First BIAB, conversion of LHBS recipe questions

[dcn]

Hello, I’m about to do my first BIAB, an American IPA from the name on the printout my shop gave me, and since its not a BIAB recipe I’m looking for confirmation that I’ve converted it ok.

Full disclosure here, I also posted this to a local forum where I live but there’s a bit more traffic here so I wanted to increase my odds of an answer..

Ok here goes. The recipe they gave me was for a 2 gallon into fermenter something, presumably multi vessel setup. I’m trying to confirm that what I converted will allow a BIAB success if anyone can review. I’ve got 4lbs 10oz of grain.

So they say to mash in with 5.76 qt (1.44 gal/5.45 liters), then fly sparge using 3.32 gal (13.28 qt/12.56 liter). This ends up with a 3.96 gal (14.9 litre) boil, yielding an end of boil volume of 2.60 gal (9.84 liters). 2 gallons go into the fermenter after this.

I’m thinking I’ll mash in with a higher number, maybe 12 liters, and sparge into my former bottling bucket with 6 liters. That will give me (minus grain absorbsion which I don’t know yet) a mash/sparge water volume of 18 liters vs the recipe’s (5.45+12.56 mash+sparge) 18.01 liters. Pretty close. That means I’ll count on losing 3 liters of losses to match the recipe’s 3.96 gallon/14.9 liters boil volume.

Assuming I match everything above, my BIAB conversion should work out close to the recipe’s numbers, and if so the only unknown is my 60 minute boil loss. Recipe says 3.96 gallons at boil start and 2.60 gallons at end, or 14.9 liters to 9.84 liters.

Assuming that was written easy enough to follow, does the above look like a good BIAB conversion?

 

[wilserbrewer]

Assuming that was written easy enough to follow, does the above look like a good BIAB conversion?

Easy to follow? I read it 3 times and am still a little confused [emoji52]

Until you do a few batches, you won’t know certain variables so you gonna have to wing it to some extent, but that’s ok really....

 

[wilserbrewer]

Easy to follow? I read it 3 times and am still a little confused [emoji52]

Until you do a few batches, you won’t know certain variables so you gonna have to wing it to some extent, but that’s ok really....

Guessing you will lose about .4 gallons to grain absorption, (.1 gal/lb) and .5 gallons to boil off, and .3 gallons to kettle losses, and want 2 gallons out of the fermenter, you’re total water volume will be the sum of these or 3.2 gallons.

You can mash with all 3.2 gallons, or mash w 2 and sparge 1.2.

Monitor gravity and volume as you proceed, and you can make adjustments if needed....by boiling more or adding water if gravity to high or low, or volume too high or low.

Your recipe posted expects 1.5 gallons boil off, that’s excessive imo, you only need a light boil, not a raging cauldron lol

 

[dcn]

Hahah ok thanks for that. Sorry for the confusion, I was gonna make it point form of their #s vs my conversion attempt #s but didn't. Two more points here - I have a refractometer on the way, and tonight after work I'm going to (lightly) boil a gallon or two of water and see how much is actually lost. I've only got a 4.5 or so gallon pot for now, should have mentioned that above.

Thanks for the advice on adjusting to hit targets too, that's great to get a reminder of.

 

[brew703]

Go to pricelessbrewing.com and enter in the info to get total strike water.
To be on the safe side, whatever the calculator shows to be the total strike water, withhold a gallon to add in after mashing. You may be close to maxing out the kettle volume and will be a mess if you over-flow the kettle when removing the bag, especially if you are inside.
As for as boil off, I would say .5 gal would be on the high end. I brew 5.75 gal into fermenter and my boil off is right at 1 gal.

 

[dcn]

Hi again! Did my boil test this evening with plain tap water. I covered the pot and cranked the stove up, then uncovered and reduced the heat when it reached a boil so it was a slight bubbling (no cauldron ) for 60 minutes. I had originally put 2 gal (7.57L) into the pot, and my ending water amount was 1.202 gal (4.55L) so it looks like I've got a .8 gal (3.03L) per hour loss there but we keep our humidity around 50%. So I'm thinking that's accurate, especially since I can't imagine how I'd mess this test up.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Well....perhaps you should have started your test with your anticipated preboil volume instead of lesser amount.

Boil off can be tailored...but if you think boiling a lesser volume is accurate I agree ...

Sorry, not a fan of all this testing wasting btu’s get busy brewing

 

[dcn]

Yup. That woulda made more sense. Crap! At least I'm on electric for now with unlimited usable heat, plus there's a chiller, propane burner and proper kettle on Christmas list. Oh just got the shipping notice for refractometer like 20 min ago.

