Best way to sparge with BIAB Brewing?

[Mathiás]

Hey guys!

Basically im not a starter brewer but a beginner still. I'm brewed like 20-25 beers already. (Drinkable or even good beers ) However ive decided to change the method to BIAB brewing. (Time saver methods are welcome since i have a big family) I brewed some beers already with BIAB and my sparging method simply was to heat water to 78 C and let the bag 15 mins inside. After I pour everything to my hop boiler pot and finish with the hop boiling. The sparging water were always 2/3 of my starting water as i will mention below.

Do you guys have any better method to get more OG? My goal is always around 1.50-1.60 and i found pretty easy to reach it however 2 times it were around 1,047 or 1,046. These beers turned out fantastic too but i want to get some knowledge in this topic so every advice or experience helps me! I cant brew big amounts sadly. My pot is 12,5 L so I start with 9L water and i use around 2,5-3kg malt. Sparging water is around 5-6 L. Should i change on this? I get 8-9L beer at the bottling this way.

Ive just planned to do a "session" British IPA i used to brew before but with BIAB now. (hops.: EKG - Fuggles and malts are Pale ale 2 row, crystal malt and cara red to get some color for yeast im using safale s04)

Thanks!

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

I've seen videos of people trying to pour sparge water over the bag as it sits suspended just over the kettle on a small block and tackle (pulley). It looks quite awkward and messy, so your sparge dunking method (as I understand it, pending correction) seems better. Most don't bother and go with no-sparge. I've stopped sparging, though I'm not technically BIAB, but rather "mash in a bag" in a cooler.

A simple way to split mash and sparge water is to go 60/40 with it, so your split ratio is pretty much right on the mark.

 

[zacster]

This is my sparge setup. I keep about a gallon of water out of the mash in the smaller pot, a cookie sheet is inclined on a metal bowl underneath it and a pot lid to squeeze. I pour about a quart of water at a time and then squeeze it out to collect in the bin. I then pour it all back into my boil kettle. The sous vide machine is helpful as it can get the sparge water up to temp quickly while the mash/boil kettle is wrapped in towels and a fleece jacket that would go up in flames if I tried to use a burner. Note that the knobs were removed from the stove during this process.

The best part of this process is that it cost nothing. It just used ordinary kitchen supplies, and the bin is my beer equipment storage. I use the sous vide all the time for cooking. I'm making tuna steak tonight with it, rare with toasted sesame seeds and a soy dip.

 

[doug293cz]

For sparging, just put the bag in the sparge water vessel, and stir aggressively for a couple of minutes. A 15 minute dwell is not needed. You also don't have to use hot water for sparging, but using hot water will reduce the time required to reach boil temp.

Not much you can do to increase OG other than using more grain or boiling down to a smaller batch. You do want to make sure that your conversion from starch to sugar is close to 100% complete. You can use the method here to determine conversion efficiency. Finer crush will help with getting higher conversion efficiency.

Squeezing the bag, both before and after sparging, can get you a higher wort volume, so a little more sugar from the same amount of grain. The higher volume will need to be boiled more to get the same finished volume, or you can just start with less water.

Brew on

 

[zacster]

For sparging, just put the bag in the sparge water vessel, and stir aggressively for a couple of minutes. A 15 minute dwell is not needed. You also don't have to use hot water for sparging, but using hot water will reduce the time required to reach boil temp.

I would do that myself except the bag is bigger than any other vessel I have. I like that once I've squeezed out everything I don't have to lift a heavy water soaked bag out too. The biggest problem with my bin setup is that when I pour I have to be careful with my aim, I missed a bit once and it was a huge mess because the burners were on and it burnt onto the stove top really good.

 

[Mathiás]

Thanks for all answers! I've learned a lot!

 

[stealthfixr]

I am cheap. I bought three plastic buckets from Home Depot, like $2.98 each (the orange ones they leave in the isles). I drilled holes throughout the bottom of one.

When ready to pull the BIAB bag/grain, I put the holed bucket inside one of the other ones, using the handle to jam the bucket about 4" from the bottom. I then drop the bag into the bucket combination, and it drips on it's own time, slowly. I then get water at 175F from my tea maker and pour it slowly over the top of the grain. Just before the pot hits boil, I will switch parent buckets and pour the drippings back into the pot to control the foam pre-boilover. After a while, I pour whatever remainders drip into the second bucket and pull the grain for disposal.

