Q's About Upcoming 1st BIAB Brew

Culln5 · Apr 2, 2014

Hey Guys,
I'll be attempting my first BIAB this weekend and had a couple quick questions. I'll be brewing the below recipe in an 8 gallon pot.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Jorge McEllinez Mexican Lager
Style: Vienna Lager
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.22 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.72 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.53 gal
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated Color: 8.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 24.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.9 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 1 35.7 %
4 lbs Vienna Malt (Briess) (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 35.7 %
2 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 17.9 %
1 lbs 3.2 oz Rice Extract Syrup (7.0 SRM) Extract 4 10.7 %
1.00 oz Tettnang [3.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 13.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Sorachi Ace [13.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 11.1 IBUs
1.00 Items Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 8 -
0.50 oz Lemon Zest (Boil 5.0 mins) Flavor 9 -
0.50 oz Sorachi Ace [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Mexican Lager (White Labs #WLP940) [35.4 Yeast 11 -

Mash Schedule: BIAB, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 3.2 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 27.81 qt of water at 152.8 F 147.9 F 90 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min 168.0 F 10 min

Questions:

Will my 8 gallon pot hold the 11.2 lbs of grain?
Is a 90 minute mash needed? Will 60 or 75 minutes suffice?
Is the Mash Out necessary? Benefits?
After pulling the bag from the pot and hanging it, should I SQUEEZE the bag or not?

Thanks guys!
George

RM-MN · Apr 2, 2014

Culln5 said:
Questions:

Will my 8 gallon pot hold the 11.2 lbs of grain?

Is a 90 minute mash needed? Will 60 or 75 minutes suffice?

Is the Mash Out necessary? Benefits?

After pulling the bag from the pot and hanging it, should I SQUEEZE the bag or not?

Thanks guys!
George

Of course your 8 gallon pot will hold 11.2 pounds of grain. The question is whether it will hold that much grain and the amount of water that is specified. In my opinion, Beersmith overestimates the amount of water needed by quite a bit. Green Bay Rackers has some interesting calculators on their website. One of these is called "Can I mash it" and it will tell you if your grains and water will fit your kettle. It is set to 1.25 qts/lb to start but I'd change that to 2.3 qts/lb for BIAB and work from there. That may require you to use a sparge step (just pour some water through the bag of grains) to get to your pre-boil volume.

90 minute mashes are compensation for a poor crush and a very low mash temp. I mash at 152 for 10 minutes and get full conversion but my grains are milled until they look like cornmeal. There are no intact grains, no cracked grains and no intact husks. I BIAB so I can deal with grains that are milled that fine. Along with the short conversion time with the finely milled grains I also have to deal with adjusting recipes for my 85% efficiency.

Mash out is only needed for fly sparging where you might take an hour to sparge your grains. You won't be doing that so mash out is unnecessary.

Should you squeeze the bag or not? Yes. The jury is still out on that question. Wilserbrewer says let it hang and drip, I squeeze it until the grains cry. Either way works, squeezing may speed up the brew day.

Culln5 · Apr 2, 2014

RM-MN said:
Of course your 8 gallon pot will hold 11.2 pounds of grain. The question is whether it will hold that much grain and the amount of water that is specified. In my opinion, Beersmith overestimates the amount of water needed by quite a bit. Green Bay Rackers has some interesting calculators on their website. One of these is called "Can I mash it" and it will tell you if your grains and water will fit your kettle. It is set to 1.25 qts/lb to start but I'd change that to 2.3 qts/lb for BIAB and work from there. That may require you to use a sparge step (just pour some water through the bag of grains) to get to your pre-boil volume.

90 minute mashes are compensation for a poor crush and a very low mash temp. I mash at 152 for 10 minutes and get full conversion but my grains are milled until they look like cornmeal. There are no intact grains, no cracked grains and no intact husks. I BIAB so I can deal with grains that are milled that fine. Along with the short conversion time with the finely milled grains I also have to deal with adjusting recipes for my 85% efficiency.

Mash out is only needed for fly sparging where you might take an hour to sparge your grains. You won't be doing that so mash out is unnecessary.

Should you squeeze the bag or not? Yes. The jury is still out on that question. Wilserbrewer says let it hang and drip, I squeeze it until the grains cry. Either way works, squeezing may speed up the brew day.

This site is awesome! Quick, educated, and experienced, responses!

The can I mash it calls for 7.86 gallons of space for 12lbs of grain, so I should be good with some care.

I doubled milled my grains when I picked them up at my lhbs. So what mash time should I be attempting for this recipe?

George

RM-MN · Apr 2, 2014

Culln5 said:
This site is awesome! Quick, educated, and experienced, responses!

The can I mash it calls for 7.86 gallons of space for 12lbs of grain, so I should be good with some care.

