Fastest BIAB brew day?

[carlk47]

Hey gang! I am trying to streamline my brew days and hoping to shorten them as much as possible while still providing great results.. Here is what I was thinking for a typical 3 gal stovetop AG BIAB brew day.. Let me know if you see any areas where I could trim any fat!

1)heat strike water(usually 2.5-3 gals) in the primary brew kettle
2)dough in(in brew kettle) and mash typical 60 minutes
3)about 20 minutes prior to end of mash, heat sparge water(2 gals) in 2nd pot
4)end of mash, remove bag, place in strainer over kettle and immediately start heating water in BK. Do a quick 2-3 minute drain over BK, then dunk bag in 2nd pot sparge water and stir grains for 5 minutes followed with 10 minute batch sparge.
5)by the end of the 10 minute sparge.. 1st runnings should be close to boiling, remove bag from sparge water and place again in strainer over brew kettle.
6)pour sparge water into brew kettle with near boiling first runnings.. At this point should only be 10-15 minutes to reach boiling..
7)start 60 minute boil(everything following would be standard protocol)

I like this plan because it only relies on 2 pots and everything is done on the stovetop. I have a MLT but still feel this might be the quickest streamlined process.

Let me know what you guys think!

Edit.. I realize this is pretty close to Deathbrewers method.. His posts are great!

 

[mtnagel]

Sounds doable though I've never done it. I'm planning a 2.5 gallon batch and I'm still planning on doing it in my 8 gallon pot on my propane burner. Should be a little quicker heating smaller volumes.

 

[MaxStout]

Looks good. I like the idea of the dunk/stir/batch sparge part. Let us know what kind of efficiency you get.

I did a "pour-over" sparge on my last BIAB, but your sparge method might yield more efficiency with the stirring and all, and probably takes the same amount of time.

 

[ArcLight]

>>1)heat strike water(usually 2.5-3 gals) in the primary brew kettle

Depending on how much grain you are mashing I think that is too thick a mash.
12 pounds vs 2.5 - 3 gallons? Potentially less than a quart per pound? Based on some articles I've read (maybe Kia?) mashing too thick doesn't give as good conversion.

In addition, you have some water loss due to grain absorption.

>>3)about 20 minutes prior to end of mash, heat sparge water(2 gals) in 2nd pot

Thats a total of 4.5 - 5 gallons? What about water loss from th grains, and evaporation.


I don't think you need to sparge for 10 minutes if by sparging you mean "let it sit in a pot of water". I think 5 minutes, with some stirring will be enough.


What I do is mash thinner, but still put the grain bag in a 2nd pot after mashout and pour in some water and mix it around and let it sit - to "sparge".
I do a mash out at 167, since it's on the way to 212.

 

[carlk47]

>>1)heat strike water(usually 2.5-3 gals) in the primary brew kettle

Depending on how much grain you are mashing I think that is too thick a mash.
12 pounds vs 2.5 - 3 gallons? Potentially less than a quart per pound? Based on some articles I've read (maybe Kia?) mashing too thick doesn't give as good conversion.

In addition, you have some water loss due to grain absorption.

>>3)about 20 minutes prior to end of mash, heat sparge water(2 gals) in 2nd pot

Thats a total of 4.5 - 5 gallons? What about water loss from th grains, and evaporation.

I don't think you need to sparge for 10 minutes if by sparging you mean "let it sit in a pot of water". I think 5 minutes, with some stirring will be enough.

What I do is mash thinner, but still put the grain bag in a 2nd pot after mashout and pour in some water and mix it around and let it sit - to "sparge".
I do a mash out at 167, since it's on the way to 212.

Mine is for a 3 gallon stovetop batch so 6-8 lbs grain is more typical

Someday down the road I may get a propane burner and do this outside.. but at that point I may just do a full boil no sparge biab

 

[smyrnaquince]

Why not a pure BIAB with no sparge? Less fuss. That is what I do for stovetop batches (2.5 gallons into bottles).

 

[carlk47]

Why not a pure BIAB with no sparge? Less fuss. That is what I do for stovetop batches (2.5 gallons into bottles).

I could(and have), but I find bringing 5 gallons of water up to mash temps and then again bringing it up to mashout, then bringing 4 gals of wort up to boiling to take a much longer time overall then separating them into smaller quantities.

I figure I can cut 45-60 minutes off the brew day by using smaller amounts in separate pots.

Although.. I am in the market for a new brew kettle, as the one I'm using now is borrowed from a friend.. If I get one wide enough to fit over two burners on the stove.. Then it may change my feeling on this

 

[kh54s10]

It seems like rush, rush, rush to me. I prefer to relax and enjoy the brewing even if it takes a little longer.

But, other than my opinion, it seems like you have a good process.

I do BIAB for some 3 gallon test batches, but for 5 gallon I really prefer using my 3 tier system. I dislike messing with the hot, sticky, heavy bag of grain.

 

[carlk47]

It seems like rush, rush, rush to me. I prefer to relax and enjoy the brewing even if it takes a little longer.

But, other than my opinion, it seems like you have a good process.

I do BIAB for some 3 gallon test batches, but for 5 gallon I really prefer using my 3 tier system. I dislike messing with the hot, sticky, heavy bag of grain.

Well it's definitely still relaxing, but my goal is to shorten my day as best as possible so that I can brew maybe after work during the week.. I don't always have time on weekends to brew, so if I had a streamlined process that I could knockout in maybe 4 hours on a weekday night.. That would solve it! Thanks for the input

 

[kh54s10]

Well it's definitely still relaxing, but my goal is to shorten my day as best as possible so that I can brew maybe after work during the week.. I don't always have time on weekends to brew, so if I had a streamlined process that I could knockout in maybe 4 hours on a weekday night.. That would solve it! Thanks for the input

You should be able to make it a fair amount less than 4 hours. I spend only about 5 hours on my HLT, MT, BK setup.

