# Biab Mashing Questions



## nikgr (10/3/10)

Dear friends

I have gather everythning I need for making my first biab atempt probably this weekend or next .
I would like to know the typical single infusion temeperatures and times you are using for all styles .And also the recomended mashing time also how to calculate the strke temperature and finaly the mashout temperature and time .
The reason for asking those is to print them and have then handy over brewing time.
Thank you in advance 
Nick


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## Pete2501 (10/3/10)

http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Infusion_Mashing


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## nikgr (10/3/10)

Thank you for your answer ..According to Beersmith the single infusion temperatures are these bellow

LIGHT BODY Mash IN 65,6 C (75 min) Mash OUT 75,6 C (10 min)
MEDIUM BODY Mash IN 67,8 C (60 min) Mash OUT 75,6 C (10 min)
FULL BODY Mash IN 70 C (45 min) Mash OUT 75,6 C (10 min)

Does these work with BIAB or they need some compensation? I plan to brew this recipe http://flyingdogbreweryinfo.wordpress.com/...-brewer-recipe/ does the mash scedule recomended and of course the scedules of other recipes have to folowed as is or they need also compensation with BIAB ?


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## argon (10/3/10)

nikgr said:


> Thank you for your answer ..According to Beersmith the single infusion temperatures are these bellow
> 
> LIGHT BODY Mash IN 65,6 C (75 min) Mash OUT 75,6 C (10 min)
> MEDIUM BODY Mash IN 67,8 C (60 min) Mash OUT 75,6 C (10 min)
> ...



+1 for your use of beersmith. Starting out it's a great tool. 

As for your temps, I typically do 90 min mashes at 65-66c and that works for my recipes and my tastes. By all means try the temps as listed by beersmith and see what you get. The recipe you've referenced should be fine at these mash temps, just dependant on what you want to achieve. Personally I'd do 90 min at 66c.

As for what everyone else does I don't know, but my system, I get a medium body at 65-66c whereas someone esle's system might need 66-67C for medium body. After a couple of brews (and tasting the results :beer: you'll find out your ideal range an compensate for any specifics. 

I biab and from my experience and most of what I've read there really isn't any compensations to be made for mash temps vs tradtional 3v setup.


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## Thunus (10/3/10)

Have done a range of differant brews from 66 to 69 mash in.
I have never done more than a 60 minute mash as my system looses about 1.5deg over that time.
I now raise to mash out with the bag still fitted (I have a cage that holds it off the bottom of the pot)
but before I would pull the bag out and raise the temp to 80 - 81 deg and dunk the bag back in that would give me about 78 deg mash temp.
As Argon said just start brewing and record your settings you'll soon work out whats right for you.


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## argon (10/3/10)

Ok so probably only answered 1 of your questions with the previous post.

strike temps - your using beersmith I assume? If no, get a copy. If yes... Great. Now setup your eqipment profile. Add as much data as you can find. Include the temperature of the grain before doughing (haha spell correct to douching :blink for example I keep my grain at 4c in the fridge. If you keep it at ambient it will have a different effect in the strike water when doughing in. Typically for a 23L batch size, mash temp 66c and 4.5kg grains bill will calculate approx 72c strike water. But as earlier depends on your paeticular setup.

Just have a go at it and see what it comes up with. Everyone's going to give you different answers, bit you the only one that can get things right for your situation. Hope this helps.


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## Bribie G (10/3/10)

I use an urn and passively lag with a sleeping bag and a doonah, and end up with a drop of around 1.5 degrees over 90 mins. I usually prepare the strike liquor at 3 degrees more than the desired mash temp, with the grain at ambient (around 30 degrees ATM) Maybe in chillier climes you might want to go a degree or so higher. Also note that most of the action happens in the first 20 minutes, so for a mash of 66 degrees I go 69 for the strike liquor, lag the urn then walk away for the next 90 mins.
I mash a bit hotter for Yorkshire bitters, with 71 strike and 68 mash, and for my occasional mild I go 73 strike and 70 mash for *50 mins.*

Personally I don't do a mashout - however PistolPatch (Perth) would be the guy to ask, he recommends a couple of good stirs during the mash, and a mashout. I'll try this with my next brew and see if it makes a difference, easily done.


