Critique my BIAB process

[SSLocal]

Been doing BIAB for about 5 years this way, recently took about a year off and brewed my first beer after coming back about a week and a half ago. I brew 5-6 gallon batches in a 10 gallon Bayou Classic brew kettle with thermometer. I am not looking for perfection but want to make decent beer. Here is what I typically do:
- Typical grain bill is 10-11 pounds
- I heat water to mash in around 162-166, using a 2 quarts per pound ratio, which typically means about 5 gallons of mash water.
- 60 minute mash, then heat to 170 for about 5 minutes to loosen the mash.
- In the meantime I have 4 gallons of water heated on the side to about 170 and use that to sparge the grains through the bag, which has been lifted out of the mash tun and placed in a large sieve that sits on top of the mash tun. I sparge through the grain until i reach 7 gallons in the kettle.
- Boil for 60 minutes, adding my hop additions. Cool, rack, ferment (temp controlled).

Mainly I'm curious about opinions on the sparging method. Would it be better to let the bag steep in the heated side water then add that to the kettle, or continue to sparge through the bag, or simply just top up with the hot water? I have to think that rinsing the grains with the 170 water is probably adding some fermentables to the wort?

 

[doug293cz]

Just topping up with hot water will be the lowest efficiency option. Either a dunk sparge or pour over sparge will rinse out and recover most of the sugar retained by the mash after initial draining. You should try both (with similar grain bills) to see which works better for you.

Brew on

 

[SSLocal]

I just haven't seen people talking much about the pour over technique and don't remember where I got it from. It seems to work fine...I'm usually within a few points of my OG and SG. Rarely right on, but I'm not trying that hard LOL.

 

[RM-MN]

- 60 minute mash, then heat to 170 for about 5 minutes to loosen the mash.

If your mash has completed conversion (which it should have given the ability to utilize finer crushed grains with BIAB) in 60 minute, this step does nothing for you except take extra time. It's your time, use it as you wish.

- In the meantime I have 4 gallons of water heated on the side to about 170 and use that to sparge the grains through the bag, which has been lifted out of the mash tun and placed in a large sieve that sits on top of the mash tun. I sparge through the grain until i reach 7 gallons in the kettle.

Heating the sparge water to 170 isn't necessary as the sugars are already there, just needing to be rinsed from the grains. The hot wet grain mass will heat up the water quite a bit so you do get all the dissolving if it isn't already so starting from cool water right from your tap only adds a bit of time to bring the wort to a boil. You could have saved this amount of time by not heating the mash to 170 prior to pulling the bag. I think you will get a little better sparge by letting the bag of grains soak for a bit but probably not enough to notice the difference over just a pour over sparge. I'd do what is easiest for you. Any sparge is guaranteed to get more sugars from the grain than just topping off with water.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I just haven't seen people talking much about the pour over technique and don't remember where I got it from. It seems to work fine...I'm usually within a few points of my OG and SG. Rarely right on, but I'm not trying that hard LOL.

I've seen enough people talk about doing pour over sparge that it's just another option to me. In fact, I plan to do exactly that if/when I do a huge high gravity beer using BIAB. In the past, I've done big beers by mashing in a cooler, but I might try one doing BIAB. I'd consider a dunk sparge, but I use a ratcheting pulley to raise the bag and I don't relish the idea of horsing around a 25 lb grain bill that's soaked in another 10 lbs of water. Especially when it's dripping hot sticky wort.

Ulitmately I want to get to a SS solid sided basket, at which point a pour over will be a really nice option.

 

[SSLocal]

is 70-74% efficiency typical or acceptable using these techniques? i am not double milling the grain. i also dont do anything about water chemistry which may help my efficiency. anything easy that you can recommend for increasing efficiency?

 

[doug293cz]

is 70-74% efficiency typical or acceptable using these techniques? i am not double milling the grain. i also dont do anything about water chemistry which may help my efficiency. anything easy that you can recommend for increasing efficiency?

You can readily get 80+% mash efficiency with no-sparge, no-squeeze BIAB if you get 98-100% conversion efficiency, and let the bag drain throughout the boil. Crush and time are the keys to getting complete conversion efficiency. Measure conversion efficiency using this method.

Brew on

 

[RM-MN]

is 70-74% efficiency typical or acceptable using these techniques? i am not double milling the grain. i also dont do anything about water chemistry which may help my efficiency. anything easy that you can recommend for increasing efficiency?

