[EHall]

... Then lift the bag out and pour my sparge water through the grains.  ...

Doesn't this negate the whole point of BIAB? its a no sparge method.... you're basically doing a batch sparge but now have a bag to lift...

[tomsawyer]

... Then lift the bag out and pour my sparge water through the grains.  ...

Doesn't this negate the whole point of BIAB? its a no sparge method.... you're basically doing a batch sparge but now have a bag to lift...

First and foremost its a simple method of mashing without a mashtun.  I don't think it is necessarily no-sparge but it does lend itself to that as well, just in terms of keeping things simple.

[EHall]

isn't any vessel you mash in automattically become a 'mashtun'?! 

[ccarlson]

isn't any vessel you mash in automattically become a 'mashtun'?! 

You're right, but your mash tun doubles as your boil kettle or the other way around.

[Will's Swill]

My first AG batch was a belgian pale that I did in sort of a BIAB way. I suspended a grain bag in my bottling bucket, added my grain and mashed in with 1.25 or 1.5 qt/lb, mashed for 1 hours, drained and sparged with the rest of the water needed.

Not really the same but I got about 63% eff if I remember correctly

I mash this way routinely with much higher efficiencies, and I like the easy clean up of just removing the bag from the mash tun instead of shovelling the grain out.  As to the BIAB witha thin mash, I saw one of James Spencer's Basic Brewing videos where he used a full batch volume BIAB mash with no sparge and he got over 80% efficiency (I calculated that from the recipe and OG numbers he talked about on the show).  He did squeeze the heck out of the mash bag after removing from the kettle to get all the goodness out.

[denny]

Shoveling the grain out?  I just carry my cooler over to the compost pile and dump it out.

[tomsawyer]

I get around 75% efficiency on no-sparge with a 1.050 beer.  Thats counting a 60-90 boil with 1-1.5gal loss.  One thing about BIAB, theres no dead space in the system.  As for squeezing/wringing the bag, it might speed up the draining but it doesn't change the amount of bound water.  I'm cheap enough that I'll continue to drain my tun while the bulk of my wort is coming to a boil.  At that point I don't think I could wring anything more out of the grain even if I put it in a bag, and if I did it'd contain a lot of fines.

Thats one thing about BIAB, you really don't get the effect of filtration through the grain bed.  I don't know that it matters, but I'd sure want to pay attention to my crush and avoid shredded husks.

[malzig]

Shoveling the grain out?  I just carry my cooler over to the compost pile and dump it out.

You and me both, man.  Can't imagine anything easier.

[tubercle]

Shoveling the grain out?  I just carry my cooler over to the compost pile and dump it out.

You and me both, man.  Can't imagine anything easier.

 Ditto. Done deal.

[Will's Swill]

Alas, no compost pile.  Just saying that pulling the bag out is easier for me than not using a bag.  I do both routinely (i.e. use a bag, or not use a bag) depending on which mash tun I'm using.

[ccarlson]

I could see that being easier. Everything all together and lighter to carry to the compost pile without dragging the cooler along.

[richt]

In the 15 or so BIAB batches I've done, I have ranged between 78 and 85% efficiency, much better than my batch sparge setup.  I don't bother with a sparge or any of that, pull the bag, loop the drawstring on the hook I installed above my kettle and fire up the burner.  While I'm measuring my hops the wort is coming to a boil. 

To the OP, if you're concerned about lower efficiency, you should try brewing a batch you're familiar with but do it BIAB style an compare your numbers.  I think you'll be surprised.

[tomsawyer]

In the 15 or so BIAB batches I've done, I have ranged between 78 and 85% efficiency, much better than my batch sparge setup.

If 78-85% efficiency is much better than your batch sparge results, you must have a lot of dead space in your MLT.  Theres nothing else about BIAB that would change efficiency.  Its pretty standard to get 75-85% efficiency with a single batch sparge.  I'm doing a no-sparge with an MLT and getting 75%, I've done a pseudo-no-sparge where I only sparge with 0.5gal and that gets me to 80%+.  I do have very little dead volume and I drain the mash thoroughly.  The wife makes fun of me catching every last drop.