Going to be doing my first AG BIAB eKeggle brew - how can I simplify multiple brews in one brew day?

[nrjones89]

I am planning on brewing 3 lagers in September, all with a pale base malt. My eKeggle has a volume of 15.5g and it will be BIAB. I want to knock them all out in one day. One will be a Helles or Pils, one will be a schwarz clone (Koestrizer), and the third I haven't decided yet. Can I just do a high gravity multi-step mash, drain some wort for the base helles, then proceed to do a second/third mash with adding Munich and other malt? Then just boil separately with a water addition to get everything to the right gravity? Am I missing a step or overlooking anything? Any ideas for a third lager style - something with Munich? Could also be an ale, I suppose!

 

[JohnSand]

I think you can. You can also do one big mash with separate steeps or even mini-mashes to make different brews. Or you can stagger three different mashes while boiling the previous batch. But that would be really busy. Good luck, keep is posted.

 

[doug293cz]

Normally with BIAB you mash and boil in the same vessel. If you want to do one mash and get three different worts, you're going to need some more vessels to store two of the worts prior to boil. What's you plan for that?

What kind of OG's are you looking for, and what batch volumes (to fermenter)? If you want to do a high gravity mash, and then add make-up water, you will take a big mash efficiency hit. The other option is to do lower gravity mash, and make up the volume and fermentable content by adding water and DME/LME.

You could get more complex and do a high gravity mash, and then add some munich to the spent grain, re-mash, drain and sparge, split the second mash wort, and then steep some dark malt in some of it. Then blend the first wort with the two second mash worts and some water to get the three worts you want at the target gravities you desire. This will take some heavy duty brewing math to work out, but might be an interesting challenge.

Brew on

 

[nrjones89]

Does the efficiency problem come from issues sparging a larger grain bed, or something to do with BIAB? I was planning on sparging somehow; maybe by getting a separate bucket (with holes), stacking it in another, and hoisting the bag into it.

I have buckets that I use for that kind of stuff; they are HDPE and I have used them for wortshares without issue. Regarding OGs and batch volumes: I am doing 5 gallon batches. The helles/pils will be 1.040, the schwarz will be 1.048, and the bock will be 1.064 (still not completely sure on the third beer).

I haven't finalized the recipes for the hells or bock yet, but for the schwarz, the 2 row wort will be half of the grainbill; then mostly Munich with a dose of Carafa II special. The bock would use a good dose of Munich as well. So I am thinking I would need to do two complete mashes: one pale malt mash and one Munich mash. Both of the mashes could be 7.5 gallons at the targeted OG for the helles and the bock, and I could create a third wort for the schwarz by blending the two. The Carafa will be half hot steeped half cold steeped to avoid an overpowering roast. After the mash, it's pretty much just a normal brew day, except with 3 batches.

Edit: I would need to do something a little bit differently for the bock if I want that wort to have a higher OG in order to arrive at the targeted OG for the schwarz. I could either do a larger boil volume and boil down the bock wort, a 3rd mash, or most easily: just have a water addition for the schwarz to lower OG.

 

[doug293cz]

Larger grain bills have lower efficiency because more grain absorbs proportionately more of the wort. To counteract this effect you have to use more strike & sparge water to create more wort, but then that dilutes the SG of what's supposed to be a high gravity beer.

I assumed in your case you didn't have enough mash vessel volume to hold all of the grain and strike water required for your three batches. So, then you would have to make a higher gravity wort, and then dilute it down to get the pre-boil SG's you were looking for. Making that higher gravity wort is where the lauter efficiency hit would occur. But if you do have the required mash vessel volume, then it would not be an issue.

Brew on

 

[Cavpilot2000]

Any reason you're using Pale instead of Pils malt?

 

[nrjones89]

Larger grain bills have lower efficiency because more grain absorbs proportionately more of the wort. To counteract this effect you have to use more strike & sparge water to create more wort, but then that dilutes the SG of what's supposed to be a high gravity beer.

I assumed in your case you didn't have enough mash vessel volume to hold all of the grain and strike water required for your three batches. So, then you would have to make a higher gravity wort, and then dilute it down to get the pre-boil SG's you were looking for. Making that higher gravity wort is where the lauter efficiency hit would occur. But if you do have the required mash vessel volume, then it would not be an issue.

Brew on

I have a keggle, so I should be able to knock those mashes out of the park. Then I would store the wort in ale pales until it's time to boil. I suppose I could sparge inside my keggle as well.

I am planning on using German pilsner lager btw. Sorry for the confusion; I was just saying pale malt to generalize.