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   1. A New Approach to BIAB Calculus using Conversion Efficiency

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      by stux, 14 years ago in Measurement, Mathematics and Records

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      This is a BIAB calculator which uses a Novel method to calculate your grainbill, which is independant of Into Boil Efficiency , and works well with large beers, with or without sparging
      
      It's very accurate.
      ...
      
      I've been working on a solution to a problem which affects all BIABers who are using BIAB calculators to determine their volumes and grain bills :)
      
      I think I've cracked it ;)
      
      The problem is this, as you increase the gravity of the wort you are creating the effciency goes down. Most...

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      I still use my calculator, unmodified to calculate the water and grainbill requirements for all my batches.
      
      The thing that came up is that the grain specifications became the critical factor in achieving more reliable predictions, and I found as grain got older the measured conversion efficiency went down. My theory is that the grain was actually getting more moist over time.
      
      At the end of the day, I don't really see much point in attempting to further refine the maths, when its impractical...
      86 Replies
      295462 Views
      stux
      11 years ago
   2. Simple BIAB 2:1 Pulley Setup

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      by stux, 14 years ago in Bags, Mashers, Thermometers, Kettles etc.

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      This is how I've setup my pulley system. Works quite well and gives me 2:1 mechanical advantage which is more than enough to hoist 12KG grain bills :)
      
      Be sure to use a smooth rope, like sash cord.
      
      I purchased the components from BCF (Boating/Camping/Fishing) or Bunnings (General Hardware Store)
      
      Pulley1-labels.jpg
      
      A bowline is tied at the end of the sash cord, then you thread the two pulleys on. The clip is attached to the pulley closest to the bowline, in my case using a link. I use the...

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      Trout - I never lose wort from dripping after the bag squeeze because I do something similar to that.
      In your link I have a pulley like Deebo #46 pic. I just spin the bag on its pulley so that it wrings the wort out.
      
      Its amazing how much wort you can extract by wringing and squeezing!
      
      Actually, after doing this, the bag isn't so heavy. So to keep it more on topic I don't need a rail system, but it would be great to have one anyway.
      43 Replies
      58714 Views
      mally
      12 years ago
   3. Lautering Loss vs Liquor to Grain Ratio

      by stux, 14 years ago in Measurement, Mathematics and Records

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      I was curious about the shape of Lauter Loss curve as Liquor to Grain ratio changes...
      
      Basically, the Lauter Loss is the largest component of BIAB Efficiency. Your Into Boil Efficiency is
      
      = 100% - Lauter Loss% - Conversion Loss%
      
      Conversion Loss has been set to 1% for this data, ie a Conversion Efficiency of 99%
      
      For Full Volume BIAB the Liquor to Grain Ratio is controlled by the final volume you require, your evaporation and effciency... which is... complicated. But as you increase the OG...

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      I thought I understood that BIAB has an overall lower extraction efficiency than traditional lauter tuns at higher OGs, but your chart seems to say the exact opposite... Yes, I've seen that written a few times. The people who have theorised that (and it is only a theory, assume that once you get past a certain point, there will be advantages in multiple sparges.
      
      There haven't been any experiments done that I have seen. Certainly not enough. I'll probably do one here on either my next double...
      11 Replies
      17882 Views
      PistolPatch
      14 years ago
   4. 60L Maxi-BIAB Brew

      by stux, 14 years ago in Intermediate Brewing

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      I decided to fill my 60L fermenter.
      
      I have a 98L pot and my old 50L pot.
      
      Lower gravity recipe and used my CE BIABcalc to calculate the grainbill... whooo 87% end of boil efficiency ;)
      
      Anyway, I doughed in with 80L of strike and 9.9KG of grain
      
      I then dunk sparged with 20L in my 50L pot
      
      First Run off was 73L, and I added the 20L of sparge over the course of the boil.
      
      aiming for a 120min boil (scottish), ended up doing 135 min boil as my evap numbers are still not dialed in.
      
      66L post boil,...

