How often should you stir the grains while doing BIAB?

[cain_h]

When doing a BIAB should you stir the grains every 10 - 15min or let them sit and do their thing and maybe stir only once every 30 min or never?

Thanks for any info you can give.

chris

 

[TrainSafe]

Every 15 minutes. Stir for a minute or so, then put the cover back on to maintain temps.

 

[RM-MN]

I stir them in well when I add them, put the lid on and don't mess with them. If your grain is well crushed for BIAB, most of the conversion will be done in 15 minutes so stirring at that time will gain you very little except to cool the mash. You're mashing with the full volume of water so your mash is very thin.

 

[djfriesen]

I stir nothing, but I use a 2-vessel BIAB setup. I let the mash sit unmolested for an hour and then pour heated sparge water over it to rinse. As stated above, I stir very well at dough-in and then try to circulate the grains as I rinse them, to varying degrees of effectiveness. As long as you have the doughballs broken up with your initial stir, you shouldn't need to stir again. Although, if you are having to reapply heat, you may be forced to stir to break up hotspots.

 

[cain_h]

Thanks guys I appreciate the info!

 

[eulipion2]

My aluminum kettle is on the thin side, so I lose heat pretty quickly. I also mash in a bag inside the steamer insert that came with the kettle, so there's an outer layer of liquid with the grain bag inside. The grains maintain temps, but the outer liquid cools, so I stir about every 10 minutes to even it out and check the temperature. Usually after the initial drop it holds a little better, but I still check just to be safe.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

I stir down to the mash temp from the strike temp and after that only if temps have dropped to the point where I'm considering firing the kettle (to remix the temp gradient)