Biab Recipe Help?

[jakester]

I have decided that BIAB is the way to go for my brewing and am currently searching for the right gear so we can brew doubles. I have been reading as many posts on here as i can as well as the guides but i for some reason cannot work out how you guys formulate your recipes for the BIAB method. Do you use the spreadsheets to help or still use Beersmith(which i do have)?
For example how do you know how much water you need to mash in? I want to know so i can finally decide on what size pot i will go for as well as formulating some recipes when i do get my gear.
Sorry if its a dumb question, as i said i understand the brewing process but this recipe formulation is killing me!

 

[Bribie G]

Most BIABBERS (is that an English word?) go for basically the same beer quantity and recipes per brew as three vessel brewers, except of course the initial water (liquor) addition. So at this stage don't worry about having to reformulate recipes. If you see a recipe on the forum that you are interested in trying, say:

4000 Maris otter
500 Munich
60 Dark Crystal
...............................
etc etc etc

Then just go for it without modification. However to work out how much liquor to add first up, here's a handy calculator from Thirsty Boy: one of the fathers of BIAB:

View attachment Equipment_Set_Up_Volumes__1_.xls

Personally I would tend to add a couple of extra litres, as I like to do a longer boil. Don't worry, as you get more in tune with the method you'll just know when the level is correct in your pot or urn. At the end of the day it's best to err on the side of a tad less liquid, you can always top up with an electric kettle full if necessary during the boil.
Also some BIAB ers do a sparge in a bucket which introduces more liquor into the boil. Again if you go that route, don't worry, after a while it will become second nature. That's why brewing is a true craft :icon_cheers: :icon_cheers:

 

[katzke]

I have decided that BIAB is the way to go for my brewing and am currently searching for the right gear so we can brew doubles. I have been reading as many posts on here as i can as well as the guides but i for some reason cannot work out how you guys formulate your recipes for the BIAB method. Do you use the spreadsheets to help or still use Beersmith(which i do have)?
For example how do you know how much water you need to mash in? I want to know so i can finally decide on what size pot i will go for as well as formulating some recipes when i do get my gear.
Sorry if its a dumb question, as i said i understand the brewing process but this recipe formulation is killing me!

Fun subject.

The easy answer is any recipe will work.

The real answer is you need to know your software and system. Once you know you can make almost any recipe work. I say almost because some people do not give enough info or wrong info and you need to make some guesses.

This was one of my first questions and I found out that for a given volume of beer you will be close when using some one elses recipe. Efficiency is one thing to watch for. Also some people give incorrect volumes. They say you can get a final volume out of an unrealistic wort volume.

As to how much water follow the good advice given in many of the threads or use the BIAB spread sheet. Not all the software out there will allow you to make adjustments to grain absorption so you may always need to make water calculations by hand.

Hope this helps some. I know others will give advice for BeerSmith usage.

 

[WarmBeer]

PistolPatch, one of the (other) fathers of BIAB, has a very comprehensive spreadsheet that explains each step in the volume calculation.

Here's the linky to the forum post containing the Excel spreadsheet

 

[under]

BribieG. Isnt that setup Volume designed for Urns???

Trying not to take over this thread but I also have a few questions. Im using a 50L keg, with a Italian Spiral burner (med reg).

My questions when looking at this spreadsheet (only the red values we can change)

BrewLength - Set at 23 for me
Fermenter Trub - Set at 2 in red. What should I use?
Kettle trub - Set at 0. There shouldn't be any right?
Boil length - Ive set to 90 min
Evap per hour - Currently set at 4, but I think a Keg will evap more????????
Grain bill - Obviously recipe dependant

Argh.

 

[jakester]

Bingo! Just what i wanted to know. As i said i have been reading the guide but have not yet seen those links. Plenty of stuff to read through. Thanks heaps.
And yeah i agree you have to get used to your individual set up as i have been doing a sort of BIAB for around a year now. I use a plastic tub lined with insulation as my mash tun with the bag in, then syphon to a 20l pot and boil. I am only now starting to understand my own setup and what works best (sparging etc).
Once again, Cheers for the help!

 

[crundle]

BribieG. Isnt that setup Volume designed for Urns???

Trying not to take over this thread but I also have a few questions. Im using a 50L keg, with a Italian Spiral burner (med reg).

My questions when looking at this spreadsheet (only the red values we can change)

BrewLength - Set at 23 for me
Fermenter Trub - Set at 2 in red. What should I use?
Kettle trub - Set at 0. There shouldn't be any right?
Boil length - Ive set to 90 min
Evap per hour - Currently set at 4, but I think a Keg will evap more????????
Grain bill - Obviously recipe dependant

Argh.

Brewlength correct
fermenter trub is about right for what I experience
kettle trub - this might need to go up a bit, I work on about 2 litres, but have got it lower by using a syphon tube after whirfloc and whirlpooling
boil length is about right, but if you give the gas a good workout you will only need 60 minutes
evap per hour should be around 15% per hour for gas. for my modded urn I get about 10-12. If you go a bit overboard, you can always add more water to make it back up to the target volume you are after.
grain bill - for about 5kg of grain I aim for 30 litres of water to start with, but my evap is a bit lower than you are likely to get with gas.

it is all good fun, best thing is to jump in and get a few brews under the belt, and take good notes of everything you do, they are invaluable later on for tweaking your system or problem solving!

cheers,

Crundle

 

[Phoney]

kettle trub - this might need to go up a bit, I work on about 2 litres, but have got it lower by using a syphon tube after whirfloc and whirlpooling

After whirfloc and whirpooling etc I pour out the entire contents of my urn into the no-chill cube, down to the last drop....

Am I doing something wrong?

 

[crundle]

After whirfloc and whirpooling etc I pour out the entire contents of my urn into the no-chill cube, down to the last drop....

Am I doing something wrong?

Nah, I used to do it that way myself, but of late I have been finding it easier to use a syphon instead of the tap on the urn, so I can tilt the urn at the end of syphoning and get a very clear wort into my cubes.

I never had any issues with hot break material, and it makes sense to minimise losses if there is no flavour issue by taking everything you can from the urn.

It's all good....

Crundle