First BIAB reflections and questions...

[Ameritoon]

Morning brewers,

I brewed an 80 /- Scottish Ale this weekend. First time I attempted an all-grain/BIAB brew, so I was concerned with the whole process, but I forgot what think may be an important step. I'll give you my ingredients and steps and am curious for your feedback...
The following was added to 158F water and steeped/mashed for 75mins.

• 7lbs - 2-Row
• 2lbs - 2-Row - toasted in the over for 10 minutes at 325F - then crushed at home.
• 0.5lbs - Crystal 80L
• 0.25lbs - Carastan (30/37L)
• 0.25lbs - Roasted Barley

Took BIAB out of kettle - let is drain for as long as I could - then flame on.

• Took approximately 1 gallon OUT and put on the stove to reduce by half
• Brought the remainder up to boil
• added 1oz East Kent Goldings 60 min
• added 1 tsp Irish Moss 18-20mins
• put chiller in wort
• added reduction back into the wort

Got my temps down to mid 70's, sanitized the carboy, funnel, etc. and transferred the wort. Sanitized the yeast pack [WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish Ale Yeast] & scissors used to cut the yeast pack, and pitched, added overflow tube and cap. OG reading was 1.043 (lower than what I was expecting).

To be totally upfront - I did NOT "sparge" or bring my temps up to 170-ish for the 10-15 minutes prior to removing the BIAB (low OG cause?) and I did not agitate the wort prior to pitching. These two steps have me concerned about the outcome.

Comparing like methods (BIAB) - what steps would you do different? Should I be concerned about the 2 "missed" steps? Will this affect my end product or only my ABV?

Thank you in advanced!
Sean

Wort - pre-boil!

 

[jdauria]

Steps look pretty good overall. Where it was your first BIAB, there are some things that you would not know until getting a few batches under your belt. For example the grain absorption rate, your boil off rate (since I assume this is first time doing a full kettle batch vs extract?). Knowing your boil off rate, will let you know what volume you need pre-boil after the mash. There are plenty of BIAB calculators online, check them out.

The other thing with BIAB, it is highly recommended to double crush the grain. You don't need to worry about struck sparges with a bag, so it can be very fine. That will help increase your efficiency also. I am also a proponent of squeezing the bag after the mash to get more sugars from the grain. Some people will say it increases tannins, but I have never had than issue.

I would highly recommend a sparge step if you cannot do full boil BIAB (where mash and sparge water all go in the kettle at beginning) and or a mash out step.

Lastly, just an FYI, a 158F mash is on the higher end, it creates longer sugar chains that are less fermentable. That could be why you did not reach desired gravity also.

 

[Ameritoon]

Double crushing - great idea! Next time I will get that done, I didn't this time except for the 2lbs of toasted which I crushed by hand! And I did press the bag, to get all the sugars I could...

I would highly recommend a sparge step if you cannot do full boil BIAB (where mash and sparge water all go in the kettle at beginning) and or a mash out step.

- I was able to start my "mash" with about 7 gallons. So I didn't add any water after mashing. I did add about under a quart of water to bring my ending volume to 5.25.

Lastly, just an FYI, a 158F mash is on the higher end, it creates longer sugar chains that are less fermentable. That could be why you did not reach desired gravity also.

- this was my "strike" temp, I held the temps nearer to 154-155, rarely firing the kettle back up when the temp got close to 151. But did I miss anything with not doing the 10-15 minute bringing the water temp up to 170-ish? You know, to sparge?

 

[PADave]

I do BIAB and follow similar steps as you. I do a full volume mash, no sparge, and no mashout. Works for me, last brew I did I hit my numbers exactly. And I squeeze the bag pretty good.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Mashout doesn't matter unless you're fly sparging.

I recommend stirring before pulling the bag.

Regarding your OG, it's hard to tell without measured volume and temperature.

 

[Ameritoon]

Have a wee look at that lads! Not sure how explosive (like S04) Edinburgh yeast is supposed to be... but that's looking lovely!

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

+1 on all of the above. Sparging (even a simple dunk sparge) will improve your efficiency (higher OG). Short of sparging, you could also give the mash a stir every 15 minutes or so.