Mash Times

[ashley_leask]

So I did two more BIAB brews (Friday night and today), a Wit first then an APA today. On both of these I had to extend the mash to 90 mins to get the pre boil SG I had targeted. The first one is probably because I have had the cracked grain on hand (vac sealed) since mid Jan so that may have suffered a bit. Even with the extra mash time, I still only ended up at 1.043 rather than 1.047 into the fermenter. For the 2nd batch the grain is fresh this week, I did get right on target at 1.050 post boil though. Both were 67-68 degree mashes, losing a degree or so over the first hour. How do others go with this? Going to try giving a stir at 20 and 40 mins next time and see if that makes a difference in being able to get conversion in the first 60m.

I'm using a Crown urn, I'd like to know how much other Crown users are leaving in the urn? I'm leaving 5 odd litres each time, but can't take more than that out without stirring up the break. Using a 1/2 whirfloc tablet each time, and letting it rest for 20m covered. Are there any tricks to making that break collect a bit more compactly?

Cheers everyone,

Ash.

 

[Bada Bing Brewery]

Hello AA

I whirlpool the crap out of it after the boil and then let it sit for 15-20 minutes. So far this has worked well gelling the break into one large mass ..... I use whirlfoc too. I have a pot and use an ezi siphon (GB) and it works a treat. I can move the siphon around to avoid the break....

I'm envious - I cant brew till the weekend ...

Cheers
BBB

 

[Acasta]

Are you sparging? I find, and many others recommend, that 2 sparges is the most efficient way to extract the sugar. Mashing for longer wont give you a higher SG reading, although incomplete conversion will.
Can't help with the urn sorry.

 

[Phoney]

No need to sparge with BIAB. You should be doing a mashout, however. Ie: Turn the urn back on and constantly stir the wort until it reaches 77/78C - and then hoist the bag.

 

[Acasta]

You think so phoney? I found a great increase in eff when adding a could of sparges, have you tried? I also BIAB. Then again YMMV.

 

[Bada Bing Brewery]

I've never sparged (didnt think that was a BIAB technique ???) I do mashout regularly though as phoney says.

 

[ashley_leask]

Not sparging, but do the mashout stirring to 78.

Acasta, how do do the sparge?

 

[beerdrinkingbob]

I BIAB and sparge twice in a 20 litre bucket with about 6 litres of water each time. It does increase your efficiency but it looses the true essence of BIAB, quick and easy. My efficiency issues were caused by a small pot, so was a needed at the time. I now use an esky but I'm not a fan of getting the wet grain out of the tun :blink:

 

[kevin_smevin]

So I did two more BIAB brews (Friday night and today), a Wit first then an APA today. On both of these I had to extend the mash to 90 mins to get the pre boil SG I had targeted. The first one is probably because I have had the cracked grain on hand (vac sealed) since mid Jan so that may have suffered a bit. Even with the extra mash time, I still only ended up at 1.043 rather than 1.047 into the fermenter. For the 2nd batch the grain is fresh this week, I did get right on target at 1.050 post boil though. Both were 67-68 degree mashes, losing a degree or so over the first hour. How do others go with this? Going to try giving a stir at 20 and 40 mins next time and see if that makes a difference in being able to get conversion in the first 60m.

I'm using a Crown urn, I'd like to know how much other Crown users are leaving in the urn? I'm leaving 5 odd litres each time, but can't take more than that out without stirring up the break. Using a 1/2 whirfloc tablet each time, and letting it rest for 20m covered. Are there any tricks to making that break collect a bit more compactly?

Cheers everyone,

Ash.

You'll find that adding Ca to your mash will improve your efficiency (and clarity of your wort). Use 50-100ppm in your mash as either CaCl or CaSO4 - CaCl accentuates malt character and CaSO4 accentuates hop bitterness - often nice too use a balance of both. My efficiency improved dramatically when i started to use the right amount of Ca.

 

[Steve@PMF82]

I have found i prefer sparging with BIAB, using the 19L pots.

I have done equal amounts of brews now - using the "true " BIAB style one pot 5 - 6 L / kg of grain, with a mashout.

Compared to mashing in at 2.8 - 3L / kg, then doing a dunk sparge at mash out temps in a second pot.

I have much better efficiency with the second method.

 

[brando]

You'll find that adding Ca to your mash will improve your efficiency (and clarity of your wort). Use 50-100ppm in your mash as either CaCl or CaSO4 - CaCl accentuates malt character and CaSO4 accentuates hop bitterness - often nice too use a balance of both. My efficiency improved dramatically when i started to use the right amount of Ca.

Is it the actual calcium that is improving your efficiency, or the reduced pH resulting from the mineral additions that is doing it?

 

[kevin_smevin]

Is it the actual calcium that is improving your efficiency, or the reduced pH resulting from the mineral additions that is doing it?

Its the Calcium. Ca provides thermal protection for and enhances the action of a and b amylase. My pH was pretty good before this

 

[flano]

I BIAB in the 19 ltr pots with imersion element.

Latest and easiest version is no mash out and no hanging of bag.
I use the old wire rack method....and sparge in 6 ltrs of 75-ish dgrs .

heaps less mess ....ie boiling hot sticky wort flicking everywhere when the bag is being hung.

I don't take any hyrdo measurements during the process.

so far it has all tasted great and got me pissed.

I have heaps of cans and bottled beer left over from a fishing trip in the fridge at home but don't even bother drinking it.

I prefer my home brew.

.......one other thing .
I think I prefer my beer to be cloudy.....It may be all in my mind but I think it tastes better cloudy.

 

[Phoney]

You think so phoney? I found a great increase in eff when adding a could of sparges, have you tried? I also BIAB. Then again YMMV.

