BIAB Brewing (with pics)

[wilserbrewer]

Sorry to say, but your total water is just a guess without some experience knowing how much you will boil off etc etc

4 gallons seems reasonable assuming you will lose a gallon to boil off, and a half gallon to grain absorption.

RDWHAHB, go for it, learn and make adjustments moving forward.

Cheers!


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[wilserbrewer]

Delete double post

 

[RM-MN]

Hey Guys. Was hoping to do my first BIAB this weekend, but I'm still a bit confused about how much water I need to use. I'm doing a 2.5 gallon batch since all I have is a 5 gallon kettle. I found a recipe for a porter, converted it to 2.5 in beersmith, and it seems it's giving me about 6.94 pounds of grains. With a 60 minute boil, BIABcalculator.com is saying I need 4.06 gallons of water. Does this seem correct? I seem to be getting different numbers on beersmith.

The amount of grains you need will depend on your brewhouse efficiency which will depend on how well it is milled. With my Corona mill set tight for a really fine grind I would likely need only about 5 lbs of grain and can start with 3.75 gallons of water. With that much water in a 5 gallon pot, when I add the grains I'm pretty close to the top. With your additional amount of grains I would start with close to 3.25 gallons and plan to sparge a bit to get to your preboil volume. Any more than that and your pot will spill over.

When the mash is over and you have squeezed out all the wort you can from the bag of grains, estimate how much you have collected and then sparge to bring the total amount up to about 3.75 gallons. With that much wort in the pot you will have to watch carefully or you will spill the hot break over the top of the pot too. You can turn the heat down, scoop out the hot break, or use a spray bottle of water to keep the hot break under control. I've heard that Whirlfloc will keep the foam under control but I've never tried it.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I've heard that Whirlfloc will keep the foam under control but I've never tried it.

Whirfloc is a kettle coagulant to floc the proteins similar to Irish moss, I think RM-MN is referring to ferm cap S, an anti foam agent that will help with boil overs.

Sorry to nit pic, all else spot on!!!
Cheers!

 

[mirogster]

Brewnewb1 You should really try to use BIABscus excel sheet/calc from biabrewer.info
But bc it's your 1st biab batch: do a full volume mash (mash&sparge water combined). So, shoot for water:grist ratio, at least 1.50 qts/ lbs. For a good measure, extend mashing time to 90 min (incl. 10 min mashout). Double crush your grains, add extra 10% of base malt (again for a good measure in terms of efficiency ).
Report back here & Good luck!!"

 

[RM-MN]

Whirfloc is a kettle coagulant to floc the proteins similar to Irish moss, I think RM-MN is referring to ferm cap S, an anti foam agent that will help with boil overs.

Sorry to nit pic, all else spot on!!!
Cheers!

Thanks for the correction. I just couldn't come up with the right name.

 

[brewnewb1]

Brewnewb1 You should really try to use BIABscus excel sheet/calc from biabrewer.info
But bc it's your 1st biab batch: do a full volume mash (mash&sparge water combined). So, shoot for water:grist ratio, at least 1.50 qts/ lbs. For a good measure, extend mashing time to 90 min (incl. 10 min mashout). Double crush your grains, add extra 10% of base malt (again for a good measure in terms of efficiency ).
Report back here & Good luck!!"

Thanks for the help! Unfortunately I'm not a member so I can't download the calculator. Any chance someone could share it with me?

Unfortunately due to my small kettle, I'm not sure I could do a full volume mash. In that event, would it be ok to do something like mash in 3-3.5 gallons and then before boil top off to my pre-boil volume? (in this case it would be 3.75 gallons)

 

[Conrad1]

yes, that would work. What I have been doing for BIAB that has been working out pretty good is; I have a 8Gal kettle/mash tun. I start with 5 G of water and say 14 pounds of grain (that's about the max with my kettle and 5 g of water). After the mash I lose at least 1.5 G to the grain. So I do a mini sparge where I heat 2.5 G of water then poor that through the grain and drain into another pan. Then dump this wort into the boil kettle to bring volume up to 6 G pre-boil volume. I will lose about 1 gal during the boil. And then maybe 1/2 gal to trub and hops depending on the beer. And I end up with 5 gal or a bit more of wort in my carboy. 6 G in my 8 G kettle works fine but I have to keep an eye on it the whole time or it will boil over.

 

[C20miles]

 

[lumpy5oh]

Thanks for the help! Unfortunately I'm not a member so I can't download the calculator. Any chance someone could share it with me?

Unfortunately due to my small kettle, I'm not sure I could do a full volume mash. In that event, would it be ok to do something like mash in 3-3.5 gallons and then before boil top off to my pre-boil volume? (in this case it would be 3.75 gallons)

Just become a member. Sign up; post in the introduction thread and you will be approved probably the next day.

