Good evening everyone!

Sorta novice brewer here with many extract batches under my belt and just performed my first BIAB saison with a 79 % mash efficiency. It was a little difficult due to over sparging and a less than ideal temp of my cold water tap to my wort chiller but all in all it was a very rewarding experience! Looking forward to gain and give information and experiences in the near future.

Prost!
Dan
Worcester,Ma

Hi all,

I'm from Seattle. Was looking for information on building a cooler mash tun for all-grain when I stumbled across a video on BIAB. Did some searching and came across this site. So far I've done 5 batches of partial mash and have started a 6th yeast starter the other day for an all-Cascade IPA. Looking forward to learning a ton about all-grain BIAB and am about to order a 44 quart stockpot to get started!

PistolPatch wrote:Welcome dj and congratulations on your first BIAB. And a saison to boot .

If your kettle is big enough, with BIAB, try and do it full-volume. This allows you to avoid the hassle of active sparging. Preliminary experiments on side by side brews, seem to be showing that there is only a tiny gain in efficiency from an active sparge, one or two percent. I'm going to do a few more experiments on this later in the year just to build up some more data.

If your kettle is too small to say fit at least 80% of the total water into the mash, then active sparging starts to become a necessity. Avoiding ti where possible though certainly makes life easier.

Saison first. I wonder what you have planned next!
PP

Thanks!

Yea, I got a 32 quart kettle (30L?) so I've done full volume boils except for my first three extract with specialty grain batches. Every extract session was with specialty grains so it gave me a good starting point to perform my first all grain biab. Space and money are contrained so this is the perfect solution for my brew sessions.

In the case of this saison, which had a 12 lb grain bill, the kettle allowed me to do a 1.5 qt./lb mash ratio making for a thinner mash (supposedly allowing for better starch conversion) which was mashed at 154 since I like my beers with a little extra long chain dextrins. Wyeast 3711 is a monster yeast that can ferment even a rusty oil drum! Only used a 1L starter and I believe after pitching on the early morn of 8/4 that the numbers must be in the teens at least by today . . . I expect it to finish around 1.002-4 from 1.070. I sparged because with my letting drain and squeezing there was still a significant amount of sugar with the grains. I'd be surprised if my efficiency wouldn't be a lot lower if I didn't. The sparge temp should have been higher to better rinse the sugars.

5.0 gallon batch
7.0 gallon preboil
105 min. boil
30.6 ibu's
1.070 SG
5^ srm
approx. 79% mash efficiency

9 lbs. Briess Belgian pilsner
2 lbs. Rahr white wheat
1 lb. Flaked Rice
.4 oz Saurmaltz (my water profile is like Pilsen)
1 lb. Belgian clear candi syrup

1 oz. Mt Hood
1 oz. Styrian Goldings
1 oz. Crystal

Strike water 164
1.5 qt/lb mash ratio
4.5 gallons strike water
Mash took up 5.46 gallons
Lost 1.5 gallon to grains
Mashed in at 154 for 60 min.
3 gallons sparge water 170F (should have been near boiling though)

Needless to say the boil should have been 90 min. since my finished wort volume was 5.0 gallons even. No problem since I just added about .75 gallons make up water to the fermenter to get to 1.070 and make up for trub loss (.5 gallon). Should have been 1.073 for 7.9% abv.

I was aiming to do a sorta clone for Great Divide's Colette which is awesome btw . . Saison ftw! http://hopville.com/recipe/1533613/sais" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; ... n-detienne

Next up a 17.5 lb bill for a Rochefort 10 clone!

I will be trying the dunk sparge technique in my 6.5 gallon bucket fermenter next time around. It was messy squeezing and lifting so much over the kettle. I over did it really. I could have chopped the 5 hour brew session into 4 hours only adding one extra hour on top of my extract batches.

Sure thing Joshua, thanks. I'll try the no chill method on my next batch if the tap water is still only about 72F. It took about 45 min. to get from boiling down to aboput 76F for the pitching temp with my ss wort chiller in a soapstone sink with all the ice I had and cool packs in a kinda slurry. The ice didn't last long =)

Hi There!

Brewer from Texas!