Yep. Many times. Sparging is necessary for me when the grain is over 7kgs as i've only got a 40L urn and grain bills larger than that simply wont fit with ~33L of water.

However generally in BIAB there is no need to sparge. (Thirstyboy's opinion, not mine)

 

[Thirsty Boy]

There is no harm in sparging either though.

You should be able to get 75% efficiency (measured at post boil) or better with Plain simple BIAB, no sparge. Perhaps a little less if you dont bother with a stirred ramp to mashout temps. If you are regularly getting less than 70% on normal strength brews; then something is wrong. Your bag, your crush, your pH, your technique... Something.

In my book, 70+% is good enough. I would not bother with extra effort to do better than that. And thats what sparging a BIAB is, extra effort, extra gear, extra complexity.... And virtually the whole point of BIAB is to keep it simple and uncomplicated. Why spoil that chasing a few points of efficiency?

If you want to sparge though - its not like its going to hurt anything. Read the threads about oversparging, dont do any of the stuff that causes it and go for your life.

But - if you need to sparge to get decent efficiency with BIAB.... Then low efficiency is not your problem, low efficiency is the thing that is letting you know you have a problem. Track that problem down, eliminate it, and you efficiency will go up to the levels it should be at.

TB

 

[Bribie G]

I get far better break "clotting" and more compact trub in the urn by using Brewbrite (available from Mark's Home Brew shop and maybe other outlets) - it seems to "shock" the wort almost instantly. Then I let it settle for around 20 mins. Also by collecting a couple of litres of the cloudy stuff at the end of the draining, into sterilized jars, I glean a litre of clear stuff overnight to use in a starter. All up I reckon I lose around 2 litres to trub. 5 litres sounds excessive - I'm sure you could retrieve up to a couple of litres out of that.
If you can't get BrewBrite then maybe try another floccer like Koppafloc and see if that helps.

 

[Acasta]

There is no harm in sparging either though.

You should be able to get 75% efficiency (measured at post boil) or better with Plain simple BIAB, no sparge. Perhaps a little less if you dont bother with a stirred ramp to mashout temps. If you are regularly getting less than 70% on normal strength brews; then something is wrong. Your bag, your crush, your pH, your technique... Something.

In my book, 70+% is good enough. I would not bother with extra effort to do better than that. And thats what sparging a BIAB is, extra effort, extra gear, extra complexity.... And virtually the whole point of BIAB is to keep it simple and uncomplicated. Why spoil that chasing a few points of efficiency?

If you want to sparge though - its not like its going to hurt anything. Read the threads about oversparging, dont do any of the stuff that causes it and go for your life.

But - if you need to sparge to get decent efficiency with BIAB.... Then low efficiency is not your problem, low efficiency is the thing that is letting you know you have a problem. Track that problem down, eliminate it, and you efficiency will go up to the levels it should be at.

TB

Interesting. My efficiency has been all over the place lately. I think its mainly from lowering batch size and going to one sparge and then having to mess around a bit with extra water, basically changing my whole technique.
Im considering trying no-sparge full volume mash and see how it goes and what eff i get.

 

[ashley_leask]

I get far better break "clotting" and more compact trub in the urn by using Brewbrite (available from Mark's Home Brew shop and maybe other outlets) - it seems to "shock" the wort almost instantly. Then I let it settle for around 20 mins. Also by collecting a couple of litres of the cloudy stuff at the end of the draining, into sterilized jars, I glean a litre of clear stuff overnight to use in a starter. All up I reckon I lose around 2 litres to trub. 5 litres sounds excessive - I'm sure you could retrieve up to a couple of litres out of that.
If you can't get BrewBrite then maybe try another floccer like Koppafloc and see if that helps.

I'm going to try the whirlpool suggestion from earlier next time I brew, up until now I just let it sit after flameout. If that doesn't improve things I'll take a look at a different kettle floccer, or maybe just using a 1/4 tablet of Whirfloc and see if collects a bit more densely.

This is what it looks like btw, still slightly above tap level in the Crown urn.

 

[ashley_leask]

There is no harm in sparging either though.

You should be able to get 75% efficiency (measured at post boil) or better with Plain simple BIAB, no sparge. Perhaps a little less if you dont bother with a stirred ramp to mashout temps. If you are regularly getting less than 70% on normal strength brews; then something is wrong. Your bag, your crush, your pH, your technique... Something.

In my book, 70+% is good enough. I would not bother with extra effort to do better than that. And thats what sparging a BIAB is, extra effort, extra gear, extra complexity.... And virtually the whole point of BIAB is to keep it simple and uncomplicated. Why spoil that chasing a few points of efficiency?

If you want to sparge though - its not like its going to hurt anything. Read the threads about oversparging, dont do any of the stuff that causes it and go for your life.

But - if you need to sparge to get decent efficiency with BIAB.... Then low efficiency is not your problem, low efficiency is the thing that is letting you know you have a problem. Track that problem down, eliminate it, and you efficiency will go up to the levels it should be at.

TB

I'm getting to 70%, that's what I use in my recipes but feel like I've got to work a bit to get there with extra stirring when I check at 60m, find out I'm short of target OG and then mash for another 30m. The bag I'm using is the big CB (not voile) bag, how much difference does the bag material make?

 

[rafael.liba]

Hello people, excese me for out question, but i don't know another way to arrive you, i'm from Brazil and came to Australian some days ago to improve my english, and in Brazil i'm craft beer like you, and i'd like to know someone to learn more about australian beer.

I'm liveng im Como now, the Bessel Ave Street, if someone lives close and gonna do some beer next weekend i'll be very happy to know!

you can send me an e-mail to [email protected]

tks