BIAB Brewing (with pics)

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Awesome idea! Especially since I was up making a starter last night. I would have much rather just taken a jar out and pitched some yeast.
 
Okay, just finished my third BIAB all grain brew and I have some questions. I am using a 7.5 gallon kettle with voile paint strainer, as well as another 7.5 gallon kettle to sparge in. I will bring up about 4-5 gallons of water to mash temp, put in grains and mash for the requisite time. During this time, I bring kettle #2 to 170 degrees, then dunk the grain bag/squeeze it into the 2nd kettle after its done in the first. Combine and boil.

First question: I am seeing some very low SG's- is there something wrong with the technique that is causing me to miss the mark?

I think it may be the mill I got at my LHBS; just ordered my own mill- should I just run the grain through twice or just set the gap real low?

With my current kettle setup, is there any way to do higher gravity brews? My last recipe was an IPA with 16+ of grain, and it turned out very low. I have a similiar-sized dubbel waiting; should I just split it up and do two smaller mashes and then combine?

Thanks for your help. :mug:
 
diablodawg said:
Okay, just finished my third BIAB all grain brew and I have some questions. I am using a 7.5 gallon kettle with voile paint strainer, as well as another 7.5 gallon kettle to sparge in. I will bring up about 4-5 gallons of water to mash temp, put in grains and mash for the requisite time. During this time, I bring kettle #2 to 170 degrees, then dunk the grain bag/squeeze it into the 2nd kettle after its done in the first. Combine and boil.

First question: I am seeing some very low SG's- is there something wrong with the technique that is causing me to miss the mark?

I think it may be the mill I got at my LHBS; just ordered my own mill- should I just run the grain through twice or just set the gap real low?

With my current kettle setup, is there any way to do higher gravity brews? My last recipe was an IPA with 16+ of grain, and it turned out very low. I have a similiar-sized dubbel waiting; should I just split it up and do two smaller mashes and then combine?

Thanks for your help. :mug:
Click to expand...

What is your final volume after boiling and cooling the wort?

Using your own grain mill and crushing at a finer setting (or double crushing) should help a lot.

Keep some DME on hand so you can add it to your wort if you come in significantly under your target SG.
 
@diablodawg,
Your technique has been proven to work by many other BIABers, just a couple of things to check in your process.
1) Make sure your grain/water ratio doesn't get too thick. If it's at the standard 1.25 quarts/pound (low end) up to 2.5 or so for typical BIAB, you'll be fine. Lower and it's going to be too thick to get proper conversion.
2) Stir or recirculate. Especially in the first 10 minutes, stir like mad to make sure all your grain gets equally wet, and gets to your proper mashing temp.
3) Try and bring both pots to 168 to do a full mash-out. This can really help, especially if you're a little low on your water/grain ratio.
4) Crush. You can go way finer when you use a bag. Get it double crushed for sure.
 
Just wanted to say thanks for this awesome thread. Helped a ton on my first biab. My very scientific process was to pull bag out of boil pot and dunk in water. lol

biab1.jpg
 
Seven said:
What is your final volume after boiling and cooling the wort?

Using your own grain mill and crushing at a finer setting (or double crushing) should help a lot.

Keep some DME on hand so you can add it to your wort if you come in significantly under your target SG.
Click to expand...

This batch was a bit off- in the 4.5 gal range. I did have some boilovers, though. That's a great idea with the DME- are you suggesting to add after the boil?

For the water/grain ratio- if I go on the high side at 2.5 qt/lb for my 16lb dubbel, that is 8 gallons. Should I just boil for longer to reduce this?
 
Well, I finally got around to doing my first BIAB (and all grain) this past weekend, with the addition of my new 10.5 gallon BK, new Bayou burner and new chiller. Surprisingly, it went without a hitch. My thermometer was acting goofy, so I'm not sure that I hit my temperatures perfectly (may have been a bit low). I was surprised, however, at the amazing heat retention of my BK, which held a constant mash temperature for 70 minutes (I stirred and took the temperature about every 5 minutes).

