A Comparison Of Homebrew Sparging Techniques, Including BIAB

[JINKS]

Thank you for clarifying a couple of things I was wondering about. Well written.

 

[bigdaddybrew]

@JINKS
Thank you. I really enjoyed writing the article and appreciate the feedback. I enjoy interacting with other homebrewers even when we don't agree. That's what makes Homebrew Talk great!

 

[sslater]

Interesting conversation starter... Lots of ways to make good beer.
I do traditional, full volume BIAB and this is the only kind of whole grain I have brewed. My extract brews were pretty cloudy. Been doing BIAB the past several months and have done four batches. The finished beer is very clear, although the unfermented wort can be quite cloudy. I've read from one of the guys that does tests, that he finds cloudy wort has nothing to do with final clarity (or not) of finished beer, and so far that is what I have noticed. Am aware that some disagree...I stopped trying so hard to get clean wort and it hasn't seemed to be a problem; settles on the bottom mostly.
Wish I could attach a picture of one of my Pilsners (have a German and a Czech Pils) in the beer fridge right now, along with a Vienna and a dry Irish Stout. All are very clear. Shot picture of one of my Pils last weekend and sent to my big sis, who has "Pilsner Envy"... Very clear and tastes great! Efficiency into fermenter around 75%. All my brews are in the 5% ABV range (no more than 5.5%; sessionable), except the Stout, which is 3.7%. So maybe what I've experienced could be different at higher ABV levels...but I doubt it.
With BIAB, I'm a squeezer of the bag. Use two pan lids. I tell myself it helps with efficiency, and I don't want to rob myself of that last pint of good beer... Can be a little messy squeezing, and many other BIAB'ers just let it drip. I use a large 15 gal pot.
Thought the thing about double crushing had been proven wrong by several testers (unnecessary)...? Pretty sure it has. Well you are correct that it is info often said about BIAB - normally by those that don't do it. I told myself at the onset that if I had efficiency issues, to use a little more grain that it would be worth it for the simpler process and less things to clean, but I haven't experienced any real problems so far and haven't had to do it... My beer with BIAB is far better than extract was, and I did it for years.

 

[bigdaddybrew]

@sslater
Overall I agree with your experience and so do many other brewers. Although the wort from BIAB can be quite cloudy it doesn't seem to effect the clarity of the final beer.
I do BIAB to simplify my winter brewing in the kitchen and I have been satisfied with the resulting flavor.
A cloudier wort obviously has more grainy debris than a clearer wort but this doesn't predict the quality of the final product and many brewers are very satisfied with the increased efficiency sqeezing the bag provides despite warnings from master brewers. I say squeeze away. If your beer has some grainy astrigency next batch try to skip it and see if it helps.

 

[bigdaddybrew]

@sslater
Many brewers report better efficiency using a finer crush when doing BIAB and because a stuck mash isn't an issue many prefer it.

 

[azazel1024]

I use the BiaB with the double dunk method. Though I combine volumes before boiling so I know if I need to adjust my gravity. With a dual roller mill I was typically around 72% with 1.050-1.060 beers, about 70% for 1.060-1.070 and about 68% up to around 1.100. Higher bumped be down to about 65%. Wheat heavy beers tended to have 2-3% higher efficiency.
Since getting my own corona mill my efficiency has jumped about 10%, with some of my lighter beers hitting 85% with my method.
I do do single immersion BiaB with smaller volumes sometimes. Saves about 30 minutes of time overall typically and my efficiency only tends to go down 2-3%. I can't do it for large volumes as I only have a 6 and 5 gallon pots. So typically anything over about 4 gallons in volume and more than 10#'s of grain and I HAVE to do a double immersion. Otherwise too messy. I have done a few at 4.5 gallons with only 6-7#s of grain, but the thing is filled pretty close to the brim.
I also notice no difference in final clarity and no astringency from squeezing it like it owes me a tener.
Everyone, on the "no mashout", it depends. If you increase the temp before yanking the bag, it does help draining and ups efficiency. If I "mashout" by turning my burner back on and increase the temp to around 168F or so before I pull the bag, from a typical 148-158F mash temp, I tend to get 1-2% extra efficiency and it tends to drain a lot faster. Downside is that squeezing the bag is a LOT more painful and harder to do. I still manage fine. I have a nice sized mixing bowl that can accommodate up to 15#s of grain in it. I just drain as much as is reasonable, squeeze a little and then plop it in the bowl to "drain down" for 4-5 minutes. Lift the bag and once the draining slows to a trickle again, hold it over the pot, drain the mixing bowl to the pot, squeeze as much as I can out of the bag, drop it back in the bowl, rinse and repeat.
I'll typically do that 2-4 times before I've gotten enough out that it isn't worth trying to get any more (a press might get another pint or so out of the grains, but I sure won't). Then haul it to my compost pile and dump it.

 

[azazel1024]

@TexasWine
To chime in, the key is high temp AND high PH. Otherwise decoction mashing would "ruin" beer. Heck, I've accidently boiled a mash a couple of times before when I've turned my stove on, walked away and gotten distracted (tipsy + brewing + having to mow the lawn...not a good combination).
Beer was fine. Fortunately it was only a "warm it up a couple of degrees halfway through my 60 minute mash", so it had already converted (but I am a stickler for tradition on the 60 minute mash, even if I know 30 minutes is all it takes).