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      Thanks for the pics
      13 Replies
      13858 Views
      deebo
      14 years ago
   5. Triple Batch Maxi-BIAB in 50L pot

      by stux, 15 years ago in Full-Volume Variations - FVV (diluting and/or sparging)

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      So I had a bit of a brew demo today,
      
      To make it interesting, I decided to do a triple batch, two for me, and one for the host...
      
      And I decided to do a Hefeweizen, because I have a Munich Helles and Munich Dunkel queueing up for the ferment fridge, and it seemed like a good idea... :)
      
      And just to make it even more interesting I decided to do a Hochkurz mash... because I like it...
      
      So, I picked up 3 more 15/17L cubes from my LHBS for 6$ :)
      
      The plan was to use 12KG of Pilsner/Wheat (50/50), +...

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      Wow stux, you have a fermenter that will hold 41 liters? I have wanting to try 10 gallon batches but trying to figure out how I will move once it is in the cube and then how I will ferment. I have 2 six gallon carboys.
      
      I have a 60L fermenter which i regurlarly put 43L into. I lift it straight from the fermenting fridge onto a cabinet with wheels. I roll it over to the work bench and then lift it up. So its only 2 quick lifts, although its heavy it ok as your not lifting for long.
      11 Replies
      16467 Views
      Aces high
      14 years ago
   6. Sydney (West) Grain Bulk Buy [Jan/Feb 2012]

      by stux, 14 years ago in Australia & New Zealand

      

      I'm arranging a grain bulk buy from Absolute Homebrew in St Marys.
      
      If you're interested in joining please see this thread on Aussie Homebrewer
      
      Thanks
      0 Replies
      13090 Views
      stux
      14 years ago
   7. Maxi-BIAB Calculator 2.0 Draft

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      by stux, 15 years ago in Measurement, Mathematics and Records

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      AdminNote: This thread has redulted in two separate projects now. Great job, Stux!
      
      I've been working on the Maxi-BIAB Calculator for quite a few months now in this thread
      viewtopic.php?f=89&t=595
      
      Eventually the Maxi-BIAB Calculator grew to the point where it contained an entire updated copy of the original BIAB Calculator The Calculator
      
      Since then, I've updated the Calculator portion to fix most of the hop calculation bugs, grain bill issues and other issues as well as add full...

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      Thanks Pat for the update. I have worked a little with Macros so I understand the issues. It appears there are some great features being built into this spreadsheet and I look forward to the its release.
      
      Thanks to everyone for their hard work on this project.
      rb
      218 Replies
      195762 Views
      rockbotton
      14 years ago
   8. Dillution/Concentration Calculator

      by stux, 15 years ago in Intermediate Brewing

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      Here's another calculator I've been using
      
      You simply enter your current volume and SG, and then either a desired SG or a desired volume, and it will provided the diluted/concentrated volume or SG
      
      Useful for Maxi-BIAB, and lots of other stuff :)

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      I still end up using this during most brew cycles, and it's the one sheet i never feel needs 'improving'
      4 Replies
      6028 Views
      stux
      14 years ago
   9. Online Yeast Stepping Calculator

      by stux, 14 years ago in Measurement, Mathematics and Records

      

      Neat yeast stepped starter calculator
      
      You can enter batch size, og, ale/lager, yeast date/viability and initial cell count (or use defaults) and then it will help you work out your starter size, or steps for a stepped starter
      
      Highly Recommended :)
      
      Uses Growth Rates as documented on the calculator, and matches Mr Malty for Viability data
      
      Development Discussion seems to happen here
      0 Replies
      10287 Views
      stux
      14 years ago
   10. Commercial Brew vs BIAB brew for *exact* same beer

       by stux, 15 years ago in From Mash to Lauter (Water to Sweet Liquor)

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       Thought this was an interesting linky
       
       Well on Friday I knocked out a 12 barrel brew at work through the night 12 hour shift from start to finish and then on Sunday used the same grain bill, actually also the same grain, kettle finings, water, water treatment etc.... and did a brew in a bag (net curtain) in my 5 gallon burco 4 hours start to finish! exract rates slighty lower in BIAB to commercial but not far off high 80's as supposed to low 90's it will be interesting to taste the...

