Full Volume BIAB Efficiency

[MakeDankBeer]

I'm curious of what is the average efficiency is for full volume biab mashing ?

I'm currently dialing in my process and I am starting to think I need a bigger kettle so I can full volume mash. Currently I'm doing a dunk sparge ( I heat up a pot with a 1 gallon or so at the end of mash to 170°) then pull my grain bag out of the kettle and dunk it in the second pot several times. Then pour that into the brew kettle along with bag squeezing. I think this is probably an un-needed step.

 

[hezagenius]

I get 70-73% with full volume/no sparge BIAB. If I cut back on the mash volume and do a sparge, I can usually get around 75-78%. Usually I just do a full volume/no sparge and up the grain bill a tad to offset the lack of sparge. I build my grain bill based on getting 72% so if I end up with a little higher or lower OG, I'm still pretty close to what I want.

 

[LittleRiver]

Last time I checked I got 83% (full volume mash, no sparge). I crush with a .025" mill gap.

 

[Smellyglove]

I'm hovering around 70% mash efficiency for "normal" strengt beers. If you use a longer boil-time your efficiency will go up since you'll use more water in the mash.
I recirculate though.

 

[z-bob]

If I do no-sparge, it varies with the strength (and I tend to brew mostly strong beers.) If I mash with 4 gallons and do a 2-ish gallon sparge (4 gallon recipe) I get a pretty consistent 75% efficiency that is much less dependent on the strength.

 

[seilenos]

I do full volume, no sparge 5.5 gallon batches in a 10g kettle.

Before I got my own mill I was averaging low-70s on brewhouse efficiency and ~80% on mash efficiency.
Now that I have a mill set to credit card thickness I am getting low-80s on brewhouse efficiency and ~90% mash efficiency.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Last time I checked I got 83% (full volume mash, no sparge). I crush with a .025" mill gap.

Thanks, I've been wondering what sort of gap people use to reach such high efficiency.
I get around 68-70% efficiency crushing at 0.040" with full volume BIAB & no sparge.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

I just put the grain in the bag, let it mash, hoist the cage with the bag press it with a pot lid then boil.
I double grind because my corona mill + harbor freight drill can't power through on a tight crush.
Get roughly 90% efficiency.
usually have to drop 2lbs off the base malt to hit expected OG.
took a few batches for me to figure that out.

 

[doug293cz]

The chart below tells you what you can expect as far a lauter efficiency. Mash efficiency equals conversion efficiency times lauter efficiency, so if your conversion efficiency is less than 100%, your mash efficiency will be less than what is shown by the chart. Grain absorption rate is dependent on how well you drain and/or squeeze the bag. 0.12 gal/lb is typical of a traditional MLT. 0.06 gal/lb represents a relatively aggressive bag squeeze. As you can see, all else being equal, a single batch sparging process will give you about 8 percentage points better lauter efficiency.

Usually the biggest contributor to low mash efficiency, is low conversion efficiency, which is most often the result of too coarse a crush. Larger grain particles take significantly longer to convert than smaller grain particles (because gelatinization proceeds from the surface to the center, and no conversion can occur until the starch is gelatinized.) You can measure your conversion independently of you mash efficiency by using the method here.

Brew on

 

[Oginme]

My mash/lauter efficiency for full volume BIAB is 83% +/- 1%. I have a planned 9% loss at the end of the process which brings my total efficiency down to 74%. I was getting upwards of 86% to 87% efficiency using the same process, but I had issues with developing good body in my beers. I changed my grind just a bit and tuned it to a slightly lower efficiency which gave me better control of the wort I produced.

On higher gravity recipes, I do a BIAB with a batch sparge. This typically adds around 2% to 3% to my efficiency numbers which keeps my average mash/lauter efficiency right around the 83% mark.

 

[raysmithtx]

100+ batches and it is consistently 77%. I do double crush my grains with my own mill.

 

[Miraculix]

Very fine crush from maltmiller.co.uk on demand (how nice of them btw.), 25 liter batches, 16 liter biab with additional 4-6l cold water sparge.

Always around 85% bhe. Between the wort extraction and the sparge and after the sparge I squeeze the bag as much as I can manage.

 

[BongoYodeler]

15g Spike kettle with a full volume, no sparge. Grains milled at .022, in the two batches since I switched to biab I'm averaging around 77%.

 

[auburntsts]

15g Spike kettle with a full volume, no sparge. Grains milled at .022, in the two batches since I switched to biab I'm averaging around 77%.

Just curious, what's the largest batch you've done in your 15 gal kettle?

 

[BongoYodeler]

Just curious, what's the largest batch you've done in your 15 gal kettle?

Only brewed two biab batches and both have been 5-ish gallons.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Only brewed two biab batches and both have been 5-ish gallons.

only 5's here also but have just picked up 4 more corney's so now i'm planning to do a 10 gallon batch in my 15 gallon pot.
I should be able to get 12 gallons in it and boil it down to 10.5 ish without too much of a mess.

