Feeling ready to give up on BIAB.

[PADave]

Just following Priceless' and beersmiths recommendations.

Which are good to a point, but garbage in, garbage out. Obviously if the end result is not where you want it, ie too much volume, something went wrong somewhere and you need to adjust. I've never use more than 7.5 gal for a batch, and usually end up with 6 gal in the fermenter.

 

[vance]

I mean, was just about what was expected. My gravity was a tad low, but that was probably because I had a hard time maintaining mash temperatures. I had to extend my boil, but I also had to keep relighting my burner so my boil off late was probably less than usual.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

I'm not as active on here as I used to be, but if you're still having issues or if anyone has any questions or issues at all, you can always tag me with @pricelessbrewing send me a message here, or report an issue on the git hub page.

If your preboil is routinely higher than intended, you should adjust either the grain absorption, or mashtun losses, or double check your water volume measurements (taking thermal expansion into consideration)

 

[RM-MN]

I mean, was just about what was expected. My gravity was a tad low, but that was probably because I had a hard time maintaining mash temperatures. I had to extend my boil, but I also had to keep relighting my burner so my boil off late was probably less than usual.

I don't think the temperature loss was an important factor. Unless you have a coarse crush and also let the temperature fall below 145 during the mash the conversion would continue. If your grains are milled fine such as you can have for BIAB the conversion would be done before you could chill the mash enough to stop the conversion. Look hard at your grains and how they are milled and also your water volumes. Low gravity because of excess water is not a problem in conversion in the mash, only an error on your part.:rockin:

 

[vance]

Here's a picture of my most recent crush: http://imgur.com/a/ti1Lx

 

[wilserbrewer]

From what I can see in the photo, I would crush more, a fair bit more.

 

[vance]

From what I can see in the photo, I would crush more, a fair bit more.

Maybe I'll try and get the owner to adjust the crush... that was with his standard crush and double killing. Do you have a picture of yours?

 

[RM-MN]

Here's a picture of my grains as they are crushed. https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/images/6/5/8/0/3/p1070971-62856.jpg

 

[soccerdad]

My crush is similar to RM-MN. I think we both hand crank a Corona type mill.

 

[NSMikeD]

Brew day is finished! Definitely the most successful one I've had so far, with only a few minor snags.

Mashed with a hair over 8 gallons of water. The biggest issue I had was maintaining mash temperatures. Even keeping two blankets wrapped around it wasn't enough to stop my temperature from dropping. I ended up mashing for 55 minutes, turning the burner on low (praying I wouldn't scorch the bag) and mashing for another 15. Not sure how else I can better insulate - some sort of wind screen maybe - but that was the only real snag I hit, besides having to constantly relight my burner.

Came up with ~7.2 gallons pre-boil, as expected. Took a gravity reading for once - projected was 1.044, I came in a hair short at 1.042. I'm attributing this to struggling to keep my mash above 147, so not too worried.

I had to boil for 80 minutes, and even then I still ended up with about 6 gallons of liquid. I didn't want to over-bitter it by boiling my hops more than that, so I just left it there. OG stands at 1.050 right now - according to beersmith, 66.9% efficiency. It's still not perfect, but I'm miles happier with it than I was before - I hit within a reasonable range of my projected gravity, and if it comes out bad I'll be able to eliminate one option!

Glad to read things are getting better. While I appreciate that BIAB is supposed to be about KISS, if holding mash temperature is impeding on the "having fun and keeping simple" aspect, think about using a cooler to do the mash.

I stopped using the burner to hold mash temps when I started to get the thermometer down low in the pot (I do mini-BIAB). If it's hot enough to scorch the bag, it's hot enough to melt enzyme chains. Luckily for me my kettle fits inside a warm oven.


Tip: use two thermometers, I use a long probe analog dial thermometer in the kettle and use a ProTemp PT 1000 digital instant read to spot check. I also verify the pro-temp using ice water and boiling water. Thermometers can be misleading. Many are off out of the box and others need to be calibrated over time.

 

[apl_seed]

I went from pot mashing to cooler mashing with a bag and it's way easier to hold temps. The degree drop is minimal, about 2-3 degrees. Wish I would've thought about the oven bit like NSMikeD though before I spent money on a cooler. Still the cooler works great, especially with a false bottom.

 

[NSMikeD]

I went from pot mashing to cooler mashing with a bag and it's way easier to hold temps. The degree drop is minimal, about 2-3 degrees. Wish I would've thought about the oven bit like NSMikeD though before I spent money on a cooler. Still the cooler works great, especially with a false bottom.

fwiw, a cooler is a better at holding temp than an oven. Since my oven only will go down to 170, I need to turn it off then check on it. For a small batch of 1 gallon and a 90 minute mash, I usually have to reheat midway to keep from falling too much.

If the idea of BIAB is to make it easier, then a winning argument can be made for the additional piece equipment in eh form of a cooler, especially for small batches.

 

[RM-MN]

fwiw, a cooler is a better at holding temp than an oven. Since my oven only will go down to 170, I need to turn it off then check on it. For a small batch of 1 gallon and a 90 minute mash, I usually have to reheat midway to keep from falling too much.

If the idea of BIAB is to make it easier, then a winning argument can be made for the additional piece equipment in eh form of a cooler, especially for small batches.

Have you checked to see that you really need a 90 minute mash with BIAB? I've been doing 30 minute mashes with good success with efficiency over 85%. You don't get that kind of efficiency unless you have nearly 100% conversion.

 

[NSMikeD]

Have you checked to see that you really need a 90 minute mash with BIAB? I've been doing 30 minute mashes with good success with efficiency over 85%. You don't get that kind of efficiency unless you have nearly 100% conversion.

yeah, I know. Good point. I am not looking to brew dry beers, so I know a 30 minute mash should be sufficient. I'm likely to go with 60 minutes my next brew day.

I've upped to 2.5 gallon batches and that has made holding mash temp proportionality easier.