My first BIAB

Yesterday I did my first BIAB, although I definitely had some issues, I am HOOKED.
I did full volume no sparge. ( I think)
Recipe:
7 lb 2 row
2 lb munich(light) 10L
1.75lb crystal 40L
.75 lb Carapils
.5 lb euro carvienne
1.25 oz cascade @60
1 oz cascade @ 10
1.75 oz cascade @0

My wife was cool enough to stitch me together a bag for my 8 gal brew kettle
The recipe called for 7.5 gallons starting but it was a bit too close for comfort so before adding the grain I removed .5 gal,
So, starting with 7 gallons I brought it up to 160 and added my grain.
Killed the heat and wrapped up the kettle.
I stirred the grain bed every 20-30 min, steeping for a total of 90 min
The mash out is where I think I may have f'd up slightly
I tried heating up to 170 but overshot due to the thermometer being in a cold pocket or something, after stirring I realized I was actually at 179.
I immediately killed the heat and took off the lid.
It sat for 10 minutes, then I removed the grain bag, allowing to drip dry and squeezing.
Moved the grain bag over to a bucket and allowed it to drain more for about 15 minutes.
Dumped the drained liquid back into the kettle.
I also screwed up slightly because I neglected to devise a way of measuring exactly how much liquid I now had, pre-boil.
I took a hydrometer reading anyways, 1.034 ( which scared the crap outta me until I realized I needed to adjust for temp)
adjusted I think it is about 1.055
near as I can tell I ended up with about 6 gallons preboil.
Brought the kettle up to boil and proceeded as normal.
If my guestimate was right I got about 77% efficiency, which I am stoked about.
After the boil I took another reading, OG-1.060
It took quite a bit more effort but was WAY worth it. I can't wait to taste it, even if I did extract some tannins.

Sounds good. I think you'll be fine. Also do not worry about tannins from squeezing the bag, its a myth.

Garrett said:

Also do not worry about tannins from squeezing the bag, its a myth.

Click to expand...

Thats what I have been reading, so a squeezing I went.
I was more worried about my Mash out temp being too high and extracting tannins there.

With BIAB you really don't need the mashout and if your grains are milled fine enough you don't need to stir. In fact, with a finely milled grain your conversion would likely be done in 30 minutes. Bring your water to strike temp, kill the heat, drop in the grain bag, and stir in your grains, really mixing then up to be sure you don't get dough balls. Put the lid on the pot, wrap it in insulation of some type. I do mine indoors and just wrap it in a bath towel. At the 30 minute mark, lift the lid and look at the wort. If it is really cloudy, you need more time but wort that is nearly clear means that the starches have been converted to sugar. If you have some iodine, do the test for starches.

Pull the bag out and let it drain a bit, squeeze out all the wort you can and check your quantity. If you are close to the expected pre-boil amount, turn the heat on and dump the grains while you are waiting for the boil. You'll have the wort up to boil before you could have done a mashout. Notice that at no time did I have grains in the pot when the temperature went over 165 so there will be no tannin extraction.

RM-MN said:

With BIAB you really don't need the mashout and if your grains are milled fine enough you don't need to stir. In fact, with a finely milled grain your conversion would likely be done in 30 minutes. Bring your water to strike temp, kill the heat, drop in the grain bag, and stir in your grains, really mixing then up to be sure you don't get dough balls. Put the lid on the pot, wrap it in insulation of some type. I do mine indoors and just wrap it in a bath towel. At the 30 minute mark, lift the lid and look at the wort. If it is really cloudy, you need more time but wort that is nearly clear means that the starches have been converted to sugar. If you have some iodine, do the test for starches.

Pull the bag out and let it drain a bit, squeeze out all the wort you can and check your quantity. If you are close to the expected pre-boil amount, turn the heat on and dump the grains while you are waiting for the boil. You'll have the wort up to boil before you could have done a mashout. Notice that at no time did I have grains in the pot when the temperature went over 165 so there will be no tannin extraction.

Click to expand...

Well Dammit, your way seems far less complicated. I'll be making those changes on my next brew day.

The stick on temp gauge on my fermenter has been reading 60-62 on this batch the whole time.
For this yeast (nottingham) that is on the lower end of ideal, I believe. Just wondering if I should do something to gain some heat or not.

Looks like a tasty recipe with 2# of Munich and Cascade is one of my favorites. I'm just getting into AG after doing mostly PM batches, and am intrigued with BIAB.

...because I neglected to devise a way of measuring exactly how much liquid I now had, pre-boil.

Click to expand...

Here's a trick:
I don't have a sight glass and don't need one either. Another thing to clean and break.

I use a measuring tape (ruler will work too), and measure the distance between liquid level and top of kettle. For my 8 gallon kettle, I know that each 1.5" represents 1 gallon, and my 5 gallon mark is 5" from the top; 6 gallons is 3.5" and 7 gallons is 2" from top. So for 6 and 1/3 gallon, a typical boil volume, I need to be 3.0" from the top.

Print out a little table if you need to, or stick it in the back of your brew log.

Same basic idea -- I cut notches in my mash paddle at each gallon mark, so I can just stand the paddle on the bottom and measure volume.

Here is a stupidly easy way to measure Volume. The wooden spoon was at walmart for 50 cents. I used my fiancés wood burner to make notches. Works great.

