BIAB Grain Fluid Consumption

There are a lot of small variables that will go into this equation: grain bill weight, grain crush fineness , grain moisture content, temperature and other things I really don't want to get into. I've heard about a cup of water per pound, but that seems a little too high. Plan for that and put the brakes on when you need to. It's better to have too much water ready than not enough.

 

For my first BIAB batch that I did a few weeks ago, it was crushed at .039. For 10 lbs of grain I lost one gallon to absorption. I didn't squeeze very vigorously at all, but let it drip drain for 15 minutes.

 

I use ~ 2.5 qts/pound, as I use my full water volume for the mash without sparging.

 

I estimate about .10/lb of grain no sparge, no squeezing of the bag, just letting drip for about 5-6 minutes.

 

I used to brew BIAB and squeeze the grain bag quite a bit. I used to lose about 0.04 - 0.05 gallons per pound of grain on my average batch with a 14 pounds of grain. For example, I'd mash in with 8.5 gallons of strike water and recover 7.75 gallons of wort after grain bag removal, draining, and topping off the boil kettle with the collected runnings.