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## Scruffy (10/3/10)

Yup. Depends. You can make this really simple - pour water in, raise temp to a few degrees above 65C - maybe 68/69C, drop in your room temp cracked grains, stir and wait 90 minutes, pull bag - or you can get all scientific...
What gear have you got? Is it a big pot or a little pot, or an urn (or a bucket/dustbin/bath/laundry sink) - you might want to know how much heat you'll lose so you can compensate. You might be interested in grain to water ratios. What are you wanting to brew (for your first - you might want to make everything eventually!). You might bear in mind that a mash slightly below 65C will yeald more fermentable (simple) sugars and finish 'dry' after fermenting, slightly above 65C will give you less fermentables and give you a fuller bodied beer (though not necessarily 'sweeter'). Then again, a low mash (64C) with a lot of Crystal in the mix will give you a sweeter brew. Some BIAB folk are convinced that a protein rest (holding the mash at around 48C for 20/30 minutes) improves clarity by breaking down (chill haze) proteins (esp in grain bills containing a lot of unmalted stuff like flaked barley or wheat or oatmeal etc)- but you could argue that a protein rest using just fully modified grains (like any of the ale or pilsner malts) will break up proteins responsible for body and head retention giving you a thin watery beer... Then there's the 'mash out'. Most BIAB folk i'm guessing just use the one temp (around 65C) for mashing, some increase the temp to about 78C just after the mash time. A mashout stops all enzyme reactions in the mash and creates a more fluid wort. Many BIABers, finish up with a cloudy wort. Traditionally mashed beers are drained through the grainbed and therefore much of the protein/crap is filtered out - there are a couple of strategies but it's too much to type... 
Now, have you considered pH? It's a mine field!!
You say you have BeerSmith; spend a bit of time setting up your gear and it should give you water temp and volume for mashing in, mash for 90 minutes @ 65C if you have the time and you should end up with a decent wort. If it's too dry when you come to drink it, think about increasing the mash temp - but consider the above factors...

Just keep it simple to start with and adjust according to the results, rather than reading shit loads and trying to predict what needs to happen.

--edit-- corrected temperature - 'mash at around 448'...


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## marksfish (10/3/10)

the advise's above has hit the nail on the head the only other thing i would suggest is keeping a good record of your brews on your setup as every biab system seems to differ slightly.


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## nikgr (10/3/10)

Thank you for your answers again . I have beer smith but I cant figure out how to set it up for BIAB so far I am brewing with extracts so its fairly easy than grains and I use beersmith only for calculating recipes .But I am using Biab equipment set up volumes excel file and it is very good .My equipment is a 30 liter canning enamel pot with a grid to the bottom , a propane burner of 8.5kw power and of course a bag.I used to brew 10liter batches with extracts and this will be the volume of my allgrain batches so the 30 liter pot is ok I think.I have also a corona grain mill (what about adjustments to that mill?).So I believe the given from recipes mash temperatures are ok to follow exept the infusion time wich have to be 90 minutes for optimum results. I believe I can find my strike temperature inputing the numbers of the above spreadsheet mentioned and the amount of my grains. Also for mash out I plan to raise the temperature until 75 keep the bag in and after 10 minutes pull the bag out and raise the temeperature to boil . Also my grains are all from Weyerman (the only firm is imported here in Greece).SO far so good I think...


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## Thirsty Boy (10/3/10)

Your plan sounds good - you have the Equipment set-up excel that will do the hard BIAB calculations for you, you have Beersmith that will do your general brewing calculations for you. Your corona mill is perfect for BIAB (just leave it as it is now, change it later if you want to) So you can keep it simple, your small batches will fit easily in your pot, and once you have some experience you will easily be able to push it up to a full sized batch too.

For BIAB - you dont have to change a thing about recipes or mashing schedules. If a recipe says to mash at 64.. mash at 64 etc etc. No need to change the basics. The only things you might want to change are (and you have noticed them already)

*Mash Out* - do one even if the recipe doesn't say to. It wont hurt your beer if you don't, but to get the efficiencies that people usually talk about with BIAB, you will have to do the mash out.

*90min Mash* - This is playing safe. Do 90min mashes till you have the process under control and are starting to understand how it all fits together. Then, brew a recipe with a 60min mash and see if it makes any difference. A lot of people are just doing 60min mashes and are perfectly OK... but 90 mins is "safe" and that's what I'd do when you first start out.


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## LLoyd (10/3/10)

Hey Nick Beersmith would be your best bet (or friend)

The problem with full volume strike temps is that very small measurement errors compound to become significantly out.

The benefit of BIAB is that you can err on the low side (slightly) and whack the flame on.

Here's how strike temps can be calculated longhand

(VOL+{0.4xMALTKG} - (0.4XMALTKGXMALTTEMP) X MASHTEMP
_________________________________________________________

VOL




Worth a play if you like numbers...  

Best way would be as mentioned before would be storing your grain at a constant temp.

Good luck with the brewday!

Lloydie


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## nikgr (10/3/10)

Thanks All clouds left away.If I am lucky I'll try it this weekend .


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