Nice idea about getting a weekday brew in.

 

[454k30]

Sounds like a fine, well organized plan.

 

[MTate37]

Why not a pure BIAB with no sparge? Less fuss. That is what I do for stovetop batches (2.5 gallons into bottles).

I agree. I've also done away with mashing out. Conversion should be finished and I'm not sparging for an hour as some do in traditional AG so I don't need to worry about stopping the enzymes. Not to mention I'm going straight to boiling after the mash.

I've only sparged for one batch and only did it because I had to hold water back from the mash, but I probably won't do that again either. I've been using BIABacus from BIABrewer.info and it tells you what your gravity should be at every step. If I can squeeze the bag and nail my pre-boil gravity I don't see the point in a sparge.

I just said it in another thread, but I firmly believe that a good crush with regular stirring during the mash and a good squeeze gets good BIAB efficiency and can cut a chunk of time off your brew day.

 

[lebucheron]

For me, it's the getting all my equipment out of the basement, then cleaning it and putting it back that kills me timewise. :|

 

[smyrnaquince]

for me, it's the getting all my equipment out of the basement, then cleaning it and putting it back that kills me timewise. :|

+1

 

[smyrnaquince]

Why not a pure BIAB with no sparge? Less fuss. That is what I do for stovetop batches (2.5 gallons into bottles).

I agree. I've also done away with mashing out. Conversion should be finished and I'm not sparging for an hour as some do in traditional AG so I don't need to worry about stopping the enzymes. Not to mention I'm going straight to boiling after the mash.

I've only sparged for one batch and only did it because I had to hold water back from the mash, but I probably won't do that again either. I've been using BIABacus from BIABrewer.info and it tells you what your gravity should be at every step. If I can squeeze the bag and nail my pre-boil gravity I don't see the point in a sparge.

I just said it in another thread, but I firmly believe that a good crush with regular stirring during the mash and a good squeeze gets good BIAB efficiency and can cut a chunk of time off your brew day.

I, too, use BIABacus from BIABrewer. Good stuff!

For a BIAB mashout, you turn on the heat, raise the temperature of the wort to 170F, hold for 10 minutes, then drain the bag. The higher temps are supposed to make the sugars flow better. I do this every time. No additional water required.

I do not sparge (requires addition of water).

 

[shuckit]

You could probably shorten your mash to 30-40 minutes assuming well modified malts. An iodine test would tell you when you're done.

 

[shuckit]

In addition to mashing less, if speed is the goal, I would have the "sparge" water boiling and dump it into the mash when it's done. Then drain the bag over something else, squeeze, squeeze, squeeze and add to the boil kettle.

 

[MMJfan]

I had a question regarding the mashout. Do the grains have to be in the wort when you are heating it for the mashout or could you remove the grains and heat the wort to the mashout temp and then place the bag of grains back in the wort and let them sit for 10 minutes or so?

 

[MTate37]

If I remember correctly the BIABrewer.info process says to pull the bag while you bring it up to 170 IF you have a good way to lift and suspend a heavy bag of hot, wet grain. if you don't they say not to bother with a mashout.

 

[MMJfan]

If I remember correctly the BIABrewer.info process says to pull the bag while you bring it up to 170 IF you have a good way to lift and suspend a heavy bag of hot, wet grain. if you don't they say not to bother with a mashout.

I just lift my bag by hand. My grain bills are usually not more than 13 lbs. And I could just place them on a colander in a bucket while my wort is getting up to temp.

 

[smyrnaquince]

If I remember correctly the BIABrewer.info process says to pull the bag while you bring it up to 170 IF you have a good way to lift and suspend a heavy bag of hot, wet grain. if you don't they say not to bother with a mashout.

Any idea why the recommendation to pull the bag while heating? Is it danger of burning/melting the bag on the bottom of the pot? A safety measure to give yourself a chance to bring the temperature back down if you overshoot?

 

[MTate37]

I guess the reasoning is that heating the wort without the bag of grains will allow the water to come up to temp quicker, therefore shaving a few minutes off the brew day. I'm sure adding the grains to the water would then cause a temp drop so you could play with overshooting your mashout temp by a couple of degrees just like heating water for a mash. I'm sure there is some formula that will tell you how much temperature change you would get when adding grain at temp A to wort at temp B. I just don't know what that is.

There is also the risk of melting the bag during direct fire if you don't have a good way of keeping the bag off the bottom of the pot.

 

[smyrnaquince]

OK, thanks.

I have one of those metal fold-out steamers on the bottom of the pot, so my bag never touches the bottom.

 

[MMJfan]

I guess the reasoning is that heating the wort without the bag of grains will allow the water to come up to temp quicker, therefore shaving a few minutes off the brew day. I'm sure adding the grains to the water would then cause a temp drop so you could play with overshooting your mashout temp by a couple of degrees just like heating water for a mash. I'm sure there is some formula that will tell you how much temperature change you would get when adding grain at temp A to wort at temp B. I just don't know what that is.

There is also the risk of melting the bag during direct fire if you don't have a good way of keeping the bag off the bottom of the pot.

This was my thought. It takes quite a while to bring my water up to temp when I'm doing a mashout with the grains in the wort. Plus, there always seem to be pockets where the temps are different. I just thought it would be easier to remove the bag and heat the wort to a bit over my desired mashout temp and then add the grains and let them soak a few minutes for the mashout.