 

[bigdaddybrew]

Recently during one batch, after draining the first runnings my false bottom came up when stirring in the first batch sparge and clogged my valve. I had to dump the mash into a bucket, rinse the valve, reset the false bottom, replace the mash, let the filter bed reform, vorlouf and drain. The finished batch had a grainy huskiness that was off putting, it seemed darker than expected and had a pronounced caramel aroma that was unexpected. Due to all the extra stirring and pouring my efficiency went from a predicted 70% to 84%. I attributed the off flavors to the higher than normal efficiency and all the extra Hot Side Aeration.

 

[bigdaddybrew]

I had been using a 5 gallon Mash Tun with a bazooka screen. While Fly sparging I was careful to vorlauf until clear and drain slowly. The wort was very clear and I was very pleased with the resulting beer. Later I was trying to shorten my brew day. Many brewers were having good results with Batch sparging. Some described a brief vorlauf, opening the valve wide open and draining the first runnings, stirring in sparge water and after a brief rest, vorlauf, open the valve and drain. It saved a significant amount of time. I lost a few points in efficiency and the wort was cloudy. The resulting beer had a subtle huskiness. In subsequent batches I slowed the process. I vorloufed the first runnings and drained more slowly. Then after stirring in the batch sparge I waited at least 10 minutes before the vorlouf and again drained more slowly. The resulting wort was much clearer and the resulting beer did not have the husky aroma. This continues to be my standard process.

 

[bigdaddybrew]

During another BIAB batch my grain bag ripped. It was just a small hole that allowed some grain to end up in the boil pot. I did my best to fish out all the husks but some remained during the boil. The finished beer smelled like freshly stirred mash, grainy/husky. It mellowed with lagering. After that I started using two finely meshed bags.

 

[ArcLight]

When you turn on the burner and you pull the bag it doesn't take long to get to 168 from lets say 150. In that time, after a 1 hour mash, that additional 6-8 minutes will have no impact on your sugar profile. If you use a fine crush, your conversion happened quickly, and you may not even need 60 minutes.
A BIAB mashout is just extra effort for no benefit.
@bigdaddybrew
If your pot is large enough you certainly can do a mash out with BIAB. You add additional hot water to raise the temp of the grain bed to 170f. This will lock in the sugar profile of your wort. Some brewers say increasing the temp of the grain bed also helps thin the wort allowing it to flow more freely from the grain bag increasing efficiency. I don't use a mashout when doing a BIAB but I tend to brew lower gravity beers with a dry finish so a little more time at conversion temp doesn't hurt my wort profile.

 

[bigdaddybrew]

@Arclight
If you were trying to preserve a particular wort sugar profile a quick Mash Out might help but I would agree for most beers the delay is probably inconsequential.

 

[Clarke]

I am a BIAB'er and I use a zapap method, I take a 5 gallon food grade bucket with a kazillion holes drilled in the bottom, place my grain bag the bucket the place this 5 gallon bucket in my bottling bucket and do a traditional sparge, or batch sparge, and I can stir the crap out of if I so choose.
I read these articles and feel we try to define a process or technique and limit ourselves and the reader to these steps only. Brewing is simple, (mill, mash, lauter, sparge, boil, cool, rack, pitch, ferment, rack) how one gets this done is limited to one's imagination

 

[sslater]

I had an important recollection about my efficiency with BIAB that many will find interesting. Didn't remember this a couple days ago when commenting.
My first two brews I used the Brewing Classic Styles book, and my OG on both batches were too high. Had to dilute them with water after the boil to lower the OG to more closer match what was recommended by Jamil and Palmer (great recipe book, for those that don't have it), so that my final beer wasn't too big.
Consulted with Pat Hollingsdale (BIABrewer.info website, lots of very helpful folks there on the BIAB process and Pat was one of the BIAB pioneers)... Pat said the BIAB full volume sparge method (very simple - their method, pure BIAB) is more efficient than what the BCS book assumes and I needed to reduce my grain and hops from what is recommended in the BCS book. I used BIABrewer.info's free BIABacus software to do that. Cut about 12-13% from the grain and hop bill (more efficient = lower cost). Two brews since, one was good on OG, last one was low... Dry Stout aiming for 1.042 and got 1.038, with extra wort... Problem on the last one is I reduced the extent of my "roiling boil" to just "boil" on the advice of a local home brew shop expert. Less evaporation of water, so more "volume of ambient wort" at end of boil, but lower gravity. Anyway that was culprit, not the method that I was following. I know what to do next time.
So I'm a convert to BIAB. Was a simpler method in terms of equipment needed to make the jump to good all grain beer. Very happy I went that direction. But if I was making great beer from another method, I would likely be happy with that too. Interesting all the different ways to do things, and as they say, "more than one way to skin a cat".

 

[Denny]

@Gameface If you're doing more than one batch sparge addition, you're doing something wrong.