BIAB - 32litre boiler query

[Spapro]

Hi,

My new peco electric boiler has just arrived from HBC :clap: so I am all set for my Timothy Taylor Landlord clone BIAB brew day tomorrow - using a T126 yeast from Brewlab.

Anyway, this will be my first full length BIAB having done a good number of partial mashes on my hob top.

The queries I have given the 32l capacity are around volumes of liquid and whether to do or not do a dunk sparge.

1. How much water to start with for the mash ? based on mashing 4.3kg of grain

2. Once I have mashed should I do a dunk sparge or does this risk tannins from overdoing things ?

3. I will need to top up to what volume for the start of the boil to end up with 23litre brew ? I am guessing maybe 30 litres ?

Hoping someone with BIAB experience with a modest sized boiler can advise :

 

[MCJones87]

Hi Spapro,

I cant comment too much on your first two queries, but I would say if your boiler has a 32 litre capacity, you are at serious risk of boil overs if you boil 30 litres of wort in it vigorously. I would say max you should be boiling with is 26 litres to make sure you don't end up with some serious clean up work after your brew is completed. you can always top up with water when you move to the FV if your OG is too high?

 

[Redron]

Nothing to add other than good luck and best wishes. It was your recipe for partial mashing and Clibit's input that got me 'onto the grain' so to speak.
I am a step behind you whilst I decide wether I go gas or electric with a view to doing BIAB . Gas is favourite at the moment....
Let us know how it goes. :

 

[Spapro]

Hi Spapro,

I cant comment too much on your first two queries, but I would say if your boiler has a 32 litre capacity, you are at serious risk of boil overs if you boil 30 litres of wort in it vigorously. I would say max you should be boiling with is 26 litres to make sure you don't end up with some serious clean up work after your brew is completed. you can always top up with water when you move to the FV if your OG is too high?

Good point about the level and the boil, will keep to 26 litres for the boil and can top up like you say in the FV. Cheers

 

[Spapro]

Nothing to add other than good luck and best wishes. It was your recipe for partial mashing and Clibit's input that got me 'onto the grain' so to speak.
I am a step behind you whilst I decide wether I go gas or electric with a view to doing BIAB . Gas is favourite at the moment....
Let us know how it goes. :

Thanks Redron, will let you know how it goes, may even post some pic if I remember to take any !

 

[rodabod]

http://biabcalculator.com/

1. I'd generally split my mash and sparge water into two halves, but taking grain absorption into account. Let's say you lose 1L water to your grain; give the mash 1L extra, so say 27L total = 14L mash + 13L sparge, resulting in 26L wort.

2. You don't have to sparge, but it will improve your efficiency as the first runnings are getting saturated with sugar which impedes further extraction. Don't worry about tannins.

3. Assume around 4L per hour of evaporation and work from there. If someone else has your boiler then you could ask for suggested figures.

 

[Toffee]

my 30L buffalo is actually 33L to the brim. I put 28L in for the mash, then dunk sparge in another 7L of water in a pan. I add 4L of this back into the boiler for the boil, so boil around 28L. I then top up the remaining 3L or so during the boil. Last brew, I ended up with 22.5L in the FV

So bank on something like that. Try it. Measure your actuals and you will know next time.

 

[Cwrw666]

I've got a 30L Ace boiler and have had quite a few boil-overs despite taking a lot of care, so these days I mash with about 20L of water, then dunk sparge in about 5L of water roughly, & chuck that in the boiler. After the initial foamy boil I top up during the boil with the odd kettle of boiling water and then after transferring to the FV usually have to add a bit more to bring it up to 23L. Doing all this my efficiencies seem to be right for the recipes as the OG I get matches that stated in the recipes I'm using (Greg Hughes book).
Only downside is that when I go to the pub an awful lot of the guest ales seem pretty indifferent stuff in comparison as well as costing about 6 times as much.:lol:

 

[SiWHU]

Hey Spapro,

my peco boiler arrived today too. Was a little surprised to note that the chiller didn't come with any hose or fittings.