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       Good on him :peace: and thanks for the update Stux.
       
       I take my hat off to guys like him who are prepared to give full-volume, single vessel brewing a go. I started AG by batch-sparging in my one bedroom apartment. I hope I would have tried BIAB if I lived in a house but who knows :scratch:
       
       Very pleased now that living in a one bedroom apartment forced me to do some investigation. In hindsight, I cant believe how difficult three vessel brewing was compared to BIAB :argh:
       5 Replies
       8793 Views
       PistolPatch
       14 years ago
   11. The Hot Side Aeration (HSA) Myth

       by stux, 15 years ago in From Mash to Lauter (Water to Sweet Liquor)

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       As BIAB brewers we often hear about how BIAB should suffer from massive HSA staling effects...
       
       Of course, the empirical evidence that we have gathered is that HSA seems to be a myth.
       
       I've just finished listening to a BrewStrong podcast on HSA, where Charlie Bamforth, Professor of Beer at UC Davis, basically comprehensively dispells all the myths of HSA, and leaves John Palmer virtually speechless...
       
       Brief Summary,
       
       HSA, if anything, is an irrelevant effect, the yeast treats it as oxygen,...

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       Good on you Sig :)
       
       Sometimes I set up some hurdles, just to make sure...
       2 Replies
       6915 Views
       hashie
       14 years ago
   12. Using Maxi-BIAB with BeerSmith 2

       by stux, 15 years ago in Full-Volume Variations - FVV (diluting and/or sparging)

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       I've been trying to work out how to use BeerSmith 2 with Maxi-BIAB
       
       I had created a separate Maxi-BIAB Mash Profile, but I think I've worked out how to get it to work with the standard BIAB profiles :)
       
       Maxi-BIAB 50L (38L NC) Equipment.bsmx
       
       This is an equipment profile for my Maxi-BIAB 50L pot.
       
       I fill 2 17L cubes of wort (34L), which I dilute to about 42.4L, which gives me a double batch, ie 38L of Beer :)
       
       I have a 49L mash limit, and a 40.2 L boil limit
       
       To scale any recipe to Maxi-BIAB,...

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       Been meaning to read this thread since you started it stux. Always love seeing what you have come up with :P
       
       The top up water for kettle seems to simply deduct that amount from the initial strike voluem. It then assumes that you will add that amount back in on the boil instructions of the brew steps sheet where it says, 'Add water to achieve boil volume of x .'
       
       Is the profile working for you okay? eg 'Brewhouse Efficiency' setting etc.
       
       Cheers,
       Pat
       3 Replies
       9689 Views
       Pat
       15 years ago
   13. IBU Scaling in a concentrated wort?

       by stux, 15 years ago in Measurement, Mathematics and Records

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       So,
       
       If we wanted 20L of wort at OG (ie not concentrated) and we hopped that to 20IBU, that would be one thing,
       
       now say we had a concentrated wort prepared to 15L, and we wanted to post-boil dilute this back to 20L, would that mean that actually you need to aim for 33% more IBUs during the boil, so that post boil you get 20IBU?
       
       15L at 26.66 IBU + 5L of water = 20L at 20IBU?

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       I have added a hop utilization factor to my hop bill spreadsheet. By default it will be 1.1 which is suitable loose pellets
       
       I'm the same, only using loose pellets :)
       21 Replies
       22816 Views
       stux
       15 years ago
   14. 70L pot + Italian Burner etc for sale in Sydney

       by stux, 15 years ago in Australia & New Zealand

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       onclick= window.open(this.href);return false; ... ntry769535
       
       Not me,
       
       BUT, this would make a perfect start for a BIAB brewer in Sydney :)
       
       Everything except the march pump that is :)

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       Great set-up. Massively cheap!
       
