Recirculating eBIAB (Basket) Mash Thickness

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Prepwr1

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Hey guys,
I currently have a 30 gallon single tier all electric HERMS ststem that I have used for a couple of years. Due to the size of the system (back deck brewing only), setup and cleanup, I decided to build a smaller system that that I could use year round and from the comfort of inside my home. For those reasons, I decided to build a recirculating eBIAB sytstem. Since I am new to BIAB, I have a concern regarding mash thickness. My kettle is a 15 gallon kettle from SS Brewtech (15.7 gallon total volume). I am using a custom made, solid sided brew basket from Colorado Brewing in leu of the bag. Maximum internal basket volume is 9.7 gallons, volume below the basket is approx. 2.5 gallons with another gallon of volume along the sides of the basket. My concern comes from the amount of wort that will be separated from the mash outside of the basket when brewing 5-6.5 gallon batches, making the actual mash within the basket very thick, and prone to compacting while recirculating. Due to starting the mashing process with total water volume in the kettle, are my concerns unfounded? Will I be stuck making larger batches or thinning the mashes and extending my boil times to hit my gravity #'s?

Thanks!
Chris
 
With 20 lbs of grain and 9 gallons total water you will have 5.5 gallons inside the basket, and 3.5 outside the basket.

Mash thickness would be 22.5 qt / 20 lb, or 1.125 qt/lb.

Stiff but should work....likely won't be making anything that large....

Be careful with wheat, oats and rye...
 
I am also designing an ebiab basket setup. I am planning on having the basket made as large as feasible relative to the size of the kettle (20 gal spike) for the very resin you just spoke of. I would really like to keep the ability to make 5 gallon batches but also make a 15 gallon (with some sparging).
 
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