To top things off, my pre-boil gravity and OG were spot on with the recipe, and my efficiency ended up around 93%! I was amazed! She is now sitting in my office, vigorously fermenting, and life is good.

Adios, extract.
 
diablodawg said:
This batch was a bit off- in the 4.5 gal range. I did have some boilovers, though. That's a great idea with the DME- are you suggesting to add after the boil?
Click to expand...

Tools like Beersmith will tell you the estimated pre-boil gravity of your recipe. You can take a pre-boil gravity reading using your hydrometer or refractometer and then you can use the "boil off tool" in Beersmith to see what your post-boil gravity will be. If you find the estimated post-boil gravity will be below your target gravity, you can add some DME or LME during the boil to make up the difference.

I searched around and found a good description of adding DME or LME to all-grain brews, article here.

Here's the relevant snippet from the above article...

To calculate how much extract to add to raise the specific gravity from your actual gravity to your target gravity, use this equation:

Wex = [V * (SGtarget – SGactual)]/EPex

where Wex is the weight of malt extract addition (in pounds), V is the volume of wort (in gallons), SGtarget is the target specific gravity (in points), SGactual is the actual specific gravity (in points) and EPex is the extract potential points of malt extract (in “ppg” or points per pound per gallon). Since the values for extract potential used by most homebrewers are in “ppg,”

For our first example, let’s say a recipe has a target pre-boil specific gravity of 1.050. After mashing and collecting the runoff, you find that the actual gravity is 1.040. The volume is 7.0 gallons (26 L). Using the formula for how much extract to add, you would calculate:

Wex = [7 * (50 – 40)] / 45 = 1.56

Wex = [7 * (50 – 40)] / 36 = 1.94

So, you would add either 1.56 lbs. (0.71 kg) of dried malt extract or 1.94 lbs. (0.88 kg) of liquid malt extract to boost your 7 gallons (26 L) of wort from a specific gravity of 1.040 to 1.050.

Someone else here may have a simpler solution than this... hopefully they will chime in if so!

diablodawg said:
For the water/grain ratio- if I go on the high side at 2.5 qt/lb for my 16lb dubbel, that is 8 gallons. Should I just boil for longer to reduce this?
Click to expand...

Yes, here's an example:

Post boil target volume is 5-gallons
Recipe calls for a 60-minute boil
Boil off rate is approx. 1-gallon per hour

After mashing you have collected 8-gallons in your brew kettle

Boil down to 6.25 gallons. Once you have reached 6.25 gallons start the timer at 60-mins and add your first 60-min hop addition

Boil for 60-mins and continue to add hops as the recipe indicates

After 60-mins of boiling you will be down to approx. 5.25 gallons

After cooling you will be down to approx. 5-gallons of wort

The above is only one example and your real world boil-off rate may vary slightly based on your equipment, climate, etc. This should at least get you off to a good start.

Hope this helps!
 
bowa41 said:
Well, I finally got around to doing my first BIAB (and all grain) this past weekend, with the addition of my new 10.5 gallon BK, new Bayou burner and new chiller. Surprisingly, it went without a hitch. My thermometer was acting goofy, so I'm not sure that I hit my temperatures perfectly (may have been a bit low). I was surprised, however, at the amazing heat retention of my BK, which held a constant mash temperature for 70 minutes (I stirred and took the temperature about every 5 minutes).

To top things off, my pre-boil gravity and OG were spot on with the recipe, and my efficiency ended up around 93%! I was amazed! She is now sitting in my office, vigorously fermenting, and life is good.

Adios, extract.
Click to expand...

congrats on your first BIAB. Now you're probably sitting there wondering why it took you so long to make the switch.. if you had only know it was this easy.... now I'm not saying it's going to be perfect like this for each beer you brew but.... it will always be as easy.

