BIAB OG too low...ideas please

[RM-MN]

Go to a thrift store and buy a used towel or blanket and call it your brewing blanket. Don't let the SWMBO touch it. A sleeping bag would work too.

 

[bayoujeeper]

I am new to BIAB, and Brewing in general, but here is a pic I took this weekend while mashing. I BIAB in my kitchen and once I reach my strike temp, pour in my grain, stir like mad, and move off the burner on to a towel. Then wrap with a blanket. I put a heavy blanket over the top. I open the lid every 10 minutes or so to stir. I can maintain mash temp for the full 60 minutes.

 

[Prymal]

Really? what the heck do you envision happening to your towel or blanket that would make her question?

I used a big blanket to cover my keggle one brew to insolate. I didn't however realize how hot the burner stand was and ended up scorching the blanket. Needless to say the wife wasn't happy. Now I use an old sleeping bag from Good Will.

Side note for OP:

Your beer may come out very sweet with all of that Crystal malt (which does not convert into fermentable sugar). 2lbs out of 9 is a huge amount of unfermentable sugar. I learned my lesson about Crystal malts a few brews ago, the general rule I have gotten is never use more then 10% total Crystal in any brew unless you plan on making a sweet beer.

 

[dhickey]

Prymal -- I didn't know that about crystal malts???!! What kind of sugars do I get from them?

 

[BrewKnurd]

Prymal -- I didn't know that about crystal malts???!! What kind of sugars do I get from them?

Crystal malts have fermentable sugar. A user named nilo did a set of experiments where he fermented worts obtained by simply steeping crystal 10, 40, and 120, and got 38-50% attenuation, so there was a significant amount of fermentable sugar there. Mashing them with 2-row got them to 50-70% attenuation (for the crystal sugars in particular).

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f128/testing-fermentability-crystal-malt-208361/index11.html

So crystal malts do yield fermentable sugars, just less so than base malt, which was in the 80% attenuation range by itself.

 

[BrewKnurd]

I used a big blanket to cover my keggle one brew to insolate. I didn't however realize how hot the burner stand was and ended up scorching the blanket. Needless to say the wife wasn't happy. Now I use an old sleeping bag from Good Will.

Ha, i guess that could be an issue! Never had that problem, but can see why it might not go over well.

 

[dhickey]

I think the blanket thing is out for me. I just realized that outside of my bed and one throw I don't have any other blankets!! HAha, guest be damned in my apartment!!!

 

[fletchsj]

I think the blanket thing is out for me. I just realized that outside of my bed and one throw I don't have any other blankets!! HAha, guest be damned in my apartment!!!

goodwill and a coin op laundry before you bring it in your apartment. problem solved

 

[dhickey]

Hefe grain is in the Bag!!!!

 

[dhickey]

post boil is 1.042, needs to be 1.052....I can just mash longer??? Try to get a couple points before the boil, right?

 

[Prymal]

Mashing longer doesn't mean you will extract more sugar. Lots of users have reported having full conversion within 15 or 30 minutes. I would expect the quality of the crush might be the culprit for your low efficiency. I got around 65% every time I got the grain crushed from my LHBS even if I double crushed the grain. I got a barley crusher for Christmas and my first batch on the default roller width yielded 76% efficiency.

 

[completenewbie]

I generally get low 70s efficiency when I crush the grain myself at my local homebrew store - got a kit from AHS last week and brewed yesterday, followed my usual steps exactly, came out at 64%. I remember thinking that the grain didn't look as crushed as it normally did, which would explain the low efficiency. With BIAB you should crush the living hell out of your grain, go to your local store and run it all through twice.

 

[dhickey]

I ended up mashing for another 20 mins last night, and I went from a 1.042 to a 1.050. So, I guess this one just needed a little longer in the pot.

 

[dhickey]

Yep that is exactly what I do. I run my grain throught the mill 2 times at my LBS. My efficiency is usually around 65-68%.

 

[fletchsj]

Freeze off some h20

 

[bayoujeeper]

Here is how I hold heat in during the mash. I only lost about 2 degrees during a 90 minute mash. Two blankets wrapped around and a thick one on top!

 

[dhickey]

It is probably the loudest airlock I've had to date!!!

 

[mrgstiffler]

My efficiency went from 60-65% to 75-80% by giving a good hard stir after the mash. After the mash is done, I leave the bag in and stir for 1-2 minutes.