What BIAB Efficiency Do You Get?

[RM-MN]

RM-MN...I have read your posts (I believe they were yours) which said you only mashed for 10 minutes...found that interesting. BeerSmith told me to mash for 75 minutes. I did stir halfway through.

The mistake I made (and I knew better) was Mash Out. Beersmith's verbage said something like raise temperature to 168 over 10 minutes. The way it was phrased it sounded like I was to adjust my heat so that it took 10 minutes to get to 168. Now I had read Seven's thread on BIAB and knew she raised the temp to 170 and let it sit for 10 minutes...I just brain farted.

My LHBS actually has what appears to me to be a nice gap setting on their crusher. I saw no whole husks and there was flour sprinkled throughout.

I will say the wort tasted pretty good from my OG sample...like a sweet tea. The sweat taste made me think there was indeed sugars in it.

I have a Fullers London Porter clone coming from Austins. I'm interested to see what the grains look like as I asked them to double mill them.

Looking forward to my next attempt at all grain and have made notes of the miscues I made.

Beersmith has some things in it that don't apply to BIAB brewing. One that you mentioned was the 75 minute mash period. Using iodine for a test, I found that conversion doesn't take an hour or hour and a half, with my finely milled grains I got conversion in less than 3 minutes. Now I wondered if I had wort that was fermentable enough since I only mashed 10 minutes and while I showed conversion in less than 3 minutes, maybe it was only the alpha amylase that worked which would leave me with lots of unfermentable sugars and a very high FG. That doesn't seem to be the case because I did a hydrometer test yesterday on the first batch I did with the 10 minute mash and found that my gravity had gone down from an OG of 1.060 to 1.010 yesterday. This batch was mashed at 154 which also should have given me a higher FG that what I measured.

With BIAB, as soon as the mash is over you can pull the bag out. You'll be turning on the heat then and about the time you get the wort squeezed out of the bag your wort temp will be above mash out temp anyway. Waiting for your wort with the grains still in it for a mash out will likely take longer and won't accomplish anything that pulling the bag won't.

Your LHBS may have a nice gap setting for a conventional mash tun but it's way to coarse for BIAB. My particles are about 1/32 inch or less and the husks are ripped to shreds. That lets the particles get wet to the center very quickly and lets the sugars back out. The 60 to 90 minute mashes are to compensate for particles that are much larger and take more time to wet through and to leach the sugars back out.

 

[Fenduh]

Ok RM-MN... I've done some research on iodine testing and I'm going to give it a try.

I'm also going to try crushing my own grains. My neighbor has a grain mill that attaches to his high end mixer...hoping that does the trick. Will eventually pick up a Corona style mill.

The crush from the LHBS did have completely shredded husks and flour. In seeing pics of BIAB crushes I would say they were pretty much spot on but I still want to start grinding my own as I want to buy 2 row in a 50lb sack.

I only want to do half batches so a Corona mill will suit my needs fine.I don't really need 2 cases of beer around so the ability to brew more often appeals to me. I really don't drink that much beer (couple on Sundays watching football...oh ****...I'm done until October).

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Larzean]

I ended up with 65% on my first BIAB, tho I sampled before I brought it to 170. Also, do you bring it to 170 & stop and wait, or just rip it to boiling?

I pulled the grain out after the mash time and squeezed and added what I got back to the pot, which was on its way to boiling.

Just asking so I know better for next batch

 

[RM-MN]

I ended up with 65% on my first BIAB, tho I sampled before I brought it to 170. Also, do you bring it to 170 & stop and wait, or just rip it to boiling?

I pulled the grain out after the mash time and squeezed and added what I got back to the pot, which was on its way to boiling.

Just asking so I know better for next batch

I don't wait at all, in fact I usually don't have a thermometer in there when I've just pulled the bag. I do put the thermometer back in as it approaches boil so I can be ready to turn it down because I don't have a lot of space above the wort and prefer not to boil the hot break all over the wife's stove.

 

[Token]

I use my grain mill at the same setting for BIAB as when I use the mash tun. I mash at whatever temp recipe calls for in both instances. After mash time is done, I have 2nd kettle with sparge water. I let bag sit in there for 10 minutes. After that, I let it drain, combine the two, and boil. I hit my OG numbers quite nicely. Pretty straight forward. Same process as when using a mash tun but without the tun. I do BIAB a lot recently 'cuz I have decided to do half batches. Works great right on my stove.

No muss, no fuss.

 

[gozer]

78% brew house or mash efficiency?

Beersmith has 78% for mash efficiency, and 80% "measured brewhouse" according to a recent batch.

 

[ClemTiger0408]

Today I hit about 67% which was pretty disappointing. The process went perfectly for me, so I have no idea why I didn't do better. My efficiency has been all over the map in the 4 BIABs I've done. I've been as high as 78% and 67% is the low.

The problem is today's brew, as I mentioned above, went perfectly. I have no idea what to do or change to be more consistent or better.

My LHBS grinds for me. When I've asked for a double grind, they tell me that their grinder is set for really fine and a double grind would make it a powder. So I do the single.

152* mash. 60 mins.
170* for 10 minutes.

I missed target OG by about .008

 

[RM-MN]

Today I hit about 67% which was pretty disappointing. The process went perfectly for me, so I have no idea why I didn't do better. My efficiency has been all over the map in the 4 BIABs I've done. I've been as high as 78% and 67% is the low.

The problem is today's brew, as I mentioned above, went perfectly. I have no idea what to do or change to be more consistent or better.

My LHBS grinds for me. When I've asked for a double grind, they tell me that their grinder is set for really fine and a double grind would make it a powder. So I do the single.

