Biab starting out help.

[bobby_d1978]

Hi guys. I've just bought myself a 32 litre stainless pot looking to move from kits to biab. I'm struggling to find any good biab calculators. Any help, hints or tips would be much appreciated.

 

[Alcoholx]

Hi guys. I've just bought myself a 32 litre stainless pot looking to move from kits to biab. I'm struggling to find any good biab calculators. Any help, hints or tips would be much appreciated.

I dont use any calculators and have made some great beer, i think its only needed if your doing a full biab method that uses all the water inc the sparge water volume in the mash, but you would need a bigger pot than 32l for that.

i have a 32 litre peco boiler and all ive ever done is use about 26-27 litres of water for the mash, then ill probabaly use about 4-5 litres of sparge water to rinse the grains.. you will loose about 2-3 litres of water in the grain bag depending on how much you want to squeeze it.. so i end up with about 28-29 litres in the boiler that is just manageable, but you have to watch it as theres not alot of room for boilovers, ill then boil for an hour that will leave me about 25l in the boiler... chill it down and drain.. i will loose a litre or 2 in the trub depending on how well its settled and finish with about 23l of wort, i usaully get about 75% efficiency, or maybe 80% if the grain bill is smaller as theres more room for the mash water/sugar.

biggest grain bill ive done using that method is about 6kg, so you can make some strong ales.. but lower grain bills are more economical because the efficiancy is better.

all the 23l recipies ive done have turned out well... and you can re-size recipes in brewers friend software easily enough if you see something you want to make.

 

[baggybill]

Never used a BIAB calc so can't recommend any. Tips though (I BIAB with a 30L Burco and a 40L Buffalo)...

Get a steel rule from Asda or somewhere. Take the time to fill it carefully litre by litre and measure from the top (say from 18L) so you know exactly how much liquid you have in it at any time. Makes it easy to fill quickly to a certain level and calculate your boil offs etc.

Get a good quality bag. I faffed about with eBay paint strainers that I had to cut and stretch and fasten down etc. Finally bought a quality bag that makes things quicker & easier (I use a hoist now).

Keep real good notes and measure volumes in the boiler carefully on your first brew. Your first brew is your learning curve - pick something simple like a smash. Do a small half brew if need be so you get some numbers.

If need be, I'll come over the bridge and help ya out :grin:

 

[MrRock]

http://www.biabrewer.info

 

[IainM]

http://www.biabrewer.info

This. I started playing around with BIABacus at first, then one I knew that all I had to do in the Brewer's Friend Recipe Builder was lower the efficiency at bit, I switched to that.

 

[Spapro]

I use Beersmith mobile - on my Android tablet.

You have to create a new brewing profile for the Peco boiler, here are the settings in the profile I created for my Peco boiler (BIAB), works well for me and I hit my expected numbers, give or take, for a 23litre batch:

I do a seperate dunk sparge with 3 kettlefuls of boiling water in a spare FV after the mash in the Peco boiler.

Anyway, here is the profile for Beersmith (I use mobile for Android).

Batch Volume: 23 litres
Efficiency: 70%
Hop Util: 100%

Mash Tun
Mash Tun volume: 27 litre
Mash Tun Mass: 1.5kg
Tun Specific Heat: 0.40 Cal/g0C
Lauter Deadspace 0 litres
Adjust Vol for Deadspace: No

Boiler:
Kettle Top up: 4.5 litres (I dunk sparge with 3 kettlefuls of water and add that to the boiler)
Calc Boil Vol: Yes
Boil Volume: 29.23 litres
Boil Time: 60 minutes
Boil Off: 2.0 litres
Post Boil Volume: 27.23 litres
Cooling loss 1.09 litres

Fermenting/Bottling Volumes:
Trub/Chiller Loss: 3.18
Top up water: 0.00 litres
Batch Volume: 23.00 litres
Fermenter Loss: 1.00 litre
Bottling Volume: 22 litres

 

[Simonh82]

I really rate Brewers Friend. You can test it out with a free account which allows 5 recipes and if you like it there is a forum discount. It works on your computer and is also mobile compatible.

You can set it up for BIAB and I find the calculator very accurate. The thing that will take a little time to dial in will be your efficiency. Maybe start with a figure of 70% and go from there.

I agree with the recommendation to get a good quality bag. Wet grain weighs a lot and you will want something strong to hold it securely whilst you drain the grain.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

[BeerisGOD]

is the dunk sparge done instead of the rinse through method? I can see the dunk would get more sugars now.
I've got two spare FVs I could use for the next batch.
would squeezing the bag be necessary after two dunks?

