BIAB Question

[Prymal]

Here is my entire Full Volume with Mashout BIAB process in 27 easy steps. (HAHA that seems like a lot)

1) Use Beersmith 2.0 to create recipe and calculate full volume of water needed for brew day.
2) Measure out water needed into gallon jugs from my in home Reverse Osmosis water filtration system.
3) Pour water into Keggle and start heating water to mash temp.
4) Double Crush Grain - Run grain through The Barley Crusher on the standard setting. Catch the grain in a bucket. Remove filled bucket and put a second bucket under the Barley Crusher. Run grain through the Barley Crusher again.
5) Add water treatment chemicals (Gypsum & Calcium Chloride).
6) Pour grain into water when it reaches the mash temp.
7) Stir grain thoroughly with the heat still on until the mash temp levels out at the desired temp usually ranging from 150 - 156, depending on the beer.
8) Cover Keggle with lid and old sleeping bag to insulate.
9) Check mash temp at 30 minutes (turn flame back on if temp dropped more than 2 degrees and stir constantly while heating to prevent scorching).
10) Check temp at 60 minutes (turn flame back on if temp dropped more than 2 degrees and stir constantly while heating to prevent scorching).
11) At 75 minutes turn flame on to start mash out, stir constantly while heating to prevent scorching and to ensure even heat distribution.
12) Pull grain bag when temp of the grain reaches 168 and turn off the flame.
13) Hold grain bag over wort to let drain for about 5 minutes.
14) Transfer bag to 22 qt pot with steamer tray and squeeze like hell.
15) Pour extracted wort into boil kettle.
16) Turn the flame back on.
17) Squeeze bag one more time and pour the liquid into the boil kettle before the first hop addition.
18) Boil length depends on weather conditions (just learned that humidity is a *****). I now boil based on volume more then based on a specific time. Boil until Pre-Boil volume is reached add first hop addition.
19) When the liquid volume reaches 6 gallons add 15 minute addition.
20) Put wort chiller into boil after 15 minute hop addition.
21) Add 5 minute addition at 5.75 gallons.
22) Flame out 5 minutes after 5 min hop addition.
23) Turn on wort chiller and wait.
24) Empty wort into fermentor.
25) Put fermentor into swamp cooler.
26) Pitch yeast once wort is below 65 degrees.
27) Wait a month or so then bottle or keg.

 

[1MadScientist]

18) Boil length depends on weather conditions (just learned that humidity is a *****). I now boil based on volume more then based on a specific time. Boil until Pre-Boil volume is reached add first hop addition.

27 steps sounds hard, hehe.

Yeah, I go by sight too, sight glass that is. I've been hitting my pre-boil 60 minute volumes with software, a grain absorption factor and squeezing. I may try a 90+ minute boil on a big beer to increase efficiency; I would add any first hop additions at my known starting height I use for 60's.

 

[Parkinson1963]

Brew in a Bag, also known as BIAB

As simple as I can make it


Equipment List

1 Pot , with lid, at least 10 gallons in volume (I use a keggle)
2 Bag, swiss voile (mine is 1.5' wide by .2.5' high)
3 Mash Paddle
4 Heat source
5 Thermometer
6 Insulation (old comforter, blankets, sleeping bag, etc)

The Bag
A lot of talk is generated on this simple thing.
What you are making is a pillow case out of mesh.
In fact a new washed pillow case (poly cotton/polyester) will work quite well, just not as efficient.

Best material so far, Swiss voile (fabric stores carry it).
The material comes in 5' widths so 1/2 yard will make a bag.
Use of sewing machine and ten minutes will make a bag, ask your mommy, girl friend, sister, etc
If no sewing machine a needle and thread will do (about ½ to 1 hour)
A draw string closure will be nice, but not necessary.
Also I believe a 3' by 3' square of the material will make a bag, with no sewing. Just push the material into the pot with 4 spring clamps holding up the edges (I have not tried this yet).

The Grains
A fine crush is best for BIAB, I use a 0.5mm (0.02”) gap on my barley crusher mill.
Some flour is fine and expected.


Procedure

for a five gallon batch

1. Add 7.5 gallons of water to the pot.
2. Begin heating
3. When to about 5deg f less than the mash temp add the bag and the grains
4. Stir the grain with your mash paddle well, no lumps.
5. Keep heating and stirring until your mash temp is reached (~152f)
6. Turn off heat
7. Put lid on pot and insulate
8. Leave alone for 60 to 90 minutes
9. Remove insulation
10. Apply heat and stir until mash out temp reached (~168c)
11. Shut off heat
12. Lift up bag, drain, squeeze, drain, squeeze,drain, repeat as necessary I try to get every drop.
13. Apply heat bring to boil, add hops, cool, pitch yeast, etc

With the above equipment and method I get ~75% efficiency, same as my three vessel system.

There are lots of room for modifications to above method, knock your self out.

However in my opinion keeping it simple is what BIAB is about

“It's dead easy” Uncle Dennis, 40+ year beer maker

 

[Parkinson1963]

Oh I forgot the "No chill" Steps.

14. At end of boil drain kettle in to 6 gallon Jerry can.
15. squeeze out air (use insulated gloves) seal.
16. leave in fermenting area overnight.
17. Next day pour into fermentor , pitch yeast.


With BIAB and no chill the brew day is just 3.5 hours long, 1/2 hour next day to pitch yeast.

 

[el_caro]

With BIAB and no chill the brew day is just 3.5 hours long, 1/2 hour next day to pitch yeast.

It took me just under 5 hours to do the whole process including immersion chilling and clean up on my recent brew. My stove top heating takes about 15-20 mins to get water from sparge to rolling boil unfortunately and 20 mins to get from ambient to mash temp.

