first ag - BIAB

stephan132 · 12-22-2009, 02:04 AM

so i attempted my first all grain brew today.

i use the brew in a bag method. made an oatmeal stout. 12 lb of grain. got about a 62% efficiency. that's not really good but i didnt expect much from my first attempt at all grain. i milled with the corona mill. I wasnt too sure about the size of the crush. It was kind of powdery but I hear that's ok and good for biab since you cant get a stuck sparge.

Well the recipe and brew seem to be fine. Next time I am trying for a better efficiency.

Any tips for BIAB for good efficiency. I read all the searches and tried my best to follow. Looking for any new, good tips but any help would be great.

Thanks for the time brewers.

HarkinBanks · 12-22-2009, 02:17 AM

Mashout to 170, stirring at the end of the mash and during the mashout, a dunk of the bag after you pull it out if you can manage, and let the bag drain for the entire boil. This has helped up my efficiency numbers with BIAB.

stephan132 · 12-22-2009, 02:24 AM

i stirred a couple times during the mash. the temp dropped a bit bit i had it cover up in a blanket to hold the heat. i mashed out at just under 170. i drained the bag in a bucket and pour it into the wort as it was boiling up.

could the drop in mash temp make a big difference? it might of dropped 5F in 70 min

HarkinBanks · 12-22-2009, 02:34 AM

Probably not a huge amount, unless you let it go really low. If your stove is big enough, put your kettle in the stove next time and set it to 150. It will hold your mash temp perfectly. You don't need to stir during the mash. Give it a thorough stir when you dough in and then let it sit. Stir during mashout.

What was your pre-boil volume (or how much strike water did you use)?

stephan132 · 12-22-2009, 02:49 AM

my preboil was just over 6 gallon.

im not sure if it will fit in the oven but next time i wont stir it and it will probably hold the temp better

HarkinBanks · 12-22-2009, 03:01 AM

If you collected 6.1 gal, your max efficiency would be 70% with 12 lbs of grain and a max pre-boil gravity of 1.0508, so you can definitely grab some more efficiency points next time around.

stephan132 · 12-22-2009, 11:47 PM

so i had just over 5 gallons of brew in my 6 gallon carboy with an airlock on it. Today it erupted. The airlock broke when hitting the ceiling. A huge fountain erupted out the top of the carboy. It was absolutely crazy. Kind of a weird beer dream. Imagine a three foot beer fountain for about 3-4 seconds.

So after cleaning up almost 3 gallons of beer that went everywhere and down two floors, I learned the importance of using a blow off tube and not an airlock on a primary.

This happen in this amount to anyone else?