2nd AG. BIAB, much better efficiency this time

Last weekend I ended up with around 63% efficiency and just under 4.5gallons of wort.

This time we got around 73% maybe as high as 75%(hard to tell exactly what my volume is since the marks on the brew pail aren't right). Probably about 5.3gallons this time with an OG of 1.051

Here's the details, going for a darker ale with a roasted carmely flavor:

5lbs american 2 row pale
3.5lbs pilsner
.75lbs crystal 120L
.5 lbs brown sugar

(around 25 IBU's...didn't want to overdo it after my last one where I made a hop tea...whew...)
.5oz Chinook (30min)
.5oz Centennial(15min)

Double milled this time(only single last time)
I did a mash in 4 gallons at about 153F for about 85-90 minutes(15-20 more than last time)
Didn't mashout this time, last time we did
Took it straight into sparge in 9 quarts at about 150ish for 15-20min(after sqeezing all we could out of the 1st runnings)
Squeezed life out of the grain bag from sparge and added to 1st runnings, was probably slightly over 5 gallons already...
Took another 2 or 3 quarts of 170F water and slowly poured it through the grain and squeezed it out again.
Had to boil for at least 45 minutes before adding hops do get rid of some extra water, but I think it all paid off with a much better efficiency.

Between double milling and the extra mashing time, I think those gave us our improvement...not sure if the last couple of quarts to rinse the grain helped much but it's not like it was any extra work, just more boil time.

I'll be curious how this one turns out.

I'll be doing my first AG as well as first BIAB this weekend.. any tips other than getting my grain double milled?

my 3 points of advice so far...being a newb myself...

1. double mill
2. give the mash plenty of time
3. sqeeze the life out of the grain bag

of course temps are crucial...that's a given...

Good luck

You squeezed the bag
Your beer is definitly ruined!!
Hurry and send it to me so I can dispose of it properly!
Bull

Is it wise to squeeze the bag. I was led to believe that you extracted a lot of tannins that way, and shouldn't do it.

over at http://biabrewer.info/ its a generally accepted practice to squeeze to get as much wort as possible.

I squeeze.

I slightly squeeze. Typically get 73% up to 78%. I do a sparge too though. 1.5 qts per pound for my mash, rest of the water in another pot for the sparge, 10 minutes in the sparge water.

+1... definately squeeze. Boy old wife's tales die hard.

Sanspareil said:

+1... definately squeeze. Boy old wife's tales die hard.

Click to expand...

And nobody can squeeze a bag like an old wife, so go with your new and improved model. You'll get less tannins. Or so they say....

I thought tannins were released by boiling the grain, not by physically squeezing it...

It's like a sponge...I'm gonna get every last drop of wort I can get from it...

I'm doing my first Ag BIAB this weekend too. Thanks for the tips... guess I'll squeeze my bag too... and sparge at 170. Got my kit from AHB... Fat Tire Clone. Should be delicious!!

Just remember to only squeeze until your vision starts to go bad!

Don't sqeeze too much, you'll go blind.

just bottled this brew this morning.

FG was 1.016 or 1.015, hard to read, so finished about 5.2%abv.

Tasted pretty good what little bit I had sipped. For having almost .75 lbs of crystal 120 it didn't seem overly carmely or burnt sugary. I'm looking forward to tasting this in a couple of weeks.

This one turned out much better than the first AG brew...

glad to hear its tasting great! 5.2% abv is respectable. unless you were shooting for 7%
I can hardly wait for mine to finish fermenting so I can bottle it.. I was hoping it would be done by now, but nooooo 2 weeks and still at 1 bubble every 55 seconds. I blame it on the cooler temps. house is set for 68 but where the fermenter is sitting I'd say closer to 65

Doing an AG BIAB tomorrow... Got a brew-bud coming over to help out... With 12.25 pounds of grain going into the bag, I'm not sure how much we'll be squeezing it... Thankfully, I have the cooler mash tun finished (need to do another water test today, seems to have held well in last nights test)...

I thought that in order to properly squeeze your bag, a female was required to either perform the squeeze, or direct the squeezing process... The cuter she is, the better the end result, or more you get out of the bag... Just don't piss her off or you'll be walking funny for a week...

lol..yeah getting it squeezed the right way is important. or just let it sit in a bucket (I like mine suspended over the bucket). remember, the tighter you twist the bag to more you get squeezed out.

Where I brew, for now, I really don't have any way to suspend my bag above the bucket/cooler... I might pick up a short ladder in the coming months, to use to suspend my grain sack over the mash tun cooler...

I can see using a winch (or is that wench?) to hold my big brews bag in the future... I'll need to be brewing someplace with either a basement (with floor joists to tie into) or a garage, so that it can be properly suspended... Almost sounds like making a S&M harness... Of course, we're not talking about 5 gallon batches at that point, but at least 10 gallon batches... Can only imagine what 35+ pounds of grain weighs once it's absorbed what it wants in water...

5 gallon stock pot with a colander sitting on top (large enough to not fit inside the pot) is what I use. I sit my grain bag in that for 20-30 minutes (give me a simulated sparge time for FWH hops addition). it drains pretty good and then a good twist followed by a good squeeze seemed to do the trick

Mysticmead said:

5 gallon stock pot with a colander sitting on top (large enough to not fit inside the pot) is what I use. I sit my grain bag in that for 20-30 minutes (give me a simulated sparge time for FWH hops addition). it drains pretty good and then a good twist followed by a good squeeze seemed to do the trick

Click to expand...

I don't have a colander large enough to stay suspended above the wort in the pot. All of my brew pots (20 and 32 quart) are too wide to support the large colander I have. Besides, with my brews, I don't think the colander would fit all the grains into it (even in the bag)... I might try it in the cooler tomorrow, after the first sparge run. or when running out the mash water.