My first go at all grain...

[PNP]

I'm moving on from extracts to BIAB. I bought a 15 gallon mash tun with false bottom.
Is there a rule of them as to how much extra water to add per pound of grain?
I want to end with 5 gallons, but I know the grain will retain some water and there will also be evaporation during the boil.
Also, after steeping, do I squeeze water from the grains, or pull them out and let them drain into a bowl to add back in to the boil?
Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks!

 

[JohnnyO]

I think you need to do a little more reading before your brewday.

If you have a 15 gallon mash tun with a false bottom, you will not be doing biab as you will mash in your mash tun using the false bottom as your filter, not a bag. I recommend reading how to brew by John Palmer. If you can't get your hands on a copy immediately, you can read it online. It's a tremendous resource.

 

[PNP]

I've read up. I got the false bottom mostly to filter any escapees and keep the bag from scorching if I need to add heat. Still planning to use a bag.
Thanks.

 

[JohnnyO]

You shouldn't need to use the bag. The false bottom works with the grain in the mash to form an excellent filter. Before racking to your brew kettle, you'd just have vorlauf to pull off any initial sediment.

Vorlaufing is basically recirculating your mash to set your grain bed.

 

[RonPopeil]

yeah when you bought the mash tun you skipped the BIAB setup. all's well though. this is going to look like a lot but it's very step by step so don't run away.

first you need to figure out your strike water volume. people use different numbers for this depending on the flavor they want to acheive. the lowest you should go is 1qt/lb of grain. most recipes won't ask for more than 1.5qts/lb. for american beers go higher, belgian beers split the difference and english beers stay on the lower side (1.5, 1.25, 1.0). if you take lbs of grain and multiply by one of those values that's how many quarts you need in strike. add your grain to this water and you hopefully hit your desired mash temp. let that soak for the mash duration. while you're waiting fill your kettle with water again.

next is mashing out. the goal here is to hit your sparge temperature with a small amount of water added to the mash. i use an electric kettle or pot of boiling water on the stove. typically it takes less than a gallon. there's calculators online to tell you how much you need, google them. once you've added that water let it rest for however long it takes to get your kettle to sparge temp. once your kettle is ready scoop a couple gallons into the mash tun and let it settle back down. maybe 20 minutes.

now, vorlauf or open your valve on the mash tun half way and catch the runnings with your pitcher and pour them back in the top gently. do this for 3-4 quarts. you should notice the fluid containing less chunks and looking less hazy. this settles all that loose grain to the bottom of your cooler. if it hasn't cleared in this amount of time let it sit longer and try a few more quarts.

once it's running clear enough for your liking or at the very least you know it's not getting stuck pull out a bucket and start running the mash tun into it at half open. while it's draining scoop a bit more water into the mash tun. let it drain until you get your boil volume which is usually 1-1.5 gallons over your target volume for a 5gal batch (again, there's a calculator for this) once you hit your volume you can dump your kettle and pour the buckets into it.

and that's all grain. boil as directed.

calculators:
http://www.homebrewing.com/calculators/?page=tools&section=water
http://www.brewersfriend.com/mash/
http://www.brewheads.com/batch.php
http://www.brewheads.com/tempchange.php
http://www.brewheads.com/gravcorrect.php
http://www.dd26943.com/davesdreaded/tools/orginalconvert.htm

 

[PNP]

Maybe I caused some confusion. I bought a 15 gallon brew kettle with a valve and false bottom. I intend to stem in a bag, remove bag and boil.

 

[RonPopeil]

Maybe I caused some confusion. I bought a 15 gallon brew kettle with a valve and false bottom. I intend to stem in a bag, remove bag and boil.

well i wasted 30 minutes :fro:

i see what you're saying now

 

[PNP]

Lol... Sorry

 

[kh54s10]

You could mash the grains in about 1.25 to 1.5 quarts to a pound of grain. You can then sparge with about 168 degree water until you have a volume enough for boiloff. I need about 7 gallons to boil down to just over 5 gallons.

When I do a BIAB I squeeze as much wort out of the grain as I can. It is hot, sticky, and can be messy, which is why I dislike doing BIAB.

Another thing to consider is how you are going to boil the wort. If you were doing extracts with top up water on a stovetop, make sure you can get a full volume of water to a boil before trying it with wort. If you can't you can probably find a BIAB recipe designed to use top up water.

 

[Cottonmouth]

First, are you boiling on a stove top or propane burner?

Most BIAB full volume if able. Account for 1 gallon of loss per 10 lbs of grain and at least 1/2 gal of loss per 60 min of boil.

If you are boiling on a stove top, do a dry (wet?) run with water to see how much you can bring to a boil.

 

[PNP]

Thanks for the advice. I'm using a blichmann propane burner.

 

[Shred]

While you may yield more, squeezing the grains will likely result in the extraction of unwanted tannins. I started doing AG with a BIAB setup. Did it once and only once before converting a cooler into a dedicated mash tun.

 

[PRE66_6TART]

While you may yield more, squeezing the grains will likely result in the extraction of unwanted tannins. I started doing AG with a BIAB setup. Did it once and only once before converting a cooler into a dedicated mash tun.

The whole "squeezing the bag causes tannins" thing has been debunked for years

 

[kh54s10]

The whole "squeezing the bag causes tannins" thing has been debunked for years

Everything that I have read agrees. It takes heat and Ph in a combination that you are unlikely to encounter homebrewing.

 

[PRE66_6TART]

With a 15 gallon kettle you can do a full volume mash easily. You'll have to do some trial and error to determine how much water to start with, since it's a little different for everyone. For my 5 gallon batches I usually figure a gallon for grain absorption, a gallon for boil-off, and another gallon between hops and trub loss, so I start with 8 gallons to get five gallons in the bottling bucket. You can always err on the low side at first and top up to get the right volume until you get your system dialed in.

Squeezing the bag does get hot and messy, so you can leave some water in a separate pot for dunk sparging if you want. That's the way I do it, but I do it out of necessity since I don't have a big enough kettle.