 

[Wrinkletusk]

I've been doing full volume no sparge BIAB for just over 4 years now, and I get 80% brewhouse efficiency on brews up to 1.065 OG. Efficiency starts to dwindle on higher gravity brews. I order my grain online, and ask for a fine/double crush.

 

[PADave]

What efficiency are you talking about? You have conversion, pre-boil, ending kettle, and brewhouse. Lots of different efficiency numbers being thrown out there, thus the huge range. I've been doing full volume, 5.5 gallon brews in my 10 gallon kettle for a while now. Consistently hit 75% brewhouse efficiency, which is what I adjust my recipes to.

 

[MX1]

At some point I xecdecito not chase numbers anymore. I system came in under on big beers and over on smaller (brewhouse eff). So my normal beer was a bit stronger and my big beers got 1/2 pound extra base malt and after that it was RDWHAHB.....

MX1

 

[mirthfuldragon]

I just rant the numbers from yesterday's brew day - my first no-sparge BIAB, and coming out at ~75-78%. Normally I use a cooler for a mash tun, sparge, etc., and have been averaging ~80%. I also cut probably 2 hours off my brew day, so, yeah . . . anyone want to buy a converted mash tun?

 

[Tarpon87]

Mid 70s for mash efficiency with the double crush from both Ritebrew and Atlantic Brew Supply. Bought a corona mill so i could buy grain in bulk, now getting around 83% mash efficiency.

 

[El Nino]

I got 75% on my last 2 brews, so I'm gonna stick with what I did there.

Originally when I started BiAB my first brew was pretty sad effeciency wise. Got around 57%. Single crushed grains at the LHBS and put the grains in the bag and dunked it in all at once, mashed for 60 mins

Next attempt was around 65%. Double crushed grains, and this time poured the grains in while stirring, mashed for 60 mins. Not sure if it was the double crush or stir that gave me the jump, but I decided to stick with what works (both lol)

Hit 75% doing the same as previously, but mashing for 90 mins. Sticking with this process and happy with getting a consistent 75%. Sure it makes brew day longer, but honestly those 90 mins doesn't require me to actively do something, so I use that time to do something else (laundry, watch some netflix, play video games, etc lol).

Squeezing the bag doesn't change my gravity reading much, but I do get enough liquid to get me an extra beer and some change, so I'll keep doing that

 

[doug293cz]

The efficiency improvement going from 60 to 90 minutes indicates that a large fraction of your grist was too coarse to convert within 60 minutes. I'm glad you have found a solution that works for you.

Brew on

 

[El Nino]

Probably due to the crush settings at the LHBS. I'll eventually get a grain mill of my own, but honestly if the current process is getting me a consistent 75%, why change it?

 

[PADave]

Probably due to the crush settings at the LHBS. I'll eventually get a grain mill of my own, but honestly if the current process is getting me a consistent 75%, why change it?

For consistency and control. Your LHBS may adjust their mill and you get a different crush. Or you buy form somewhere else, for whatever reason, and get a different crush. Or you start buying larger quantities of grains, and need a way to crush them. Having your own mill is just one more step in the process that you can control.

 

[MX1]

i just picked up a 3 roller from Bev Factory, great deal on a scratch and dent item that had a dent in the hopper......

even a Barley Crusher, Cereal Killer, or any other of the 2 roller mills that are all but the same at the $100 price point are well worth the consistency they create

T

 

[El Nino]

For consistency and control. Your LHBS may adjust their mill and you get a different crush. Or you buy form somewhere else, for whatever reason, and get a different crush. Or you start buying larger quantities of grains, and need a way to crush them. Having your own mill is just one more step in the process that you can control.

For sure, it's definitely the next item I plan to get for equipment purchases. Just for now, I would rather not spend more, since I'm still new to the hobby and a couple months ago, the startup cost was more than I anticipated Right now I'm happy with the small spending on just grains at the moment.

 

[MX1]

ask if your LHBS will set the gap finer for you, start by using a credit card, something you always have, as the guage.

CC is approx 30mils thick

 

[PADave]

For sure, it's definitely the next item I plan to get for equipment purchases. Just for now, I would rather not spend more, since I'm still new to the hobby and a couple months ago, the startup cost was more than I anticipated Right now I'm happy with the small spending on just grains at the moment.

Nothing wrong with that. I'm a big proponent of brewing with the basics when you first start. Then you can figure out the process and decide what you want and need to make your system better. Buy too much right off the bat and you'll have unused equipment laying around soon enough.

 

[El Nino]

last weekend I did attempt #3 at the fresh squeezed IPA and nailed it. OG was on the money at 1.069

Now I have to consider using a smaller grain bill cause the expected ABV will probably be around 7.4%, at that strength I'm pretty much done after 2 beers haha.

IDK why but after a certain ABV, it hits me a lot harder. I can drink 4-6 6% beers with no problem, but once it starts getting into the high 6's - 7+ I feel like crashing after 2-3 beers. Maybe I'm getting old