I am hitting 80% mash efficiency this way (and with a Kegco KM11GM-3R Grain Mill - 11 lb Hopper and 3 Rollers | BeverageFactory.com mill).

 

[wilserbrewer]

I’m cheap also, imo it is a lot cheaper and easier to get a ratchet pulley and let the bag drain into the kettle

yes sorry
I realize this may not be practical for all applications.

 

[BandonBrewingCo]

I’m cheap also, imo it is a lot cheaper and easier to get a ratchet pulley and let the bag drain into the kettle

yes sorry
I realize this may not be practical for all applications.

Even if a ratchet and pulley system costs a few quid, it pays for itself in terms of convenience in a matter of a few brews. Now sum up the convenience of never having to sparge again for the rest of your life...

 

[madscientist451]

H I'm brewed like 20-25 beers already. (Drinkable or even good beers ) However ive decided to change the method to BIAB brewing.
My pot is 12,5 L so I start with 9L water and i use around 2,5-3kg malt. Sparging water is around 5-6 L. Should i change on this? I get 8-9L beer at the bottling this way.


Thanks!

You're getting the most out of that little pot! You've brewed 20+ batches, perhaps you could spend a little cash and get a larger pot? A 16 quart pot (15L) is about $20 over here, but I've got them cheaper at used at thrift stores. But save your existing pot for the sparge. People are selling used homebrew stuff all the time around here, you might be able to find a decent 5 gallon pot cheap.
One issue is the heat source, if you go to big, getting a good boil can be a problem,
For my small batch method I use 2 small pots and the kitchen stove. I just brewed a 2.5 gallon (got about 2.75 gallons or 10.5 L) recipe last night I used 3 gallons of water in the main 16 qt pot and did the BIAB mash in that. Then I heated (to about 155F) 1 gallon of sparge water in a smaller 12 quart pot, pulled the bag after about an hour (insulated the mash with an old coat) and dropped it into the side pot. I cranked up the heat on the main pot and stirred the sparge for a while then lifted the bag and put a colander on the top of the pot and let the bag drain. After some of the water evaporated I combined both pots. I only did a 45 minute boil, or I would have used 1.5 gallons in the side pot. I could push the batch size up to almost 5 gallons with this setup if I wanted to.
I have larger pots up to 15 gallon, but brewing small batches gives me more variety and cleaning the smaller pots is way easier.

 

[Miraculix]

Do a full volume mash, no sparge necessary.

If it needs to be, because of a small mash pot, just drain the liquid, put the bag back into the pot, pour in the additional sparge water, stir well, let it sit for ten minutes and then drain the liquid.

Not worth the hustle, full volume is much quicker and easier and cones with no negative side effects.

 

[ChiknNutz]

The best sparge is none at all, as mentioned a few times here. I moved to BIAB last year and have only performed full volume mashes. Depending on the grain bill, I've reached efficiencies over 80%. Work smarter, not harder

 

[balrog]

I'm with @Miraculix, if you have a large enough boil kettle. Simply use all the water you'll need in the one mash, one vessel. Hang to drip drain per @wilserbrewer after the mash, during the heating up to boil. You'll have to keep track of volumes the first few time to get that nailed down, but with good notes, Bob's your uncle.

 

[cmac62]

I've heard of people doing full volume mashes and then sparging and saving this wort to make starters in the future. Brilliant.. I recently got an Anvil and I was dunk sparging, but I think I'm going to start doing this instead, then I have everything needed to do quick starters.

 

[AntDoctor]

I've only done a few BIAB so far, and when/if I don't hit my starting gravity, I just throw in some DME I have on hand.
Instead of sparging back into the main pot, I do a mini "parti-gyle" batch. I "sparge" the spent bag with 170F water or do a little soak in a separate, smaller pot. With some boiling or a little more DME, this mini batch is usually at a reasonably light beer starting gravity. I use these "extra" batches for fun, creative experiments: adding black currant syrup, fruits, hot peppers, or weird things I find around the kitchen.

 

[cmac62]

I've only done a few BIAB so far, and when/if I don't hit my starting gravity, I just throw in some DME I have on hand.
Instead of sparging back into the main pot, I do a mini "parti-gyle" batch. I "sparge" the spent bag with 170F water or do a little soak in a separate, smaller pot. With some boiling or a little more DME, this mini batch is usually at a reasonably light beer starting gravity. I use these "extra" batches for fun, creative experiments: adding black currant syrup, fruits, hot peppers, or weird things I find around the kitchen.

you should make some gruit. LOL there some weird tasting stuff. Not bad, but with no hops not really what you would call beer either.

