BIAB questions

Here is my recipe, I do a BIAB no sparge method, I mashed for 80 minutes:

Estimates:
Preboil O.G.: 1.046
O.G.: 1.055
IBU's: 40ish
ABV: 5%ish

Mash Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
7 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 57.7 %
3 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 2 23.1 %
2 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 3 15.4 %
8.0 oz Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM) Grain 4 3.8 %

Mash Steps
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Saccharification Add 33.18 qt of water at 161.0 F 154.0 F 75 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min 168.0 F 10 min

Remove grains, and prepare to boil wort

Boil Wort

Add water to achieve boil volume of 7.34 gal
Estimated pre-boil gravity is 1.046 SG
Boil Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
0.35 oz Warrior [15.80 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 17.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [6.90 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 11.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Amarillo Gold [9.60 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 7.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Cascade [6.90 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 4.4 IBUs

Steeped Hops
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
2.00 oz Cascade [6.90 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min Hop 9 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [9.60 %] - Aroma Steep 0.0 min

.0 pkg California Ale V (White Labs #WLP051) [35.49 ml]

Dry Hop/Bottling Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
2.00 oz Cascade [6.90 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs

I ended up with a preboil gravity of 1.040 with around 7 gallons of wort collected my mash temp stayed right around 154.

I boiled for an hour and was hoping to finish with 6 gallons in my kettle, I only ended up with 5.75 gallons and a gravity of 1.051.

I most definitely under estimated grain absorption and boil off, but my main concern was my efficency. I only held the grain bag above the kettle for maybe 5 min and didnt squeeze to aggresively. Could that be my Issue?

The crush of the grain came from my LHBS and it seemed to be a good consistency?

My grain bag seemed like it was floating the whole time wondering if thats the case for everyone? I have read lots about people worrying about the grains resting on the bottom of the kettle. To me that wasn't even close to an issue?

Thanks for reading and hope this made a little sense to some one!!!

Cheers

You say your grain bag was floating...explain how you used the bag. Your bag should really be more like a kettle liner and the grain should be pretty free or loose flowing in it. If the grain was tied up in a bag and compacted, that will lower efficiency. Coarsely milled grain will lower efficiency. I like to lift the bag out of kettle, let it drain a few minutes and then I'll slide an old campfire grate under it on top of my kettle. I'll hold the bag shut and spin the bag to tighten down on it, that will squeeze out more wort, then I'll put the bag onto the grate and pick up my kettle lid and press the crap out of it for another 10 minutes. That gets me in the 80-85% efficiency range
.

My bag kind of looks like a pillow cases with a drawstring around it. I dump the grain in stir for a minute then draw the string tight and cover the kettle.

the bag isnt big enough to cover the whole rim of my kettle. But I dont think it restricts the grain but yet maybe it does...the grain most def seems like it was floating and I could almost bounce it up and down like a basketball while it was in the wort...

After some searching I have found that you should be able to fit your kettle in your bag. My bag is a good size but it def cant fit my keggle in it...hmmmm, starting to think the bag may be an issue.

Maybe for my next brew I will just by a big enough piece of voil and not sew it and clamp the edges to the kettle and it will act more like a liner rather than a bag...

You didn't miss your number by much, so that's good!
I don't see you mentioning stirring during the mash. I get much better efficiency when I stir the mash every 15 minutes or so, then stir like mad during the mash out stage.
And like Kaz mentions, let the bag drain for 20 minutes or so, and squeeze that thing till it begs for mercy!

i don't stir at all, I keep the keg all wrapped up and try not to open to keep the heat in.
Next time I will try the stir method every 15 minutes

I stir my grain about once every 10 minutes during the 1 hr mashing.

+1 to stirring more. I stir a lot during mash-in and mash-out.

Sounds like I need to be stirring way more than I do. I will make sure to stir my arm off next brew!!!

Thanks!!!

With 12+ pounds of crushed grain, that bag should in no way float. The material maybe, the grains, no.

I use a large bag made out of voile and use a clean paint mixer (on drill) to saturate the grains. With the bag and mixer, I get great efficiency and no dough balls.

The bag is full weighted down. You must have had large pockets of dry grains to keep the bag buoyant.

bmock79 said:

Maybe for my next brew I will just by a big enough piece of voil and not sew it and clamp the edges to the kettle and it will act more like a liner rather than a bag...

Click to expand...

+1

This works well, the edges of the fabric are usually an uneven distance from the kettle edges so it makes it a bit troublesome to gather, but not terrible. It's real nice having lots of fabric so you don't risk one side dropping into the kettle and spilling your bag.

$8 at Walmart (Canadian price, give or take a beaver) and no sewing = good times!

bmock79 said:

After some searching I have found that you should be able to fit your kettle in your bag. My bag is a good size but it def cant fit my keggle in it...hmmmm, starting to think the bag may be an issue.

Maybe for my next brew I will just by a big enough piece of voil and not sew it and clamp the edges to the kettle and it will act more like a liner rather than a bag...

Click to expand...

+1 That is exactly what I use...be careful, as it can melt if to close to the heat. I think the new bag will give you much better results. I don't stir and get to 80-85%.

Thanks for all the info. I will def rework my process.

The grain was def floating. So there was def dry pockets then.

Cheers

Bmock, I'm pretty impressed with your extraction efficiency considering you had dry pockets, didn't stir, and did a short strain of the bag. You'll knock it out of the park next go round with all of the suggestions made here. My problem on my first BIAB session was that I overshot my efficiancy. You'll have the same problem soon enough. If you're interested you can pick up a yard or two of Swiss voile fabric from your local fabric store for cheap and make a bag to fit your kettle. Or by a paint strainer bag from the local hardware store. Cheers.