I did my first biab today, a dunkelweizen. I have only done extract up to this point. My efficiency was right at 69%. Is this good for biab? I will outline my recipe and process for you. If you see anything out of place or that I could do differently, pleas let me know.
5 Gallons Bavarian Dunkelweizen
Grain Bill:
5 lbs German red wheat
5 lbs light Munich
2 oz German carafa III
6 oz German caramunich II
2 oz chocolate wheat
All grains milled by LHBS
1 oz hallertau hersbrucker hops
Mash temp: 154 for 60 minutes
Expected OG: 1.052
Hops in at 60 minutes
All calculations were done by brewers friend and I use a ten gallon boil kettle.
I heated 4 gallons of strike water to 167 and then mashed in. This gave me a mash thickness of 1.5 qts/lb of grain. When everything was mixed in and dough balls eliminated, I had hit my mash temp target of 154. 30 minutes in, mash temp was down to 151, so I reheated to 154. At the end of the 60 minute mash, temp was at 153.
I then mashed out at 170. I removed the bag and let it drain for probably 5 minutes. There was still water dripping out, but it wasn't a steam at this point. I then dunk sparged the bag in 4 gallons of 170 degree water for ten minutes in a separate bucket. I let the bag drain again for another 5 minutes or so and then added this to the boil kettle for a total boil volume of 6.5 gallons. I did not squeeze the bag at all. Pre boil gravity was 1.041.
I brought the wort to a boil and added the hops. At 15 minutes left in the boil I added a whirlflock tablet and yeast fuel. At ten minutes left I put in the immersion chiller to sterilize it. After the 60 minute boil I brought the temperature down to 60 degrees in 20 minutes. Post boil gravity was 1.050, 2 points lower than my target. Next, I transferred the wort to a 6.5 gallon carboy, pitched the wyeast 3068 yeast, and installed a blow off tube. Now I'm just waiting on fermentation to begin.
I was hoping for an efficiency in the mid-70s, but fell short of that. I think there are a couple things I can do differently to increase my efficiency. First off, I may need to crush my grains finer than what the LHBS does. On my next batch, I may pulse the grains in a food processor to see if that helps some. I don't have a grain mill right now.
Second, I could squeeze the bag to gain efficiency, but I've read conflicting evidence if this should be done or not. I would like to use squeezing as a last resort. Also, I think maybe pouring the water through the grain may lead to higher efficiency, but I'm not set up for that right now. I plan to in the future though.
Finally, I may not have let the bag drain long enough after the mash and the sparge. However, my water volumes were correct and I ended up with 5.25 gallons in the fermenter, which is what I was shooting for.
Do any of you experts see anything else I can do differently to raise my efficiency? Is 69% bad for my first attempt? I know this was a long post. If you made it this far reading it, I really appreciate it and value your opinions on my process. Thanks!
5 Gallons Bavarian Dunkelweizen
Grain Bill:
5 lbs German red wheat
5 lbs light Munich
2 oz German carafa III
6 oz German caramunich II
2 oz chocolate wheat
All grains milled by LHBS
1 oz hallertau hersbrucker hops
Mash temp: 154 for 60 minutes
Expected OG: 1.052
Hops in at 60 minutes
All calculations were done by brewers friend and I use a ten gallon boil kettle.
I heated 4 gallons of strike water to 167 and then mashed in. This gave me a mash thickness of 1.5 qts/lb of grain. When everything was mixed in and dough balls eliminated, I had hit my mash temp target of 154. 30 minutes in, mash temp was down to 151, so I reheated to 154. At the end of the 60 minute mash, temp was at 153.
I then mashed out at 170. I removed the bag and let it drain for probably 5 minutes. There was still water dripping out, but it wasn't a steam at this point. I then dunk sparged the bag in 4 gallons of 170 degree water for ten minutes in a separate bucket. I let the bag drain again for another 5 minutes or so and then added this to the boil kettle for a total boil volume of 6.5 gallons. I did not squeeze the bag at all. Pre boil gravity was 1.041.
I brought the wort to a boil and added the hops. At 15 minutes left in the boil I added a whirlflock tablet and yeast fuel. At ten minutes left I put in the immersion chiller to sterilize it. After the 60 minute boil I brought the temperature down to 60 degrees in 20 minutes. Post boil gravity was 1.050, 2 points lower than my target. Next, I transferred the wort to a 6.5 gallon carboy, pitched the wyeast 3068 yeast, and installed a blow off tube. Now I'm just waiting on fermentation to begin.
I was hoping for an efficiency in the mid-70s, but fell short of that. I think there are a couple things I can do differently to increase my efficiency. First off, I may need to crush my grains finer than what the LHBS does. On my next batch, I may pulse the grains in a food processor to see if that helps some. I don't have a grain mill right now.
Second, I could squeeze the bag to gain efficiency, but I've read conflicting evidence if this should be done or not. I would like to use squeezing as a last resort. Also, I think maybe pouring the water through the grain may lead to higher efficiency, but I'm not set up for that right now. I plan to in the future though.
Finally, I may not have let the bag drain long enough after the mash and the sparge. However, my water volumes were correct and I ended up with 5.25 gallons in the fermenter, which is what I was shooting for.
Do any of you experts see anything else I can do differently to raise my efficiency? Is 69% bad for my first attempt? I know this was a long post. If you made it this far reading it, I really appreciate it and value your opinions on my process. Thanks!