Experiment with low volume BIAB

[Ahhh-smooth]

Just finished my first all grain and first BIAB. I wanted to try this grain bill with my limited 5.5 gal pot and a second 4 gal pot. All worked out very well to the fermenter.

Grain bill
9 lbs pilsner
1 lb Munich
1 lb flaked wheat

Mash water - 3.75 gal at 150 deg
Sparge water - 1.75 gal at 170 deg.


Pre boil eff 85% - 1.076 sg in 4.5 gal
Brewhouse eff after adding two gal cold water to fermenter 75%

Procedure
Mash for 60 min in bag in 5.5 gal pot - stirred occasionally
Moved grain bag to 4 gal pot
Poured 1.75 gal 170 deg water over bag - left for 10 min
Drained & removed grain bag
Combined worts into 5.5 gal pot to net 4.5 gal
Boiled 75 min - Net 3.5 gal
Cooled to 80 deg
Poured in fermenter and added 2 gallons cold water to net 5.5 gal
Checked o.g. at 1.056 - just what I wanted at my wife's request

I guess I proved to myself anyway, that the large grain bill in a bag can be done in my small pots. A pain in the butt with the two pots and I may eventually by a large 10 gal, but avoiding the cost now, and not having to lift and handle the large water volumes in typical BIAB, are satisfying to me right now.
Overall, I was amazed how much sugar I got out of the process.

Next I will see how it turns out in a few weeks

 

[jtratcliff]

I do BIAB in a 10 gal pot and I still dunk sparge in 2nd smaller pot.

I do mainly 6 gal batches ... 12 ish lb grain bills. Mashing all the way to the top of my 10gal scares me a little for some reason

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[mikebanyai]

All my 5 gal extract brewing was done in a 5 gal, net 3 plus 2 cold. Even better consider going to 3 gal batches, there is nothing carved in stone that all beer batches must be 5 gal. The 3 gallon batch ferments fine in the 5 gal bucket and then I rack over to to a 3 gal carboy. 3 Gal carboys are a lot easier to horse around then a 5. I get a case of beer out of the 3 gal and,and even then the bottles start to pile up. You can make twice as many different beers at 3 gal. You also can also use 2 or 3 smaller grain bags instead of just the single bag, makes easier to handle. I start with 3 gal clear water in the 5 gal pot, put the grain bag(s) in and then after the hour at 153 or 158 or whatever you choose,when the grain comes out of the pot, I just stick it in a strainer and then splash water over the used bags in 1 quart splashes and collect it to bring the total volume back to 3 gal. That is now your OG. I am usually in the 80% eff range. Then add water to bring it up to 3.5 gal for the boil and at the end of the boil add any water needed to nail the 3 gal mark you scribbed inside the pot and off to the fermenter you go. There are a million ways to do this and none have to be complicated or expensive. Relax, have a homebrew and experiment and have fun, thats the point for me.

 

[mikebanyai]

Usually I bottle but often use the 2.5 gal kegs. They can be charged using corn sugar just like bottles if you don't have or don't want to buy a C02 set up and they can use a small cartridge CO2 party dispenser to push out the brew. They fit in a 6 gal brew bucket, easy to carry and with plenty of space for ice and mighty easy to cart over to a party someplace or perhaps fit in the fridge, although I have not done that.

 

[cetwlaa]

Ahhh-smooth, thumb up to you. I am having similar situation as you and struggling whether I should do BIAB with my available small pots. My ideas is same as yours, to use two separate small pots for mashing and sparging and mix them together for boiling. Happy to learn that this method is still able to extract the enough amount of sugary wort.

Your tread gives me confidence to follow your suit definitely


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[ballsy]

Nice! I am a big fan of partial boils, mainly b/c of easier cooling of wort. I make my own ice blocks in Tupperware dipped in star san then filled with water to keep sanitary, and simply pop them out into ferment bucket and poor the hot wort over these then t-fer b/w pot and bucket till blocks are melted. Usually in the low 70's by then and top to exact final vol with cold water to end in the 60's. I will be doing my first PM/PB this weekend and using the BIAB techniques. My 5gal mash cooler is what will limit my grain bill from AG. I would be thrilled if my efficiency is up around yours!

 

[C-Rider]

Just finished my first all grain and first BIAB. I wanted to try this grain bill with my limited 5.5 gal pot and a second 4 gal pot. All worked out very well to the fermenter.

Grain bill
9 lbs pilsner
1 lb Munich
1 lb flaked wheat

Mash water - 3.75 gal at 150 deg
Sparge water - 1.75 gal at 170 deg.


Pre boil eff 85% - 1.076 sg in 4.5 gal
Brewhouse eff after adding two gal cold water to fermenter 75%

Procedure
Mash for 60 min in bag in 5.5 gal pot - stirred occasionally
Moved grain bag to 4 gal pot
Poured 1.75 gal 170 deg water over bag - left for 10 min
Drained & removed grain bag
Combined worts into 5.5 gal pot to net 4.5 gal
Boiled 75 min - Net 3.5 gal
Cooled to 80 deg
Poured in fermenter and added 2 gallons cold water to net 5.5 gal
Checked o.g. at 1.056 - just what I wanted at my wife's request

I guess I proved to myself anyway, that the large grain bill in a bag can be done in my small pots. A pain in the butt with the two pots and I may eventually by a large 10 gal, but avoiding the cost now, and not having to lift and handle the large water volumes in typical BIAB, are satisfying to me right now.
Overall, I was amazed how much sugar I got out of the process.

Next I will see how it turns out in a few weeks

Have U ever taken an SG reading from each pot? How much to you get from your sparge?

 

[Ahhh-smooth]

Have U ever taken an SG reading from each pot? How much to you get from your sparge?

No I have not...that is a good idea

Thanks, will try next batch

 

[Klinzai]

That 2 pot method is basically like Deathbrewers easy stovetop all grain method. Do a search for it. It's how i started all grain. I stil do it that way and it works just fine. Sort of splits the difference between biab and mash tuns and such. I generally have all my water in the second pot already heated and dunk sparge. I don't even insulate the mashing pot. with a large enough grain bill I rarely lose more than a degree or 2 over an hour. In a full 5 gallon pot I've gone an hour without losing a degree.

 

[JohnSand]

Ditto. I recently bought a 7.5gal pot. Until then I used a 5gal for 5gal batches, similar to your method. But I held the sparge water until after hot break, and topped off later in the boil as well. I find that I can boil 4.5gal in a 5gal pot, after hot break. The heat issue, I mash in the oven on warm (170). But 5 gallons stays pretty warm anyway. To season my new pot I boiled 6 gallons in it. Rather than dump it, I let it air coll over night and keep the kitchen warm. The next day it was still over 100.

 

[Riot]

This is the only way I have ever done BIAB. Full volume is just too much mass to deal with for me. And I can't fit anything bigger than a 4 gallon pot in my oven for temperature maintenance. You can get a lot of beer out of a smallish pot with a double batch sparge in buckets.