Maximizing efficiency on Big beers.

Super minor point given the gravities you're working with, but if I was trying to maximize efficiencies, I'd skip BIAB all together - or at least have it as an absolute last resort. There's a point of diminishing returns in terms of time/equipment invested, but I'd try to find a way to mash as normal.

I know you're an experienced homebrewer, and have probably looked at many angles, but that's just my .02. I've never done a truly large beer and a big reason is because I've never had the interest in that amount of effort...

 

(This is all for a 33ish gallon batch)
For my 12-13 %er's I mash normally to my tuns capacity, drain the first runnings into the boil kettle and sparge with about 5 gallons to yield about 25 gallons. I start heating that to a boil. Then I mash again with new grains to my tuns capacity. Drain the first runnings from that and maybe a 2 gallon sparge to yield my total boil volume, around 43 gallons. I let that boil for an hour, then begin the final hour boil when I add hops.

This is hitting in the 1.105-1.120 range depending on the malt bill.

 

yea, its definitely wasteful. But if I sparged more I would end up wasting first runnings from the 2nd mash. In a normal batch I'm using ~20 gallons for sparging

 

Interesting read. That brew day would take years off my life due to stress, and overall fatigue though. Seems like a lot of work for one beer

 

Something else that I've read (haven't tried it yet) is diong a backwards multi-step mash.

- Alpha Amylase works by hydrolyzing the straight chain bonds, but it attacks them randomly. This breaks up large amylopectins into smaller amylopectins and amyloses, thus creating more ends for Beta Amylase to work on. It works best at 154-162°F.
- Beta Amylase works by hydrolyzing the straight chain bonds, but it can only work on "twig" ends of the chain, not the "root" end. It can also only remove one (maltose) sugar unit at a time. It works best between 131-150°F.

Taking this into account, this is the process:

- Heat to 140F, add half of your grains, and mash for 30 mins. Raise the heat of the remaining mash to 158F and let it mash for 30 mins. Let the mash cool back down to 140F again, and then add the other half of your grains. Mash again at 140F for another 30 mins and then 158F for 30 mins. Then mash out and sparge etc like normal.

This process should mean that the Beta Amylase from the second mash would get at the longer chain sugars from the first mash, and there would be a lot of Alpha Amylase still present from the first mash to make sure complete conversion in the second mash.


Thoughts?

 

I'm drinking the next to last bottle of a Columbus, Centennial, and Cascade hopped, 35 IBU APA based off of Gordon Strong's Avant Garde APA recipe from Brewing Better Beer.

 

That sounds like a whole lot of effort for probably no discernible gain. I bet you would get nearly identical results by just smashing at 150 F for 2 hours... which seems a long time to mash. Maybe you could just mash for 75 minutes.

 

I typed that on my phone in a different forum. Multi-login issue - sorry.

 

@psnydez86 , If going for a big beer I would just use about half the sparge water you would normally use. The least amount of late runnings the better. I'd guess if your start getting runnings about 1.080 or less you would probably want to stop the sparge and deal with what you got. You can also cut the mash in an asterisk pattern about half way through your sparge volume to redirect fluid dynamics. Theory is that after a while, water takes the path of least resistance and may not rinse certain grain spots that aren't on the path of least resistance. Hope this may help somewhat.

 

It looks like your blowoff receptacle is elevated. It really should be as low as practical in relation to the fermenter (to make suck back less likely).

 

I'm not following. Why do you think it needs to be elevated? The blow-off should be a one-way trip only.

ETA: Nevermind, I think it's because the tube is short, right?