High Gravity BIAB'ing

[cke11y]

Hi knowledgable folks.

I've been looking everywhere this morning for info on calculating high gravity BIAB brewing.

I am wondering if the following would be feasible:

I want to brew about 10 Cornys of beer for my wedding in May. In order for it to be fresh (primarily will be a pale ale recipe I have nailed) I want to brew the majority about 4 weeks out.

I BIAB in a 46L pot - just enough for a single 'corny-ish' size 19-23L brew.

I enjoy brewing, but I enjoy the variation in brewing something different every time, I don't fancy brewing the same thing 8 times straight, and spending a good 40 hours doing so.

Can I brew some intensely high gravity wort, then dilute with some nice clean water and brew maybe 60L in a go???? For example 15L of water in my pot, and like 30Kg of grains? I understand efficiency will be AWFUL, but the cost is not what worries me - I just want friends and family to enjoy my beer at the festivities....

Could anyone point me in the direction of somewhere I may be able to obtain assistance with the calculations I might require if this is possible???

Thanks in advance !

 

[stux]

Not sure if you'll be able to do a triple batch in a 46L pot. You can do 2.5 tho.

The limit is when your efficiency reaches less than 50%, so each gram you add at that point will reduce your beer amount!

Best to aim for 40L and use a dunk sparge in another pot. Will work quite well, and I've done it dozens of times in a 50L pot.

What are the dimensions of your pot and your boil off? I have a calculator which can be used to work it out.

 

[wynnum1]

Get some more equipment changing how you brew may stuff it up .

 

[Mardoo]

If you want to do this I definitely recommend listening to the Brewing Network High Gravity series. Great advice. IIRC from the show, the highest gravity you can get from a single mash is roughly 1.080. That's pre-boil, without adding any sugars or malt extracts. However you can add those, or even re-mash the wort you've just finished, according to the show. Or make a big lot and boil the hell out of it, if you like the flavors that result from doing that.

Having only done a few high gravity mashes I'm not the best source for experienced info in this regard. What I said above squares with my experience, except I haven't tried re-mashing. I'm more just passing on a source I've been using as I learn. Here's the link for the shows:

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/Brew-Strong/search/high+gravity

 

[BungBrew]

I have successfully completed a BIAB RIS, 50L pot and reached 1.105 OG with 16L in the fermenter.

 

[Mardoo]

Is that post-boil BungBrew?

 

[BungBrew]

Post boil I think was about 17L (at flameout) with it being around 16L @ 20 deg C

 

[BungBrew]

I'll dig up the malt bill later if you like, but from memory was around 9kg malt with no extract added.

 

[yankinoz]

Doing 40 or so L should be no problem unless you're aiming for high starting og in the fermenters. Sixty might be a stretch uless you're doing low-gravity milds or bitters.

I make batches of 19 --23 L in a 24L mash/brew kettle, using BIAB, ending up with starting gravities of 1.044 to 1.055, doing all grain or using additions of 100-200g DME. So my experience is equivalent to your using your kettle to start 2 x 23L.

I mash with no more than 13L of water and then dunk sparge with 6 or 7L of water at 77. I squeeze the bag out of the kettle, move the bag around in the sparge water, but then drain without squeezing. Keep the pH down. Mash efficiencies are generally about 90%. Really.

I start the kettle as high as possible without boilover, boil down to 16 or 17L, use water near freezing to drop the temp quickly down to 79, do a hop stand at that temp for a while before chilling. Obviously for batches over 21L I also add water to the fermenter.

There is a small IBU sacrifice because of wort concentration.

 

[Bribie G]

What style are you going to brew? I have a 40L urn and have been cranking out double corny batches all Summer using my 60L fermenter.

Basically it's about 7kg of malt plus a tinny of Coopers. For a pale ale I'd use a tin of something very bland such as Canadian, or for an APA style I'd chuck in a tin of Aussie Pale Ale.

Very little kit twang and the efficiency is pretty good with a small side sparge. As a long time urn user and occasional "over gravity then dilute" brewer I'd say that's about the best you are going to get out of your system without massive feckin' around, without upgrading to bigger pot. If you are prepared to throw lots of money at it, probably best to invest in a new pot rather than buy heaps of excess grain.

 

[Alex.Tas]

Dunno your location so can't tell if this may be feasible, but you may be able to approach a small micro brewery, and i mean micro... and brew up a batch on their system (for a fee obviously) and then fill up 10x nochill cubes. Advantages as i see it:

1. As it isn't alcoholic there shouldn't be any licensing restrictions on this either.
2. brew 200L of wort that is as identical as you can reasonably expect
3. Given enough notice they may even order your grain for you with their next order saving you some dollaz.
4. A predictable outcome - They may share their predicted system efficiency, so you could scale one of your recipes to suit their system, which would be easier than guessing the outcome of making high gravity brews on your current one.
5. bit of fun brewing on a new system

No idea if this option has been done before, but may be easier than mucking around with terrible efficiency.

I've made high gravity brews on my BIAB setup and it was fun and challenging, but not something i would want to do multiple times in a row.

 

[indica86]

With a sparge on a recent brew I had 33 litre of wort @ 1062 pre boil. Using this http://www.brewersfriend.com/dilution-and-boiloff-gravity-calculator/ when diluted to 60 litres it is 1034.
That was 7 kg of grain BIAB in a 40 litre Urn.
Chuck in some DME maybe?

 

[Phoney]

Dunno your location so can't tell if this may be feasible, but you may be able to approach a small micro brewery, and i mean micro... and brew up a batch on their system (for a fee obviously) and then fill up 10x nochill cubes.

By the time you go out and buy 10x cubes you may as well buy a 70L pot with element and then knock out 5 double batches.

 

[Bribie G]

As the man says.

 

[Tahoose]

The other option is ask on the forum if there is a homebrewer near you who can help you out. Who knows for a couple of choice commercial beers and the promise of a cube/ keg in the future, I'm sure somebody can help you out...

 

[Markbeer]

Your getting married. Ask your wife to help you make the beer. Brew every night you have free.

If she doesnt want to help then tell her u wont get married.

This will be the last argument u ever will win.