Increasing BIAB efficiency.

[falcon250]

G'day All,

I have recently started using the biab method and am finding that my efficiency is around 60 %, are there any tips or suggestions that others can give to try and increase efficiency?.

My gear consists of:
40 lt Crown urn with concealed element
12" False bottom (to keep bag off the element)
Bag purchased from Grain & Grape
Plastic mash paddle.

Wort is vigorously stirred throughout the mash.

Cheers.

 

[Camo6]

How fine is your crush?
Do you do a mashout?
Do you squeeze the bag?
Do you check mash ph?
How long do you mash for?
Have you read the biab threads?

Sorry for all the questions but there's a few variables at play.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

How are you measuring your efficiency?
Pre boil? Post boil? Into fermenter? Into packaging?

 

[timmi9191]

How accurate is your thermometer? Do you ensure no dough balls at mash in? What is your water to grain ratio? What is your grain bill?

 

[troopa]

Angry, sounds like your in my boat
Been BIABing for years. Gave it away for a year now back into and hitting solid 60% at end

Answer the questions above to help with getting the numbers up
The only one i can think of to help raise the numbers is to dunk sparge the bag .. i think from memory i was hitting high 70s with a low 80 here and there
Its just not worth the effort in the end. I barely squeeze the bags these days.. So lazy

 

[stakka82]

With BIAB I found these two things got my efficiency to low 70's every time, and low 80's with a mashout dunk in another pot (if/when I can be bothered, which is rarely these days):

1. Mill to flour
2. Be totally anal about doughballs when mashing in. I use a 5 buck plastic potato masher which is perfect for breaking them up.

Also don't exceed the capacity of your mash vessel, too much grain in too little volume will see a vast reduction in efficiency and offset any increase in OG you may have expected with extra grain.

 

[falcon250]

How fine is your crush? Grain cracked fairly well, but not completely to powder
Do you do a mashout? Yes, as per beersmith requirements 75c for 10 mins
Do you squeeze the bag? Yes, I remove the bag, place it in a veg collander then squeeze.
Do you check mash ph? No, what's the best way to do that?
How long do you mash for? 90 mins
Have you read the biab threads? Yes

Sorry for all the questions but there's a few variables at play.
Camo6 please see answers above, thanks for your questions.
Cheers.

 

[Camo6]

Cheers, Angry6. ( I knew a NZ girl who liked angry 6)
I wouldn't worry too much about mash PH just yet but it's something to consider if you fall to the darkside. Some simple PH strips can help you tell if your in the right range.
If you have the ability to crack your own grain I'd try crushing it a bit finer and seeing if that improves things.
Liam_snorkel raises a good point about calculating efficiency. Are you using brewing software to calculate and if so is your equipment and measuring devices accurate?
I seemed to have no troubles hitting 70-75% from memory by doing the same as above.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Sounds like you're doing everything right - when you mash out, do you pump/stir it all the way to mash out temp and then lift the bag?

also, are you hitting your expected volumes pre & post boil?

 

[recharge]

You really need to state where you are calculating your efficiency as stated. 60% into packaging is not too bad, 60% into kettle is not so good.

Rich

 

[roverfj1200]

Wort is vigorously stirred throughout the mash.

Why would you do this. I mash in cover with some old towels and zip the urn into a old sleeping bag and thats it till mash out..

 

[recharge]

I stir mine once at 30min then constantly whilst raising temp to mash out.

Rich

 

[roverfj1200]

Sometimes I feel we as brewers over think the process. This can cause us to tinker to much. I have a friend who just throws stuff together no spreadsheets or software. Just guesses. He makes some great beers.

So I guess I'm saying if you do something in your process ask yourself do I need to do it.

As with a mashout with BIAB. If you squeeze the bag I have found a mashout is of no point.

But in the end if it works...

 

[GABBA110360]

i'm fairly new a biab so in the beginning I didn't seem to get close enough to the numbers in the recipe i'm using cpa clone and nelson /s /summer ale.
the two things that seem to have got me spot on with the recipe numbers is using ph 5.2 and dunk sparging my bag.
I do 46l batches start with 62l drain 22 of into separate boiler mash in 40l squeeze out dunk rinse in the other preheated to mash temp 22l stirring up and squeezing again.
boil, cube at time for recipe.
SG measure when put in fermenter have been very good .
Gravity start and finish spot on with recipe for n/s/summer ale i'm happy
ken

 

[fletcher]

1. crush your grain to a flour 2. don't stir your mash 3. mashout if you like but i don't bother, or sparge. not needed 4. squeeze your bag until you get the estimated boil volume 5. make sure you boil off the right amount (trial and error) 6. expect efficiency to drop if brewing a big beer like an IPA or similar. i often add DME to the boil if i haven't hit my pre-boil gravity (not sure if that's correct but it always works for me).

 

[recharge]

My thinking with the mash out is you have to heat to those temps anyway so you may as well leave the bag in there. I don't rest at mash out temps just leave the heat going whilst I pull the bag and squeeze.

Rich

 

[fletcher]

My thinking with the mash out is you have to heat to those temps anyway so you may as well leave the bag in there. I don't rest at mash out temps just leave the heat going whilst I pull the bag and squeeze.

Rich

100%

 

[roverfj1200]

My thinking with the mash out is you have to heat to those temps anyway so you may as well leave the bag in there. I don't rest at mash out temps just leave the heat going whilst I pull the bag and squeeze.

Rich

Yes I have done brews with and without and found no real gain. I do however do a mash out and as you say turn on the heat and pull the bag as it passes the mashout temp. Most times throw in the first hops after I raise the bag as a kinda FWH..

Cheers

 

[falcon250]

You really need to state where you are calculating your efficiency as stated. 60% into packaging is not too bad, 60% into kettle is not so good.

Rich

G.day Rich,

I set the efficiency in beersmith to 60% which stated in the alcohol percentage to give me 5.9% a/v, I achieved this exactly so I figured it was pretty close.

 

[recharge]

G.day Rich,

I set the efficiency in beersmith to 60% which stated in the alcohol percentage to give me 5.9% a/v, I achieved this exactly so I figured it was pretty close.

I can't comment on beersmith as I don't use it. I use the Biabacus to calculate my beers and hit targets within a couple of points other than that I don't stress. I think the most important thing is to work out how your process works for you and adjust accordingly. So if you start following some tips above and your preboil gravity is going up then start adjusting your software to suit.

Rich