Second BIAB efficiency, 76%

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

262andbrew

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 24, 2010
Messages
108
Reaction score
5
Location
Lincoln, NE
:ban:

My first was about 60%, but number 2 was much better and will have better ferment-ability.

Round one I had about 4 pounds of grain more but I ended up with the same OG.

Read a little bit, learned a bit, and got a bit better.

Sorry for the random brag, but I am stoked.
 
76% is a good efficiency with BIAB, however you can get higher, a bit of practice and refining your process and you should get it over 80%. Well done.
 
check the crush, with biab you can go a little finer than without. good job, though.:)
 
Thanks. -- I think that the next step is to get my own grain crusher instead of relying on the HB supply. Maybe in a month or 2 (after the wife forgets how much I have spent on the Keezer :) ).
 
Did you do total water in mash, or did you dunk sparge it?

I mashed in at 1.25 qt/lb, then did a dunk sparge with the rest of the pre-boil volume, and got 78% last time.

I find the main issue with BIAB is the lack of ability to vorlauf (well, depends how you do it), which leads to a bit of extra break material in the kettle.
 
I have had 24 hours to think through the differences, here is what I have come up with:
The number actually came in at 78%.
This recipe used Golden Promise, first batch was primarily US 2 row.
I overshot the temp in the first round, nearly 160 degrees for the whole time :(. This time was right at 150 for about 40 min, then kicked the heat on to 160 for about 15 or 20 min.
I wrapped the Keggle in blankets this time and it was less windy so my temp control was better.
Stirring was about the same, but tried to give it some agitation every 10 or 15 min.
Mashed with all my water both times but started with about 3q more this time so I was not quite as worried about coming up short in volume.
No sparge either time.
There was a lot of break material for both batches, something that took me off gaurd coming from extract brews.

I don't know which pieces had the most effect on the change, but temp is my best guess. The next batch is mainly 2 row, so that will eliminate that variable (and I am not expecting that to be much of a difference maker).

That is all I can think of at this point, at any rate I am happy with the increase and if I get 75 to 78 in every batch I will be happy.

Good night all.
Peace.
 
Ummm, duh, my fault... one other variable. The second brew had 3 or 4 pounds less grain. So that could be a big part of why the efficiency was higher on the second batch. I understand there is some limits to the highest gravity that BIAB will work well on. It could be that I was just bumping into that in the 1.063-65 range for the first (less successful) brew.
 
If I may chime in, I love BIAB. I have nailed it down pretty good for what works for me, and get 83% efficiency pretty much everytime. Let me try to help you out a bit based on your statements above.

This recipe used Golden Promise, first batch was primarily US 2 row.

The diastic power difference between these two grains will not really affect your efficiency that much.

I overshot the temp in the first round, nearly 160 degrees for the whole time :(. This time was right at 150 for about 40 min, then kicked the heat on to 160 for about 15 or 20 min.

Sorry to hear this, but why did you leave it at 160f? I highly highly reccomend adding cold water to your mash next time (little tiny bit at a time) until you hit your target and starting your mash clock at that point. Also: Why the 160F ? Is this a step mash or were you trying to mash out?

I agree - Your temp was a small part of your efficiency, but not a big one. The biggest reason your efficiency was so low in batch one was your mash thickness. My efficiency went past 80% when I started making sure my mash was thin enough to ensure I could stir properly to get all the grain soaked with water. What I like to do is mash in 5 degrees or more too HIGH, then stir like a madman for 5-8 minutes. By then, I am usually at my mash traget temp and I can lid the sucker. If I am too high, I add a tiny bit of cold water, stir, until I hit my target.

Our processes differ a bit though, as I mash in 1 or 2 pots and place them in an oven preheated to 170F (I turn offf the oven once the pots are inside).

I also sparge for 10 mins. I think the sparge helps. All I do is lift my grain bag out of the tun after conversion, and place it in another container (old crappy pot works well). I then move my first runnings to my boil pot, and use put my bag(s) back in the tun(s). I add 175F(ish) water and make sure I am around 165F. I lid for 10 mins, take out the bag, and add the second runnings to my boil pot. I also have a measure stick to make sure my volumes are ok.

So, for you since you have a keggle you may not be able to sparge depending on how many spare pots you have or if you want to bother with all that lifting. 78% is pretty good without a sparge, and it was most certainly that your mash was not as thick so you got better absorbtion into your grains.

Hope that info helps
 
It could be that I was just bumping into that in the 1.063-65 range for the first (less successful) brew.

Me again - I wanted to help you here also if I can.

The rumor that BIAB does not work as well above that range is untrue; as long as your mash is thin enough to allow your grains proper absorbtion, you can do high gravity beers just as well (maybe better) in BIAB than using a cooler mlt or something else like that.

I regularly do BIAB 1.090 +++ and get 80%+ efficiency providing my mash is thin enough, and I stir very well making sure there are ZERO lumps. Very important, can't stress it enough.

From one BIAB brewer to another!

PS: You may need 2 mash tuns, a cheap pot mashed in your preheated oven (heat off during mash though) works VERY well.
 
When I moved up to BIAB i bought a corona mill. I like it cause it was cheap and with BIAB you can crush a little finer. Also I make sure that once I dough in that I stir till i get my mash temp, I do 90 minute mashes just to ensure I get a good conversion. By doing the 90 minute mash, I usually only loose 2-3 degrees, My last few Biab i have been getting 86% efficiency. I also dunk sparge for 10 minutes, and then i put the grain bag in a collander to drain, sometimes i run the sparge water slowly over the grain bag in the collander as an extra step just to rinse as much of the sugars off the grain.
 
What I like to do is mash in 5 degrees or more too HIGH, then stir like a madman for 5-8 minutes. By then, I am usually at my mash traget temp and I can lid the sucker.

Great advice, especially on mash thickness and sparging, but this I take some issue with.

Temperature control is very important to control the type of fermentables you get--beta amylase denatures slowly at around 149F, and much faster as the temperature rises. Alpha amylase works best up to 158F, hence why 153F is a sort of "standard" mash temp for a lot of beers--it's a good compromise between killing off the beta too fast and the sweet spot for alpha performance.

If you are mashing in at 158F and taking 5 minutes to stir it down to 153F, you may get fine efficiency but it'll be a lot tougher to control the taste of your beer--you're going to be denaturing a lot of your betas, hence generating a lot less fermentable a wort than you want out of a recipe calling for a 153F single-infusion mash.
 
Good stuff folks, thanks.

Using my experience and merging the ideas that you have put forward I will do a couple things the next time around:

Error on the side of greater volume to keep the mash as thin as possible.
Crush a little finer whenever I can.
More stirring to assure there are no dough balls (I don't think this was a problem on the previous batches, but good to keep in mind and more stiring will allow more access to the good stuff stuck in the husks).
I feel good about the temp control if I hit my numbers, 6-7 gallons has a lot of thermal mass and a couple mylar blankets (from marathons) and a fleece blanket or 2 bungeed on the outside held the number really well. A little time and experience will teach me what temps I want for the style and weight of the beer.
I may play with sparging, but for now I think I will invest the volume in a thinner mash.

Thank you all for the feedback. As a group we just keep getting smarter by sharing experiences, ideas, and theories.

Peace.
 
Back
Top