Questions about my first BIAB

[boochuckles]

I just finished my first BIAB and I have questions about the gravity. I took a reading after the mash and it was 1.052 then after the boil it was 1.062. Is that a normal thing for the boil, hops and evaporation to increase the gravity so much?

I have a 16 quart pot and filled it to just about the top for the mash. (Am I using the right term? This is mashing?) ~150F for an hour. 5# 2 row and 1# crystal 40. After straining the grain and squeezing the bag, I'd say there was about 3 gallons in the pot. It doesn't have marks so just a guess. Reading then was 1.052 after I cooled it down to around 70F. Then 1/2 oz cascade pellets for 60 min and 1/4oz Tetterang for 2 min. Ice bath pot till about 75F. Strained into the fermentor and then the final sample was taken. It looks like there is about 2-2 1/2 gallons in the fermentor.

So is this a normal thing for all grain brewing? Thanks for any help.

 

[boochuckles]

Is that much trub normal also?

View attachment 1433094067330.jpg

 

[jwalkermed]

Go here use the calculator with your volulmes and preboil gravity and it'll tell you your expected post boil gravity

http://www.brewersfriend.com/dilution-and-boiloff-gravity-calculator/

EDIT: I did it for you. Looks about right. You really gotta know your volumes. Mucho important in brewing. But the link above is for future reference.

 

[dkennedy]

1- Yes, this is mashing
2- As you boil off water, your wort will become more dense (higher gravity, greater solids-to-liquid ratio). That reduction doesn't seem unreasonable to me, without running any math.
3- That level of trub doesn't seem odd to me, depending on how coarse your bag is.

Welcome to BIAB!

 

[wilserbrewer]

All normal....good job and welcome.

 

[Gavin C]

All looks and sounds like a successful brew. BIAB is a great option. Nice job.

 

[C-Rider]

Get a 3' piece of PVC pipe maybe your long plastic beer mixing spoon. Get a 1/4 gallon measuring cup and fill it, pour the water into your boil pot and make a mark on your "measuring" stick w/magic marker. Then keep doing this over and over until you have all the volume information you need on your brew pot. Do a water only boil and measure your boil off. That should be standard on any brew you make as long as you keep the flame pretty constant.

 

[boochuckles]

I was thinking of doing something like that but with a gallon and marking the pot. A quart based marked stick sounds like a much better plan.

Isn't the amount of boil off going to depend on the starting amount of water/wort?

 

[madscientist451]

The Boil off rate varies with the heat loss due to ambient temperature, the energy supplied and yes, as the water is reduced the evaporation will increase somewhat. Once you do a few brews you'll get an average amount of what the evaporation rate is. I figure about 1 gal/hr.
A 4 gallon pot is a little small for homebrewing but it will work, if you have another 1 gallon pot around you can have some hot water ready (about 170F) and when you pull the bag from the main pot, put it in a strainer over a bucket and gently pour the 1 gallon of water over the grains as an extra rinse. Boil the 2 pots at the same time and when the danger from boil over from the hot break is past, you can combine the two pots. For me, the mash in a pot BIAB was too messy and I got a $20 5 gallon cooler and put the BIAB bag in there, makes everything a lot easier, and can do step mashes by adding hot water.

 

[boochuckles]

I've been doing 5 gallon extract brews so the 4 gallon pot has been working great. I've join the local home brewing group in town and I want to step my game up after seeing the difference from extract to all grain brews. I want a bigger pot but we're 34 weeks pregnant and that's not going to happen right now. I want to get a few BIAB batches done before my daughter comes so if I only end up with 2 gallons I'm OK with it. I do have a 8 quart pot I used to top off the brew pot when it came time to mash. I'll try using it to sparge on the next batch and see how that works. I'm using a gas burner and brew outside so a little messy is not too bad but I won't be able to boil both. Can I sparge it and then add that to the brew pot then boil?

 

[doug293cz]

... Can I sparge it and then add that to the brew pot then boil?

Yes, that is the more common sparging procedure.

Brew on

 

[RM-MN]

I've been doing 5 gallon extract brews so the 4 gallon pot has been working great. I've join the local home brewing group in town and I want to step my game up after seeing the difference from extract to all grain brews. I want a bigger pot but we're 34 weeks pregnant and that's not going to happen right now. I want to get a few BIAB batches done before my daughter comes so if I only end up with 2 gallons I'm OK with it. I do have a 8 quart pot I used to top off the brew pot when it came time to mash. I'll try using it to sparge on the next batch and see how that works. I'm using a gas burner and brew outside so a little messy is not too bad but I won't be able to boil both. Can I sparge it and then add that to the brew pot then boil?

Since you have a small pot, start your boil so you get past the hot break, then add what you collected when you sparged. It makes the hot break a little more manageable. You will get a second hot break but each of them will be smaller.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Since you have a small pot, start your boil so you get past the hot break, then add what you collected when you sparged. It makes the hot break a little more manageable. You will get a second hot break but each of them will be smaller.

Plus one....gradually work up to full kettle....patience is a key element in brewing.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Get a 3' piece of PVC pipe maybe your long plastic beer mixing spoon. Get a 1/4 gallon measuring cup and fill it, pour the water into your boil pot and make a mark on your "measuring" stick w/magic marker. Then keep doing this over and over until you have all the volume information you need on your brew pot. Do a water only boil and measure your boil off. That should be standard on any brew you make as long as you keep the flame pretty constant.

I did the same thing before I got brew pot with a sight glass, except I used a 1/4" red oak dowel. It looks much cooler. :fro:

 

[C-Rider]

I did the same thing before I got brew pot with a sight glass, except I used a 1/4" red oak dowel. It looks much cooler. :fro:

Yea my PVC pipe sure aint "cool"....LOL