First BIAB

[calobes]

Hey guys,
I've done plenty of K&K and a couple of extracts/partials but now I want to try an AG (after tasting a few AG vs. my extracts), I thought it might be a bit early in my brewers life to give it a go but I thought **** it i'll give it a crack.

I'm keen to try Dr Smurtos Golden Ale after everyone ranting about it but im halving it. So a 10L brew in a 19L pot. A few questions (some might seem fairly obvious but I wanna play it safe).

1. Am I correct in saying that a half size brew means halve all the ingredients? Including whirlfloc tabs?

2. A mash temp of 66*c would mean a strike temp of about 70*c?

3. If I do end up with less than 10L can I top up water in fermenter like I do extracts?

4. Mash out is 78*c, do I just bring the water to that temp and then sparge (or squeeze) the grains or use the sparge water to bring the temp up? I mean does the water have to sit at mash out temp for any period of time?

I relize all of these questions have been answered before and I have done research but I still would like some advice from you AG pro's.

Thanks Guys

EDIT: Deleted a few questions thanks to beer mate

 

[calobes]

Sorry peeps, just plugged the recipe into beer mate using all grain for the first time and it had all the water volumes needed etc. Is beermate usually pretty accurate with that stuff?

 

[Diggs]

As long as you have your equipment right it should be.

 

[calobes]

Sweet thanks diggs.

Been researching all night but I still have one thing I cant figure out.

The calculations automatically done in beer mate account for a water loss due to grain absorption of .60 L/Kg. Does this take into account squeezing the grains or do I need to lower this? It just seems like a fairly huge number.

It's telling me that total water required for mash is 26L and I'll end up with 23.5L pre boil (mashing 4.25kg of grain). Would I lose 2.5L of water if I squeezed the grains? Or should I just let the grain bag drain naturally?

Any help on this one is much appreciated.

EDIT Sorry everyone, just to avoid confusion. I know I stated I'm doing a half batch in my first post but I decided just to go full batch, hence the larger grain bill and water volume in this post. Cheers

 

[620rossco]

I use BIABcus as a spreadsheet.
Especially useful because it is designed specifically for BIAB.
The figures you are looking for are calculated.
We did a 28litre batch of this recipe yesterday and hit all of the numbers.
Can't help with the grain squeeze because we use a colander and do a sparge.

Rossco

 

[crowmanz]

I just did my first BIAB yesterday same recipe, did it across 2x19L big w pots. Was pretty close to hitting my numbers but didn't worry too much about being slightly off. Sparged with a colander over a bucket.

 

[Diggs]

I sparge and squeeze the bag, I have not seen much in the way of efficiency increase so I am questioning its worth (especially the sparge).
That being said I would still class myself as a novice BIABer with only about 10 brews done.

 

[The Village Idiot]

Yes half the ingredients .
Use Brewmate, it is a very good free program, just adjust the default settings to BIAB and to suit you volumes etc.
I always found that even with squeezing the bag that grain absorption was about .9l/kg of grain(and burnt hands) I always aimed to end up with a little extra wort.
Don't worry about mash out temp/sparging for the first few at least. Just mash, drain, squeeze and boil. Efficiency will be low 60's.
The main thing is to measure everthing, record and learn.

 

[calobes]

Thanks fellas. All the help is much appreciated.

Yes half the ingredients .
Use Brewmate, it is a very good free program, just adjust the default settings to BIAB and to suit you volumes etc.
I always found that even with squeezing the bag that grain absorption was about .9l/kg of grain(and burnt hands) I always aimed to end up with a little extra wort.
Don't worry about mash out temp/sparging for the first few at least. Just mash, drain, squeeze and boil. Efficiency will be low 60's.
The main thing is to measure everthing, record and learn.

Thanks mate, I'll take your advice and won't sparge. Me thinks this will be a steep learning curve.

I'll post my results in a few weeks when I brew it.

 

[fletcher]

i agree. don't bother sparging. if using software, check what the pre-boil volume is. when you pull your bag out, squeeze it until you reach the pre-boil volume. don't bother adding more wort or it will throw out your volumes/numbers. keep track of all your numbers too, your gravities, boil off rates and volumes etc then for future batches, you'll know exactly what your system gets so you won't have to worry about it.

 

[RdeVjun]

WRT a Sparge step in BIAB processes, it has been shown to be helpful where the kettle volume is limited with respect to the brew length/ ferment volume. With the 19L pot this will obviously be the case for a 23L ferment, it can and has been done, becoming known as MaxiBIAB.
However, before suggesting this, I do recommend novices complete a simple stock BIAB process first, aka MiniBIAB and settle on the lesser volume first. While MaxiBIAB isn't overly complex, it is important to become comfortable with the simplest BIAB process first, accepting the lower ferment volume, otherwise disappointment is quite likely, that's the last thing novice BIABers need. The guides for these methods are on biabrewer.info .
As an aside, there has been a lot of quite repetitive debate concerning the merit of a Sparge step in BIAB, what I would suggest is that it brings no small benefit in particular circumstances, i.e. limited kettle volume such as MaxiBIAB, that process just wouldn't be effective without a Sparge step, whereas for other BIAB flavours, perhaps it is not worthwhile. Sweeping generalisations such as the suggestion that a Sparge step has no place in BIAB just isn't helpful IMO.

 

[calobes]

WRT a Sparge step in BIAB processes, it has been shown to be helpful where the kettle volume is limited with respect to the brew length/ ferment volume. With the 19L pot this will obviously be the case for a 23L ferment, it can and has been done, becoming known as MaxiBIAB.
However, before suggesting this, I do recommend novices complete a simple stock BIAB process first, aka MiniBIAB and settle on the lesser volume first. While MaxiBIAB isn't overly complex, it is important to become comfortable with the simplest BIAB process first, accepting the lower ferment volume, otherwise disappointment is quite likely, that's the last thing novice BIABers need. The guides for these methods are on biabrewer.info .
As an aside, there has been a lot of quite repetitive debate concerning the merit of a Sparge step in BIAB, what I would suggest is that it brings no small benefit in particular circumstances, i.e. limited kettle volume such as MaxiBIAB, that process just wouldn't be effective without a Sparge step, whereas for other BIAB flavours, perhaps it is not worthwhile. Sweeping generalisations such as the suggestion that a Sparge step has no place in BIAB just isn't helpful IMO.

Hey, thanks for the info mate.I'll definitely look into maxibiab. But you're right I will just be using my 19L pots this round. TBH I somehow doubt I'll be doing much extract brewing after I try this so I was thinking of upgrading to a 40L pot and getting a four ring burner. Which obviously I'll have to build a dedicated stand for

Thanks for the advice

 

[abe max]

TBH I somehow doubt I'll be doing much extract brewing after I try this so I was thinking of upgrading to a 40L pot and getting a four ring burner. Which obviously I'll have to build a dedicated stand for

I'll be heading to BIAB soon enough using a 40 ltr pot and one of these http://www.ibrew.com.au/products/high-pressure-lpg-propane-burner-stand-and-regulator

Good luck with the brew!

 

[calobes]

TBH I somehow doubt I'll be doing much extract brewing after I try this so I was thinking of upgrading to a 40L pot and getting a four ring burner. Which obviously I'll have to build a dedicated stand for
I'll be heading to BIAB soon enough using a 40 ltr pot and one of these http://www.ibrew.com.au/products/high-pressure-lpg-propane-burner-stand-and-regulator

Good luck with the brew!

Thankd mate I hadn't seen that one yet. Looks good, ill probably get that one. Have you used or seen one in use before?