian Imperial Stout (Until Oct 2010 sometime)
Bottle Conditioning: None
On Hand: DFH-60 minute clone, Light Pilsner (Munton's kit)
Up Next: I dunno...I'm out of fermenters.

JNye

Recipes 

i measure with a refractometer so thats not the problem. the first temp of 154* is the grain/water temp, not strike. I was very happy with my temps, i did lose 6* the first 20 minutes, not sure why, but bringing it back up to 154 was a breeze, burner very low for like 2 minutes, constant stirring.
I have never used maris otter before, so i can't coment, i guess i am looking for a solution that i have never heard of like bad grain, dunno if that is possible, i just don't get it.
i also sparged in a seperate pot after the mash was over. that water looked like I just washed a bunch of potatoes in it...starchy.

JNye

Recipes 

this batch just keeps getting better. yeast stalled out and i was getting no movement on my final gravity of 1.022. i added at least a tablespoon of amalyse enzyme.

I have never added the stuff to the fermentor cause i have always been too nervous it would just keep going. This time I said screw it, I want to see what this stuff can do. 2 days later its still foaming up and bubbling away. Will see how far this goes.

I have to say having this stuff around has been a lifesaver in that past(used it in a mash after I overshot my mash temp somehow, it saved 16 LBS of grain that time).