RM-MN said:

With BIAB you really don't need the mashout and if your grains are milled fine enough you don't need to stir. In fact, with a finely milled grain your conversion would likely be done in 30 minutes. Bring your water to strike temp, kill the heat, drop in the grain bag, and stir in your grains, really mixing then up to be sure you don't get dough balls. Put the lid on the pot, wrap it in insulation of some type. I do mine indoors and just wrap it in a bath towel. At the 30 minute mark, lift the lid and look at the wort. If it is really cloudy, you need more time but wort that is nearly clear means that the starches have been converted to sugar. If you have some iodine, do the test for starches.

Pull the bag out and let it drain a bit, squeeze out all the wort you can and check your quantity. If you are close to the expected pre-boil amount, turn the heat on and dump the grains while you are waiting for the boil. You'll have the wort up to boil before you could have done a mashout. Notice that at no time did I have grains in the pot when the temperature went over 165 so there will be no tannin extraction.

Click to expand...

Not sure bout you time at 30 min. Just for the hell of it I've been taking Brix readings each time I stir (every 15 min). I mash in a colman cooler. I can see the brix reading come up every time I sample. I then press the hell out of the bag and have measured the squeeze Brix and it's alway at least the same as the 60 min sample, sometime higher. so I don't see how you get full conversion in 30 minutes. I double mill my grain at the LHBS and use a paint strainer bag.

bmunos said:

Here is a stupidly easy way to measure Volume. The wooden spoon was at walmart for 50 cents. I used my fiancés wood burner to make notches. Works great.

Click to expand...

I use a short piece of 1/2" PVC pipe marked in 1/4 gallon divisions.

After almost 3 wks in the primary, I am getting a reading of 1.024. according to brewers friend I should have hit 1.014. I'm thinking that maybe it was too cold? According to the what I have read it should have been fine down to 57* for nottingham. I kept mine close to 60 the whole time. sometimes a degree lower sometime a degree or 2 higher. Any ideas on how to fix this? am I stalled?

amandley said:

After almost 3 wks in the primary, I am getting a reading of 1.024. according to brewers friend I should have hit 1.014. I'm thinking that maybe it was too cold? According to the what I have read it should have been fine down to 57* for nottingham. I kept mine close to 60 the whole time. sometimes a degree lower sometime a degree or 2 higher. Any ideas on how to fix this? am I stalled?

Click to expand...

Your starting mash temp was 160, was that taken after adding and stirring the grain? If not, what was the actual starting mash temp after adding grain and stirring? If it was above 156, you may be nearing final gravity. Higher mash temps create dextrins, which are sugars but not fermentable. Big malty beers tend to have more dextrinous wort, but your OG isn't high enough that I'd think you'd want it to be there. Taste the sample. Is it sweet? If so, you can add more yeast, try rousing the fermenter and raising temperature, or worst-case, add some amylase enzyme (start with just a pinch).

tre9er said:

Your starting mash temp was 160, was that taken after adding and stirring the grain? If not, what was the actual starting mash temp after adding grain and stirring? If it was above 156, you may be nearing final gravity. Higher mash temps create dextrins, which are sugars but not fermentable. Big malty beers tend to have more dextrinous wort, but your OG isn't high enough that I'd think you'd want it to be there. Taste the sample. Is it sweet? If so, you can add more yeast, try rousing the fermenter and raising temperature, or worst-case, add some amylase enzyme (start with just a pinch).

Click to expand...

It was sitting at 160* with grain added when started. dropped to 158* by the end of 90 min. I did not know about dextrins. damn. I tasted the sample. although it tasted pretty good it was a bit sweet.

amandley said:

It was sitting at 160* with grain added when started. dropped to 158* by the end of 90 min. I did not know about dextrins. damn. I tasted the sample. although it tasted pretty good it was a bit sweet.

Click to expand...

If it's still sweet, you can try rousing the yeast and raising the temp a little, then give it a week. You might also consider rehydrating some US-05 or Nottingham and throwing it in there, then waiting a week. If the gravity is still the same, you're going to have to decide if you can drink the beer as-is or if you need to add amylase enzyme. If you choose the latter, again, add it a pinch at a time, then wait 3-5 days, take gravity. If you add too much you'll get a hot, dry, alcoholic mess.

Also, if you happen to accidentally start the mash too high in the future, just keep stirring until you get it down to your desired temps (usually in the 153-154 range for medium body, higher for more body, lower for less body). Even if it takes you a long time to get it down, it's fine. I mash up to 8 hours at times, and there are plenty of beta amylase enzymes remaining to chop up long-chains, even after significant time has passed.

Thanks. I appreciate the info. One more Q. If I decide to drink it as is, can I still just add priming sugar and keg or bottle it? Or do I need to force Carb?

amandley said:

Thanks. I appreciate the info. One more Q. If I decide to drink it as is, can I still just add priming sugar and keg or bottle it? Or do I need to force Carb?

Click to expand...

That's a tough one. I'd say only do that if you've added fresh yeast and let it finish. You want to make sure there aren't any sugars that yeast will eat, even a slight amount, or you'll be overcarbed/have chance of bottle bombs.

That's kinda what I was thinking. Any readings or tests I can do to determine that?

amandley said:

That's kinda what I was thinking. Any readings or tests I can do to determine that?

Click to expand...

Like I said, add yeast and see if it drops any gravity points. You can do a fast ferment test, too, by pulling some wort out into a small container and pitching double or more yeast than would be needed for that volume (any yeast, even bread yeast), then give it a few days, swirling it every time you walk by, in a warm environment. Check to see if the gravity drops/krausen forms, etc. That will tell you how low your large volume *should* get to.