Two things.....? Breweasy Compact and malt forward beers

[aamcle]

Let's get past the second thing first

I've seen a suggestion that Full Volume BIAB is less suited for bigger malt forward beers although this has not been my experiance, have any members here had an issue with this?

Breweasy.
There seems to be a lot of tubing and triclamps involved all of which contribute to heat loss.

Has anybody checked? By that I mean stuck a probe into the tube were it leaves the vessel and compared the reading with one were the probe is inserted just were the wort is returned to the kettle.

I checked on my recirculating BIAB system (of blessed memory RIP) and found a difference of about 1°C .


Atb. Aamcle

 

[Sammy86]

I've seen a suggestion that Full Volume BIAB is less suited for bigger malt forward beers although this has not been my experiance, have any members here had an issue with this?

I can't comment on the Breweasy however I'm unsure what you mean by full volume BIAB being less suited for malt forward beers.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Perhaps the fact that big beers with a ton of malt may not fit in a particular kettle with a full volume mash? Adding a sparge step will allow the total water volume + grist volume to exceed kettle volume. It's how I can get 4gal of 1.095 wort out of a 5gal kettle.

A sparge will also add ~8% mash efficiency. In a full volume mash, that dip in efficiency requires even more malt (and water which will be lost to it) to fit in the kettle to hit your intended gravity and pre-boil volume.

But this is nothing that can't be overcome with a bigger kettle.

 

[aamcle]

It puzzled me as well especially as it was from an experienced brewer, I've done 9% Biab (when I had a biab system) without difficulty and made a parti gyle by dunking the grain. There was a reduction in volume of course but there are limits even if you have a three v system.

Aamcle

 

[MikeCo]

I don’t see any reason a BIAB mash would be less suited to a bigger malt-forward beer than any other mash. Did the experienced brewer you mentioned have any experience with BIAB?

 

[RM-MN]

I've seen a suggestion that Full Volume BIAB is less suited for bigger malt forward beers although this has not been my experiance, have any members here had an issue with this?

By milling my grain very fine I get very good efficiency and a short mash time but lose control of the fermentability because the starches gelatinize and convert so quickly that the beta enzyme never gets denatured which give me very fermentable wort no matter the mash temp. I compensate by letting someone else make a malt that creates less fermentable wort. It's called Crystal or caramel malt and I just adjust the amount to get the sweetness I want.