I am trying my hand at my first BIAB. I have ordered the SMASH all grain kit from NB. My plan was to try and do a BIAB with half of the ingredients that came with the kit. What my plan did not take into account is that I have never done a biab before and have no clue how much water to start with or how much water to use to sparge. I have the temps that came with the kit, but I am not sure if this is a good place to start. Here is what came with the kit.
7.75 lbs of 2-row
1/2 oz of Simcoe at 60m
1/2 oz of Simcoe at 15m
1 oz of Simcoe at 5 m
Mash single infusion
Sacch rest 149 degrees for 60 min
Mashout 170 for 10 mins
I have looked at Beersmith, but that software has confused the heck out of me.
Knowing what your boil off rate is, mash the grains in 1/2 the full boil amount. After the hour is over, place the grain in a large strainer and sparge with the remainder of the boil amount. Or dunk it like a tea bag in a second pot of water.
You want 2.5 gallons at the end of the boil
3.8lbs of grain will absorb ~.46 gallons.
approximate loss of 1g per hour of boil
So you need to start with ~4 gallons.
It all depends on your system, so you might be brewing by the seat of your pants until you get it dialed in. I like a no-sparge BIAB, b/c if I want to sparge I might as well just use my mash-tun. My process for 5-gallon BIAB (usually about 10# of grain):
Heat 7 gallons to 160
Add grain bag for 152 mash in
Hold temp for 1 hour
Pull bag and put it in strainer bucket, or squeeze, or hang, or whatever
Pre-boil wort volume usually 6-gallons
1 hour boil
Final volume usually 5-gallons
If you think about it I would love to hear how your split batch comes out. I emailed NB some time ago about splitting batches and they didn’t recommend it. It seems to me that as long as you make sure to give the grains a good mixing before splitting, things should work out OK.
