Biab Draining The Grain

[Amber Fluid]

Yesterday I successfully did my first BIAB and everything went to plan. However, I have just a few questions if I may....

I squeezed the bag pretty much so there was nothing left coming out. I have heard some people just suspend the bag and let it drip drain but I couldn't be bothered waiting this long. Is the general conception here, to squeeze or not to squeeze?

How do you work out your efficiency?
I hit all temps spot on and ended up with my expected SG reading and during the mash only lost .5 degree over the hour.

At what stages during the brew day should one be taking a gravity reading?
I took one reading at the very end as I was filling the cube.

For the record, I brewed inside using a Crown Urn with a concealed element and had no problem at all achieving and maintaining a rolling boil.

 

[Yob]

cant help with your questions Bill as Im heading down the 3v road but Id just like to say :beer: and :super: and :beerbang:

Yob

 

[Amber Fluid]

lol, thanks Yob. The day went a little longer than I thought it would have but that was to be expected. I will be more organised due to knowing what to expect next time. Things like having the urn on a timer to heat and milling the grain so it is ready when temps are hit, are just a couple of things that will save time.

I was quite surprised that I had no hiccups and how easy it really is. :icon_chickcheers:

 

[Nick JD]

Some people say not to squeeze, but I squeeze the shit out of it.

Any and all worries about grain misuse and abuse can be nullified in one fell swoop by giving decoction mashing a rip.

 

[Lecterfan]

Gday
I use beersmith and tend to take a gravity reading preboil, at the end of the boil and then finally from the fermenter after pitching and aerating. I also have my equipment profile set up in beersmith and it calculates my efficiency into the fermenter. Due to some vicbrew feedback I have reduced my efficiency and now do recipes at %72, have increased the amount of grain I use slightly and am more careful about sparging. I think I have been oversparging...

There are countless threads on squeezing vs no squeezing...

I'll let BIABers answer the rest.

 

[Dazza88]

I squeeze the bag and then run some kettle boiled water thru it, wait to drain and squeeze again (your hands get ouchy this way). Sometime you squeeze bits of grain out if the bag is larger mesh, try to avoid that.

I put 75% efficiency into brewmate and just compare what i get to it says to see how close i was, usually get a little over what brewmate says with a 90 min mash and good squeezing.

I take gravity with a refractometer (they are great) at preboil and postboil, before it goes into the cube for no chill. To me postboil is the one that counts, but if you dilute with water into the fermenter, lose some of brew in the kettle to trub etc, you need to account for that.

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

I squeeze, but then again, I sparge as well.

I'm prepared to make the extra time investment for those few extra points - rightly or wrongly.

Do as much prep work the night before as possible and get everything out on the bench/workspace sorted. Once grain is mashing, I weight out all hops additions and make sure my sparging vessels are sorted.

However, I'm preparing to go down the ghetto lauter tun line, but alter it to might equipment.

But BIAB rocks - you can get fantastic beer (as I've been doing for the last two years), from so little equipment and you are really, finally, making beer (Rather than diluting goo).

Goomba

 

[stux]

I Squeeze the bag and suspend it above my pot for the first few minutes of the boil

I get about 500ml per KG absorbtion

Take gravity and Volume measurements when the wort starts to boil and when you cut the heat. That way you know the temperature and can correct volume if necessary.

The start of boil and end of boil efficiencies should be roughly equal if you didn't get a boilover

 

[Flash_DG]

i squeeze mine too

 

[Bada Bing Brewery]

I'm not a squeezer, but commend those who come out and admit they are <_<
Cheers
BBB

 

[ekul]

I sparge with 4L cold water (Hose sparge) which means i can then squeeze the shit out of the bag because its not hot.

I take gravity readings throughout the boil (and at preboil) so i know where i'm standing re gravity. I have to do this because i do all my water measurements by eye. I really should buy a 5L jug.

Congrats on going AG, you won't go back. I still have some extract brews sitting in the shed, couldn't drink them after my first AG. And my first AG wasn't even that great.

 

[Bribie G]

If you have a couple of spare shelves and a $8 Willow Washing Bowl then the BribiePressinator is an option as well:

:icon_cheers:

 

[Flash_DG]

If you have a couple of spare shelves and a $8 Willow Washing Bowl then the BribiePressinator is an option as well:

:icon_cheers:

Hah so simple I wish I had thought of that :blink:

 

[Hippy]

Sqeezing the bag is definately the go. Just remember to ramp up to mash out temperature over 10 minutes before you hoist, as this helps dissolve the sugars and make the wort a little runnier therebye allowing for more efficient drainage of the bag. There shouldn't be an issue with the bag coming into contact with the element if it is concealed.

 

[ianh]

Hi Amber Fluid

Congrats on the first BIAB, wonder if you used the spreadsheet.

I squeeze the bag, had not thought of weighing it like Stux, but hit my volumes consistently.

I decide what I am going to brew, add the water to the urn, whilst it's heating to Strike Temperature, I weigh and add any water treatment, weigh and crush the grains, weigh the hops that way everything is ready.

I measure the water volume (using a steel rule) when filling the urn, start of boil, end of boil and only do an SG when transferring to the cube (refractometer), initially I also did an SG at start of boil but now no longer bother.

 

[bcp]

Squeezing the bag is hot and sticky. Better ways to do a better job.

Similar to Bribieg.
I have two plastic buckets that fit inside eachother.

1. Remove colander from urn and toss into bottom of bucket.
2. Place bag on colander in bucket.
3. Put the other bucket on top and press down.

The gravity increases significantly with the 'squeezings' added.

 

[AdelaideHillsBrewer]

Great work man on your first biab.......will be starting mine very soon......I would love to squeezz.......what do you call it if you squeezz too much????? one shake or two??? You know what people say!

 

[felten]

I squeezed when I was starting out as that was the general consensus, but now I try to let gravity do most of the work. I'll Keep the bag dripping above the kettle until it comes to a boil, then remove it to a handy pail and tip the runnings(drippings?) from that into the kettle towards the end of the boil.

Although sometimes I'll get a stuck bag and give it a bit of a twist and a squeeze. I had to beat the wort out of the bag when I made a 45% rye beer, that was brutal.

 

[kyleg]

My last brew (3rd BIAB), I squeezed the hell out of the bag, and got almost everything i could out of it, dripped into a bucket, i took a sample of that and took a gravity reading and found that the gravity of the wort i had squeezed was 1.040 after temp correction, and the rest of the wort was about 1.046. So what is the advantage of squeezing the bag? The wort is no more concentrated.. So really i squeezed my arms off for about 20 minutes to gain maybe an extra litre of wort. Doesn't seem worth it to me. From now on i'll just do a quick squeeze and leave it at that.

 

[colonel]

Very timely question, I just used my new urn for the first time this morning, worked a treat!

I used a bit of Bribie G's "Pressinator" method, and a bit of the squeeze method.

I put an old fridge shelf straight on top of the urn, as it was coming up to boil, then lowered the bag onto it.

Then, I used an old dinner plate on top, and pushed down, only took about 30 sec's, and no hot drips going down arms.

One question I have though, is how much should I be losing to trub? I stopped draining when the trub started going into the urn tap (I did whirlpool), but still ended up with 2.3 litres left.

Is this normal.

Thanks