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philired1

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Hi All,
I need a bit of help with the BIAB spreadsheet.What do i set the factor for grain absorption and factor for strike temp at.I usually mash at around 68degrees. As i have a Big W 19l pot i do small batches. Normally around 10 - 12 liters. Most batches are in the range 2.6kg of grain and i normally aim for around the mid range for the style.I would like to go for 13-15 lts but not quite sure this can be done. As i no chill with a 11lt container i add to the fermentor when the wort has cooled down.

philired
 
Leave them at default for now.

Dont over think things too much. Just change the ferment volume to what you're aiming for so you can work out how much grain and hops you need to use, stick to a similar method you use now, you might just need to top up the mash a little, but you might not even need to do that.

Just make sure you use at least 3L/KG of water/grain in the mash.

You should be able to mash 3kg into about 10L (as a minimum without too much drama), sparge with another 5L (again, minimum) or so, boil it down to 11L.

You can then top it up in the fermenter to 15L and you should be getting around 4.8%ABV depending on your efficiency.

You only have to add around 400-500g more grain to do a 15L pale ale. Thats not that much more.


Another option if you want to do IPAs or even bigger batches is to do iterative mashing. Using this method you would essentially have two batches of grain, mash the first, then mash the second batch in the wort from the first batch.

For example, mash 3Kg of grain as above, then add another bag of 3kg of grain and mash again, then boil and cube. This would allow you to do a 20L batch at above 7%ABV.
 
Hi All,
I need a bit of help with the BIAB spreadsheet.What do i set the factor for grain absorption and factor for strike temp at.I usually mash at around 68degrees. As i have a Big W 19l pot i do small batches. Normally around 10 - 12 liters. Most batches are in the range 2.6kg of grain and i normally aim for around the mid range for the style.I would like to go for 13-15 lts but not quite sure this can be done. As i no chill with a 11lt container i add to the fermentor when the wort has cooled down.

philired

You can expect grain to absorb around 1 - 1.1L per kg. If doing full volume biab, your strike temp will be a few degrees above mash temp. If mashing in with less it may be much higher and all systems are different so you'll need to estimate, then tweak predictions based on actual results.

Measure your brews - temp, actual volume pre and post boil, tun and kettle losses, gravity at each stage, etc and use those figures for data to add to software.
 
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