BIAB synopsis

[Beer-lord]

Craft Beer and Brewing has a short, concise description of BIAB brewing. I agree with what is written except that I think it can be every bit as efficient as traditional brewing except once you need to go over say, 1.075, a little more work is needed.
For those interested in trying it, this article explains it as simply as possible.

[FedoraDave]

There are other ways around the drawbacks they've outlined, also. I use a homemade MLT for my five-gallon batches, but for my 2.5 gallon batches, I prefer BIAB.

I already have three kettles that I use in my brewing; a 3-gallon, a 5-gallon, and an 8 gallon. For BIAB, because I'm using a smaller volume of grain (usually about 5 pounds or so), I can mash in the 3-gallon kettle, calculating 1.25 gallons of water per pound of grain. Yes, this isn't a full-volume mash, and here's where my technique departs from traditional BIAB. I mash for an hour in the 3-gallon kettle, drain, squeeze the bejabbers out of the grains, and then sparge in the 5-gallon kettle, making up the pre-boil volume.

This helps my efficiency, I believe. It's always seemed to me that not sparging leaves more fermentable sugars behind than I care to, and I want all that I can get out of my grains. When I use my MLT, I do two sparges, and while the runnings get lighter and lighter in color, there's still something rinsing out, so I feel I'm not wasting my time. Same with the single-sparge BIAB. Any discrepancies between projected OG and actual OG are, I feel, a matter of my volume, rather than the actual efficiency of the process.

Good article, though. Makes it very simple and straightforward for someone who wants to investigate the technique.

[Beer-lord]

I'm fine stirring every 15 minutes but with a pump I now reticulate. I find stirring and squeezing really help but if you want to go over 1.080, you may likely need to just sparge.

[FedoraDave]

I do stir halfway through the mash, which is something I don't do with my MLT. But then, I do two sparges with the MLT, and stir each of those. And most of my beers don't go above 1.060, whatever technique I use.

[MrBandGuy]

I had been stirring every 15 minutes. Last two batches, I've just let it ride. As long as I mash out, I've gotten the same, or better, conversion. Then again, could be my new bag too.

[FedoraDave]

I had been stirring every 15 minutes. Last two batches, I've just let it ride. As long as I mash out, I've gotten the same, or better, conversion. Then again, could be my new bag too.

You seem to be getting good results, and when that happens to me, I don't necessarily try to figure things out. I just accept it, thank Ninkasi, and keep on brewin' beer.

Well, that's a little flippant; the more we understand about our process and the results we get from them, the more consistent will be our results. I just try not to over-analyze, and I certainly don't lose any sleep over it.

[ScrewyBrewer]

I'm satisfied with my BIAB efficiency now. I double crush my grains, do a 90 minute mash, mash out and then sparge to hit my pre-boil volumes. I've had no trouble getting 10 gallon 6% ABV batches doing it this way.