 

[Crafty_Brewer]

When I BIAB I don’t sparge unless I don’t have room in the kettle for a full volume mash. When I do have to sparge I just pour the water over the bag that is suspended over my kettle via ratchet pulley. One gallon is usually sufficient to hit my volume depending on my target OG. The pitcher contains ambient temp water too, keeps it simple. The burner is also already fired as soon as that bag starts draining. I keep a homer bucket nearby to lower my bag in when it is done draining. No mess. My method is currently geared towards time savings, so I’m not adverse to using a little more grain. I could probably have a higher efficiency if I dunk sparged the bag in hot water, but I could also get better efficiency fly sparging for an hour too. Just depends on the goal. Consistency with your chosen method is the most important.

 

[z-bob]

I usually use 4 gallons of mash water and 2 gallon of sparge water. I have 2 different ways of doing it and they both work. So I'm starting to go more towards the second way because it's easier

1) mash as usual, then lift the bag out and tie it off on the cupboard door handle right above the stove. Let it drain, then squeeze it a little. Move the drained and squeezed bag to a white 5 gallon bucket and add the 2 gallons of sparge water. Stir it up and let it sit for 10 minutes, then stir again, and lift the bag out. Drain, squeeze, pour the resulting wort into the kettle (which is already on the stove heating.

2) Mash as usual. Pour the 2 additional gallons into the mash and stir. Let it sit for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Now lift the bag and tie it off to the cupboard door, etc. This is almost the same as the full-volume mashing the Aussies do, except I don't have to acidify so much water (I only dechlorinate the extra 2 gallons) The reason for this is my tapwater is *very* alkaline and I don't want to add that much acid to it.

I get about the same efficiency with both processes. #1 might be better for extremely high gravity beers (and in fact I might not have enough room in my kettle for the first runnings, the grain, and the sparge water all at the same time.) As I said already #2 is easier. And if I'm brewing with a lot of wheat or rye, only having to drain and squeeze the bag once is a big deal.

 

[rkhanso]

I gravity sparge, same as many.
aka/Let the bag hang and gravity does its work.
But I have a 25 gallon kettle and usually make 10-11 gallon batches and full-volume mash.

 

[Valve1138]

I've got a ratcheting pulling. I can hoist my bag up the point where a couple inches of it is still in the wort in my kettle. So I lift it up and over a second pot we use for canning and squeeze the **** out it with high heat gloves on. Then just pour that into the kettle for the boil.

That coupled with my grain dialed into a super fine grind, I don't bother with a sparge.

 

[doug293cz]

I gravity sparge, same as many.
aka/Let the bag hang and gravity does its work.
But I have a 25 gallon kettle and usually make 10-11 gallon batches and full-volume mash.

Unless you are adding fresh water to the grain mass after (partially) draining the initial wort, you are not sparging. Sparging is rinsing. Just draining is lautering without sparging. You can lauter with or without sparging.

Brew on

 

[rkhanso]

Unless you are adding fresh water to the grain mass after (partially) draining the initial wort, you are not sparging. Sparging is rinsing. Just draining is lautering without sparging. You can lauter with or without sparging.

Brew on

Yes, I do know that. It was a joke. You know, pouring gravity over the bag.
Bad one, I guess.

 

[Apple_Jacker]

I've done both dunk sparges and also pouring water over the grain bag and letting it drip/squeezing it into a separate bucket. I only use enough of the water to hit my pre-boil volume.

However, I finally invested in a larger brew kettle (from 8.5 gallon to 16 gallon) so I'll be doing full volume mash from here on out.

 

[z-bob]

I've done both dunk sparges and also pouring water over the grain bag and letting it drip/squeezing it into a separate bucket. I only use enough of the water to hit my pre-boil volume.

However, I finally invested in a larger brew kettle (from 8.5 gallon to 16 gallon) so I'll be doing full volume mash from here on out.

I predict you will see exactly the same overall efficiency between a dunk-sparge and full-volume mash with no sparge.

 

[doug293cz]

I predict you will see exactly the same overall efficiency between a dunk-sparge and full-volume mash with no sparge.

I predict you won't. All else being equal, a dunk sparge will give you ~8 percentage points higher lauter efficiency than full volume, no sparge.

Brew on