Steeping and First Wort Hopping for BIAB

forgive me if this is a silly question...

I'm new to All grain brewing and plan on trying my first one with the BIAB method sometime in the next week or two. Now, I know that typically specialty grains like crystal malts are simply mixed in with the rest of the grist and mashed with everything else, but is there any benefit or a different result if specialty grains are steeped in the wort as opposed to being mashed with everything else?

also, how can i pull of first wort hopping with BIAB?

i did a few BIABs .. i just put all the grain and even some flaked stuff right in the bag .. i cant see that there would be a benefit to doing it in steps .. it's all just going to end up together anyway ... for first wort, Id just put the hops in right after I pulled and drained the bag ... BIAB was so simple .. i did go ahead and make a mash tun from a cooler, but after 4 brewdays with it, Im already thinking about just going back to the bag to save some clean up and time .. my effficiency is a little better with the tun but grain is cheap .. and my time these days isn't ... cheers !!

im not sure why you'd want to add an extra step of steeping the specialty grains separately. some only add dark grains at the sparge to limit the roast/color, but I dunno why else you'd want to as there'd be no benefit to it.

FWH is done same as normal AG, just add it to the first runnings, i.e. when you pull the bag out.

I was just wondering if steeping it seperately might impart a little more intensity from the grains, but makes my job easier if that's not the case.

And thanks for the advice on the FWH

Just a side note. Vegasbrew turned me onto this site: http://www.biabrewer.info/. These are the Aussies that started it all!

cadarnell said:

for first wort, Id just put the hops in right after I pulled and drained the bag ...

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This is what I do for BIAB first wort hopping also.

for FWH with BIAB I add the hops after pulling the bag. I then set the bag in a colander over another pot (or main kettle) and let drain for 20-30 minutes. this would give a simulated sparge time.

do you dunk the water in some 170 degree water for the sparge first? what volume of water to grain ratio do you usually use? if i could i'd like to avoid the sparge step for now

For sparging, that depends on how big of a beer you are making. If its not a big beer and your kettle is large enough, you probably don't have to sparge.

For grain ratio, the Aussies say below a 0.30 gallons (1.2 quarts)/lb of grain can begin giving you dough ball issues. However, normally you can go higher like DRoyLenz who went with 1.65 quarts/lb in his guide (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/all-grain-brewing-extract-brewing-equipment-pics-142648/). I think its pretty forgiving. Try to use a higher water to grain ratio to avoid sparging.

The numbers I got are from a calculator spreadsheet tool (from the site I linked above). I have yet to do my first BIAB, so hopefully a more experienced BIAB brewer can comment!

For what it is worth, using this calculator I've mentioned, I will be making an IPA with a 10.5 lb grain bill in a 5 gallon kettle. This will be a 3.5 gallon batch after fermentation. I'll have 3.7 gallons of water in the kettle at dough in, giving me a 0.35 gallons/lb of grain ratio. The calculator says to have another half gallon (0.4) of water to add in after dough in to make it easier, so this bumps up that ratio a bit. My total mash volume with grains and all will be 4.6 gallons. Since this is a bigger beer and I have a small (5 gallon) kettle, I will have to sparge with around 2.7 gallons of water to add into the boil. All of this takes into account the grain absorption and boil off. Hopefully, this calculator tool will be in the ballpark for me.

Another big difference I see between this site and what the Aussie BIAB brewers say is that squeezing the bag is actually a good thing, not a bad thing. They propose that excess tannins are not produced from squeezing. I've read an entire thread on what methods people use to squeeze their bags. One method, which I will be using, is to twist the bag while holding it over the kettle. Then, drop it into a second vessel that has an upside down colander in it, and squeeze it with a pan lid. Then, twist again and squeeze about 4-5 times. One Aussie said that he gained an entire gallon of water this way for his 5 gallon batch (http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=21&t=586&hilit=squeeze)!

edb23 said:

do you dunk the water in some 170 degree water for the sparge first? what volume of water to grain ratio do you usually use? if i could i'd like to avoid the sparge step for now

Click to expand...

I'm normally close to 3qt/lb and don't dunk sparge. I have a 10 gallon brew kettle that I mash in and I squeeze the grain bag for all its worth. to determine the water needed I take grain weight x .10 = absorption. then:

absorption + final volume + trub loss + boil off = water needed

for a brew using 11.5lbs of grain with a volume of 5.5 gallons it would be (for me)

1.15 + 5.5 + .25 + 1.5 = 8.4 gallons of water. once the grain is added it's pretty close to a full pot.