I thought I’d share the story of my first AG brewday, I’ve made some kits and several partial mashes topped up with extract before but this is my first fully all grain brew.
Firstly thanks to Mad Scientist and Shorepoints for their help with the recipe - http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php ... use#p57661
Not sure biabacus exactly reflects my methods are processes but I’ll attach it at the bottom for information and feedback.
I should point out to start with that my equipment’s not massive (no that’s not a euphemism), so I’m doing my take on a maxibiab.

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After weighing out my grain I heated 14L of water to 70 degrees in my largest (20L) pan, I then removed from the heat put my bag in and added the grain. Temperature checked (about 67degreess) wrapped in a blanket and left for 90 mins, stirring occasionally.
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Meanwhile I heated 6L of water in my smaller (about 12L) pan to 80 degrees.
Upon unwrapping my mash the temperature had dropped to around 60 degrees. I lifted the bag and let it drain – probably not enough - as when I dunked it into my second pan I lost about 0.5L through overflow. I left it to soak/rinse for about 10 mins.
Meanwhile I heated 4L of water to about 90 degrees C and put that in the orange bucket.
I lifted the bag out of the second pan and left to drain for a bit before dunking into the really hot water in the orange bucket.
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The contents of the second pan were then added to the first which I brought to the boil. If my notes and measurements are accurate then VIB was 16.2L which seems a bit low.
I hung the grain bag over the bucket and drain and squeezed (really well), all this went straight into the fermenter.
 

Boiled main pan for 60 mins, adding hops as per schedule – Yes I nearly had boilover at first hop addition as predicted MS!
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After first hop addition it never really got back to a roaring boil, more of a gentle one because of the size of my stove. Evaporation was 1.6L
At the end of 60 mins I poured everything through a strainer into my fermenter (whilst still hot) and placed this in an ice bath for a couple of hours.
I probably left it in the ice bath too long and it got quite cold. I placed it in a 19 degree water bath and left overnight to allow temperature to settle. This morning I stirred vigorously for a couple of min (until my arm ached) and pitched SafAle US05.
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By hook or by crook I ended up with my desired 19L in the fermenter. I added a total of 24L of water (14+6+4). I lost about 0.5L to overflow and had evaporation of 1.6L therefore loss due to lauter was 2.9L which works out as 0.54L per Kg.
 
For reasons I can’t explain OG came out at 1.070. Looking at biabacus it suggests OG should be 1.059 in the recipe overview section but section O suggests 1.074. Can anyone explain the difference please?
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On the subject of Biabacus I don't know how to reflect 9.5L of total sparge with some going into the boil and some into the fermenter, but whilst I'm interested I'm not obsessive about chasing the numbers.
I’ll leave for a week to 10 days until the kausen has fallen and the majority of fermentation is complete and then transfer to a secondary fermenter for a few days. and after that I still haven't decided keg or bottle.
It smelled wonderful this morning when I pitched yeast – it went in dry by the way, no starter.
What a great day, really enjoyed my first AG experience.
Thanks for listening to my ramblings. comments and suggestions gratefully received.

[s]Ps couldn't get pics to work, I'll try again[/s], now fixed I think

Thanks Shorepoint
I agree it's not pure BIAB, it's about getting the most I can out of the equipment I've got.
I don't think what I'm doing is much different to Ralph's version http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=352.
Tannins are certainly a possibility but my thought process was;
- It's quite a small volume of water (4L) being added to an already wet bag (5.4kg grain plus maybe 3kgs of water) which might be at 70 degrees C. So my simple head says 2/3 at 70 degrees + 1/3 at 90 degrees gives a total, once mixed, of about 76 degrees - not dissimilar to mash -out temps.
On the pasteurisation point I thought the grain bag had been pasteurised the water had been boiled so it should be ok - It doesn't strike me as significantly different to adding water directly to the fermenter (to adjust volume), or making a yeast started with sparge water as Ralph talks about.
I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out.
All of the above are just my thoughts, often based on things I've read both on here and elsewhere. I'm really not saying that any of it is correct and I'm sure you and others have much more experience, I'm just trying to explain why I made the choices I did.
I'm keen to hear your and others thoughts, comments and recommendations.
Cheers and best wishes