Draining the grain bag after mashing

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boxboybrewing

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Hello all!
As a newer BIAB brewer, I have struggled with getting all the precious, sugary liquid out of the grain after mashing. I saw that some people use pulley systems, and some use silicon oven mitts to squeeze all the liquid out of the grain bag. I humbly submit my solution. Its Weber replacement grill for the little Weber mini grills over a 5 gallon bucket. I just set the wet grain bag on top and let it drain while my wort gets up to boil temp. I give it a good squeeze when it's cool enough and add the "squeezins" to the boil kettle.
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Your doin good....silicon mitts are for the instant gratification crowd, just letting the bag relax and drain for a bit does the same....of course based on how hard you squeeze or how long you wait...same end result.
 
So there is no extra liquid that can be pulled out by squeezing? One of the calculators i used recently changed the absorption rate of the grain if doing a "tight squeeze" which made me think I'd get more out by squeezing.
Your doin good....silicon mitts are for the instant gratification crowd, just letting the bag relax and drain for a bit does the same....of course based on how hard you squeeze or how long you wait...same end result.
 
So there is no extra liquid that can be pulled out by squeezing? One of the calculators i used recently changed the absorption rate of the grain if doing a "tight squeeze" which made me think I'd get more out by squeezing.

I always squeeze, but I tried letting the bag hang a couple of times. Even after hanging for a while, I still got quite a bit more out of the grains from squeezing. I just don't see how you wouldn't get more. Whatever works for you.
 
So there is no extra liquid that can be pulled out by squeezing? One of the calculators i used recently changed the absorption rate of the grain if doing a "tight squeeze" which made me think I'd get more out by squeezing.
Squeezing helps absolutely!

After a good squeeze, a good dunk in a gallon (or 2) of water in a spare bucket/kettle/container followed by another squeeze yields some more sugar. Do subtract that sparge volume from your strike water, or top up water to the kettle, after the mash (some do that if their kettle is a bit small).
 
Squeezing helps absolutely!

After a good squeeze, a good dunk in a gallon (or 2) of water in a spare bucket/kettle/container followed by another squeeze yields some more sugar. Do subtract that sparge volume from your strike water, or top up water to the kettle, after the mash (some do that if their kettle is a bit small).
That's how i did my first batch yesterday where i hung it over another pot after the initial drain. I had that one filled with sparge water, put the bag in that, stirred grains, then pulled it up and squeezed
 
Yes squeezing produces wort agreed.

Next time you squeeze, put the grain and bag in a 5 gallon bucket for a 1/2 hour, and surprisingly there will be a fair puddle of wort in the bucket...

Smaller grain bills may be easier to squeeze....but w/ say 15 lbs hanging over the kettle draining, sometimes doing nothing and letting gravity work is easy and rather effective.

Takes a while, and takes patience. Say 30-40 minutes so the bag is still dripping for part of the boil.

During this step one can pour a small amount, say 1/2 gallon of sparge water over the bag to adjust kettle volume, and further rinse grain beyond what squeezing would.

Agreed, a batch sparge with twice squeezing will best efficiency, but too much hassle for me.
 
Squeezing also pushes out grain crud you might not want.

Compared with letting it hang over the boil kettle the duration of the boil, you will probably see a difference of .5-1L

Plus all the extra gunk
 
I mash in a lobster pot with the bag in the basket.
I then put my ladder over the pot and pull the basket up to drain on it's own while I fire up the burner.
Once the liquid is off the top of the spent grain I grab a lid and press it then grab the bag and twist it and press again.
Not so hard i'll pop a seam though.
I get at least a few cups out of it it's say.
 
I let the bag drain over the kettle during the entire boil. On my last brew I measured how much I could squeeze from a fully drained bag, and got 200ml. To me that's not worth the hassle.

I grind with a .025" gap and routinely exceed the target gravities of recipes without sparging or squeezing. If I want more alcohol I always have the option of doing a sparge, but normally I don't.
 
I tried this at first, but I had issues with the bag spreading out so much that it just dripped over the sides. Eventually, I drilled some holes in a bucket, set the bag in the bucket to contain it, and then put that on top of a similar grate.
 
The first time I had tried to drain grain, I used a perferated pizza pan.... it was messy!
I've upgraded to a "sink strainer" that fits in my kettle.
I'm doing 2.5 gallon batches, so this works well for any draining, dripping and squeezing I want/don't want to do!
 

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The first time I had tried to drain grain, I used a perferated pizza pan.... it was messy!
I've upgraded to a "sink strainer" that fits in my kettle.
I'm don't 2.5 gallon batches, so this works well for any draining, dripping and squeezing I want/don't want to do!
That's a damn good idea!
 
Yes squeezing produces wort agreed.

Next time you squeeze, put the grain and bag in a 5 gallon bucket for a 1/2 hour, and surprisingly there will be a fair puddle of wort in the bucket...

Smaller grain bills may be easier to squeeze....but w/ say 15 lbs hanging over the kettle draining, sometimes doing nothing and letting gravity work is easy and rather effective.

Takes a while, and takes patience. Say 30-40 minutes so the bag is still dripping for part of the boil.

During this step one can pour a small amount, say 1/2 gallon of sparge water over the bag to adjust kettle volume, and further rinse grain beyond what squeezing would.

Agreed, a batch sparge with twice squeezing will best efficiency, but too much hassle for me.
 
Palmer cautions against bag-squeezing because of concerns over releasing astringent compounds into the kettle - but he is talking about specialty grains in extract brewing, particularly the darker ones. I gather no one here has experienced such problems with squeezing the full mash in BIAB, even containing a significant quantity of dark stuff?
 
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Palmer cautions against bag-squeezing because of concerns over releasing astringent compounds into the kettle - but he is talking about specialty grains in extract brewing, particularly the darker ones. I gather no one here has experienced such problems with squeezing the full mash in BIAB, even containing a significant quantity of dark stuff?
This was my understanding.

Mash squeezing good. Specialty grain squeezing bad
 
Palmer cautions against bag-squeezing because of concerns over releasing astringent compounds into the kettle - but he is talking about specialty grains in extract brewing, particularly the darker ones. I gather no one here has experienced such problems with squeezing the full mash in BIAB, even containing a significant quantity of dark stuff?
Last batch I did I was eliminating any possibility of tannin extraction and let the bag drain rather than squeeze. I use the basket in the bayou cooker and just let it drain over a separate pot while I bring the kettle up to boil.

It took about 25 minutes to get to a full boil from the mash and over that time, I was genuinely surprised at how much drained, and the resulting consistency of the grain bed was very spongy and fluffy, quite a bit of liquid drained. I didn't physically measure it, but based on the level in the pot, I got as much if not more from letting it drain then squeezing. My mash efficiency was in the 80's as well

Can't say it does anything in relation to tannin extraction, but this way couldn't be easier and the yield is great, wouldn't do it any other way going forward.

I've read dozen's upon dozen's of guys who squeeze and have no issues with tannins. I have had astringency issues and personally, I think tannin extraction has a lot more to do with mash chemistry than physical draining, but if I can eliminate a variable and it's easier, no brainer.
 
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