I'm going to try my first BIAB. I've done 1 starter in a paint straining bag and I'm going to try an IPA in a bag here sometime this week. I was hoping to shed some light on the process first: 1.I'm wondering if there will be any ill-effects from the large amounts of haze leftover from not vorlaufing? 2.I'm also planning on twisting the bag to get most, but not all of the wort out. I'm not too worried about over squeezing the grains because it's an IPA. Just 2 row and some crystal. No harsh black malts to worry about. 3.Any ill-effects from mashing 12# of grain in 6 gal of water? It seems really thin. I think it will dry out the beer. 4.Does all of the haze turn into hot/cold break material when it's all done? Feel free to comment on any of my concerns. Thanks for the feedback.
1) Any of the stuff that gets into your wort from not recirculating is particulate matter that should not cause haze. Proteins cause haze and would not be filtered out by the grain bed. 2)I would still avoid twisting/squeezing the grain bag. You still have grain hulls in there and you still may be extracting tannins. 3)You might want to mash thicker to keep the enzyme concentration up if you want a drier beer, but mashing 12# in 6 gal is not really a huge issue. Good luck with your beer.
Personally I would solve both problems by only using 3.75 gallons of water for the mash and saving the rest for a sparge. From what I have read from other BIABers (I have never done it), hold your bag above the kettles in a strainer / colander and then pour the water through the grain bag.
Shyeah, it sounds like I'll suspending the bag with my teeth! I'll consider sparging, but I'm trying this method so I can be lazy.
i did a biab (as it turned out it was a belgan blond / was actually trying for something a wee bit less strong og 1.08 fg 1.014) because of equipment size i was only brewing for a 2.5 gallon finish. mashed in 3 gallons then 'sparged' with a gallon , by the time the boil was finished i had maybe about 2.75 gallons left- as far as squeezing the bag to extract all the wort , i would agree agold ( from experience ) is not a good idea.
You will be fine with 6 gals, this is not really any different than the no-sparge method of mashing...the thin mash will dry the beer out a bit but that is wanted in an IPA. Understand that your efficiency will likely be around 55-60%.
