It's Friday. I better post here before I start drinking
. Furthermore, I think I better always stay out of this thread because I could never stop writing on this
. Here's why...
I have a Google Alert set up for anything relating to BIAB. Each day I get an email with links to places around the web that have something BIAB-related. I hardly ever click on the links because it is so depressing. The last time I had a look I saw someone doing a ten minute mash plus the usual posts on people sparging with BIAB and no one understanding efficiency, recipes etc etc.
Here's hopefully my one and only contribution to this thread...
[center]A Brief Summary of Common Misinformation/Myths[/center]
Myth: BIAB is anything where mashing is done in a bag.
Fact: The original pioneers of BIAB always intended BIAB to be single vessel, full volume brewing method where all water required for the brew is added to the grain at the start of the mash.
Logic: As soon as you vary from this formula, you need additional vessels and heat sources which is exactly the thing that BIAB wants to avoid.
Links on This: To follow when I get time.
Myth: BIAB is no-sparge brewing.
Fact: BIAB does a 'passive' or 'hidden' sparge.
Logic: "No-sparge" brewing is a technique that is often bastardised as Tom pointed out in the post above. In proper "no-sparge" brewing, the water normally used in a sparge, never sees the grain. It is added as a pre-boil dilution directly to the kettle and this, 'not sucking the last drop out of the grain' or anywhere near it is said to produce the highest quality wort. This is why "no-sparge" brewing is very inefficient as not much water washes the grain. In BIAB though, all water (mash and sparge water) touches the grain and it touches it from the start of the mash.
Links on This: See Tomm's post above
Myth: The word efficiency means something.
Fact: To mean something, the word 'efficiency' must be qualified.
Logic: These days, the word 'efficiency', or terms like 'mash efficiency' and 'brewhouse efficiency' have come to be meaningless as it is impossible to tell whether the brewer or authority means a 'kettle efficiency' or a 'fermentor efficiency'. These are two very different things. A lot of software wants you to work on fermentor efficiency which is a very poor cousin to kettle efficiency.
Links on This: An advanced search of my posts that contain the phrase 'kettle efficiency' or 'cousin' should get you under way.
Myth: Sparging gives you a higher "efficiency".
Fact: Adding all the water to the mash at the start of the brew is as efficient (kettle and fermentor efficiency) as adding the same amount of water in stages.
Logic: You'll often read of people thinking that they get a higher "efficiency" if they sparge instead of adding all their water at the start of the mash. Very few people (I'm the only one I know of actually
) have done side by side tests on this let alone kept good records on lots of brews. There is no difference I have seen. The usual reason that people write that they notice a difference is that them mucking around with sparging results in the grain being exposed to water for longer. If they had just added all the water in the first place and left the mash for longer, they would get the same result.
Links on This: An advanced search of my posts that contain the word 'jeans' should get you under way.
Myth: I get the same "efficiency" on every brew.
Fact: You shouldn't.
Logic: Unless you brew exactly the same recipe, with exactly the same batch of malts, with exactly the same water at exactly the same temperatures, you shouldn't be consistently getting the same kettle (or fermentor) efficiency. For a start, a single brew is impossible to measure accurately. Secondly, the less water you wash your grain with during the mash, the less clean you can get your grain. In other words, a high gravity brew is much less efficient (kettle and fermentor efficient) than a low gravity brew. Also a very hoppy brew will be less kettle efficient than a less hoppy brew as you will get more kettle trub.
Links on This: An advanced search of my posts that contain the word 'jeans' should get you under way.
Myth: "Batch Size" = 5 gallons means something.
Fact: It can mean a lot of things.
Logic: A lot of brewers and software use the above term in different ways so it really can mean several things. Three quick examples are, the volume at the end of the boil before it is chilled, the volume at the end of the boil after it is chilled or the volume into fermentor. These are all different.
Links on This: An advanced search of my posts that contain the term 'batch size' should get you under way.
Myth: A 60 minute mash is fine.
Fact: A 90 minute mash is more kettle (and therefore fermentor) efficient.
Logic: A lot of posts in forums talk about getting full conversion within a very short time based on an iodine test. Our tests here by many brewers show that efficiency continues to rise over time. A 90 minute mash with a mash-out is a good place to aim for in your brews.
Links on This:
Here for starters.
Myth: My measurements on a single brew can be trusted.
Fact: No they can't.
Logic: Home brewers are brewing on a ridiculously small scale with very poor measuring instruments.
Links on This: An advanced search of my posts that contain the phrase 'single measurement from a single brew' should get you under way.
Myth: BIAB is "inefficient".
Fact: Full-volume brewing (pure BIAB) is very efficient.
Logic: BIAB allows more water to be in contact with the grain over the same given period of time. THe BIAB bag creates the perfect 'mash tun' as it acts as a sphere which results in far less 'over-sparging' of pockets of grain than in traditional methods and no dead space.
Links on This: To follow when I get time.
Myth: BIAB is an inferior all-grain method you can use before going traditional.
Fact: There is every chance that BIAB is actually superior.
Logic: BIAB results in far less 'over-sparging' of pockets of grain than in traditional methods and so may well be a superior method of all-grain brewing. Competition results, podcasts, side by sides, trials show that the pure BIAB method (single vessel, full-volume) is at least equivalent to traditional methods. Many BIABrewer.info members are past traditional brewers who now only BIAB. Some of these have spent thousands on equipment and found a simple BIAB set-up to be far more convenirent and give them better beer.
Links on This: To follow when I get time.
I think that'll do for now. It's Friday. I want a beer.
PP
P.S. If the above format is helpful, then feel free to copy it and, if I think of anything else, I'll add to it. If anyone finds good links to any of the above, please let me know. As a reward, you can sleep with any of the girls
here or BobBrews* for a night. (Lylo said Bob wasn't very good. Not sure why Bob was lylo's first choice but each to his own
).
* Oh and remind me to post about kettle taps/ball-valves
- see
here for now.
.