152* mash. 60 mins.
170* for 10 minutes.

I missed target OG by about .008

I think that you've identified why your efficiency varies so much right here. If you are serious about making beer for years into the future and the efficiency changes that you are getting bother you, you need your own mill. :rockin:

I doubt that even double milled the grain you get from the LHBS would be near as fine as what I get with my cheap Corona mill and my efficiency is pretty steady and always exceeds your best. I've even managed 80% efficiency with 65% of the grain bill being unmalted rye (don't try it, rye is hard to mill and make a stick mess).

 

[mb82]

Brewhouse efficiency with my new full volume EBIAB system was 81% yesterday on a 1.060 beer. I grind my grain in my Corona mill but I don't grind it to powder the way some people do.

 

[jjw5015]

I used to get around 70%, but ever since I started mashing with 1 less gallon and using that to rinse the grains, I've gone up to over 80% consistently.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I used to get around 70%, but ever since I started mashing with 1 less gallon and using that to rinse the grains, I've gone up to over 80% consistently.

I second this approach, both for efficiency, and ease of process. The sparge step can be used as a volume adjustment to reach intended pre boil volume. This allows you to rough in your strike water amount, and fine tune with the sparge step.

Very simple and effective, just the way I prefer!

 

[wilserbrewer]

And fwiw, I prefer a pour over sparge with the bag either suspended above the kettle, in a colander, or even simply sitting on a couple of kitchen utensils spanning the top of the kettle..easier than a dunk sparge IME.

 

[DurtyChemist]

Today I hit about 67% which was pretty disappointing. The process went perfectly for me, so I have no idea why I didn't do better. My efficiency has been all over the map in the 4 BIABs I've done. I've been as high as 78% and 67% is the low.

The problem is today's brew, as I mentioned above, went perfectly. I have no idea what to do or change to be more consistent or better.

My LHBS grinds for me. When I've asked for a double grind, they tell me that their grinder is set for really fine and a double grind would make it a powder. So I do the single.

152* mash. 60 mins.
170* for 10 minutes.

I missed target OG by about .008

Is it the same recipe each time?
Did you do the same mash each time?
What was the pre boil gravity and volume for each batch?
What was the final volume into fermenter?

I don't do anything special with my crush and I hit 80% with a 90 minute mash on my second batch and a 50-60% (don't remember honestly) on my first batch. I'd suggest checking the pH during you mash and mixing the grains up every 10 minutes while checking temperatures.

 

[wilson42203]

Did my first BIAB today. My brewhouse efficiency calculator said I got 77% efficiency. I mashed 6.5lbs of grain in 4.5 gal of water for 60 min. I hit my OG of 1.056 (it's a 3-gal batch). I was pretty happy considering the problems I had keeping a steady mash temp.

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[DurtyChemist]

10lbs 2 row with whatever crush the brew store does
7.5 gallons of water
152 average mash temp, checked every 19-15 minutes and stirred for 15-45 seconds
75 minute mash
Put the grain bag on a small fridge shelf set on top of a turkey fryer pot. Shook the bag and spun it so it would hold itself shut gently BUT I took the gravity reading BEFORE I added this to the brew pot.
1.030 or 1.932 pre boil gravity (1.044 at 60F)
1.050 OG at 80F and I believe it is 5.5 gallons but it could be 6. Comes in around 80% brewhouse.


Oh and my pH was 5.4 20 minutes into the mash. I check it with strips. So much for the logic that brew in a bag isn't as efficient as traditional all grain in my brewery. I have the correct pH and better efficiency than I read about for coolers.

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

Efficiency? How does one calculate that?

 

[DurtyChemist]

Efficiency? How does one calculate that?

www.tastybrew.com/calculators/gravityhtml

I usually have 6.5 gallons pre boil and input 75% for efficiency. If I'm above that I'm happy since it seems like most traditional all grain brewers reach for that number.

Brewers friend also has a calculator you could use for mash efficency.

Just remember if you take readings pre boil to correct for hydromenter readings if you don't want to wait until it's 60F. OR just remember to add 0.018 if it's 150F when you take the reading.

you can also google/Bing search mash efficiency, pre boil efficiency, pre boil calculation etc. and find sort of a good explaination of what mash efficiency is trying to measure. You're just calculating how much of the potential sugar you're able to extract.

 

[smyrnaquince]

10lbs 2 row with whatever crush the brew store does
7.5 gallons of water
152 average mash temp, checked every 19-15 minutes and stirred for 15-45 seconds
75 minute mash
put the grain bag on a small fridge shelf set on top of a turkey fryer pot. Shook the bag and spun it so it would hold itself shut gently but i took the gravity reading before i added this to the brew pot.
1.030 or 1.932 pre boil gravity (1.044 at 60f)
1.050 og at 80f and i believe it is 5.5 gallons but it could be 6. Comes in around 80% brewhouse.


Oh and my ph was 5.4 20 minutes into the mash. I check it with strips. So much for the logic that brew in a bag isn't as efficient as traditional all grain in my brewery. I have the correct ph and better efficiency than i read about for coolers.

1.932 ?

 

[DurtyChemist]

1.932 ?

Typo. If you look at the keyboard 9 is right next to 0.

 

[wobdee]

Brewed a Pils the other day and broke the 90% efficiency barrier! I did a 90 minute boil so instead of topping off the boil I used a sparge to get the volume I needed. I've had a few 90% brews before by incorporating a sparge.


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[smyrnaquince]

Typo. If you look at the keyboard 9 is right next to 0.

Duh! :smack: