First POLYgyle BIAB

[mgr_stl]

Has anyone polygyled (not partigyled) to make a big beer using their BIAB setup? I've also seen this called "reiterated mashing".

I'm about to give it a shot, and need some guidance.

I'm brewing a 5.5 gallon batch of about 10% imperial stout this weekend in my 11 gallon pot using 26 pounds of grain.

I ran the numbers through the Priceless BIAB Calculator twice. Once with all of the grains and once with half. The purpose of running it through with all the grains was to figure out the total starting water needed. The purpose of running it through with half of the grains was to figure out the strike water temp (and to make sure it will fit....it's going to be close).

So my current question is about the water adjustments....Would you add all of the water adjustments at the start, or split it in half and add half at the start of the first mash and half at the start of the second. I used Bru'n Water, and the mash pH was really high (5.96) when I entered half of the grains and all of the water when I added all of the additions at the start of the first mash.

I'd also love any other advice from anyone who has attempted this.

In case you've never heard of this method, here are a few links:
https://beerandwinejournal.com/reiterated-mashing-1/
https://brew4fun.wordpress.com/2019...bdjkQUoQY9TXRAreR07iLzCxn9dByO4iLMNAmuh19i1bg

 

[Miraculix]

As you are mashing twice with the same water, I would put all in at the beginning.

 

[mgr_stl]

As you are mashing twice with the same water, I would put all in at the beginning.

Yes, I'm mashing twice with the same water. You wouldn't be concerned that the pH is high during the first mash even though it will (hypothetically) be in the right range by the end of the second mash?

 

[Miraculix]

Yes, I'm mashing twice with the same water. You wouldn't be concerned that the pH is high during the first mash even though it will (hypothetically) be in the right range by the end of the second mash?

A stout has so much acidic grains inside, I wouldn't..... Ahhhhh I see where you are going! You are adding carbonate, don't you? I never do this, I try always just to brew with the lowest alkalinity I can get.

So.... I cannot really give you any advice here, sorry.

My feeling now says that splitting it between the two mashes might be best, as the carbonate basically compensates for the acid from the grain and it literally only meets half of the grains in each mash, so only half of it to compensate for in each mash.

 

[Kenmoron]

I think @deadwolfbones might have something to say https://brew4fun.wordpress.com/2019/01/13/polygyle-party/

 

[odie]

I did my RIS all at once...around 25# and it filled my 15 gal pot.

Are you using a smaller pot? is that why you want to mash half the grains at a time?

oops...just saw you have an 11 gallon pot. If you pot is empty inside (no element, thermometer, etc...you might get away with it all at once.

 

[Kenmoron]

I did my RIS all at once...around 25# and it filled my 15 gal pot.

Are you using a smaller pot? is that why you want to mash half the grains at a time?

oops...just saw you have an 11 gallon pot. If you pot is empty inside (no element, thermometer, etc...you might get away with it all at once.

On that note, I have made 3 gal of 1.119 beer using a 5 gal kettle with a single BIAB mash. 13 lbs of grain with a mash thickness of 1.15 qts/lb and some sparging. Might be worth running the numbers with your grain bill and seeing if it would fit before running the marathon brew day.

edit: Just noticed you are using 26 lbs of grain in an 11 gal kettle. Just use a mash thickness of 1.2 qts/lb which will top you up to just under 10 gal. I would advise having someone help stir as you mash in just to avoid all the potential dough balls with this thickness. Squeeze, sparge, repeat until pre-boil vol reached.

 

[mgr_stl]

On that note, I have made 3 gal of 1.119 beer using a 5 gal kettle with a single BIAB mash. 13 lbs of grain with a mash thickness of 1.15 qts/lb and some sparging. Might be worth running the numbers with your grain bill and seeing if it would fit before running the marathon brew day.

edit: Just noticed you are using 26 lbs of grain in an 11 gal kettle. Just use a mash thickness of 1.2 qts/lb which will top you up to just under 10 gal. I would advise having someone help stir as you mash in just to avoid all the potential dough balls with this thickness. Squeeze, sparge, repeat until pre-boil vol reached.

Hmmm... Priceless says the 26 pounds of grains and 9.3 gallons of water needed will have a volume of 11.61 gallons. Does that sound about right? If so, maybe I could try to do it all at once and just reserve some of the water for sparging. Decisions, decisions....

 

[Kenmoron]

Hmmm... Priceless says the 26 pounds of grains and 9.3 gallons of water needed will have a volume of 11.61 gallons. Does that sound about right? If so, maybe I could try to do it all at once and just reserve some of the water for sparging. Decisions, decisions....

You will just have to hold back water and use it for sparging later. If you want to use 26 lbs of grain with a thickness of 1.2 qts/lb that would only use 7.8 gal of water and fill up a space of 9.88 gal. Use the "can I mash it" section on this site to play around with the numbers if you want: https://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

 

[mgr_stl]

And another factor in play is the drop in efficiency if I have a thicker mash. Based on my grain bill, if I used 2 gallons to sparge I'd end up with a thickness of 1.12 quarts/lb, which I believe is pretty low.

 

[mgr_stl]

I appreciate the help with this! I'm now leaning toward reserving 1.25 gallons for sparging and trying to fit all the grains in. Though I typically use a sous vide and recirculating pump to maintain the mash temp, so I'll probably have to skip that since it takes up more volume.

 

[ba-brewer]

I recall listening to one of the brew strong episodes I think where blichmann and palmer did a polygyle with the brew easy. Don't recall if they got into the specifics to answer your question but it did sound like a viable way get a higher gravity wort.

Did a quick search to see if I could find the episode but no luck, did a find a thread here on HBT that some people did polygyles.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/polygyle-mashing-anyone-done-it.627080/

 

[hottpeper13]

If you need to add carbonate to bring your pH up because of the dark grains, why not just leave them out of the main mash and cold steep, then add that liquid rite to the boil kettle. I mash in at 1 qt per pound (1:1) and then add boiling water to raise my temps for a step mash, which brings me to a 1.5- 1.75 to 1 ratio for the alpha rest.