 

[OvationUltraFan]

Good Day All,

This is my third batch ever. It is an oatmeal stout, here is my album thus far, in 4 weeks I'll complete it once the bottling begins and then when tasting

Brooklyn Brew Shop: Oatmeal Stout, 1 Gallon.

http://imgur.com/a/GVJ51

 

[ClemTiger0408]

My efficiency issues continue to trouble me. I am at my wit's end trying to figure out what could be the cause, as I've spent a long time reading about the proper BIAB technique.

Obviously, I am not WAY off, but my inconsistency troubles me. My previous two batches I finally got my efficiency up to around 73-75% which is pretty acceptable to me. However, yesterday's brew was down around 68% following the exact same procedures.

I don't mind adding a pound or so of base malt to make sure I hit my targets, but I really would rather figure out what the problem is rather than work around it. I read all the time brewers talk about getting close to 80% with BIAB.

Yesterday, I made this IPA. I hit 1.060 as opposed to the target 1.065. Here's my process:

1. Double crush grain at the LHBS.
2. Use a calculator to determine my strike temp and heat water.
3. Pour grain into bag about 25% at a time and stir, until its all in. I hit my mash temp exactly.
4. I always do a 90 minute mash to help efficiency. I stir the grain every 15 minutes during this process.
5. I raise temp to 170F, stir, and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
6. I suspend the bag over the wort with a pulley and allow to drain as I begin heating for the boil.
7. I squeeze the bag until my pre-boil volume is reached. Depending on how much additional volume I need, I may squeeze a lot, or a little, but I've gotten my volumes pretty dialed in.
8. Boil away.

So is there anything glaring during my process that shows why I might have an efficiency be around 68%? I read all the time that brewers say "I give up some efficiency doing BIAB but usually hit the upper 70%'s". I have never achieved this.

 

[EoinMag]

What about water treatment?

 

[eulipion2]

So is there anything glaring during my process that shows why I might have an efficiency be around 68%? I read all the time that brewers say "I give up some efficiency doing BIAB but usually hit the upper 70%'s". I have never achieved this.

I tend to get about 73-75% for 'regular' strength beers, mid-80s on session beers. Bigger beers from about 68%. Go for consistency rather than high efficiency. I think your process is pretty spot-on, but one thing I'm finding useful is a refractometer. I've used it twice so far. After about an hour I check the gravity of the wort. If it's not where I want it I let it keep going until I get to my pre-boil gravity. Sometimes conversion takes a little longer - my grodziskie took a full 2 hours to convert! Though honestly, if you mash for 90 minutes it should be completely converted.

The other "convenience" I've worked out is I built a press out of two 3-4 gallon frosting buckets from my local grocery store's bakery dept. Drill holes in the bottom of one, nest it in the other, and press, either with a third bucket or with silicone pot holders. I get a better squeeze without burning myself.

Maybe check your pH?

 

[ClemTiger0408]

I tend to get about 73-75% for 'regular' strength beers, mid-80s on session beers. Bigger beers from about 68%. Go for consistency rather than high efficiency. I think your process is pretty spot-on, but one thing I'm finding useful is a refractometer. I've used it twice so far. After about an hour I check the gravity of the wort. If it's not where I want it I let it keep going until I get to my pre-boil gravity. Sometimes conversion takes a little longer - my grodziskie took a full 2 hours to convert! Though honestly, if you mash for 90 minutes it should be completely converted.

The other "convenience" I've worked out is I built a press out of two 3-4 gallon frosting buckets from my local grocery store's bakery dept. Drill holes in the bottom of one, nest it in the other, and press, either with a third bucket or with silicone pot holders. I get a better squeeze without burning myself.

Maybe check your pH?

Thanks. A 1.065 probably isn't considered "big" but at least I know others have somewhat of an efficiency drop off. I've only done about 6 BIAB batches and the first two didn't go well for a dumb reason. So basically I only have about 4 solid BIAB runs so far. Hardly enough to notice trends.

The water I use is from those Glacier water dispensers in grocery stores as my house water is behind a water softener.

 

[eulipion2]

Thanks. A 1.065 probably isn't considered "big" but at least I know others have somewhat of an efficiency drop off. I've only done about 6 BIAB batches and the first two didn't go well for a dumb reason. So basically I only have about 4 solid BIAB runs so far. Hardly enough to notice trends.

The water I use is from those Glacier water dispensers in grocery stores as my house water is behind a water softener.

The highest I've ever attempted in 5 years of BIAB is 1.075, so 1.065 could possibly be considered the extreme low end of "big", but I'm sure you can probably get your efficiency up with some fiddling.

What kind of descriptors do they use on the Glacier water? "Reverse Osmosis," "Mineral," "Spring"? I prefer using reverse osmosis, but where I live now I'm forced to use store-bought spring water. With RO I usually adjusted the water chem (very crude adjustment with CaCl), but not knowing the makeup of the spring water I don't bother now.

 

[RM-MN]

1. Double crush grain at the LHBS.

Since you are using bottled water this is most likely the source of the inconsistency. Unless that mill is new and the adjustments are welded so they cannot be changed, you can't be sure of the quality of the crush you are getting.