I doubled milled my grains when I picked them up at my lhbs. So what mash time should I be attempting for this recipe?

George

Unless you have iodine to verify your conversion in less time, for this batch I would recommend 60 minutes. I suspect that is more than necessary but I'd hate to suggest less and then have you end up with starch haze in your beer. If this batch turns out well and you feel like experimenting with shorter mash times you might try a 30 minute mash next time.

HBC · Apr 2, 2014

Culln5 said:
Hey Guys,
I'll be attempting my first BIAB this weekend and had a couple quick questions. I'll be brewing the below recipe in an 8 gallon pot.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Jorge McEllinez Mexican Lager
Style: Vienna Lager
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.22 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.72 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.53 gal
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated Color: 8.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 24.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.9 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 1 35.7 %
4 lbs Vienna Malt (Briess) (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 35.7 %
2 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 17.9 %
1 lbs 3.2 oz Rice Extract Syrup (7.0 SRM) Extract 4 10.7 %
1.00 oz Tettnang [3.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 13.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Sorachi Ace [13.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 11.1 IBUs
1.00 Items Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 8 -
0.50 oz Lemon Zest (Boil 5.0 mins) Flavor 9 -
0.50 oz Sorachi Ace [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Mexican Lager (White Labs #WLP940) [35.4 Yeast 11 -

Mash Schedule: BIAB, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 3.2 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 27.81 qt of water at 152.8 F 147.9 F 90 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min 168.0 F 10 min

Questions:

Will my 8 gallon pot hold the 11.2 lbs of grain?

Is a 90 minute mash needed? Will 60 or 75 minutes suffice?

Is the Mash Out necessary? Benefits?

After pulling the bag from the pot and hanging it, should I SQUEEZE the bag or not?

Thanks guys!
George

-You will have plenty of space for the 11.2 of grain. Just Mash with 5-gallons and add the 2.5 gallon or so extra after boil, or bucket sparge (I have even done cold water bucket sparge with the 2.5 and my grain bag after pulling from the mash with no problems what so ever).
-Mash is usually finished in 30-min or less.. but the longer than one-hour advice is recommended if you want to be more sure that you have fully converted. If you are mashing lower temps (145-152-- mash longer). If mashing higher than 152--you can probably get by with a shorter than 1-hour cycle. I just keep it simple and do longer than one-hour and hit conversion rate of 75+% usually.
-Mash out can be more simple than folks make it out to be: You can lift the grain bag and put in a colander (be careful not to drop it back in the wort like I have done several times before-- and pour warm water over it to wash the grain of the last sugar. If you dunk the bag a few times like a tea-bag, it also helps pull those sugars out.
-Let the bag sit in the colander for about 10-minutes while your water is getting up to boil/brew temp. I take my bag out, put it over a 5-gallon bucket (to keep from a mess of hot boiling wort)... and squeeze until most is out. To be honest, you may get 1-2 cups of wort.. it does change the gravity a bit but not as high as some would guess.

HBC · Apr 2, 2014

Should have stated too: kill your flame between 160-162 (this is a guess since your outside air & grain temp will control how much heat loss you will have after adding grain.

I usually result in a 152-temp with this 160-162 range. After you add your grain, stir well and take a temp reading.. make notes for next time and adjust!

Culln5 said:
Hey Guys,
I'll be attempting my first BIAB this weekend and had a couple quick questions. I'll be brewing the below recipe in an 8 gallon pot.

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Jorge McEllinez Mexican Lager
Style: Vienna Lager
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 6.22 gal
Post Boil Volume: 5.72 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.53 gal
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated Color: 8.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 24.6 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 75.9 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
4 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 1 35.7 %
4 lbs Vienna Malt (Briess) (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 35.7 %
2 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 17.9 %
1 lbs 3.2 oz Rice Extract Syrup (7.0 SRM) Extract 4 10.7 %
1.00 oz Tettnang [3.90 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 13.5 IBUs
0.50 oz Sorachi Ace [13.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 6 11.1 IBUs
1.00 Items Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 mins) Fining 8 -
0.50 oz Lemon Zest (Boil 5.0 mins) Flavor 9 -
0.50 oz Sorachi Ace [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg Mexican Lager (White Labs #WLP940) [35.4 Yeast 11 -

Mash Schedule: BIAB, Light Body
Total Grain Weight: 11 lbs 3.2 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Saccharification Add 27.81 qt of water at 152.8 F 147.9 F 90 min
Mash Out Heat to 168.0 F over 7 min 168.0 F 10 min

Questions:

Will my 8 gallon pot hold the 11.2 lbs of grain?

Is a 90 minute mash needed? Will 60 or 75 minutes suffice?

Is the Mash Out necessary? Benefits?

After pulling the bag from the pot and hanging it, should I SQUEEZE the bag or not?

Thanks guys!
George