Nervous BIAB newbie

[GreyRaven]

I want to try a 5 gallon batch of the Copperhead Red Ale in the recipe section here, but I'm worried now that my pot may not be big enough for a full volume mash. (I'm still learning my tools as well)

I have an 11 pound grain bill and an 8 gallon pot. I think that Beersmith is telling me that I need 8.41 gallons for mash. Can someone give me a sanity check before I start? Not really enough money at the moment for a bigger pot, especially before Christmas.

Thanks.

 

[Schmoogdaddy]

I often use 11 or 12 lbs. of grain in an 8 gal. kettle. I typically use 4 gallons of water.

 

[st1l3tto]

When I make smth more than 1.05 OG, my 5 gal BIAB batches fit very tight in my 9.5gal (36l) kettle with the amounts provided by beersmith. When I make 1.07+, I have to lift 1-2l from the kettle and pour it back later.

Though I have a high (0.5 to 1 gal) trub loss due to poorly placed valve, I suppose that 8 gal will hardly be enough.

 

[Iseneye]

I'm not going to do the calculation but you could mash with less water and then top up to reach your pre-boil volume. Or you could do a sparge of some sort.

Note that even though most people design for 5 gallon or 10 gallon batches there is no need for you to follow suit. You can scale the recipe down to 3 or 4 gallons if that fits into your pot. I don't think I've ever done a "standard" batch size.

 

[GreyRaven]

Thanks for the replies. I think I may be reducing the batch size to compensate. I'll also do some more reading on ways to get more volume after the mash to see if I can figure out if it's worth learning that step.

Or I can just bite the bullet and try to explain to my wife that I need to buy a bigger pot. Yeah. That will work just fine.

 

[doug293cz]

I'd recommend you use the calculator here (you don't have to worry about the numbers in the center panel if you don't understand them. One possible point of confusion with the inputs is the "Conversion efficiency" box. This is not your expected mash or brewhouse efficiency. If in doubt about what to put there, use 95%.

According to the above calculator, you won't be able to do a 5 gal, full volume mash with an 11 lb grain bill. You could mash with 5.5 - 6 gal of strike water, and then just pour the balance of the total ~8 gal over the bag while it is suspended over the kettle.

Brew on

 

[Gavin C]

I want to try a 5 gallon batch of the Copperhead Red Ale in the recipe section here, but I'm worried now that my pot may not be big enough for a full volume mash. (I'm still learning my tools as well)

I have an 11 pound grain bill and an 8 gallon pot. I think that Beersmith is telling me that I need 8.41 gallons for mash. Can someone give me a sanity check before I start? Not really enough money at the moment for a bigger pot, especially before Christmas.

Thanks.

You don't need that much water. I'm going to assume you will squeeze the bag. Really give it a good squeeze or allow it to drain. Start with 6.5 gallons of water and dough in. It will fit. Just.

When you're done with your mash, pull the bag, squeeze it/drain it. Not hard to do. Twist the bag like you do when your putting out the garbage, cinching it ever tighter. You will lose ~0.6 gallons to absorption.

If you can, place the well and truly squeezed bag in a colander over your pot and slowly pour more water (hot water if you want) over the grain-bag combo till you hit your planned preboil volume. (1.1 gallons approx)

~7 gallons preboil is a decent starting point.

I'll assume 1 gallon boil-off 1/4 gallon lost to trub/hops etc, 1/4 gallon shrinkage

Gives you 5.5 gallons to the FV

8 gallon pot can work for 5.5 gallon batches.

Don't let beer smith or anyone (myself included) tell you what volumes to use. You tell Beersmith. It's the tool not you. Above is just approximates that I would use for a 60 minute boil, 11b grain-bill and an 8 gallon kettle.

As a comparable example. Here's a recent mash in my 11 gallon pot. Just 1.625lbs more and less water needed and I do 90 minute boils typically.

12.625lbs and 8.1 gallons of water. (~9.2 gallon total volume)

 

[GreyRaven]

Thanks Gavin. I spent some time watching BIAB videos on YouTube last night and saw others doing the same thing. I appreciate your clear instructions.

