good BIAB calculator??

[user 19629]

You actually mash with ALL of the water, so you add your entire volume of water to the kettle before doughing in. All of the water being in during the mash is how the grains are being rinsed during the mash. When you're done mashing pull the bag, let it drain, and you are at boil volume.

You should only have to add water one time, your strike water.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/07/04/sparging-methods/
"No Sparge, um, Sparging: This method is just as the name suggests… a method by which there is NO sparge. In order to accomplish this method, a brewer will mash in with ALL of the water that their brew will require., this could be upwards of 9-10 gallons of water alone for a 5 gallon brew session. When the mash is complete the brewer will vorlaugh and simply drain the entire MLT into the boil kettle, and if calculated correctly, meet their pre-boil volume.'

 

[DigB]

I recommend going to BIABrewer.info and they may be able to clear things up a little bit better than we are. Everything I've read is that the sparge is completed when you lift the grains out of your mash tun as you mash and boil in the same vessel. By lifting the grains out you force the wort to drain quickly out of the bag which I'm assuming rinses the grains, thus accomplishing the sparge step. You can also squeeze the bag to get the last few drops of wort out. These guys at BIABrewer.info are the ones who invented BIAB and can explain why they say sparging is accomplished during the mash. These guys are getting the same efficiency as traditional AG brewers so there has to be a reason for it.

 

[laserghost]

DZ, if you wanna sparge so bad go setup a three vessel system. Doesn't seem like you want to BIAB or you would have gone to biabrewer.info instead of posting a steady loop of noise here.

If there is no sparge then how do you explain the huge difference in mash efficiency, simply by mashing with all the water (high) vs holding some back and topping up after (low)?

 

[HBngNOK]

DZ, if you wanna sparge so bad go setup a three vessel system. Doesn't seem like you want to BIAB or you would have gone to biabrewer.info instead of posting a steady loop of noise here.
....snipped....

Good point, especially since everything after the third response has been moot .

 

[smyrnaquince]

I've tried it both ways and with a separate sparge I gain quite a bit of efficiency, more than 5% more. Definitely not the same thing.

By "approximately the same thing" I mean the process. As far as results go, I'm typically around 82-83% with BIAB, so for me "approximately the same thing" still holds.

 

[beernut70]

http://www.brewersfriend.com/2009/07/04/sparging-methods/
"No Sparge, um, Sparging: This method is just as the name suggests… a method by which there is NO sparge. In order to accomplish this method, a brewer will mash in with ALL of the water that their brew will require., this could be upwards of 9-10 gallons of water alone for a 5 gallon brew session. When the mash is complete the brewer will vorlaugh and simply drain the entire MLT into the boil kettle, and if calculated correctly, meet their pre-boil volume.'

What your quoting here has nothing to do with BIAB you don't vorlaugh and drain an MLT.

 

[jmich24]

http://www.brewheads.com/strike.php

http://www.copycalc.com/bob/BIAB Fixed Boil Off

 

[calvey]

I have just created http://biabcalculator.com to meet the need of a simple calculator specifically for BIAB. It can be used to calculate water needed, strike temperature and even the maximum your brew kettle can hold.

 

[Weezy]

If you work in metric, id definitely recommend at least checking out Brewmate software. It is a full recipe formulator & misc calculators all in one.

http://www.brewmate.net/

It has a 'brew day' portion that works great for biab, and it will generate automatically based on the recipe you have up. The Brew day part only works if you use metric units though. Screenshot of brew day screen here:
http://www.brewmate.net/screenshots
(the screenshot shows traditional brew method. Brew day page will change appropriately when you switch to biab in the settings)

 

[wilserbrewer]

I have just created http://biabcalculator.com to meet the need of a simple calculator specifically for BIAB. It can be used to calculate water needed, strike temperature and even the maximum your brew kettle can hold.

Plus one for this calculator! Nice and simple, a good match for BIAB. Can also be used for small pot BIAB whereby a separate sparge, either cold or hot water is needed because you don't have room for a full volume mash.

If you get the red warning that your kettle is too small, reduce batch size by say 2-3 gallons to get your strike temps, and the amount you reduced batch size by will be your sparge quantity.

Full volume, dunk sparge, a pour over sparge with the bag over the kettle, or topping up the fermenter after a partial boil, call it what you want, it's all BIAB to me, and it works many ways!

 

[MrKrinkle151]

DZ, if you wanna sparge so bad go setup a three vessel system. Doesn't seem like you want to BIAB or you would have gone to biabrewer.info instead of posting a steady loop of noise here.

If there is no sparge then how do you explain the huge difference in mash efficiency, simply by mashing with all the water (high) vs holding some back and topping up after (low)?

Technically, BIAB is no sparge, but it's really splitting hairs. A sparge is a specific rinsing technique added in order to get the maximum extraction out of the grain. Because the water ratio for mashing is needed to be so low, the water sort of becomes "over saturated" and not all of the sugars can be dissolved, so you rinse the grains after with the difference in volume to make up for this. It's a workaround. Ideally, mashing would just be done in the full volume and max extraction would be attained.

By keeping the grains contained in a bag, BIAB can create the lower local mash-water ratio needed for mashing, while still allowing for enough total water to dissolve the sugars. It doesn't use sparging as a solution to the efficiency problem, but an entirely different technique altogether, which is precisely what makes it unique. No reason to chastise someone for pointing this out.

 

[laserghost]

Ideally, mashing would just be done in the full volume and max extraction would be attained.

