BIAB Calculations

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Chris_Primavera

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Going to try my hand at BIAB soon. I would like to brew a Belgian IPA style beer. I have a 10-Gallon kettle but I am not sure I have Beersmith set correctly. I am planning on starting with 7.0 gallons of water to yield a 5 gallon primary.

In any case, here is what I came up with:
Any suggestions observations appreciated.

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 5.96 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 5.46 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 4.75 gal
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage
Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 76.1 %

7 lbs 12.0 oz Pilsen Malt (1.8 SRM) Grain 1 66.0 %
1 lbs Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 2 8.5 %
1 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 3 8.5 %
1 lbs Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM) Grain 4 8.5 %
Saccharification Add 26.99 qt of water at 166.6 F 156.0 F 60 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min 168.0 F 10 min
1 lbs Candi Sugar, Amber (45.0 SRM) Sugar 5 8.5 %
2.00 oz East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 34.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 45.0 min Hop 7 17.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 9.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 9 7.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Strisslespalt [4.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg French Saison (Wyeast Labs #3711) [50.28 ml] Yeast 12 -
0.50 oz Strisslespalt [4.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 13 0.0 IBUs
 
Have you actually measured the boil off on your kettle? 0.5 gal per hr in a 10 gal kettle seems low to me. With squeezing I lose about .08 gal per lb of grain so the absorption seems close, I would lose about 0.9 gal with that grainbill.
 
Have you actually measured the boil off on your kettle? 0.5 gal per hr in a 10 gal kettle seems low to me. With squeezing I lose about .08 gal per lb of grain so the absorption seems close, I would lose about 0.9 gal with that grainbill.
No, I haven't

Different calculators give me anywhere from 6.9 to 7.5 gallons to wind up with a 5 gallon batch after fermenting.
 
Well you can either boil a couple gallons in your pot and measure, or make a guess on the first batch knowing you may be a little off, then measure for the next time. I'd go with about a gallon per hr if you're going to estimate. I boil of about 0.6 gal in my little 5 gal pot on the stove and 1.7 gal in my 20 gal pot. Just try to take really accurate measurements along the way on the first batch or two so you can get your profile locked in.
 
I have a 10 gallon Mega pot and brew indoors on a NG stove

Approximations for this grain bill and 5.5 gallons to FV my BIAB setup would be

7.5 gallons of strike water at mash temp + 5F

0.05 gallons/lb absorption

1.25 gallon boil off in 60 mins

0.25 gallons trub loss and loss to chiller

I squeeze the bag

Temperature drop from strike to desired mash is quite small in a metal mash tun (pot). I think you will be too hot at that strike temperature.
 
1 to 1.25G boil off sounds like a good starting point to me if you do not want to run a one hour test with plain water. (IME using an 8G kettle).
 
Do you want to put 5 gallons into the fermenter or 5 gallons out of the fermenter at packaginf time?

You said 5G batch but it says 4.75 packaging volume.

If you want 5 out, I'd start with 8 gallons strike water and end up with 5.5G post boil. Assuming typical absorption rates of biab and hops, and 1gal/hr boil off rate.
 
That will depend on your efficiency into the fermenter. For me an 11lb grain bill will usually net 1.052-1.058 depending on the makeup of the grist with 5.5 gallons into the FV.This is a very approximate estimate though and your results may be very different. Took me a while to get my consistency dialed in at my current levels using Beersmith. The software really makes the whole process very straight forward once you get used to it
 
Two thing come to mind for this. What you are boiling off is water. If you boil off too much so your volume is too low, add some back. If you aren't boiling off enough, turn up the heat or boil longer. This isn't rocket surgery and you aren't supposed to be making rocket fuel. Don't get too hung up on getting the volume exactly right on your first beer. Try to get close and then adjust....or just roll with it and get a little less beer with more alcohol or a little more beer with slightly less alcohol.
 
I just did my first 2 batches yesterday. I found that by squeezing the bag it yields at least another 1/2 gallon that the calculator didn't account for.

My first batch I squeezed but not enough and ended with a low SG but the correct amount of water. That low SG could've been because I overshot my mash temp to 160 though.

My second batch I hit 80% efficiency and on target but I ended up with at least an extra 1/2 gallon. I really squeezed the bag on that one though and I hit mash temps well.
 
Reconfigured Beersmith and tweaked the recipe:

Belgian IPA (16 E) Type: BIAB
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 7.50 gal
Boil Time: 60 min
End of Boil Vol: 6.50 gal
Final Bottling Vol: 5.00 gal
Fermentation: Ale, Single Stage
Efficiency: 75.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 79.0 %
Total Water Needed: 8.31 gal

Mash Ingredients
7 lbs Pilsen Malt (1.8 SRM) Grain 1 60.9 %
2 lbs Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 17.4 %
1 lbs Caramunich Malt (56.0 SRM) Grain 3 8.7 %
1 lbs Wheat, Torrified (1.7 SRM) Grain 4 8.7 %

Saccharification Add 33.22 qt of water at 160.4 F 152.1 F 75 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min 168.0 F 10 min

Estimated pre-boil gravity is 1.044 SG
Boil Ingredients
1.75 oz East Kent Goldings (EKG) [5.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 33.2 IBUs
1.00 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 45.0 min Hop 7 18.8 IBUs
1.00 oz Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 8 10.9 IBUs
0.50 oz Styrian Goldings [5.40 %] - Boil 30.0 min Hop 9 7.9 IBUs
8.0 oz Candi Sugar, Amber (45.0 SRM) Sugar 5 4.3 % 10 min
1.00 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins) Fining 10 -
0.50 oz Saaz [3.75 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 11 0.0 IBUs
0.50 oz Strisslespalt [4.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 12 0.0 IBUs
Estimated Post Boil Vol: 6.50 gal and Est Post Boil Gravity: 1.063 SG
1.0 pkg French Saison (Wyeast Labs #3711) [50.28 ml] Yeast 13 -

0.50 oz Strisslespalt [4.00 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 14 0.0 IBUs

Age beer for 30.00 days at 65.0 F
 
Your end boil volume is 6.5 gallons but your batch size is 5 gallons. You might want to look at your numbers again

With that much pils are you using a 90 minute boil to reduce DMS? That will up your boil off
 
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