Hello from southwestern Quebec. I've been extract brewing / partial mashing for a few years now and am getting ready to move to all grain. Obviously, more control over the brewing process is my primary motivation but another is the location of my extract supplier - a 2 hour round trip. I live in the boonies and it so happens that a railway passes through the local town. A brewery supplier has set up a distribution point there and they will sell 50lb bags of malt to the general public. No problem for 2-row, and I'll share the bags of specialty malts with a couple of brewing buddies.

My interest in BIAB comes from a desire to make brewing as simple as I can. I want to go electric so that I can brew all grain, indoors, throughout the winter. I heard about Speidel's invention and was quite impressed until I saw the price. With help from this site, I hope to be able to put something together.

Thanks for having me.

Hello everyone I'm Brian and pretty new to homebrewing I've made 1 extract kit and it didn't turn out so hot. Taste like beer but not the IPA it claimed to be. So I'm in currently in the Navy and stationed in Virginia. I'm in the process of getting a used SS keg to convert into a keggle and try my hand at BIAB method. I've got a few buddies who brew now but none of them are around me so I've been trying to take in all advice they've provided me and I hope to learn a lot of great information from this site also.

R/
Brian

This post came before my first home brew. I am going to start off by saying I have never brewed before but do like the BIAB set-up. After I get a few extracts under my belt I will give this a try. Thanks for the site & all the info that I will learn!

Hi,

I'm Mark from Manchester, UK. Day job is a software engineer. Can't remember how I found your site but you've been invaluable.

Got back to brewing last year after a 20+ year gap (way back in 1st year at uni). Did a kit and a 'tweaked' kit but really felt need to go all-grain (I like to cook and rarely use pre-prepared ingredients and extract just seems to much like opeing a packet of something!). Also a member of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and feel all grain brewing is the best way to understand beer.

Did first mini-biab last sunday in a 19 lt pot (following the american APA recipe but with cascade as amarillo hard to get). Gravity into fermenter was 1.051, not too shabby I thought.

Seemed to go really well (except forgetting to close tap on fermenter when transferring, wet feet, doh!). What's left (about 9 lt) is bubbling away nicely in cellar.

Thanks again!

Have young family so bit hard to find time to brew but will persevere!

Hey, just joined up new BIABer from NZ just looking at moving into BIAB from doing extract/kit beers for last year or two and want to make something a bit more of a challenge!

Looking forward to giving it a go, currently only have a 30L pot and gas burner to use which i'm hopping i'll be able to use properly to make my first few brews before getting into a Keg etc.

Awesome resource here look forward to learning more!

Hi all,

I'm an engineer for the Air Force, in Warner Robins, Georgia, USA. I have been brewing beer for about 3 years now, but up till now it has always been extract/extract w/specialty grain kits. I brew mainly for myself so I have only got 8-9 beers under my belt, but I enjoy learning and trying new things. I finally got my hands on a keggle and am planning on doing my first AG BIAB this weekend or next week sometime.

I have been reading what seems like constantly on this site for the past week or so. Lots of good information available and I really appreciate the organization and effort you all obviously put into maintaining it.

1) I am from elsewhere, but currently reside in Texas.
2) I stumbled across the site whilst looking for BIAB information.
3) I like the site. Much more to read & learn.
4) I have brewed lots. In fact, BIAB will be a bit of a digression for me. I have a 3-burner, all SS system now. But, residing in Texas has made me appreciate air conditioning (particularly in the summers). So, I've been trying to find ways to brew indoors & reduce time from my brewing. BIABrewer board appears to have a wealth on information on this very topic.
5) I do work - when I'm not brewing.

Looking forward to the site. Still cannot find a place to purchase a BIABrewer bag (I am definitely not a seamstress). I do have a kettle, etc. ready. Just need the key piece of equipment to move further.

joshua,

My most-forward concern now is finding a bag for this method of brewing. I would like something custom for my 9g pot that I just installed an element in for indoor brewing/BIAB. Any suggestions?

Todd,

Most helpful places to start. Thanks.....

Hello all. rdeselle (Robert) here. I am from the bay area Calif. I have been brewing for about 6 months now. Just did my 5th extract/partial brew last weekend. While I am not ready for the world of All-grain, I would love to try out a BIAB which is how I found myself here.

The site is great and very well laid out.

I can see I have some reading to do which I look forward too. I am still trying to decide what I want my first BIAB brew to be. Probably some sort of brown ale.

Happy Brewin'