Debriefing Time: First BIAB

First let me say this: I'm not at all worried about anything. I'm just hoping a debriefing after last night's brewing will uncover any missteps I may be overlooking.

I brewed a modified version of BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde found here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/centennial-blonde-simple-4-all-grain-5-10-gall-42841/

Batch Size: 2.5G
OG: 1.052
FG: TBD
Yeast: Nottingham

Grains:
4lbs American Pale Ale (2-Row) (any difference between that and straight "American 2-Row"?)
1/2lbs Cara-Pils
1/3lbs Vienna
1/3lbs Crystal 10

The LHBS was out of Crystal 20, so I went a shade lighter. Either they didn't charge me for the Vienna, or they didn't add it. I was talking to the guy pulling my other grain bill. I took the original recipe and converted it to a 3gal one (instead of 2.5), assuming I was going to lose a bit of efficiency being my first time.

Mash: I followed the Green Bay Rackers calculator, and brought my water to a striking temp of 166*. My grain bag doesn't fit over my 6gal pot, so I did a two-pot method using a 2g for mashing. As it was going to be a tight fit according to the calculator, I had 4qts in the stockpot, and 2qts in a teakettle--both at 166*. I then slowly added my LHBS-crushed grains stirring vigorously to avoid doughballs. The temp only dropped to 151, and I was shooting for 150, so I kept stirring. As the grains absorbed some water, I topped off with the kettle. After about 2-3 minutes, hit 150* and popped the pot into a prewarmed oven to mash. By the end of the mash, I had 5.5qts comfortably in the mash tun, and added the remaining to the sparge water. Mashed for 90 minutes (seems like overkill from other threads, but I was using the store's mill setting), stirring two times. Lost one degree over 90 minutes. Conversion appeared complete (sweet, ad passed the iodine test). Removed grain bag, squeezed out as much as I could, added .25oz Perle as FWH (in nylon hop bag), and moved on to sparging.

Sparge: In 2.5gals of 168* for 10 minutes--stirring often, and dunking. Removed bag, squeezed quite well, then transferred the bag to a colander to cool enough to squeeze out the rest. By the time I was finished squeezing, there was essentially no free liquid in the grains.

Transferred mash liquid with hops to sparge and started heating. Pulled a pre-boil sample here. In just under 4 gallons, had: 1.028 @ 135*, which I converted to be 1.042 @60*.

Boiled for 90 minutes, to reduce the volume sufficiently. Will probably cut back .5gal of sparge in the future.

Hops:
.25oz Perle FWH
.25oz Perle 60min (I had the Perle on hand, and since BierMuncher had tried his recipe with them, I thought I would to)
.125oz Cascade 75min (the weight on the Cascade may be off, the scale doesn't go down far enough)
.125oz Cascade at flameout

Post-boil SG: 1.032 @ 152* whcih I converted to 1.051 @ 60*

Took a little longer to cool down than it has in the past--I'm not sure why. I use the cold water/ice bath method and can't see myself moving to IC any time soon, though I know I should.

Cooled to 68* to pitch as my yeast was still warmer (74) and didn't want to shock them. No starter, just rehydrated.

Final OG: 1.052

Looks like I got a tad under 70% here, which I know is not a problem. I could have topped off with a little filtered water to get the recipe's numbers (.8 qt looks like it would've done it), but I opted to go with what I had. Looks like if I can repeat these results, I can simply divide 5gal-70% eff. batches in half going forward.

Any thoughts, suggestions, questions? This board is an incredible resource--much more information out there now then there was 12-14 years ago when I was last in the hobby.

Thanks!

I should add (in light of another thread) that I found this process to be quite enjoyable, and only slightly more difficult (though certainly longer) than extract brewing with specialty grains.

Plus, it really makes me feel in control of the finished product (for good or ill, but looks to be for good).

Either there's nothing I can do to improve my process or I've upset the forum.

I'm very surprised there hasn't been a number of responses saying I can get by with 60 minute mashes, etc.

I have a SNPA clone on deck next, I guess from the silence I'll do it all the same.

You can get away with 60 minute mashes and 60 minute boil time with BIAB. There, I said it. Glad to hear it went well... I have been brewing BIAB full batches for some time and decided to move indoors this weekend to brew my first recipe. I brewed a 1/2 batch to see how my recipe turns out. I really enjoyed brewing a small batch and it was kind of fun to be back inside on the stove top, but I got half the beer for the same amount of work. If this turns out well, I may be more brave with my future experiments. I was a little worried about changing my equipment an re-calculating everything but I ended up at 80% efficiency. Cannot wait to drink my first recipe!

