biab

I just got to say that I love doing BIAB. I just started with the all grain and I am hitting all my numbers according to brewsmith. I am running about 67% efficiency. Just wondering if any one has any tricks or special techniques to share. I use a small five gallon pot for a 2.9 after boil volume. works for my small quarters and love of constantly changing brews.

The bigger the pot, the better, so you can actually do 5g when you want, but you might want to get a turkey fryer burner to do the full boil, if you don't already have one.

Using a separate pot with upside down colander to strain the grain bag, then using some kind of bowl or something to push/strain as much wort from the grains as you can, will ensure you get the best possible efficiency.

Enjoy BIAB! It's a great way to brew with minimal equipment!

I do BIAB making 2.5 gallon batches. I have a 5.5 gallon brew pot that I fill with about 4 gallons of water and then mash my grains. I've done 3 recipes that had about 5 lbs of total grain. I had enough room for probably another few pounds if I had to.

I'd suggest grinding your own grain if you have a grinder, or doing a double grind at the homebrew shop if you can. This way you can get a finer grind which helps with BIAB. I bought my own grinder and went from 70% efficiency to 80%.

Sorry double post.

I use a 5 gallon igloo cooler lined with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag. I use the running from the initial wort to wash the grains, and then empty the tun into my boil kettle. Then add my sparge water, rinse and repeat. I get awesome Eff. because I rinse the grains with the initial mash & sparge water.

I bought a 10.5 gallon pot with one of those internal steamer pot.
When I first bought it I just set the steamer pot aside. However for BIAB it is perfect. I put a 5 gallon paint strainer bag in the steamer pot and it in the big pot.When I am done mashing I just remove the steamer pot. No broken bags. No hot wart on my hands. Also it is very easy to sparge the steamer pot or strain it if you want to.

This weekend I brewed up a mash with 12 pounds of grain and 7.5 gallons of water. The best part was there was still room for more grain if you want to do a bigger beer.

I also do small batches about 1.75 gallons.

I have a 5 gallon cooler, use a paint strainer bag. Biggest grain load was 4.9 lbs so far. I have a metal spoon w/a long handle. I wrap the bag "top" around the spoon and slowly twist the bag round and round as it sits in a collender on top of the cooler. I can really get most of the liquid out of the rain like this. Never tried to sparge w/the wort from the cooler. I'm getting 75-77% eff lately.

Still havent settled on loss to grain and boil. So much of the boil loss depends on the setting of the valve on the burner.

I have been straining by hand and squeezing down. The most grain has been 7 lbs. I also do a spare by rinsing the grains in my bottling bucket through the bag slowing the spout pour. I am mashing right in the pot

kcross13 said:

I have been straining by hand and squeezing down. The most grain has been 7 lbs. I also do a spare by rinsing the grains in my bottling bucket through the bag slowing the spout pour. I am mashing right in the pot

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I've thought of using a bit less water and doing a sparge but it's an extra step and I'm getting better than 75% eff. Doing such small batches I don't think I'd save much money on grain.

BradleyBrew said:

I get awesome Eff. because I rinse the grains with the initial mash & sparge water.

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Just curious what "awesome Eff." you get with BIAB...

Check out BIABrewer.info for the best information regarding BIAB.

Here is a tip: you can increase your efficiency a whole lot if you squeeze your bag.

You can double mill your grains since you don't have to worry about a stuck sparge. I get freak nasty efficiency that way. I don't do a true BIAB though since I mash with 3.5 gallons and do 2 sparges. The 7-8 gallons are then boiled on the stove with 2 five gallon pots. (gotta invest in a turkey fryer soon...)

I use my 5 gallon pot for the mash, fill er all the way up so it holds temp, then dunk sparge in the 7.5gallon turkey fryer pot. 75% on my last brew.

kcross13 said:

I have been straining by hand and squeezing down. The most grain has been 7 lbs. I also do a spare by rinsing the grains in my bottling bucket through the bag slowing the spout pour. I am mashing right in the pot

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Ah, I should have read the whole thread, sorry! I have a bad efficiency story with BIAB... I bought 5 gallon strainer bags from Lowes and some from Home Depot. I believe that the bags from Lowes were more narrow, even though they were 5 gallon bags, I got less efficiency with them. Make sure that your bag is completely lining the pot. You don't want any dead space between the bag and the walls of the pot.

I mash with 5 gallons of water in my 7.5 G turkey fryer aluminum pot with a 5 gallon paint strainer bag, then twist, drain, press down with the pot lid then sparge with another 2.5 gallons to hit a 7 gallon boil volume. Usually boils down to 5 gallons. Ive been able to do a batch of 12-13 lbs of grain so far with no issues. I get about 73% efficiency this way.

bigbeergeek said:

Just curious what "awesome Eff." you get with BIAB...

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I always calculate 75% eff when formulating recipes... I'm typically very close to my estimated OG.

Above 70 is pretty good for somebody making beer with a bag and a pot.

bigbeergeek said:

Above 70 is pretty good for somebody making beer with a bag and a pot.

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It most likely helps that I have a "mash tun" igloo cooler. I use a strainer to suspend the grains over the wort (in the bag). Then wash the grains with the wort running's and my sparge water.

1) Make sure your crush is fine enough. I need to buy a barley crusher, as I have hit 80%+ on three consecutive using a friends, and 65% with a 1x crush from supply shop

2) Try a dunk sparge for 10 minutes @ 170 instead of the rinse. There is noticeable sugar in that sparge water. I use a 2 gallon stainless pot for this, so you may already have one laying around. 1 gallon of water is all you need for less than 7 lbs of grain.