       Good on you for posting it stux :salute:
       
       Unfortunately, I believe it has now sold - may it brew in peace :peace:
       1 Replies
       4716 Views
       PistolPatch
       15 years ago
   15. Finally did it :)

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       by stux, 15 years ago in Brew Day Stories and/or Pics

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       So, I finally found the time to do my first BIAB, and more importantly, my wife finally made my bag :)
       
       50L pot, Amarillo Ale, silly 2 ring burner, 6.7KG of grain (HB store decided i should have more beer)
       
       Calculator said I would need 45L of water at mash temps, so i did
       
       I was targetting 1.045 pre-boil and 1.058 post-boil
       
       start-of-boil volume was supposed to be 35.9L, i got 35.3 at 1.047 for efficiency of 80.7 (i was happy with that)
       
       I had trouble with my dual-ring burner (i plan to upgrade...

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       Can't wait to try my BIAB!
       35 Replies
       30456 Views
       anotheritguy
       15 years ago
   16. 2nd BIAB: Munich Helles Double Batch

       by stux, 15 years ago in Intermediate Brewing

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       I've just picked up the grain,
       
       After speaking to my LHBS, he said he was a fan of throwing in a handful of acidulated malt, so we decided to go with it,
       
       Grain Bill scaled to 9.3KG or so.
       
       8.6kg Weyermann Pilsner
       250g German Caramel Pils
       250g Weyermann Acidulated Malt
       150g Weyermann Melanoidin Malt
       
       9.25KG, plus fluff = 9.3KG which is my target weight.
       
       200g of Tettnang Hops and my Medium Pressure Variable Reg just arrived... so I've got everything... except a masher! Going to try trawling...

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       So, I pitched the yeast on the 20/2/11
       
       12C
       
       I ended up breaking two hydrometers with this batch... doh.
       
       By the time I managed to get a working hydrometer it has finish primary fermentation, so I let it sit on the lees for another week or two, then crashed to 2C for lagering.
       
       After a week or so, I noticed an iceberg in the fermenter... so raised the lager temperature up to 4C
       
       I estimate it fermented for about 3.5 weeks, then lagered for 2.5 weeks
       
       FG was 1.006
       
       I kegged this last week and...
       7 Replies
       10051 Views
       stux
       15 years ago
   17. St Patrick's Day Sales!

       by stux, 15 years ago in General Chit-Chat, Nonsense & Rambles

       

       I've noticed some Homebrew related stores are offering St Pat's Day Discounts... thought I might start a thread ;)
       
       These are both one-day only sales.
       
       Ellerslie Hop 15% Sale
       
       Absolute Homebrew 17% Sale
       
       Any others?
       0 Replies
       7037 Views
       stux
       15 years ago
   18. Biggest BIAB Possible

       by stux, 15 years ago in Bags, Mashers, Thermometers, Kettles etc.

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       Great thread on AHB
       
       The limit is always how much grain you can lift, as with maxi biab you are simply limited to produce slightly less concentrated wort than your pot size.

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       300L pots?
       8 Replies
       12014 Views
       stux
       15 years ago
   19. Best Malz Wheat vs Weyermann Wheat

       by stux, 15 years ago in Grains (Malts), Extracts, Sugars and Adjuncts

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       Well,
       
       Just came back from the LHBS, I needed to buy a sack of german wheat malt... problem was, the only Weyermann sack was not full, alternative was a Best Malz Wheat
       
       ...
       
       Long story short, the best malz tasted boring, and the weyermann tasted more malty... Someone else in the store nailed it this one is yummier...
       
       Yep, Weyermann is yummier than Best...
       
       So, after a little bit of negotiation... half a sack of weyermann at half the full sack price ;)
       
       Always use the yummyiest grain ;)

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       thanks for the info.
       Best Malz will be starting local distribution next month. i will watch out for that wheat malt.
       1 Replies
       12104 Views
       shibolet
       15 years ago
   20. How high quality Pots are made

       by stux, 15 years ago in Bags, Mashers, Thermometers, Kettles etc.

