Preparing my first BIAB

[Colliefish]

I've purchase this from The Malt Miller
https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/doom-b ... -all-grain

I've ordered this to do my first BIAB
http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/bia ... -2507.html

Ive read what brew toad said in his mash water calculator. On the top link.

I can't wait to get started on my first ever BIAB having only done kit brews and 1 small ag of Clibit's designs on another forum.
Was thinking of mashing in 20 litres.
Sparging with 7 litres.
Hopefully boil down to a ferment size of 23 litres

Your thoughts appreciated as I don't have a clue what I'm doing.
Mark

[WalesAles]

collie,
Read the link in here off PhilB, Very helpful.

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=67731

Why did you buy a Doombar brew, when there is one free with your start-up kit?

Good luck on your First Brew!

WA

[Colliefish]

Cheers walesales.
I got the clone before I looked at the boiler offer.
One can never have too many brews . Ordered the double IPA with the boiler.

[Clibit]

Hi Collie. There are different ways to skin a BIAB cat. The purist method is to use all the water in the mash, no sparge. The amount of water required depends on the amount of grain, the amount of boil off, and the losses to trub/hops. Maybe someone with the same boiler could help you out. For a 23 litre brew it's likely to be around 30 - 33 litres total water.

If you can't fit it all in, or want to do a sparge anyway, you can split the water into mash and sparge. But you need a way of heating the sparge water. During the mash is better, to save time. I've found you can split however you like, but you need at least 2.5 litres or so per kg of grain in the mash. Approx half your water in the mash and half sparge seems good to me. But with your set up it may be best to put as much water as you can in the mash, and rinse the grains with the rest.

You'll probably start the boil with around 27 litres. Bring to the boil, add your hops and Irish moss as usual, cool, aerate and pitch. Bob's your Dunkel.

[Colliefish]

Hi Clibit.
I've watched a fair bit of utube on the subject. Yet I still have a nagging need to do a sparge. Just wanting to get all those lovely sugars out of the grain. I think I'm just preparing myself for the step to ag
So on your advice I'll tweak to 20 litres mash volume. Then I'll have my 13 litre stock pot heated up to sparge temp and make up to 27 litres to boil. I may learn a bit mote between now and then and change all of the above lol.
Not planning to do it until 8th when swimbo is away and it's just me and my 1 year old for the weekend. I'm sure she'll be a great help.

[Chug]

As Clibit said you will probably need more water than 27 litres total to allow for losses in grain absorbtion, boil off and trub, especially if you don't squeeze the hell out of the grain, 30 -33L seems to be more like what others start with.

I wish you well on your first BIAB, keep us posted.

[Firefly]

Hi Collie. I have the same kit as you and do the following for my 23litre brews. Heat the strike water for the mash in the Peco. Yesterday I did a bitter with a 5kg grain bill and used 15 litres for the mash. I heat the water and then transfer it to an old fv which I've wrapped with bubble wrap and which sits in a duvet lined cardboard box. I dough in in the bag, cover and leave for the mash. I then heat the sparge water ( in this case 18 litres) in the Peco. After the mash, drain and then dunk sparge in the Peco for 15 mins. Drain then add in the mash water and start the boil. I've been using this method (which is like a big version of clibit's simple AG method) for the last 9 months and average about 80% efficiency. I think most people find there own way with BIAB and even though maxi BIAB is supposed to be no sparge I don't really care. Do whatever works for you.

[Clibit]

Hi Clibit.
I've watched a fair bit of utube on the subject. Yet I still have a nagging need to do a sparge. Just wanting to get all those lovely sugars out of the grain. I think I'm just preparing myself for the step to ag.

A sparge is really only necessary if you have a thick mash. The idea of BIAB is that the much larger water to grain ratio helps to remove the sugars without needing a sparge. I've had similar efficiency with and without a sparge. Raising the mash temp to 76 at the end helps.

And BIAB is as much AG as the traditional three vessel version. All Grain is any method that doesn't use malt extract to replace base malt.

[Colliefish]

Ahhhh. Lightbulb!!!
What are the benefits of the 3 vessel ag over BIAB?
Cheers Firefly. Seems like you have a good meathod. I'm getting excited for my first brew weekend.

[Clibit]

Ahhhh. Lightbulb!!!
What are the benefits of the 3 vessel ag over BIAB?
Cheers Firefly. Seems like you have a good meathod. I'm getting excited for my first brew weekend.

There are people who believe three vessel is better. I do both and I think they're just different. I can't tell the difference in the beer. You get clearer wort out of the mash with 3V, but the BIAB beer is as clear in the glass in my experience.

I do mostly two gallon brews though, and I tend to use the mash tun when I make a larger batch, to avoid handling a large hot bag of grain. So I actually think a tun is a good idea, for practical reasons when making 5 gallon brews. But a lot of BIAB Brewers would say the big bag thing is not a big deal. If you're outdoors and you're not an old gimmer then probably so.

I don't think I'd do what firefly is doing. I think I'd get as much water in the mash as possible and either just top up with water or do a rinse with the few litres extra if I could find a hassle free way to do that.

Keep things simple...

[Colliefish]

Cheers obi wan.
I bought a sink drainer yesterday to make sparking simple. It's a big rectangular sieve with extendable arms so will fit over wide containers. Looks really strong and only £3.99.
I was going to use bulldog type clips to fix the bag to the rim of the boiler to keep it off the element.

[Clibit]

That all sounds good.

[Firefly]

It works for me clibit but I'll swap the mash and sparge quantities round next time and see how it goes. Cheers

[Clibit]

It works for me clibit but I'll swap the mash and sparge quantities round next time and see how it goes. Cheers

Yeah it's not a criticism, I just would probably prefer myself to avoid the extra complication of mashing elsewhere, with that equipment. But it's not a big deal. The Peco probably isn't big enough to hold 5kg grain and 30+ litres of water so you have to choose how to get to the full water volume. Your method is fine, I would probably just fill the peco and then top up with water before the boil to about 27 litres. Raise the mash temperature at the end of the mash and stir and you should be fine for efficiency. Bit more grain if required. Pennies.

[Firefly]

It works for me clibit but I'll swap the mash and sparge quantities round next time and see how it goes. Cheers

Yeah it's not a criticism, I just would probably prefer myself to avoid the extra complication of mashing elsewhere, with that equipment. But it's not a big deal. The Peco probably isn't big enough to hold 5kg grain and 30+ litres of water so you have to choose how to get to the full water volume. Your method is fine, I would probably just fill the peco and then top up with water before the boil to about 27 litres. Raise the mash temperature at the end of the mash and stir and you should be fine for efficiency. Bit more grain if required. Pennies.

Always open to ideas from those with more experience than me, plus I like to experiment so I'll give it a go. Not bothered about getting very high efficencies it just seems to be what I get. Thanks clibit.