So (final answer this time!):
I ran everything through beersmith as far as equipment and ingredients and chose Single Infusion, Medium Body, No Mash Out. It's telling me 10.78qt (IE 2.6 gallons) into Mash In, and a .74 gal sparge. A little more than 1-1.25 qts/lb of grain so I may bring that down some and bump up the sparge to compensate. That gives me 3.34 gal of water total. That will allow my .8 gal per hour loss during boiling plus some from grain/hop absorbtion and trub loss. I can top up as needed when I do my refractometer readings. Sound workable? Thanks for the help again too.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Yes agreed, you have thoroughly beaten the horse and it’s time to move forward.

I guessed 3.2 gallons and you have finally arrived at 3.34 or 3.3 gallons lol....how does one measure to the hundredth of a gallon?

You are plugging unknowns into an equation and expecting a precise accurate number to magically appear
Experience monitoring your volumes and gravity while brewing is far more valuable, and why I requested you to stop calculating and start brewing....a couple few people could have drank the two gallons in less time than all this meaningless pontificating.

 

[dcn]

Ok point taken, I'll try it out thanks.

 

[RM-MN]

I have gotten to the point where exact measurements of grain and water volume are no longer critical to me. If I'm pouring the grain from a bag to be weighed I don't get worried if I miss by an ounce or two (with a 2 1/2 gallon batch, the grain quantities are small) and for the water, I just put in what will fit the pot with the grain bill I have, then sparge to the intended pre-boil volume. Will my beer turn out exactly as the recipe was written for? Maybe not but it will be close enough for my consumption. RDWHAHB applies. Beer is quite forgiving of slight errors.

 

[dcn]

Thanks for that. I have a habit of trying to overprepare for things as part of a "don't screw this up" sort of deal. I'll definitely be more relaxed from my second brew on. I'm just thankful I already have fermenting and kegging down pat or I'd be completely bonkers trying to learn those now too!

 

[wilserbrewer]

Simple tip...fill your kettle with a volume equal to your desired post boil volume.

Take your brewing spoon, mash paddle whatever and mark the distance from the top rim of the kettle to the surface of the water.

This will be most valuable as you progress and will be able to quickly determine where you are and where you may be heading.

On step further with a little experience you can use this simple measuring device to measure your strike water and preboil volume by simply eyeballing the measuring stick relative to pre boil volume knowing your kettle is roughly say 1 gallon / vertical inch...

Very simple and reliable.

Sorry if my posts above came off critical or harsh, point I’m trying to make is that it can be far more valuable to have hour head over the kettle rather than wrapped up in a calculator

Cheers and get busy

 

[wilserbrewer]

Simple tip...fill your kettle with a volume equal to your desired post boil volume.

Take your brewing spoon, mash paddle whatever and mark the distance from the top rim of the kettle to the surface of the water.

This will be most valuable as you progress and will be able to quickly determine where you are and where you may be heading.

On step further with a little experience you can use this simple measuring device to measure your strike water and preboil volume by simply eyeballing the measuring stick relative to pre boil volume knowing your kettle is roughly say 1 gallon / vertical inch...

Very simple and reliable.

Sorry if my posts above came off critical or harsh, point I’m trying to make is that it can be far more valuable to have hour head over the kettle rather than wrapped up in a calculator

Cheers and get busy

To take it one step further, if your gravity is appreciably off due to unpredictable efficiency, you can adjust your volumes on the fly by boiling a bit longer, or making a little more beer either by sparging or topping up the kettle w/ water or spargings during the boil.

Imo all sparge volumes should be boiled.

 

[dcn]

Got it thanks, thanks for the measuring hint I'll do that. No need for apologies, I do tend to overprepare a bit and decided to use the time waiting for my weekend brew day reading up so that created even more uncertainty heh. At the start of all this the only unknown that worried me was the water amounts and that's nailed down so I'm all set. Really looking forward to the weekend!

 

[balrog]

Definitely make a measuring stick.
Definitely take notes on water used, what grain absorbed, what boiled off. With that you're ready to do whatever. I will say that boil off can vary, usually not due to humidity but boil rate which is somewhat subjective (it's boiling JUST LIKE LAST TIME, okay maybe a little more, or less, okay, sorta). But you've done it once and will now hone in on grain absorbtion. Just take notes. You'll be fine.

 

[dcn]

Thanks all. I've gotten good at notes, until now just in regards to temps and stuff since I've only done pre made wort kits from festabrew.