Simple BIAB Calculator

Most of the existing brew tools are geared towards "traditional" all-grain brewing. That can make it difficult to figure out volumes and temps for BIAB brewers. I whipped up this simple calculator today and thought maybe some other people might benefit from it. It'll give you volumes in gallons and inches based on your kettle size as well as strike temp.

Doesn't look like much since I just put it together. I'll style it next week.

http://www.simplebiabcalculator.com/

03/03/2012 UPDATE: I've updated the calculator by adding some styling and tips. It should be very accurate now. BIAB definitely leads to higher collection than traditional techniques. I believe this is because there is more pressure on the grains when you lift the bag. Also, it seems that people tend to squeeze the crap out of their bags. I'm going to add the mashout option next.

03/03/2012 UPDATE2: OK, mashout option has been added. It will calculate the amount of boiling water to raise the mash to ~170F.

04/10/2012 UPDATE3: Created a custom domain for the calculator.

08/03/2012 UPDATE4: Added support for metric units.

That is awesome - far better than the one on dedicated BIAB site which is in metric.

Thanks!!!!

Thank you, I have been using an exel file for my calcs and figuring strike temps via beercalculus.com. This looks really nice. It's prettier and better formatted than my exel!

I'm glad you guys find it useful! I used that BIAB spreadsheet from biabbrewer.info but it was trying to be an all-in-one recipe/calculator tool. It had way more info than I needed and was also missing a few things. I keep my recipes in Beer Alchemy and just needed something simple to calculate everything for me.

I was asked for a downloadable version. Here you go. Just extract the .zip and open up index.html in your web browser.

http://www.gregstiffler.com/biabcalc/biabcalc.zip

I appreciate it, mrgstiffler, for you uploading it. I can't get it to work though, Tried it on 2 computers and when I shut off the 'net, it won't calc. Thanks anyway!!

Oops, sorry about that. I was using a Javascript library from the internet. Have it local now. Just redownload/extract. I even tested it this time...

Works great now!!!! Thanks much, setting up now for a CAP for brewing tonight. Again, thanks much!!!

Nice job. Thanks for sharing your efforts.

Just brewed with this today for the first time and it seems pretty accurate. Was about 1/8" off a couple times, but that's it.

Very nice, thanks for taking the time to do this

mychalg9 said:

Very nice, thanks for taking the time to do this

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Glad you like it. It only took about an hour tops. I got tired of being 1/2 gallon over/under on my brews. Being able to measure volume with a ruler helps A LOT.

Thanks, looks great will have to give it a whirl.

Cool beyond words!!!!

I'm planning on doing my first BIAB in the next few weeks and have been wringing my hands about all the X factors. That little peice of software takes that list down by about half!

Very....very....cool. Thank you very much!

Skarekrough said:

Cool beyond words!!!!

I'm planning on doing my first BIAB in the next few weeks and have been wringing my hands about all the X factors. That little peice of software takes that list down by about half!

Very....very....cool. Thank you very much!

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I'm glad you found it helpful. Let me know if there's anything else you need.

This is indeed great. Thanks for the work you put into this. I am a dunk-sparger, but I would gladly give no-sparge BIAB a try if it meant I could brew with your calculator.

HOWEVER... I plan to start incorporating a mashout infusion into my BIAB protocol, and that won't work with calculations designed for full volume, no-sparge BIAB. Do you think incorporating an OPTIONAL mashout infusion of boiling water would reduce the usefulness of this calculator for the average BIAB-er? Maybe the calculator could have a check box for mashout, and if it's checked, reduce the pre-boil volume by the amount needed to bring the mash to 170?

tonyolympia said:

This is indeed great. Thanks for the work you put into this. I am a dunk-sparger, but I would gladly give no-sparge BIAB a try if it meant I could brew with your calculator.

HOWEVER... I plan to start incorporating a mashout infusion into my BIAB protocol, and that won't work with calculations designed for full volume, no-sparge BIAB. Do you think incorporating an OPTIONAL mashout infusion of boiling water would reduce the usefulness of this calculator for the average BIAB-er? Maybe the calculator could have a check box for mashout, and if it's checked, reduce the pre-boil volume by the amount needed to bring the mash to 170?

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Sounds like a good idea. Pretty sure I can do that.

Hey no offense but why do people make BIAB complicated.

Add 7 to 7.5 gallons of water to pot and go.

Are we all so anal that we worry about having two extra quarts of Beer?

Parkinson1963 said:

Hey no offense but why do people make BIAB complicated.

Add 7 to 7.5 gallons of water to pot and go.

Are we all so anal that we worry about having two extra quarts of Beer?

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Repeatability and accuracy. Just a little extra planning/work can make much better beer.

Parkinson1963 said:

Hey no offense but why do people make BIAB complicated.

Add 7 to 7.5 gallons of water to pot and go.

Are we all so anal that we worry about having two extra quarts of Beer?

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You do what you want and we do what we want. Why do you care?

btw - 7 to 7.5 gallons would work for a particular batch size of a particular gravity beer. Beyond that it is a somewhat useless standard - but if that's the way you brew keep on truckin.