Now, get a few more beers under your belt and go out there and teach a friend to brew.
 
Yo Seven I can't believe you paid only 30 dollars for the turkey basket !! I found the exact one on Amazon for 72 freakin bucks that includes shipping !! Phew a bit pricey, everything else with your setup works great.I just need to find a cheaper basket.
 
Tizzomes said:
Yo Seven I can't believe you paid only 30 dollars for the turkey basket !! I found the exact one on Amazon for 72 freakin bucks that includes shipping !! Phew a bit pricey, everything else with your setup works great.I just need to find a cheaper basket.
Click to expand...

I got it on sale from sears.com last year just after the holidays. Keep your eyes open for good deals over the holidays!
 
Seven said:
I got it on sale from sears.com last year just after the holidays. Keep your eyes open for good deals over the holidays!
Click to expand...

Hey quick question I found a 40qt basket made by Winware on Amazon. In you opinion do you think it'll work? It's 29 dollars .
 
Amity said:
Here's what I use for helping to drain my grain bag:

biab.jpg


It's a strainer intended for vegetables and such, with extendable arms for a sink. It supported my 10 lbs of wet grain very easily. I was able to squeeze the bag very easily (except that it was hot...).

I got 85% efficiency today.
Click to expand...

Ha! Those are the EXACT same kettles I have. Big turkey fryer, little stainless. Looks like I'll be following your example.
 
Ok, so this weekend I'm doing my first AG and BIAB. I'm doing a dunkelweizen, so that's 10.5 pounds of grain in my 7.5 gallon turkey fryer. I'm going to do a sparge, but how can I find out how much water to start with in the kettle? This may be elementary, but can I put 10.5 pounds worth of weights in the bottom and fill it up and expect the grain to displace that exact amount, or are there other factors I'm not taking into account?

Then once I figure this amount out, then my sparge will need to be the remaining amount of what the total volume SHOULD have been if I had started with the total volume, correct?
 
weight of grain x absorption + boil off +trub loss + batch size = water needed.

try 10.5 x .074 + boil off + trub loss + batch size.

for me that would be 10.5 x .074 =.777 (round it to .75 gallon) + 1.5 gallon + .25 gallon + 5.50 gallon = 8 gallons of water needed. now of course that won't fit you 7.5 gallon pot much less the grains. What I would do it have 4 gallons of water in the 7.5 gallon pot, add the grains and mash, then transfer to another pot with the remaining water to dunk sparge. or get a bigger pot :)
 
Thanks mysticmead. I actually read all 42 pages and I know this is approximately the tenth time you've posted that equation.

I actually have it on a post it note on my wall.

I'm going with your equation.
 
Well, I feel a little silly. I can always bring 6 gallons of water up to mash temp, then slowly add the grains. If the water gets too high, I can just open the spigot and let some water out.

Then I can heat my 2nd kettle of sparge water, and top up after the mash in complete.:mug:
 
jr14 said:
Well, I feel a little silly. I can always bring 6 gallons of water up to mash temp, then slowly add the grains. If the water gets too high, I can just open the spigot and let some water out.

Then I can heat my 2nd kettle of sparge water, and top up after the mash in complete.:mug:
Click to expand...

Better to take the water out first, put it in your second pot, add the grains, then add back the water.

I don't know it in US units, but grain displaces about 0.7L per KG.

So

Max Strikewater in L = Max Volume of Kettle in L - (Kilograms of Grain * 0.7)

Then when you've worked out your total water, subtract your strike water volume and use the remaining water to sparge with, doing it this way should get you 80-85% efficiency into your kettle
 
Thanks stux. In US, Your equation looked something like this to me.

Converted Grain Displacement .18 Pounds per gallon

Max Strikewater in Gal = Max Volume of Kettle in Gal (7.5 for me) - (Pounds of Grain (10.5 for me)* .18)

This = 1.89 Gal (I rounded up to 2). So I'm going to start with 5.5 Gal.
 
