So i want to transition into all grain brewing and came accross the you tube video of NB TV Brew in a bag. I have a 7.5 gallon pot that I've been doing my extract/steeped grain recipes in. My extract beers are coming out quite nice but i feel that they lack in body which is whats leading me towards the mini mash process. I formulated a recipe for a basic american amber recipe with all grain and the malt bill yeilded 11 lbs of grain. Is this too much for one of the big fine bags that i can get off NB, or is this too much for my 7.5 gallon pot. I was thinking about mini mashing in about 4 gallons of water for 60-75 minutes around 152-154 then mash out to 170 then sparge the grains with some hot water from a small side kettle. I have no experience all grain brewing and was just thinking about winging a recipe in the bag as it seems like a simplified way to get into all grain brewing. Even if I mash/boil at not full volume i can top off the fermentor with water?? I'm not looking to make big beers this way just 1.045- 1.055 pale ales/amber ales, maybe even a lower gravity pilsner? Here is my recipe that I might try if my 7.5 gallon pot will allow me. http://hopville.com/recipe/1409151/american-amber-ale-recipes/338-american-amber
First off what you are proposing to do is a full all grain mash, not a mini-mash. A mini-mash is when you get some of your fermentables from mashing base grains and the remainder of your fermentables from extract. An example of a mini-mash would be where you mash something like 4 lbs. of base malt and then use something like 4 lbs. of Dried Malt Extract. So, back to your questions. I have a nylon bag (15 “x 32”) which I have put 4 lbs. of grain in with tons of room left over. I am pretty sure this bag would accommodate 11 lbs. of grain (and probably more). The grain/water ratio for mashing is 1-2 quarts of water per lb. of grain. I mash using a ratio of 1.5 quarts per lb. So, for this ratio 11 lbs. will need 16.5 quarts (4.125 gallons) of water. Your 7.5 gallon pot will be plenty big for your purposes. Now, the next aspect of mashing is maintaining a given temperature (e.g., 150°F) for the mash timeframe (e.g., 1 hour). Hopefully some all grain Brew in A Bag (BIAB) folks will give you some help here. Good luck with your first all grain beer! Cheers! P.S. Just so you know, there are ways to ‘fix’ your lack of body problems with your extract brews. Just some example fixes: · Increase the amount of crystal malt to obtain increased body · Utilize maltodextrin powder http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter20-1.html
There's no need to mash that long, especially for a mini mash. You can get excellent conversion (assuming your malt grind is good as well) with a 30 min mash. I suggest finding a medium sized cooler (maybe like a 12 or 16 qt) so you can comfortably mash a few pounds of grain, be able to maintain the temperature, and be able to pour it through a filter or have a variant of the "brew in a bag" in the cooler. Mini mashing is a form of partial mashing, where a portion of the fermentables are mashed and the rest of the fermentables come from malt extracts, like what Jack said above. If you have 11 or so pounds of grain, I would take maybe 4 or 5 lbs of that to mash and then use maybe 3 or 4 lbs of extract for the rest of the base malt (that's just off the top of my head... I'm probably way off lol). So with the cooler, I would line the cooler with a large paint filtering bag, dump the grain in (4-5 lbs), then add around 5.5 qt of 165'F water. I would keep a small pot of boiling water to add to the mini mash because it would inevitably decrease in temperature, maybe even too much. So I mash a little less watery and add hot water to adjust the temperature up. Mix the crap out of it, let it sit for 30 minutes, then get the liquid out. Mix a bit more hot water to rinse the sugars from the grains, drain it again. If you scale it up to 10-14 lbs of grain, that's an all grain set up! Simple! Most people make it way too complicated for my liking.