3) Make sure your thermometer is calibrated. Mine was off 4-5 degrees

4) Squeeze every last bit of liquid sugar from the bag. I use the pulley system w/ fryer basket to make sure all drops are saved. They are precious.

5) If you haven't already, download the EZ Water Calculator 3.0 from this site. As long as you have MS Excel, you can really dial in your wataer profile. Just take your water numbers from your city/county records and determine if you need to sub in some RO water from the grocery store and add salts/acids as needed.

bigbeergeek said:

Above 70 is pretty good for somebody making beer with a bag and a pot.

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I'd say that above 70 is pretty average for making beer with a bag and a pot. I average more like 80% and I don't really know what I'm doing to maximize the percentage.

Ok, so I am tackling Pliny the Elder in a few weeks. Massive hop bill on this one. I would like to try out BIAB style with it. I have a question though based on Vinnie's recipe:

Ingredients For 6.0 gallons (22.7 L) [Net: 5 gallons (18.9 L) after hop loss]
13.25 lb (6.01 kg) Two-Row pale malt
0.6 lb (272 g) Crystal 45 malt
0.6 lb (272 g) Carapils (Dextrin) Malt

So thats the basic grains. Later he says to collect 8 gallons of runoff and begin the 90-minute boil. Using the Simple BIAB Calculator found on this site, however, it tells me I should be starting my boil with 6.07 gallons. Thats a huge difference. Anyone have an idea of which is correct for BIAB?

I don't think your pre-boil water volume should be any different for BIAB than if you had used a mash tun. The boil is the same with both methods.

By the way, my "expertise" comes from the one BIAB batch I have under my belt. So, take it for what it's worth.

Here is how I calc total volume needed for full BIAB.

.07 x total grains in gallons
boil off rate in gallons
total volume you need in your fermenter

(.07 x 14.45) + (1.0-1.5) + 6= 8.5 gallons

I used 1.5 boil off in this calculation

warex said:

I bought a 10.5 gallon pot with one of those internal steamer pot.
When I first bought it I just set the steamer pot aside. However for BIAB it is perfect. I put a 5 gallon paint strainer bag in the steamer pot and it in the big pot.When I am done mashing I just remove the steamer pot. No broken bags. No hot wart on my hands. Also it is very easy to sparge the steamer pot or strain it if you want to.

This weekend I brewed up a mash with 12 pounds of grain and 7.5 gallons of water. The best part was there was still room for more grain if you want to do a bigger beer.

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Yep, you nailed it. That is exactly my process for last 2 years. Works like a charm. Steamer basket is awesome! For anyone who is new to BIAB I strongly suggest trying it that way.

Thanks whiskeyjack, that will come in handy to doublecheck my figures. Do I want 6 gallons in my fermenter or a little over 5? I think my ingredients are geared for 5. Also, I think in reviewing Vinnie's recipe he is allowing for a lot of volume loss due to trub...which is nearly a non-issue here since I am using grain and hop bags.

I like to put at least 5.25 gallons into the fermenter. When I leave the yeast behind I still get my 2 cases of bottles.

Ow yea, I never take into account hop/trub loss. I calculate my batches for 6 gallons because of that. So with 6 gallon batch I will end with 5.5 into fermenter, then I will end with at least 5 into keg and maybe a bottle or two. So the 6 gallons in the original formula already adds trub loss in kettle

OK Where do you find these calculators yall are talking about? Simple BIAB Calculator & EZ Water Calculator 3.0?

Just tried BIAB last night for the first time. Survey says...I love it! I have access to a 40 gallon Groen steam kettle in a commerical kitchen. I used a stainless steel basket they use for boiling and double bagged 5 gallon paint strainer bags from HomeDepot. Large clips to fold the lip of the bag over and hold shut. Heated to strike, dropped the bag in, poked and smashed it until it sank and let it go for 50 minutes. Achieved great starch conversion and hit my target OG dead on the money. All this with just one vessel. I think this is how everyone should be doing all-grain. Until they kick me out of this kitchen, I won't be going back to the multiple kettle system. AND AND...this was for Pliny the Elder which has 15 lbs. of grain.

55chevydude said:

Just tried BIAB last night for the first time. Survey says...I love it! I have access to a 40 gallon Groen steam kettle in a commerical kitchen. I used a stainless steel basket they use for boiling and double bagged 5 gallon paint strainer bags from HomeDepot. Large clips to fold the lip of the bag over and hold shut. Heated to strike, dropped the bag in, poked and smashed it until it sank and let it go for 50 minutes. Achieved great starch conversion and hit my target OG dead on the money. All this with just one vessel. I think this is how everyone should be doing all-grain. Until they kick me out of this kitchen, I won't be going back to the multiple kettle system. AND AND...this was for Pliny the Elder which has 15 lbs. of grain.

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Update: checked the airlock at 18 hours and this thing is going off like an awesome, tiny little volcano! At this rate I will transfer by this coming Monday

Update at 18 hours in the primary at 68 degrees: this monster is going off like a little volcano, bubbling at nearly one per second! I am glad I followed Vinnie's advice to pitch two packs of yeast. Go BIAB!!!

BamaProud said:

OK Where do you find these calculators yall are talking about? Simple BIAB Calculator & EZ Water Calculator 3.0?

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http://www.simplebiabcalculator.com/