It is a lot of work, for less beer, I understand. Given the 360ft^2 confines, I'm just happy to have beer.

Thank you for making me feel visible.

As per your 80% efficiency . . . was that primarily crush? Or, is there something in my process I can improve.

I've been reading that Corona mills are good for BIAB. Maybe I should get one? Not a lot to be saved in that grain bill--a few cents here, a few cents there.

But it seems eff is the displacement of the AG world . . . .

Thanks Rifester for making me feel visible!

No problem! I certainly don't want a fellow BIAB'er feeling invisbile! I have found the crush and/or the bag to be the common cause of most efficiency issues. I have gotten grains from one supplier that caused me to be a little low... After asking them to double mill the grains I didn't have any further issues. I am probably going to invest in a mill this year so I don't have that problem in the future. Hope your beer turns out great!

Congrats on your first BIAB!

For what it is worth I do single vessel BIAB... Even on this small batch. After the mash, with the bag in, I bring the heat up to sparge temps for the set amount of time. I stir constantly at this temp, then pull the bag...

I brought the temp up and then pulled the bag and did a few squeezes into a separate pot. I sparged by ladling the wort a few times over the bag. I didn't do this to squeeze every last drop out though, just to get what I could without working too hard at it.

This was on my first attempt at BIAB, and I'll say it was a LOT more time over partial boil extract brewing. Next time I'll make sure there is something else I need to do while waiting for the mash, getting the pot to boil, the actual boil etc... This is like watching paint dry. The end result is worth it.

GinSlinger said:

Either there's nothing I can do to improve my process or I've upset the forum.

I'm very surprised there hasn't been a number of responses saying I can get by with 60 minute mashes, etc.

I have a SNPA clone on deck next, I guess from the silence I'll do it all the same.

Click to expand...

Your grain bag doesn't need to fit over your large pot. Just pour the crushed grains in the bag, tie a simple knot in the top, and put it into the water at strike temp. If you are paranoid about stirring you can leave the top open while immersing the grain and then stir while holding the bag. Then tie it shut and mash away. Doing biab in a small pot really sucks.

I still don't have a "proper" biab bag and have used a 2'x3' large coarse mesh bag from NB for my last dozen batches. I think it's going to rip soon though........

EDIT: Sorry you felt unloved.

I have found that a thorough crush, and a large bag of fine polyester voile material are key to BIAB.

wilserbrewer said:

I have found that a thorough crush, and a large bag of fine polyester voile material are key to BIAB.

Click to expand...

I'm with you on the fine crush, but have you compared sacks side by side?

I'm making darn tasty beer with my small, coarse sack.

JimTheHick said:

EDIT: Sorry you felt unloved.

Click to expand...

Yeah, I guess I deserve that . . . .

So, it sounds like there's no gains to doing the process in two pots? For some reason that sounds "wrong" to me. I think I'm assuming that the sparge water should have a lower density of sugars to be more effective.

Also, my stove takes a while to bring 4 or more gallons to boil. Would there be any problem mashing a little thicker, then topping off with pre-heated water (calculated to come close to 168) for the sparge?

The other concern I'll have is maintaining mash temperature, as I used a pre-heated oven last time and the BK won't fit. But, it looks like many have success simply insulating it.

For those of you that heat with the bag in, are you using something to keep the bag off the bottom? I'm thinking an inverted steamer basket will work but I assume it should be removed before boil (I suppose tongs will work).

Thanks everyone, sorry to have come off needy.

I have a wire stand for a steamer basket that I use in the bottom of my kettle. I have never burned my bag. As soon as I pull the bag out (after reaching sparge temps) I pull the stand out with tongs. It may sound "wrong" to you, but the BIAB process, as it was created and refined, is a single vessel, all grain brewing method. Nothing wrong with using two vessels, but you can achieve the same results in one. If you want to do extra clean up that is your choice!

Gin, I used water heater insulation to wrap around my kettle. However, the stuff I got was fiberglass on one side so I doubled it up and aluminum taped the ends so it was foil on both sides. Worked well considering it was 40 degree in my garage.