Going AG, Thinking of BIAB?

The OP might enjoy watching this video:

 

Ditto...

 

In a similar situation to you OP. Been brewing extract for the past year. Also received a 10 gallon megapot with thermometer and a better burner for Christmas. I'm planning on doing at least a couple BIAB batches before getting a cooler or buying any more equipment (and possibly getting a bigger house!).

Here's a link that has the same guy in the above video actually brewing:


If anybody has any other good reading resources, I'll gladly take them.

 

Some great advice above. I agree that BIAB can give you great results and can be a good way to get into all grain brewing. The cost is a few extra hours and a paint straining bag/nylon curtain. I don't see you being shy to try this out.

The benefits greatly outweigh the drawbacks for most of us. While doing extract batches can be quick and easy, doing BiAB or AG can really help you dial in on a style of beer.

I brew in a 15 gal kettle without pumps or spigots. Brewday doesn't have to involve a lot of heavy lifting. It's easy to break up the work into smaller pots and pans when needed. I rack from my kettle on cinder blocks when I am doing a 10 gal batch, but I could just as easily sanitize a water pitcher and move several quarts at a time to a fermenter.

For me, I've never had any luck cleaning paint straining bags and I get better efficiency with a batch sparge system. I have very predictable results as I scale up my beers. It just seems right for me.

 

I don't BIAB, but I assume from the lack of sparge.. You would normally put your full wort volume in, if I understand what most people do.

You'd leave alot behind. One reason why people double crush for BIAB.

 

I rinse the bag a couple of times in effect sparging. Almost everyone I know that does BIAB does some kind of rinse. As much to get some hotter water in the grain. I do know a few that just use full volume and get 70%+ also. They also wrestle those bags pretty hard.

 

Thanks for the video @JackHorzempa! I've done some "mini-mash" in a bag + extract before with good results...think I'll definitely be headed in this direction.

@HerbMeowing skip to the 24:45 mark of the first video...good discussion of efficiency.

Thanks to the OP for getting me thinking in this direction.

 

Fair enough.. like I said.. most I've read/seen don't sparge, mainly the reason for keeping it simple, because otherwise, you are really just doing a normal batch sparge process, but using a plastic mesh bag to contain your grain, rather than a false bottom or bazooka tube.

Perhaps the OP will have enough info from here to decide what works for his time/space constraints.

 

I'd be interested to see the calculations and the volumes used to make them.

 

Thx for targeting video mark for me.
IMO ... it's far from a good discussion of efficiency b/c it leaves out some very important details.

Is the discussion about extract efficiency?
Brew house efficiency?
Does the BH efficiency calculation include the kettle's break volume or is BH efficiency calculated based only on the volume of clear wort transferred to the fermentor?

Makes a big difference.

 

Do you boil your sparge/rinse water to a certain temp or just kind of wing it with hot tap water? Any concerns with diluting your wort/lowering your gravity with this rinse?

I've been averaging 55-60% efficiency for full volume 5G batches in my 15G kettle and have attempted all of the typical fixes (double crush, longer mash, mash rest, squeeze the shit out of the bag etc.). I'm now exploring water ph and some type of rinse to get better efficiency with my system. I've now read a few times that a simple hot water rinse might get back some efficiency.

 

Experience.

 

I heat the water to 170 and place the bag into it. I then get out the mash paddle and move it around. I am usually doing other things so usually let it sit for a while. I do this twice. I mash at about 1.25 qts per lb of grain. This leaves a lot of water volume to rinse with. I have not checked my last rinse to see how effective it is. I am mostly going for a final volume to boil. I base my recipes on 75% efficiency and usually get a few points higher. If I was going for a real high gravity beer I would assume the efficiency would have to drop. The highest gravity I have done this with was 1.070.

 

Brew Cipher

 

Does that mean BC knows how much break material remains in the post-boil kettle b/c unless the BH efficiency calculation excludes the break volume ... the BH efficiency will be grossly overstated.

Trust but verify.

 

That stuff doesn't really work. And I have a mostly full container of it around somewhere, if anyone wants it.

 

I could post my water profile (I'll just call it "medium hard" for now), but I usually build from distilled water. Either way though, I influence pH by adding whatever is needed to hit my desired pH (given the acidity of the particular grains), consistent with the mineral profile I want from a flavor perspective, and ensuring some minimum level of Calcium for yeast flocculation. Generally it's some combination of Gypsum, Calcium Chloride, Baking Soda, and/or Lactic Acid. The key though is that each factor (starting water, individual grains, salts) either increases or decreases mash pH. There's no magic combination that will take the mash pH to 5.2 (or whatever) and keep it there for every recipe and/or every starting water profile.

 

I know some people just mash at 1.5qt/poundand move the grains into a second pot full of hot water. So long as you stir well, I wouldnt think it would be any worse for efficiency than a single batch sparge.