 

[BeerisGOD]

http://www.biabrewer.info

seems like a very specific site for one style of making beer. I may join it but will have to get a better grasp of gallons and oz's first.

 

[MickDundee]

I dunk sparge while my post mash wort heats to the boil. Of my 3 BIAB brews so far 2 of them met of exceeded my expected efficiency. The other one bombed but it was an AG kit is purchased and I blamed my boiler blowing up (it still turned out beautifully though just 1.8% below my expected ABV).

 

[Spapro]

is the dunk sparge done instead of the rinse through method? I can see the dunk would get more sugars now.
I've got two spare FVs I could use for the next batch.
would squeezing the bag be necessary after two dunks?

After lifting the grain bag out after the mash I just sit the grain bag in the spare FV then pour 3 kettlefuls of boiled water on top, give the grain a quik stir then lift the grain bag out and sit in a sieve over the FV to drain for a bit then still squeeze it out. Then add the sparged wort to the wort in your boiler which is coming to the boil at this point.

No need to use 2 FV for a dunk sparge, just 1.

 

[BeerisGOD]

ok I see how this would work.
ill try this for the next batch.

cheers

 

[MrRock]

seems like a very specific site for one style of making beer. I may join it but will have to get a better grasp of gallons and oz's first.

Yes it's all specifically about BIAB, but if that's what you're doing it's worth signing up to download the BIABacus spreadsheet which I've found very handy for scaling recipes to my equipment.

The spreadsheet deals in metric measurements too btw.

 

[BeerisGOD]

Yes it's all specifically about BIAB, but if that's what you're doing it's worth signing up to download the BIABacus spreadsheet which I've found very handy for scaling recipes to my equipment.

The spreadsheet deals in metric measurements too btw.

can you send the link for this mate?

its coming up with loads of review pages but not a lidgit one

 

[MrRock]

can you send the link for this mate?

its coming up with loads of review pages but not a lidgit one

Sure, the instructions are here:
http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=138

Once you're signed up and have posted in the "My First Post" thread you'll become a fully registered member and then you'll be able to download files etc.

The BIABacus spreadsheet can then be found here:
http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1869

There's an example pre-populated one for an American Pale Ale, which I've brewed and was very nice and there's a blank one.
Either way, you just need to fill in the boxes for the measurements of your pot in section B and you can then use it to scale recipes to your equipment.
If you know your numbers for evaporation & losses you can adjust those in section X and it'll give more accurate figures.

 

[BeerisGOD]

Sure, the instructions are here:
http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=138

Once you're signed up and have posted in the "My First Post" thread you'll become a fully registered member and then you'll be able to download files etc.

The BIABacus spreadsheet can then be found here:
http://www.biabrewer.info/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1869

There's an example pre-populated one for an American Pale Ale, which I've brewed and was very nice and there's a blank one.
Either way, you just need to fill in the boxes for the measurements of your pot in section B and you can then use it to scale recipes to your equipment.
If you know your numbers for evaporation & losses you can adjust those in section X and it'll give more accurate figures.

cheers mate

ill have a look at this as its lookin like Im now a future BIAB brewer. I've only a 12l kettle but its already proving to be a great advance in the humble HB hobbie/obsession

 

[MrRock]

cheers mate

ill have a look at this as its lookin like Im now a future BIAB brewer. I've only a 12l kettle but its already proving to be a great advance in the humble HB hobbie/obsession

It's all good!

I think you said on another thread that you were local to Bedford? If you get on with it, I've got a 25L aluminium pot & BIAB bag you can have cheap if you're interested in upsizing.
I've since changed to a steel pot & induction hob.

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

I think I have brewers friend and brewers mate loaded on my home pc will check when I get back. seems pretty good and have proved accurate so far too

 

[BeerisGOD]

It's all good!

I think you said on another thread that you were local to Bedford? If you get on with it, I've got a 25L aluminium pot & BIAB bag you can have cheap if you're interested in upsizing.
I've since changed to a steel pot & induction hob.

that's grand mate. like you say ill see how I get on with a few more partial mashes under me belt first.
I'm hoping this one comes out well.

cheers

 

[bobby_d1978]

Thanks for all the great tips guys and will keep you up to date with my first Biab brew. Just finishing buying all the equipment needed.
Happy brewing cheers