Hey all - looking for some help regarding my ability to brew the HopSlam clone recipe offered by Schweaty. Looking to do this as a no-sparge, but not sure if I have the capacity.

What I have available:

44Qt Bayou Classic boil kettle (with matching basket)

Grain bill per Schweaty is 19.5 lbs. with a starting boil size of 7.11 gallons. I used the formula offered by MysticMead a few posts above to determine my strike volume and came up with 8.69 gallons (I used Mystic's trub and evaporation figures as I'm new to BIAB).

I've looked at the 'Can I Mash It?' calculator on rackers.org (Green Bay Rackers--Mash Calculators), but I'm not 100% sure of the mash thickness ratio. I know I would enter 19.5 in the weight field. For the mash thickness, would I take 8.69 Gallons x 4 = 34.76 Qts and divide the 34.76qts by19.5lbs to get a 1.78 mash thickness ratio?

Using 19.5 lbs and 1.78 mash thickness ratio in the calculator tells me I would need 10.24gallons worth of space. If my math is correct, and 10.24 gallons of space is needed, should I attempt this (no sparge) in an 11 gallon kettle including the basket? I'm I asking for trouble?

Thanks in advance!

Matt
 
jr14 said:
Well, I feel a little silly. I can always bring 6 gallons of water up to mash temp, then slowly add the grains. If the water gets too high, I can just open the spigot and let some water out.

Then I can heat my 2nd kettle of sparge water, and top up after the mash in complete.:mug:
Click to expand...

What I did when doing my first BIAB 6 gallon batch, was mash with ~4 gallons, then topped up to my pre boil amount after the mash.
 
Antler said:
What I did when doing my first BIAB 6 gallon batch, was mash with ~4 gallons, then topped up to my pre boil amount after the mash.
Click to expand...

Or sparge with the two gallons. It's often mentioned that BIAB is no sparge, but damn it's pretty easy to pour the extra two gallons back through the bag while it rests on a grate over top of the kettle while heating to boil.
 
Riseabovebb said:
Hey all - looking for some help regarding my ability to brew the HopSlam clone recipe offered by Schweaty. Looking to do this as a no-sparge, but not sure if I have the capacity.

What I have available:

44Qt Bayou Classic boil kettle (with matching basket)

Grain bill per Schweaty is 19.5 lbs. with a starting boil size of 7.11 gallons. I used the formula offered by MysticMead a few posts above to determine my strike volume and came up with 8.69 gallons (I used Mystic's trub and evaporation figures as I'm new to BIAB).

I've looked at the 'Can I Mash It?' calculator on rackers.org (Green Bay Rackers--Mash Calculators), but I'm not 100% sure of the mash thickness ratio. I know I would enter 19.5 in the weight field. For the mash thickness, would I take 8.69 Gallons x 4 = 34.76 Qts and divide the 34.76qts by19.5lbs to get a 1.78 mash thickness ratio?

Using 19.5 lbs and 1.78 mash thickness ratio in the calculator tells me I would need 10.24gallons worth of space. If my math is correct, and 10.24 gallons of space is needed, should I attempt this (no sparge) in an 11 gallon kettle including the basket? I'm I asking for trouble?

Thanks in advance!

Matt
Click to expand...

I brewed this exact same recipe using a 10-gallon kettle. My kettle was definitely maxed out but it worked. This turned out to be one of the best beers I have made so far. You should be able to do it with your 11-gallon kettle.
 
JimTheHick said:
Or sparge with the two gallons. It's often mentioned that BIAB is no sparge, but damn it's pretty easy to pour the extra two gallons back through the bag while it rests on a grate over top of the kettle while heating to boil.
Click to expand...

This is exactly what I was going to do as I had it suspended above the kettle.
 
