Help brewing BIG beers...BIAB

[arnobg]

Straight to the point, I am wanting to brew some big beers for the first time with a target OG of 1.125+ using my BIAB system. I currently use a 10 gallon spike kettle (11 gallon capacity) and sparge when needed for volume limitations. Any tips and guidance are appreciated from those more experienced who have successfully done this.

My current plan:

Brew two completely separate sessions and fill into the same fermenter. I would brew two 3 gallon batches and sparge to get my pre-boil volume. I assume my kettle would be maxed out with the grain bill. I would then combine both batches into the same fermenter and aerate/pitch yeast. I am thinking it shouldn't be a problem for the first batch to sit in the fermenter for a few hours while brewing the second batch.

What can I expect for efficiency using this plan? I normall am around 79% efficiency.

 

[Chesterbelloc]

Another option:

Mash twice in the same kettle without draining runnings. Do not perform a mash-out rise in temperature. Just lift your first BIAB out and dough in your second BIAB. The elevated levels of enzymes will convert the second lickitty split.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

You're goign to need nearly more than 30 lb of grain to hit 1.125 for a 5.5gal batch. I will recommend researching reiterative mashing, what Chesterbelloc describes above, as well as recommending keeping some DME on hand.

I'd also recommend doing a partigyle with all that grain and wort leftover, you can easily get a 1.040-1.050 beer out of it.

 

[doug293cz]

Plug your numbers into this calculator: https://pricelessbrewing.github.io/BiabCalc/#Advanced It will give you a good estimate of your expected efficiencies.

Brew on

 

[Mer-man]

Polygyle!

 

[arnobg]

Brilliant! Wouldn't have thought of doing a second beer or mashing like that. I forgot to add that I also have an additional 9 gallon kettle I could use and a 5 gallon kettle however, only one burner and I prefer not to move full kettles around. I could always pump the wort from mash #1 into the second kettle and perform a second mash. Then return the wort from mash #1 into the kettle with the wort from mash #2?

Will doing that type of mash you all mentioned above decrease efficiency over doing two separate mashes?

For the second beer the possibilities are endless. I'm doing a BCBS type beer for the main brew, any suggestions for the second one to add something or make it unique too?

 

[Chesterbelloc]

Thx, Price. I didn't have a name for it -- an old technique.

An option for those with pressure canners is to mash heavy and with a temp below 150F, boil down to increase gravity, and can unhopped wort. Some might add 10% fermentable sugar to this before canning to increase gravity a touch more.

Quart jars of high gravity wort are useful during those summer months.