If you are not taking advantage of the possibilities of BIAB by double milling the grain, try a longer mash period. You may be limiting the conversion to get the 70% efficiency.

 

[LittleRiver]

This simple process consistently gets me brewhouse efficiency in the low 80's.

• mill grains once, with a gap setting of .025"
• mash with the full volume of water for one hour, insulate the kettle & don't open it during the mash
• raise the bag, immediately fire the heat for the boil, let the bag drip into the kettle for the full boil

That's it -- no recirculation, no sparge, no mashout, no squeezing the bag.

I only sparge for high gravity beers, over about 1.065.

• mash with half of the water
• drain the wort into a bucket, leaving the bag and grains in place in the kettle
• add the other half of the water to the grains in the kettle & stir thoroughly
• raise the bag, immediately fire the heat for the boil
  
• pour the bucket of wort into the kettle, let the bag drip into the kettle for the full boil

 

[SSLocal]

This simple process consistently gets me brewhouse efficiency in the low 80's.

• mill grains once, with a gap setting of .025"
• mash with the full volume of water for one hour, insulate the kettle & don't open it during the mash
• raise the bag, immediately fire the heat for the boil, let the bag drip into the kettle for the full boil

That's it -- no recirculation, no sparge, no mashout, no squeezing the bag.

I only sparge for high gravity beers, over about 1.065.

• mash with half of the water
• drain the wort into a bucket, leaving the bag and grains in place in the kettle
• add the other half of the water to the grains in the kettle & stir thoroughly
• raise the bag, immediately fire the heat for the boil
  
• pour the bucket of wort into the kettle, let the bag drip into the kettle for the full boil

So do you over fill the mash volume to compensate for loss by absorption of the grain or do you fill back to get your pre-boil volume?

 

[SSLocal]

Fortunately/unfortunately, the brew shop does my milling and I get what I get from them. And for some reason they don't allow double milling...smh. i did a batch yesterday and got about 72% efficiency.

 

[doug293cz]

So do you over fill the mash volume to compensate for loss by absorption of the grain or do you fill back to get your pre-boil volume?

If doing full volume mashing (no-sparge), you add the expected grain absorption volume to the target pre-boil volume to get the strike water volume. Topping up, or back filling, with water will always be the least efficient way to make up for volume shortages (except when doing all extract.)

Brew on

 

[LittleRiver]

So do you over fill the mash volume to compensate for loss by absorption of the grain or do you fill back to get your pre-boil volume?

All losses are accounted for in the starting volume of water. Try the Priceless BIAB calculator to get water volumes and strike temps. I find it to be excellent, and it's free.

Fortunately/unfortunately, the brew shop does my milling and I get what I get from them. And for some reason they don't allow double milling...smh. i did a batch yesterday and got about 72% efficiency.

72% is not all that bad, but if you're going to stick with BIAB get your own mill as soon as you can. Your results will be more consistent, and you can set the gap smaller to get a boost in efficiency. Having your own mill will give you the freedom to buy your base grain in full sacks. The savings in grain cost will pay for the mill.

 

[TGFV]

Fortunately/unfortunately, the brew shop does my milling and I get what I get from them. And for some reason they don't allow double milling...smh. i did a batch yesterday and got about 72% efficiency.

I know alot of AG brewer's piss on Corona/Victoria grain mills, but for BIAB they are a beauty.

You crush only once and can go near powder fine (think meal, rather than flour) with a simple dial in, and then it is set and forget. Hand grinding takes about 1min/lb to keep from getting too exhausted or electric can do 10-15lbs in 2 minutes.

As for the process, if possible I would allow to drip while boiling, or do a lukewarm pour over followed by a good squeeze with silicone gloves. If you get enough conversion then starch won't be an issue, plus finings/whirlfloc will help.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

I brew 5-6 gallon batches in a 10 gallon Bayou Classic brew kettle with thermometer.

I also use a 10 gal kettle for BIAB. I target 5.5 gals into the fermenter and I can do up to around 14 lbs of grain full volume mash. Have you tried that? I will typically start my mash with around 7.7 to 7.9 gals (measured cool) of water to reach a target pre-boil of 7 gals (measured hot). Then 6 gals post-boil to get my 5.5 gals in the fermenter.

I target my recipes for 73% overall efficiency (77% mash efficiency). When I first started BIAB I was dunk sparging and squeezing (getting 80% to 85% overall efficiency), but I ditched the sparge and adjusted my absorption to ease the process.