 

[ClemTiger0408]

The highest I've ever attempted in 5 years of BIAB is 1.075, so 1.065 could possibly be considered the extreme low end of "big", but I'm sure you can probably get your efficiency up with some fiddling.

What kind of descriptors do they use on the Glacier water? "Reverse Osmosis," "Mineral," "Spring"? I prefer using reverse osmosis, but where I live now I'm forced to use store-bought spring water. With RO I usually adjusted the water chem (very crude adjustment with CaCl), but not knowing the makeup of the spring water I don't bother now.

The display says its Reverse Osmosis.

 

[eulipion2]

The display says its Reverse Osmosis.

I found this thread: Brewing Water Chemistry Primer

For RO water the OP recommends a baseline of 1 tsp of calcium chloride per 5 gallons of water, as well as converting 2-3% of your grist to acidulated malt for pH adjustment, and offers adjustments to that formula depending on what you're brewing. It's not terribly precise, but when I was using RO for non-hoppy beers I usually added ~1.5 tsp of CaCl to my full volume mash, and threw in about 1-3 oz of acid malt. For hoppy brews I usually added CaCl and some gypsum.

I'm not guaranteeing that this will get your efficiency up to where you'd like it, but it's always fun to tinker

 

[Rdom]

I agree with using the recommendations in the primer and using brewer's friend mash chemistry calculator to estimate the mash pH. My efficiency was inconsistent like yours (68 to 83%) but since I started using acid malt and fine tuning to a pH of 5.3 to 5.4 by using gypsum and calcium chloride, my efficiency has been consistently 73-75%.

 

[BigGoat]

I use softened water and get good efficiency. Look into a corona mill. $40 and you know you will get the crush you want.

 

[LavaAle]

My BH eff ranges from 78 to 85%. I have a Corona mill and crush as fine as I can get it, then add the grains very slow and stirring all the time. If I don't stir a lot, I get big lumps, which I'm sure will mess up my eff.

 

[drumuglyknuckles]

great post, nice pics, easy to follow. thanks

 

[Brew_Bro]

Great write-up! I modified this slightly to conform with my (lack of) specific equipment, and it seemed to work like a charm. My first all grain Belgian Wit is currently burbling away in my living room.

Peace
BB

 

[cwkayk]

i only have an 8 gallon stock pot and i am attempting to do a BIAB all grain 5 gallon batch. at this time, i am not purchasing a larger stock pot. what is the best method, specifically dealing w/ the lack of strike water volume?

 

[Epimetheus]

That is the same as my equipment for BIAB 5 gal batches. I use make-up water and dunk sparges. I try to make up the volume with the water from the sparges and usually do not hit it exactly, so a little more make up water or a little more boiling. Higher gravities have lower extraction efficiency, you should do fine up to 6% final target.

i only have an 8 gallon stock pot and i am attempting to do a BIAB all grain 5 gallon batch.

BTW, I built a 1500W 120V heatstick to help my anemic electric range. The stick itself is enough for 3 gallon batches, which is nice for one case of 12 oz and I can brew anywhere.

 

[drumuglyknuckles]

That is the same as my equipment for BIAB 5 gal batches. I use make-up water and dunk sparges. I try to make up the volume with the water from the sparges and usually do not hit it exactly, so a little more make up water or a little more boiling. Higher gravities have lower extraction efficiency, you should do fine up to 6% final target.



BTW, I built a 1500W 120V heatstick to help my anemic electric range. The stick itself is enough for 3 gallon batches, which is nice for one case of 12 oz and I can brew anywhere.

Gotpics of that? Would like to see.

 

[drumuglyknuckles]

That is the same as my equipment for BIAB 5 gal batches. I use make-up water and dunk sparges. I try to make up the volume with the water from the sparges and usually do not hit it exactly, so a little more make up water or a little more boiling. Higher gravities have lower extraction efficiency, you should do fine up to 6% final target.



BTW, I built a 1500W 120V heatstick to help my anemic electric range. The stick itself is enough for 3 gallon batches, which is nice for one case of 12 oz and I can brew anywhere.

Got pics of that pot setup? Would like to see.

 

[hoppybrewster]

Ok let me throw in a monkey wrench. Could I buy one of those curtains you guys are making the bag out of and line my plastic cooler mash tun on top of the PVC filter that I already have in there? Best if both worlds? Put in full boil water volume. Could still sparge if you wanted to. Don't have to be concerned about burning the bag. Clean up still kinda easier. Would this work? Thoughts?


Sent from my NSA monitored iPhone.

 

[RM-MN]

Ok let me throw in a monkey wrench. Could I buy one of those curtains you guys are making the bag out of and line my plastic cooler mash tun on top of the PVC filter that I already have in there? Best if both worlds? Put in full boil water volume. Could still sparge if you wanted to. Don't have to be concerned about burning the bag. Clean up still kinda easier. Would this work? Thoughts?


Sent from my NSA monitored iPhone.

It will work well. If you ever get a stuck sparge, just lift the bag. You'll like it.