Do you know where's best to get the stuff to enable you to fit this to the cold tap?

 

[Tony1951]

Good point about the level and the boil, will keep to 26 litres for the boil and can top up like you say in the FV. Cheers

My ACE boiler is about 30 litres and i find I have to be particularly careful at a couple of points in the boil. First is not long after it comes to the boil and then it froths and starts to rise up. It soon dies back by about five minutes into the rolling boil and then generally it stays like that until about 45 minutes when I put a wirfloc tablet in and then it REALLY rises up. I have often had to switch off for a moment to let it die back. About five minutes of this and it all goes clear of foam again and behaves itself until turn off.

As I boil, I obviously lose some water and I will top up with a boiling kettleful to about 25 litres. I usually lose a couple more in trub losses during the emptying process.

 

[Spapro]

Thanks for all the advice guys, I read this before completing the brew yesterday afternoon. Reallly helped.

I mashed in 23litres of water at 67°C, then dunk sparged in a seperate couple of kettlefuls of water at 75°C. Ended up with 23litres and then topped up to about 25litres. topped up a couple of times durinig the 75 minute boil.

Lost quite a bit to trub as no hop filter and the tap got a bit bunged up when transferring to FV. Ended up with 21litres in the FV and topped up to 22.5litres before adding my yeast starter.

Starting gravity after topping up was 1040 - recipe suggested 1042 so pretty happy with efficiency for a first run with new equipment.

Learning points/thoughts:
1. I had to boost the temp a couple of times during the mash, was dropping to 64°C in about 20 mins - had the boiler on the concrete floor of the garage so next time would sit it on some chipboard to insulate (had my sleeping bag over the boiler while mashing, as per hob top partial mashes so think the concrete floor was to blame.
2. need to think about a hop filter - probably a bazooka type if I can add one. I had the hops in muslin bags but still had a few issues with the tap bunging up with trub when transferring to FV. I would prefer to just bang the whole leaf hops in the boil without bags so a hop filter is a must.
3. I was suprised it took 75 minutes to chill the wort to 25°C. We are on a water metre so may explore getting a little pump and rigging up a re-circulation system for cooling from an iced water bath to save water and reduce the time to cool.

All-in-all enjoyed the process and looking forward to the beer - now the wait starts, need to plan another brew me thinks.

 

[Covrich]

really took 75 mins to cool it down? Is this the Peco I have seen people get insultaed wrapping for them..

I proably woulnd't bother with that tap though, I think you'd probably have been better off jugging it through a sieve. I think you might be riight to swap it our for a ball tap and hop filter

 

[Toffee]

75 mins sounds way ott. Using a copper chiller yeah? Were you stiring the wort at times to move around the coils? Cold inlet at top of coil is supposed to be more efficient too. Takes me around 25 mins I think, plus or minus 5 mins depending on ground water temp and time of year.

Oh but well done, sounds like a successful brew day to me!

 

[dweb]

Don't use the tap to transfer to the FV. I bought a large sieve from Lidl that fits over the top of the FV and I just tip the boiler up and pour through the sieve. It's not too heavy.

 

[Spapro]

75 mins sounds way ott. Using a copper chiller yeah? Were you stiring the wort at times to move around the coils? Cold inlet at top of coil is supposed to be more efficient too. Takes me around 25 mins I think, plus or minus 5 mins depending on ground water temp and time of year.

Oh but well done, sounds like a successful brew day to me!

Will try the cold inlet connected to the top of the coil, I had it tother way round I think. I did stir the wort, maybe should have done more.

Anyway, thanks for the tips, will try them on my next brew in a couple of weeks, got 2 FV fermenting at the mo.

 

[MyQul]

I before I started doing overnight mashes which make dunk sparging unnessicary I used to dunk sparge the hell out of my grains, in fact I would do two dunk sparges and never got any tannins

 

[Spapro]

I before I started doing overnight mashes which make dunk sparging unnessicary I used to dunk sparge the hell out of my grains, in fact I would do two dunk sparges and never got any tannins

Worth knowing, probably worrying too much about tannins then. Cheers MyQul