Hi everybody
I’m a BIAB n00b from Norway and have a couple of questions before I do my first BIAB. I have a 50L converted keg with a 4,5KW electric element for heating, a platechiller and 2 x 30L plastic fermentors. I was thinking of making an American Pale Ale using this recipe.

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
25,00 g Amarillo Gold [8,50 %] - Boil 60,0 min Hop 4 23,1 IBUs
30,00 g Amarillo Gold [8,50 %] - Boil 15,0 min Hop 5 13,7 IBUs
30,00 g Amarillo Gold [8,50 %] - Boil 5,0 min Hop 6 5,5 IBUs
2,0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35,49 ml] Yeast 7 -
0,35 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (19,7 EBC) Grain 2 6,3 %
0,15 kg Wheat, Flaked (3,2 EBC) Grain 3 2,7 %
5,10 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5,9 EBC) Grain 1 91,1 %

Est Original Gravity: 1,054 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1,011 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5,6 %
Bitterness: 42,4 IBUs
Est Color: 10,3 EBC

For 23L batch size Beersmith tells me I need 38,1L of water and I will end up with 34,67L preboil volume and 26,60L after boil. Does this recipe look right?

The next thing I’m wondering about is if I want to have larger batch size, like 33L or larger, how would I do that? I don’t have room in the converted keg for that much water so I was thinking about making a wort with higher OG and top up with water when I remove the grains. I was looking around in Beersmith and found a place where I could put in Kettle top up. If I scale my recipe to 33L batch size and put in 10L Kettle top up I end up with this:

Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
37,00 g Amarillo Gold [8,50 %] - Boil 60,0 min Hop 4 22,7 IBUs
42,00 g Amarillo Gold [8,50 %] - Boil 15,0 min Hop 5 12,8 IBUs
42,00 g Amarillo Gold [8,50 %] - Boil 5,0 min Hop 6 5,1 IBUs
2,0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35,49 ml] Yeast 7 -
0,53 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (19,7 EBC) Grain 2 6,3 %
0,22 kg Wheat, Flaked (3,2 EBC) Grain 3 2,6 %
7,65 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5,9 EBC) Grain 1 91,1 %

Est Original Gravity: 1,056 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1,012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5,8 %
Bitterness: 42,2 IBUs
Est Color: 10,8 EBC

Add 40,19 l of water at 71,2 C for 75min, remove grains and add water to achieve boil volume of 45,05L. Boil for 90min add hops. Estimated Post Boil Vol: 36,98 l and Est Post Boil Gravity: 1,056 SG
Am I on the right track or am I missing something?
Is 45L boil volume to much or will it boil over?

Can I make bigger batches than 33L? If I top up with water before I boil and top up with water after boil? I would love to end up with 40L in my fermentors.

Sorry if I ask stupid questions or if it has been covered somewhere else that I havent looked.....

Hope someone can help me with this

Regards
Trond

Thanks for your reply
I had a look at the maxi BIAB calculator and scaled the recipe in Beersmith. If I want a bottling volume of 40L, batch size 42L I came up with this recipe:

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
50,00 g Amarillo Gold [8,50 %] - Boil 60,0 min Hop 4 23,6 IBUs
58,00 g Amarillo Gold [8,50 %] - Boil 15,0 min Hop 5 13,6 IBUs
58,00 g Amarillo Gold [8,50 %] - Boil 5,0 min Hop 6 5,5 IBUs
4,0 pkg California Ale (White Labs #WLP001) [35, Yeast 7 -
0,60 kg Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (19,7 EBC) Grain 2 5,8 %
0,30 kg Wheat, Flaked (3,2 EBC) Grain 3 2,9 %
9,40 kg Pale Malt, Maris Otter (5,9 EBC) Grain 1 91,3 %

Boil Size: 46,09 l
Post Boil Volume: 38,02 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 42,00 l
Bottling Volume: 40,30 l
Estimated OG: 1,054 SG
Estimated Color: 10,6 EBC
Estimated IBU: 42,7 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70,00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 74,3 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes




According to the maxi BIAB calculator I then need:
Dough-in Volume: 41,41L
Mash Volume: 49L
I had some problems understanding the calculator but am I far off if I pull the grains out, top up with water to 45L, boil for 90min, add hops when needed and top up with water to get batch size + loss to kettle and platechiller? I would then have about 45L in the kettle before I start chilling and end up with about 42L in my fermenters. Does this seems right or am I missing something?

Regards
Trond