Fantastic tool. Thanks for the effort - looking to use this once my power comes back on from the hurricane. (i've had to stare at my grains for 5 days now, waiting to be used to their full potential!)

btw - 7 to 7.5 gallons would work for a particular batch size of a particular gravity beer. Beyond that it is a somewhat useless standard - but if that's the way you brew keep on truckin.

UHm no for a five gallon batch 7 to 7.5 gallons of water no matter what the grain bill will always get you five gallons +- at the end.

Parkinson1963 said:

btw - 7 to 7.5 gallons would work for a particular batch size of a particular gravity beer. Beyond that it is a somewhat useless standard - but if that's the way you brew keep on truckin.

UHm no for a five gallon batch 7 to 7.5 gallons of water no matter what the grain bill will always get you five gallons +- at the end.

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15lb of grain is going to soak up 1.875 gallons of water. That's pretty much it right there without taking into account boiloff, trub loss or hop absorption.

tonyolympia said:

This is indeed great. Thanks for the work you put into this. I am a dunk-sparger, but I would gladly give no-sparge BIAB a try if it meant I could brew with your calculator.

HOWEVER... I plan to start incorporating a mashout infusion into my BIAB protocol, and that won't work with calculations designed for full volume, no-sparge BIAB. Do you think incorporating an OPTIONAL mashout infusion of boiling water would reduce the usefulness of this calculator for the average BIAB-er? Maybe the calculator could have a check box for mashout, and if it's checked, reduce the pre-boil volume by the amount needed to bring the mash to 170?

Click to expand...

Do you know what percentages you would mash with/mashout with? You thinking like 50% volume and then adding another 50%?

mrgstiffler said:

Do you know what percentages you would mash with/mashout with? You thinking like 50% volume and then adding another 50%?

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That sounds about right, but like I said, I've never done full-volume no-sparge BIAB before.

I'm about to brew a 1.033 mild (4lbs grain, ~3.5 gallon batch) with my current dunk-sparging BIAB process, and my plan was to mash in 6 quarts at 158, add just under 2 quarts of boiling water to the mash to bring it to 170, and then dunk my grain bag in 10.5 quarts of 170 water in a separate kettle for 20 minutes. Then combine 1st and 2nd "runnings" for 4.25 gallon boil volume. That's my planned mashout, we'll see how it goes.

If anyone's curious why I would go to all this trouble, there are two reasons: first, I'm trying to break up my brew day, and start the boil some hours after the mash is conducted (anywhere from 3 to 18 hours later; I need to experiment to see what works). Second, even if I started the boil right away, it takes forever to get going on my stove. With these constraints, I believe I need to denature the enzymes, so that my beers don't finish too dry and thin.

mrgstiffler,
I have a couple of 10gal coolers and a 10gal BK that I use mainly for no sparge brewing. I do use a grain bag but not BIAB. I used your calculator today brewing an ESB which had an OG of 1.039. I hit my strike temp and the OG exactly. Nice job and thanks.

Sweet! So I assume you hit your volumes too?

I was aiming for 5gal exactly and it was pretty darn close. The more you know about your boil off rate and how much is left behind in MT and BK, the better. I retested my BK and MT again yesterday and my MT drains almost 100%. The BK leaves about 2L but that is stuff I don't want in the fermenter anyway.

Anybody has a link to a calculator like this one which uses the metric system?

They have a more complex calculator here that is metric, so I find it frustrating to deal with.

I've used this calc like 5 times now, and the strike temps always come out perfect, and have hit my OGs as well.

The first 4 times though I've ended up with to much volume, about 1 gallon too much each time. Yesterday I subtracted 1 gallon from the measurement, and came out perfectly for a 5.5 ending volume into the fermenter.

KIAKillerXJ said:

I've used this calc like 5 times now, and the strike temps always come out perfect, and have hit my OGs as well.

The first 4 times though I've ended up with to much volume, about 1 gallon too much each time. Yesterday I subtracted 1 gallon from the measurement, and came out perfectly for a 5.5 ending volume into the fermenter.

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Yeah, I've had that same problem too. I think you get less absorption with BIAB. Probably because when you lift the bag, the grains get compacted. You'll lose even less if you squeeze the bag.

This looks awesome. Going to do my first biab soon and will be trying this out. Thanks for putting the time into this. Should i subtract a gallon for absorbtion, or kust run with what it spits out?

Veedo said:

This looks awesome. Going to do my first biab soon and will be trying this out. Thanks for putting the time into this. Should i subtract a gallon for absorbtion, or kust run with what it spits out?

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For my pot that has a 15.825" diameter, I've found that subtracting 1/2" from the calculated strike water is pretty much right on. But I don't squeeze the crap out of my bag like some people. I squeeze it until I hit my target.

UPDATE: I've updated the calculator by adding some styling and tips. It should be very accurate now. BIAB definitely leads to higher collection than traditional techniques. I believe this is because there is more pressure on the grains when you lift the bag. Also, it seems that people tend to squeeze the crap out of their bags. I'm going to add the mashout option next.

OK, mashout option has been added. I don't do mashouts so I haven't actually tested it, but it's about what other calculators come up with.

Nice work Greg! :rockin:

Thanks!

I've used it twice and it's pretty much dead on for me.
Thanks for posting the calc.

Beer-lord said:

I've used it twice and it's pretty much dead on for me.
Thanks for posting the calc.

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Sweet! Glad you found it useful!