Using a bigger pot for my 2nd attempt

[puttster]

First BIAB went pretty well, though I used two pots and I think that made more work than I wanted. So I got a 34 quart pot and also 8.25 lbs of domestic 2-row pale malt and 2 lbs of Vienna malt to make 5 gals of blonde ale. Before double grinding, I weighed it and it is actually only 9.5 lbs.

My plan is

4 gal water to mash one hour.
Lift the bag and pour 2 gal water through it. Squeeze.
Begin boil.

I'm looking for 4-5% abv. Any thoughts on if the abv will be there or lower - in which case I should I go back to the store and get my missing .75 lbs of grain? Or is it more likely that the abv will be higher - in which case I will have to add water to get the abv down?

 

[emyers]

If your concerned about efficiency mash out by raising the grain temp to 170 and hold for 10 min before pulling the bag. Sparge with water at 170f as well.

 

[doug293cz]

If your concerned about efficiency mash out by raising the grain temp to 170 and hold for 10 min before pulling the bag. Sparge with water at 170f as well.

Mashout will only improve efficiency if the starch conversion isn't complete (it kicks up the activity of the alpha amylase for a short while before it gets denatured by the high temp.) Also, 170°F sparge water is not required, Kai (http://braukaiser.com/blog/blog/2009/05/12/cold-water-sparging/) has shown that sparge water temps (at least for batch sparging) make little difference to efficiency.

The best way to improve your efficiency with your proposed process is to squeeze the bag before you run the sparge water over it, and again after you run the sparge water over it. The less sugar left in the grain prior to sparging, the better your efficiency will be. Stir the mash well when doughing in, stir well again before pulling the bag after mash completion (in order to make sure sugar density is uniform throughout the mash before draining.)

Brew on

 

[puttster]

what do you think about my 9.5 lbs of grain with 6.0 gals of water? Will I end up with 4.5 gals of 4-5% beer? Maybe when it's done I could top it off to get a little more?

 

[doug293cz]

what do you think about my 9.5 lbs of grain with 6.0 gals of water? Will I end up with 4.5 gals of 4-5% beer? Maybe when it's done I could top it off to get a little more?

According to this calculator, you will need about 7 gals total water to net about 5 gal to your fermenter, and have about 4.5 packaged. I put the recipe in BreerSmith and got a projected OG of 1.052 with projected ABV of 5.2.

Brew on

 

[puttster]

Thanks! Looks like I was coming out on the high end of abv and the low end of volume. So you think I can comfortably go with an extra 1/2 gals of water? Would it make any difference if I added it at the end, when I was filling the fermenter?

 

[doug293cz]

Thanks! Looks like I was coming out on the high end of abv and the low end of volume. So you think I can comfortably go with an extra 1/2 gals of water? Would it make any difference if I added it at the end, when I was filling the fermenter?

You will be boiling about 6.5 +/- gal at the start, so you can get that all in you BK if you want. You will need to mash with less than the total volume of water, and then sparge. You can sparge by dunking the bag in a separate pot with the sparge water, or you can pour the sparge water over the bag while it is suspended above the BK (my favorite method.) You could use up to about 6 gal of strike water for your mash, and the balance for sparging. You could also skip the sparge and top up after the boil, but that will drop you efficiency.

You should use the calculator I linked (or one of the many others available on line) and customize the parameters for your equipment. If you have questions about how to determine the proper parameters, you can ask here, and someone should be able to help.

Brew on

 

[puttster]

I started with 5.5 gals, then sparged, pouring 1 gal through the grain. squeezing the bag. During the boil I added another .5 gal for 7 gals overall. When everything cooled down I was exactly at 5 gals. Good call!

I did come pretty close to a boilover but next time I will start with 6.5 gals and just watch it closely.

 

[browder]

I been using the two pot technic for three seasons do like Doug said in post #7 and you will be fine--I put the bag in the sparge pot pull it after a few minutes sit the bag over the BK and rinse no need to squeeze the bag-you will get some good 5.5gal. batches out of a 36 qt. pot just start using it and you'll figure it out in a couple boils--good luck with it------