 

[stux]

Oh I forgot the "No chill" Steps.

14. At end of boil drain kettle in to 6 gallon Jerry can.
15. squeeze out air (use insulated gloves) seal.
16. leave in fermenting area overnight.
17. Next day pour into fermentor , pitch yeast.


With BIAB and no chill the brew day is just 3.5 hours long, 1/2 hour next day to pitch yeast.

"14. At end of boil drain kettle in to 6 gallon Jerry can."

sanitized jerry can

"15. squeeze out air (use insulated gloves) seal."

you should tip the jerry on its side to pasteurise the lid area

I always squeeze the jerrys/cubes against a wall with my knee, with a towel over it (protection). holding it at an angle until I just get some liquid coming out... then I splash with sanitizer to rinse any spills off.


just pitched a no-chill brew which was in the cube for 9 months... sampling great so far )

 

[1MadScientist]

I'm pretty disappointed in yesterdays brew day, now the brew before I got ~80% efficiency with 14.25# grain, but yesterday I got ~60-65% with 18# grain. I added 1 extra quart (1 lt) of water to offset grain absorption and that was it. I noticed a thicker mash than normal. I hit my pre-boil volume.

I do the #3 method on this thread (full volume mash). I did a 60 minute mash and a 60 minute boil.

I must of hit the in-efficiency wall. What would the max. efficiency be for an 18# grain bill? I would boil off 2 quarts (2 lt) more in a 90 minute boil, so if I added this amount more next time to get a thinner mash and mash for 90 minutes, is that about the best I can do? I only got a 1.077 OG.

Joy cometh in the morning! I got 73% efficiency. After looking at the photo I took I realized it was at the 6 gallon mark of my bucket.

 

[Parkinson1963]

"sanitized jerry can"

Why would I sanitize a jerry can I am pouring boiling wort into. Rinsed out yes, sanitized no.

I also make sure all parts of the jerry can come in contact with the boiling wort to make sure every thing is sanitized.

 

[1MadScientist]

You can use the calculator at this link to work it out

BIABrewer.info • View topic - A New Approach to BIAB Calculus using Conversion Efficiency

It's only metric currently, but I think if you play some what-if games it will confirm your results. You will also be able to see how much of a difference the sparging makes

That's a nice spreadsheet Stux. I read the whole thread too. I'll wait until you add the US conversion drop down. I'm also looking forward to use the completed "The Calculator".

 

[1MadScientist]

The thing is with Full-volume No Sparge BIAB the Mash Efficiency and Into Boil and End of Boil Efficiencies should all be about the same. Which means if you measure your gravity pre and post boil along with your volumes you get a neat double-check on your efficiency.

stux, I just finished a brew day making a munich dunkel and I carefully measured my volumes and gravity both pre and post boil. I was wondering if I got 'a neat double-check'. How do you calcuate efficiency with those numbers?

My pre-boil was 1.047 @ 6.875 gal (26.02 L)
My post boil was 1.055 @ 5.625 gal (21.29 L)

 

[C-Rider]

stux, I just finished a brew day making a munich dunkel and I carefully measured my volumes and gravity both pre and post boil. I was wondering if I got 'a neat double-check'. How do you calcuate efficiency with those numbers?

My pre-boil was 1.047 @ 6.875 gal (26.02 L)
My post boil was 1.055 @ 5.625 gal (21.29 L)

Perhaps this link can be used both times?

Brewhouse Efficiency Calculator | Brewer's Friend

 

[Prymal]

You need to post your recipe in order to determine efficiency.

 

[stux]

1.047 x 6.875 = 47 x 6.875 = 323 points
1.055 x 5.625 = 55 x 5.625 = 310 points

The points is basically your total sugars, and both readings are fairly close, perhaps the average of 316 is right

You need the weight of grain to work out efficiency tho

Say you had 12lbs of 34ppg grain, that'd have a potential of 12 x 34 = 408

316/408 = 77.5%
323 = 79%
310 = 76%

Most likely the difference between the two efficiencies is due to measurement errors

 

[1MadScientist]

Thank you stux for that math lesson.

perhaps I'm off because the pre-boil temp was around 190 degree-ish F and the post-boil was at 60 degrees F, a difference of 4%.

I did the long hand math on this based on my Beer Tools Pro using what they call 'Original Grav. (lb/gal)' which looks to be the 'ppg' # and I was within 16 thousandths of a percent. I understand 'Moisture' is also part of the formula.

I got 81% with 11.36 lb of grain and my grain absorption after squeezing is .055 gal/lb.

 

[stux]

Thank you stux for that math lesson.

perhaps I'm off because the pre-boil temp was around 190 degree-ish F and the post-boil was at 60 degrees F, a difference of 4%.

I did the long hand math on this based on my Beer Tools Pro using what they call 'Original Grav. (lb/gal)' which looks to be the 'ppg' # and I was within 16 thousandths of a percent. I understand 'Moisture' is also part of the formula.

I got 81% with 11.36 lb of grain and my grain absorption after squeezing is .055 gal/lb.

Yes, the volume needs to be calibrated back to well... 60F if you're hydrometer is calibrated at 60F

I take my Start of Boil and End of Boil measurements when the wort actually starts boiling which is pretty much 100C, and just after I cut the heat, again, 100C. which gets me volumes which are related.

You can then just apply the 4% cooling loss

26L at 100C = 25L at 20C

The programs do all of this for you

(excuse the metric )

 

[stux]

BTW, if I apply the 4% loss to your preboil figure,

1.047 x 6.875/1.04 = 47 x 6.610 = 310 points
1.055 x 5.625 = 55 x 5.625 = 310 points

And there we have the "neat double-check"