Taking the Plunge...My Experiences of Going from Extract to BIAB

[Rush]

Great post!
I'm currently in the mindset of switch over to BIAB. It was very informative and nice to know it's not as big a deal as I once thought.

I'm a recent convert (5 batches deep) to BIAB full-volume mashes and all have been just as good, if not better than my best extract batches. Use good calculators for your mash temp and water volumes, insulate the mash-tun/kettle and off you go!.

 

[Tricerahops220]

How much water are you using in your mash and sparge, and to which component are you adding those salts? I can't quite get the additions to add up to the ppm values you listed. Also, the pH seems on the high side in all of my trials (a bit above 5.6).

For my 3 gallon batch, I was going to use 5.6 gallons to start. I was going to add the salts directly to the mash and had no plans to sparge at all. In the previous batch I started with a full volume boil and just dunked the bag to sparge then squeezed the bag as much as possible to try to get back up to my required pre boil volume.

I am an idiot, I meant to state 5 grams of gypsum. I will correct my post. To alter the pH though, I would need to add either citric or lactic acid, correct?

 

[McKnuckle]

Thanks, that makes more sense. I see an estimated pH in the 5.5 range give or take a couple of hundredths. You can leave that as is, or bring it down about one tenth with lactic acid (to 5.4). Bru'n Water, Brewer's Friend, and MpH all seem to be pretty agreeable on this one (5.47-5.52 range).