 

[Gavin C]

No worries mate.

I think you'll enjoy the process. I know I do.

The key is getting the preboil volume right. An 8 gallon gettle will allow full volume boils but not full volume mashes, hence the need for a sparge. Beersmith can be tailored to any specs and is very useful once you make it work for you.

Let us know how it goes.

Best of luck

 

[GreyRaven]

I ran my first all grain BIAB last night. Mashed with 6 gallons, pulled and drained the grains, and then sparged with 2 gallons. I ended up with 5 gallons of clear wort going into the fermenter at the target OG. I would like to have had a bit more going in to account for trub loss later when racking but overall I am very pleased with the experience.

Thanks all for the help.

 

[MaxStout]

I ran my first all grain BIAB last night. Mashed with 6 gallons, pulled and drained the grains, and then sparged with 2 gallons. I ended up with 5 gallons of clear wort going into the fermenter at the target OG. I would like to have had a bit more going in to account for trub loss later when racking but overall I am very pleased with the experience.

Thanks all for the help.

Hitting the volumes is kind of trial-and-error in the beginning. Beersmith and other calculators only get you into the ballpark. Getting 5 gal into the fermenter isn't bad, and you'll know to bump up the volume a bit next time.

 

[FattyLumpkins]

I want to try a 5 gallon batch of the Copperhead Red Ale in the recipe section here, but I'm worried now that my pot may not be big enough for a full volume mash. (I'm still learning my tools as well)

I have an 11 pound grain bill and an 8 gallon pot. I think that Beersmith is telling me that I need 8.41 gallons for mash. Can someone give me a sanity check before I start? Not really enough money at the moment for a bigger pot, especially before Christmas.

Thanks.

If you have a fermenting bucket at or around 6.5 gal., you can do a 3.5 ale. sparge in it and keep your mash water down to 1.25-1.5 qts./lbs. of grain.
I do this and get a BHE of 76% on average.

 

[kh54s10]

I ran my first all grain BIAB last night. Mashed with 6 gallons, pulled and drained the grains, and then sparged with 2 gallons. I ended up with 5 gallons of clear wort going into the fermenter at the target OG. I would like to have had a bit more going in to account for trub loss later when racking but overall I am very pleased with the experience.

Thanks all for the help.

Just a little more sparge.....

 

[doug293cz]

If you have a fermenting bucket at or around 6.5 gal., you can do a 3.5 ale. sparge in it and keep your mash water down to 1.25-1.5 qts./lbs. of grain.
I do this and get a BHE of 76% on average.

There is no reason to limit your water to grain ratio when doing BIAB or batch sparge, other than volume limitations of your kettle or MLT, or to get equal runnings volume when batch sparging with big grain bills. Limiting mash thickness to 1.25 - 1.5 qts/lb only makes sense when fly sparging. Thinner mashes (up to 2.4 qt/lb) have been shown to improve mash efficiency (due to increased conversion rate.)

"In the limit of attenuation experiments it was shown that a 5 l/kg (2.4 qt/lb) mash showed much better conversion efficiency than a 2.5 l/kg (1.2 qt/lb) mash. This is also supported by anecdotal experience from home brewers who found that thin mashes generally lead to better overall efficiency. " http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Understanding_Efficiency#Mash_thickness

Brew on

 

[FattyLumpkins]

If it works for you, do it. If it doesn't, find another way.
That being said...
Most beer recipes and recipe calculators call for a 75% BHE in their math to determine the OG for your beer. Anyone could do more to improve beyond that, but I see no point beyond a few additional percentage points. Cost? If your brewing a barrel at a time, sure! For a 5-6 gallon batch, you save... what? MAYBE $2.50? At a batch a month (where I'm at), that's $30 a year. If that much money means something to you, by all means save it when and where you can.
Besides, I try to keep the tannins down. I don't like very hoppy beer, so adding ANY additional bitterness when I prefer a malty flavor in general makes ZERO sense to me.
Is the method I use very traditional? No. But it works for me. I like my beer, and I like my method of brewing it. If it can help someone else make a better pint, I will be happy.