BIAB, when done properly does use the full volume, and its efficiency into kettle is higher than batch sparging.

The higher water ratio effectively rinses the grains ... during the mash. It is indeed a unique technique.

 

[MrKrinkle151]

BIAB, when done properly does use the full volume, and its efficiency into kettle is higher than batch sparging.

The higher water ratio effectively rinses the grains ... during the mash. It is indeed a unique technique.

It doesn't rinse them, but allows for the sugars to be dissolved fully due to the larger water volume. Rinsing (sparging) is what you do to dissolve all the sugars when you DON'T mash in the full volume, like in a traditional mash. Like I said, it's really just splitting hairs, but saying that BIAB is no sparge is certainly not wrong, and is in fact technically more correct.

 

[Weezy]

It doesn't rinse them, but allows for the sugars to be dissolved fully due to the larger water volume. Rinsing (sparging) is what you do to dissolve all the sugars when you DON'T mash in the full volume, like in a traditional mash. Like I said, it's really just splitting hairs, but saying that BIAB is no sparge is certainly not wrong, and is in fact technically more correct.

I understand what you're getting at, but you're only confusing the issue. you're not actively rinsing the sugars off that are stuck to the grain, after the first wort has been drained off. Sparging is a purposeful action. With BIAB, your mashing with as thin of a wort as your process allows, leaving minimal sugar stuck to the grains; so little that you don't care that they're stuck there.

 

[MrKrinkle151]

I understand what you're getting at, but you're only confusing the issue. you're not actively rinsing the sugars off that are stuck to the grain, after the first wort has been drained off. Sparging is a purposeful action. With BIAB, your mashing with as thin of a wort as your process allows, leaving minimal sugar stuck to the grains; so little that you don't care that they're stuck there.

I'm not saying that you rinse the grain during BIAB. I think you're confused as to what my point is. I was simply trying to defend the poster who was greeted rather unkindly with the assertion that BIAB is no sparge. I was pointing out that this is technically true.

 

[Weezy]

You're confusing what I'm saying. If you're not actively rinsing grains post mash, you're not sparging. Period. There's no "technically". Sparging is well defined. You either do it or you do not. There's no "technically.". Dont confuse the terminology.

 

[UberHasselhoff]

I use Brewtoad and like it a lot. You enter your ingredients and batch size and there's a button for mash calculation -- pretty straightforward.

Added bonus that it tracks each recipe for you and it's super easy to make variants (copy/paste). Haven't used the social feature much. Maybe I'm asocial... <returns to mom's basement.>

 

[wilserbrewer]

BIAB, when done properly does use the full volume, and its efficiency into kettle is higher than batch sparging.

So a full volume mash with a bag, or BIAB is more efficient than batch sparging?

The bag is merely a mechanical means to separate the grain, or lauter.

Sorry, I can't accept that a full volume mash via BIAB or any other method is more efficient than batch sparging.

 

[Weezy]

Theoretically, BIAB could never be as efficient as sparging. Theoretically, you could mash at 1.3 quarts/lb, then sparge with 50 gallons of water, to be sure and rinse every microgram of sugar off the grain. You'd have to boil for 3 days and the beer probably won't turn out well, but you'd maximize efficiency. BIAB accepts that some amount of pretty dilute sugar will be left behind on the grain.

The bag is merely a mechanical means to separate the grain, or lauter.

Well said! I agree 1,000%.

 

[jjw5015]

www.brewtoad.com has a pretty good mash water calculator. You can select BIAB with or without a sparge.

 

[laserghost]

sure the bag is simply a lautering device. but mash thickness does affect extraction ... the thinner the mash (to an extent probably), the higher extract:

http://www.braukaiser.com/wiki/inde...ncy_in_single_infusion_mashing#Mash_thickness

 

[laserghost]

re: batch sparge extraction, i was referencing this equipment profiler (really helpful btw) http://sigginet.info/brewing/tools/equipment-profile-helper/

sure, the efficiencies into kettle for each method (fly sparge / biab / batch sparge) are simply estimates. though, i typically get 80% into kettle using full volume BIAB, no separate sparging. it averages a batch sparge at 75%

 

[Conestoga]

laserghost, stop ruining the sanctity of sparriage(sic).

Thank You,

HBT hivemind

 

[MrKrinkle151]

You're confusing what I'm saying. If you're not actively rinsing grains post mash, you're not sparging. Period. There's no "technically". Sparging is well defined. You either do it or you do not. There's no "technically.". Dont confuse the terminology.

That's what I've been saying, just in more delicate and moderate terms....

I can see how others might see this method as an alternative "sparging" (as many apparently do, so I was speaking to them), but this is technically not the case (technically meaning we're taking this usage of sparging in a strictly defined and literal sense). I wholly agree that if you aren't actively rinsing the grains, there is no sparge occurring.

 

[laserghost]

If you're actually interested in BIAB, then you need to head over to biabrewer.info – you will find the truth on that forum.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[DigB]

BIAB is No Sparge...... this is because there is no need for it. by doing a full volume BIAB the grains are rinsed when you lift the bag out, you could also dunk the bag a couple times to rinse the grains a little more. My last BIAB I was able to get 83% efficiency.... just as good as with all the fancy mash tuns and sparge set-ups.... The result of sparging is attained by performing a full volume BIAB.

Like it has been mentioned before, GO TO biabrewer.info to learn more about the process, I don`t see why people keep arguing semantics.