Biab Draining The Grain

[Nick JD]

A mashout step with BIAB is probably the biggest efficiency booster you can do. I reckon it's in the order of 10%.

Step mashing from a protein rest up to a mashout (with a decoction or two) is the highest efficiency I've ever had. Pretty close, or possibly even over 100%.

But usually I'm between 75 and 80%. Happy with that. Too much buggering around for 75c worth of grain - meh.

 

[tavas]

I think I'll be giving this a go in my next brew. It sounds similar to the method described here but with esky + urn instead of two pots. Ralph claims to get 23L at 1.055 from 4.5kg of grain, which gives him just over 90% efficiency.

When you dunk sparge, do you open up the grain bag and give it a mix at all? Also, is it worth trying to keep a consistent temperature during the dunk sparge? I would have thought it would cool a lot in 15 mins if you do it Ralph's way without a lid.

I've done several BIABs now where I have poured a few litres of 75 degree water through the bag while it drains. I've been getting around 70% each time, which seems a little low compared to what others are reporting.

I leave my urn at set temp while doing the main mash. Urn stays at mash in temp so kinda like a mash out, usually 71*C for a 66*C mash. So urn stays at 71*C until I do the dunk sparge. I have a digital controller for it. During the dunk sparge I turn the urn off and open the bag and pump with the potato masher type paint stirrer. Gets a good mix. I don't turn the urn on. To be honest i've never measured temp drop during this part.

 

[cam89brewer]

Does any one add water after boil to achieve their desired gravity and volume or is it a bad idea?

 

[Spork]

I haven't, but if you had lower volume and higher gravity than you wanted I can't see a problem doing so. Of course you would boil the water first.

 

[Deebo]

Does any one add water after boil to achieve their desired gravity and volume or is it a bad idea?

Would be better to pour water throught the bag before the boil to get some extra sugars out, adding after will just water the beer down.

 

[Phoney]

I haven't, but if you had lower volume and higher gravity than you wanted I can't see a problem doing so. Of course you would boil the water first.

I do it occasionally if I've over boiled.

I don't see the point in boiling the water first tho. I figure you don't boil water that you add to kits, so why would you for topping up an AG? All that would achieve is making your wort too hot to pitch the yeast into.

 

[OneEye]

I put down my 4th AG yesterday. I've been really happy with the way things have turned out and have made some really good beers! Just trying to refine things a little further and one thing thats bugging me at the moment is my efficiency. I seem to only be hitting ~60%. I'm doing BIAB in a 40L urn. Hitting all my temps fine. have tried a 60 and a 90 min mash and have employed the Bribie 'pressinator' method for squeezing all the sweetness out of the bag. What else could i, should I be doing to increase my efficiency? I'm thinking I could remove the grains and put them into a bucket inside a bucket (similiat to Bribies new Bucket in a Urn) as a makeshift Lauter Tun and sparge with some hot water. Could even turn the urn tap on and pour the wort over the grains to clear up the wort? Sound ridiculous?

 

[MarkBastard]

How are you measuring your 60%?

 

[OneEye]

I use Beersmith. I take measurements (temp corrected) pre and post boil. Have set it up for my equipment also (evaporation rates and such) As a result of the low efficiency I'm obviously always undershooting my SG

 

[MarkBastard]

Is it 60% brewhouse efficiency (into fermenter) though? 60% brewhouse efficiency isn't THAT bad. I get between 65 and 70% BIAB stock standard with no sparge or mashout, lots of squeezing.

 

[Phoney]

I use Beersmith. I take measurements (temp corrected) pre and post boil. Have set it up for my equipment also (evaporation rates and such) As a result of the low efficiency I'm obviously always undershooting my SG

When you set your batch size - that includes your 2-3L of kettle trub and 1L of fermenter trub. So for a 23L batch, expect to end up with with 19 - 20L in the keg or bottles. If you are ending up with 23L in the bottle/keg, you're really doing a 26L batch and if you only have enough grain for a 23L batch then certainly your efficiency will be around 60%.

It's a trap for young players.

 

[technoicon]

what helps my eff. is having a smaller pot with some 75 degree water in it. then i just put the bag into this at mash out. sit for 10 mins. then put this into my kettle.

 

[MarkBastard]

When you set your batch size - that includes your 2-3L of kettle trub and 1L of fermenter trub. So for a 23L batch, expect to end up with with 19 - 20L in the keg or bottles. If you are ending up with 23L in the bottle/keg, you're really doing a 26L batch and if you only have enough grain for a 23L batch then certainly your efficiency will be around 60%.

It's a trap for young players.

I'm pretty sure it depends on the way you set BeerSmith up.

 

[OneEye]

When you set your batch size - that includes your 2-3L of kettle trub and 1L of fermenter trub. So for a 23L batch, expect to end up with with 19 - 20L in the keg or bottles. If you are ending up with 23L in the bottle/keg, you're really doing a 26L batch and if you only have enough grain for a 23L batch then certainly your efficiency will be around 60%.

It's a trap for young players.

Even though when your hover over that field it says 'The estimated batch size of this recipe, as measured into the fermenter'? I thought Beersmith calculated the losses to trub and accounted for that

 

[MarkBastard]

Even though when your hover over that field it says 'The estimated batch size of this recipe, as measured into the fermenter'? I thought Beersmith calculated the losses to trub and accounted for that

Yeah I use mine as fermenter volume.

I tip 20L of beer from my cube into my fermenter then I plug 20L into the batch size on BeerSmith, then adjust the brewhouse efficiency until the measured OG is the same as the estimated OG. That's how I work out my brewhouse efficiency.

 

[felten]

I set my batch size in beersmith to the end of boil volume, with trub losses at 0. I find the program still has problems with various outputs tied in with batch size.

 

[OneEye]

Yeah I use mine as fermenter volume.

I tip 20L of beer from my cube into my fermenter then I plug 20L into the batch size on BeerSmith, then adjust the brewhouse efficiency until the measured OG is the same as the estimated OG. That's how I work out my brewhouse efficiency.

Sounds like a plan... I might try this. Still... gotta love this hobby. Always something new to learn

 

[QldKev]

When I do single brews I find the easiest way to up the efficiency is a basic sparge

In the second pic here
http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...showtopic=30483
I have a tub draining the wort into it.

What I do now is have a cake rack sitting in the tub,
Brew the main batch about 4L less vol
dump the bag onto the tub (on top of the cake rack)
open the bag up
pour the 4L litres of sparge water through it (often I just use tap temp water, aka hose sparge)
and add runnings back to main pot.

I hit 75% consistently, and the sparge operation can happen while your main pot is coming up to the boil, so it's not adding time to the brew day.

QldKev

 

[stux]

Even though when your hover over that field it says 'The estimated batch size of this recipe, as measured into the fermenter'? I thought Beersmith calculated the losses to trub and accounted for that

BeerSmith batchsize is volume into fermenter so account for chiller and kettle losses, but not fermenter losses.

likewise brewhouse efficiency in beersmith is based on the batchsize into fermenter and og

65-75% would be what I would expect into the fermenter... basically depending on how much of your kettle losses you salvage and how much break you pass on into the fermenter

 

[felten]

If i set my BS2 batch size to 25L, 0 trub loss everything calculates out as I expect it. but if I change it to 20L batch size, 5L trub loss it throws the gravity and efficiency out of whack.


[edit] I just realised setting it up like that is the difference between end of boil eff and into the fermenter eff. I am slow today.