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Author Topic: BIAB  (Read 3468 times)

Offline Pope of Dope

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Re: BIAB
« Reply #15 on: January 22, 2018, 11:22:22 am »
Have been doing BIAB since my move and the birth of my daughter, with less time, and my equipment packed in boxes and some missing. But make no mistake, it's JUST AS GOOD as my three-tier setup ever was, actually I think in some ways better, and is now the only way I brew. I have my setup dialed-in, using a custom kettle, whirlpool (just throw the hops right in), and a nice voile bag. The whole set up sits inside a steel storage rack that I had from Costco, made it into two levels, burner and pot elevated off ground about 1.5 feet on bottom level, and then the top shelf, about six feet above, is fitted with heavy duty carabiner and nylon rope to hoist up the bag. It's portable, all done in one pot, cleanup is about a third of the time (I'm throwing my grain into compost and hosing down the reusable bag while the wort is reaching boil). Recipes need to be modified a bit, but I find only small amount of additional grain is needed. I fly sparge, generally about .5 to 1 gallon of water (in 5 gallon batches) pouring water directly over the bag, then squeeze out the juice. 

I like how spartan the set up is and it makes me feel closer, more involved in the brew than before when I had more equipment.  For me, the simpler feels better. And, take a look at these commercial BIAB setups, https://www.cobrewingsystems.com/collections/complete-brewing-systems. Imagine a batch done on this scale, BIAB method. There's just something I like about that.   
Generally you don't see that kind of behavior in a major appliance.

Offline Wilbur

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Re: BIAB
« Reply #16 on: January 22, 2018, 11:40:30 am »
Ok I was able to get it down to 2.7 qt/lb in beersmith with brewhouse efficiency of 70%.  I am planning a milk stout so I had some of the OG tied up in lactose and that would thin out the mash vs getting there with all grains.  Still not at 2.5 but close....either way it's a fairly thin mash.  Does this tend to thin out the body of the beer or does everyone think this is ok?

I'm usually mashing at ~2.6-2.7 qts/lb, with an efficiency in the 72-76% range. I haven't noticed any issues with my beers tasting thin. I tend to mash around 155 F.

Offline oginme

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Re: BIAB
« Reply #17 on: January 22, 2018, 11:48:21 am »
I have a typical water to grain ratio of around 3.2 qts/lb for full volume BIAB and have not had a problem with the body in my beers.  I do a 90 minute boil, which explains the added volume and get a brew house efficiency of around 80%. 

Offline Pope of Dope

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Re: BIAB
« Reply #18 on: January 22, 2018, 11:54:32 am »
Ok I was able to get it down to 2.7 qt/lb in beersmith with brewhouse efficiency of 70%.  I am planning a milk stout so I had some of the OG tied up in lactose and that would thin out the mash vs getting there with all grains.  Still not at 2.5 but close....either way it's a fairly thin mash.  Does this tend to thin out the body of the beer or does everyone think this is ok?

I make a milk stout and a robust porter that both use 1 lb of lactose. Use a BIAB method. The body is the opposite of thin in my opinion. The lactose makes for a rich mouthfeel. And yes of course the lactose is a non-fermentable, so the OG/FG reading will be affected. Make your beer as usual with the same amount of fermentable wort as you would and then add the lactose during the last 15 of boil. So, you can only get there with grains if I understand your question, the lactose does not ferment, it's an adjunct.   And yes, I too do a 90 min boil and 90 min mash.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2018, 11:59:16 am by Pope of Dope »
Generally you don't see that kind of behavior in a major appliance.

Offline UnequivocalBrewing

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Re: BIAB
« Reply #19 on: January 22, 2018, 12:17:39 pm »
Thanks for everyone's responses.  It's good to know that that thin mash doesn't make the resulting body thin.  It's somewhat counter to the popular reading about mash thickness.

Offline Philbrew

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Re: BIAB
« Reply #20 on: January 22, 2018, 09:15:48 pm »
Have been doing BIAB since my move and the birth of my daughter, with less time, and my equipment packed in boxes and some missing. But make no mistake, it's JUST AS GOOD as my three-tier setup ever was, actually I think in some ways better, and is now the only way I brew. I have my setup dialed-in, using a custom kettle, whirlpool (just throw the hops right in), and a nice voile bag. The whole set up sits inside a steel storage rack that I had from Costco, made it into two levels, burner and pot elevated off ground about 1.5 feet on bottom level, and then the top shelf, about six feet above, is fitted with heavy duty carabiner and nylon rope to hoist up the bag. It's portable, all done in one pot, cleanup is about a third of the time (I'm throwing my grain into compost and hosing down the reusable bag while the wort is reaching boil). Recipes need to be modified a bit, but I find only small amount of additional grain is needed. I fly sparge, generally about .5 to 1 gallon of water (in 5 gallon batches) pouring water directly over the bag, then squeeze out the juice. 

I like how spartan the set up is and it makes me feel closer, more involved in the brew than before when I had more equipment.  For me, the simpler feels better. And, take a look at these commercial BIAB setups, https://www.cobrewingsystems.com/collections/complete-brewing-systems. Imagine a batch done on this scale, BIAB method. There's just something I like about that.
Pope,
That sounds a lot like what I'm doing.  Could you post a pic or two of your set up in this thread or (better) on a  dedicated thread on your set up and process?  I think we can learn from each other about this stuff.
Many of us would be on a strict liquid diet if it weren't for pretzels.