Seven said:
I brewed this exact same recipe using a 10-gallon kettle. My kettle was definitely maxed out but it worked. This turned out to be one of the best beers I have made so far. You should be able to do it with your 11-gallon kettle.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Seven. Today is brew day. I'm already excited to get started.

While I don't have a pulley system rigged, I'm going to try using my Park Tools brand bicycle repair stand to drain the wort. I'll test it out first to make sure it withstands the weight, but it can easily hold my 30+ lbs touring bike (including racks, mounts, etc.).

Might be a good multi-use system for those who have a bike stand.
 
Riseabovebb said:
Thanks, Seven. Today is brew day. I'm already excited to get started.

While I don't have a pulley system rigged, I'm going to try using my Park Tools brand bicycle repair stand to drain the wort. I'll test it out first to make sure it withstands the weight, but it can easily hold my 30+ lbs touring bike (including racks, mounts, etc.).

Might be a good multi-use system for those who have a bike stand.
Click to expand...

Also, Hopslam was a big siphon-clogger for me. You may want to research ways to prevent siphon clogging because I had a hell of a time transferring from the fermentor to the keg with all of the dry hops. I haven't tried dry hopping using mesh bags or other tricks to contain the hops yet so I don't know how well those methods work.
 
I ended up brewing the vanilla bourbon porter recipeby denny conn. The 17 # grain bill with 8.5 gallons of water maxed out my 11 gallon kettle. I had about a cm of space available during the mash.

The bike stand worked great for draining the mash!



ForumRunner_20111126_151338.jpg
 
Woot! Brewed a Robust Porter yesterday and with doing a double milling of my grain with a gap of .040", a 10 minute mash out and squeezing the crap out of my grain bag, I landed a 89.9% efficiency. I was thinking about getting a cooler mash tun just to try out the 'traditional' method of AG brewing, but why bother?
 
Whew, another epic thread!

Since I already have a mash tun and have scarcely brewed in years, I really need to make sure I have my old process dialed in before I start fiddling. But I'm intrigued, and I think after I have run a few "traditional" batches to get my rhythm back, I'm going to seriously think about this.

Huge amounts of info in this thread, but I'm not sure all of my questions were answered in it. A couple...

1. All thru this thread people are talking about sewing up bags from this voile (sp?) material, but right in the OP, Seven you said you just used a big paint strainer. Are you still using that? How big? How big do they go? Anyone else?

2. I am (at least for now...) brewing in a half-barrel [Edit: 1/4 bbl] (7.75 gal) pony keg. I typically run up to about 6.75 gal of wort. This thing won't be big enough to do a no-sparge BIAB, so I'll need to do something else. I am assuming that would just be to fill up a second vessel with hot sparge water and do a dunk sparge. The one thing I don't think I've seen in this thread is how long to dunk sparge for? Is it just a few quick bobs of the bag, or does it have to sit there for awhile?

Thanks!
 
yep... dunk sparge.. but instead of bob it up and down, stir it real well and let it sit for a 10 minutes.. btw.. you have a 1/4 barrel pony keg.. a half barrel is 15.5 gallons
 
Mysticmead said:
yep... dunk sparge.. but instead of bob it up and down, stir it real well and let it sit for a 10 minutes.. btw.. you have a 1/4 barrel pony keg.. a half barrel is 15.5 gallons
Click to expand...

Yes, excuse me, quarter-barrel. It's half a regular keg, but a keg is half a barrel so I always mix that up ;)
 
lol..no prob.. and I also wanted to say.. as far as how you sparge.. either dunk and stir or dunk like a tea bag, or any other way you can think of.. they'll all make beer. there are no true absolutes in brewing and what ever works best for you to make the beer you like to drink is all that really matters
 
As an update to my previous posts, my first ever all-grain attempt and BIAB has failed. After returning home with 3 weeks in secondary I came back to mold floating around the beer. Don't know what happened but I'm pretty bummed as I won't be able to try amines BIAB for quite a while.
 

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