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       cheaper pots are stamped, others are spun...
       
       this video is interesting :)

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       Imagine having some of that machinery in your shed :drink:
       3 Replies
       5541 Views
       PistolPatch
       15 years ago
   21. Hecla 55? L Urn on Ebay

       by stux, 15 years ago in Electric BIAB

       

       Thought someone might be interested
       
       Dunno how big it is...
       0 Replies
       7255 Views
       stux
       15 years ago
   22. Heat Proof Burner Bases

       by stux, 15 years ago in Gas-Fired BIAB

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       So,
       
       When you use a gas burner, and you crank it up, it produces some heat that is directed down, into whatever its sitting on,
       
       What should you use to make the heat shield?
       
       Fibreboard?
       
       I'm thinking of building up a base with besa blocks, then a concrete-board type sheet, then some clinker bricks or something else on top of that...
       
       I used to use a large cast iron hotplate, but aside from the greasy black issue, which is a no no for beer, the poor wooden bench that this was placed on, now has...

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       The ones I bought where/are actual sandstone.
       3 Replies
       6174 Views
       hashie
       15 years ago
   23. 3rd BIAB: Munich Dunkel

       by stux, 15 years ago in Intermediate Brewing

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       I've decided to do a Munich Dunkel (to complement the Helles).
       
       I just bought 25KG each of Weyermann Pilsner and Weyermann Munich I :)
       
       ( I like germans... I married one ;) )
       
       So the recipe will be
       
       8KG of Munich I
       2KG of Pilsner
       and 200g of Carafa Special III for Colour
       
       All Weyermann
       
       OG will be about 1.052
       
       Hops, I'm still working on, but thinking
       
       Hallertauer 30g 45min
       Northern Brewer 30g 45min
       Hallertauer 15g 5min
       
       Hoping for 22 IBUs or so
       
       My basic plan is to do a Hochkurz Mash...

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       I was thinking about it,
       
       Sparging, in essence, is rinsing the grains to gain any extract which is still attached to the grain. The thicker your mash gravity, the harder it is to extract this coating , and the better a sparge will work.
       
       This is also the reason we raise the mash to 75C at mashout, to help the sugary residue run-off.
       
       One of the reasons I haven't been sparging my 10KG grain back is my 25L bucket fermenter is in use... and its the perfect size to sparge this quantity.
       
       The 20L...
       6 Replies
       8675 Views
       stux
       15 years ago
   24. Double Batch Concentrated BIAB

       by stux, 15 years ago in Gas-Fired BIAB

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       Double Keg BIAB (38L) with 2x15L No-Chill (FWK style) cubes and a 50L pot
       
       An Australia Day Experiment ;)
       
       My goal is do a double batch brew where I use one 15L Cube for each batch, I will then dilute the 15L to 20L in the fermenter, which my experience shows gives me a good 18-19L in the Keg.
       
       I do have a 23L Willow cube, but I have lots of wort kit cubes... so I guess, my goal is to make 2 Full Wort Kits with a 50L pot :)
       
       I am thinking about doing PP's Munich Helles, or perhaps Krispy Kolch...

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       So, I reckon buy two 1.0mm bits and two 1.5mm bits and/or a whole drill set. Whatever decision you make, you should be very confident that, financially at least, certainly practically, in the long-term, your purchase decision will be wrong :lol:.
       
       Just finished poking my 2 ring burner, turns out it has 2.5mm holes.
       :lol: :lol: :lol:
       
       Glad to hear poking the holes worked. Am now following your link above even though there is far less comedy there :).
       9 Replies
       12211 Views
       PistolPatch
       15 years ago
   25. Kettle Trolleys

       by stux, 15 years ago in Gas-Fired BIAB

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       I was looking at various burners on onclick= window.open(this.href);return false; and I found this
       
       onclick= window.open(this.href);return false;
       
       Model: MTR18
       Description: Trolley for all 1 wok burner cooker models(cooker sold separately)
       Dimensions: 1040mm x 470mm x 820mm
       
       They have Rambo, Mongolian, Duckbill, NASA etc burners... and the regulators

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       Did you see the commercial stock pot boilers :)
       
       For 70-100L pots :)
       5 Replies
       10461 Views
       stux
       15 years ago

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