Cons to BIAB?

[ickyfoot]

Very cool. I started harvesting yeast two batches ago, and storing starter wort seems like a natural progression from there.

When I do my first batch sparge, I’ll see what kind of SG I can draw off of the grain bed once I have enough volume for the boil. I think I’ve read that ~1.035 is sufficient for a starter…does that sound right?

USMCMatt, sorry to have taken your thread so far afield…

[usmcmatt]

haha hey it’s all good, I’m learning all kinda of things.

[shadetree]

[quote=“ickyfoot”]When I do my first batch sparge, I’ll see what kind of SG I can draw off of the grain bed once I have enough volume for the boil.[/quote]Take a gravity reading of the wort before draining, then divide the total grain weight by 8 and multiply the result by the last two digits of the wort gravity to get points of sugar in the grain – say you have 1.024 wort and 12 lbs of grain, you’d have 24 x 12/8 = 36 points. So if you added 1.5 gallons of water to the drained MT, you’d have a total of three gallons (1.5 in the grain + 1.5 you added), and the gravity would be 36/3 = 12 or 1.012. You could drain the 1.5 gallons and reduce to three quarts or a half-gallon and have decent starter wort.

[denny]

[quote=“ickyfoot”]Very cool. I started harvesting yeast two batches ago, and storing starter wort seems like a natural progression from there.

When I do my first batch sparge, I’ll see what kind of SG I can draw off of the grain bed once I have enough volume for the boil. I think I’ve read that ~1.035 is sufficient for a starter…does that sound right?

USMCMatt, sorry to have taken your thread so far afield… [/quote]

Even as low as 1.020 is fine for starter wort.

[duxx]

@Denny

[quote=“Shadetree”][quote=“Denny”]Of course, you can also do no sparge in a cooler.[/quote]No-sparging is my preferred method, but going to have to get a 50-gal cooler to go with the new 26-gallon kettle.

[/quote]

So that’s where my Lacrosse stick went!

[usmcmatt]

I think I’m going to try it this weekend! Can I use this bag for a 5gal batch of slobber?

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brew ... -x-19.html

[dobe12]

As a side note, you can easily do a sparge while BIAB’ing. I do all the time and it really helps with efficiency. I mash in a 7gallon pot then dunk the grain sack in a 5 gallon pot after the mash is complete. I use about 50-70% of the water I’ll need in the mash pot and the rest in the sparge pot (depending on the beer I’m making and the amount of grain/water I’ll need). I’ve BIAB’ed several times without the sparge and gotten between 65-70% efficiency. I’ve gone back to sparging and am now back up to 74-78% efficiency… again, very dependent on the amount of grain/water I’m working with. For bigger beers with more grain, I’m only getting to around 70% efficiency even with a sparge.

[dobe12]

[quote=“USMCMatt”]I think I’m going to try it this weekend! Can I use this bag for a 5gal batch of slobber?

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/brew ... -x-19.html[/quote]

Sure can, but you can go to Home Depot and get yourself a pack of 5 gallon paint strainer bags too. They are stronger, cheaper and would work just as well.

[usmcmatt]

Cool thanks

[tknice]

@dobe12

As a side note, you can easily do a sparge while BIAB’ing. I do all the time and it really helps with efficiency. I mash in a 7gallon pot then dunk the grain sack in a 5 gallon pot after the mash is complete. I use about 50-70% of the water I’ll need in the mash pot and the rest in the sparge pot (depending on the beer I’m making and the amount of grain/water I’ll need). I’ve BIAB’ed several times without the sparge and gotten between 65-70% efficiency. I’ve gone back to sparging and am now back up to 74-78% efficiency… again, very dependent on the amount of grain/water I’m working with. For bigger beers with more grain, I’m only getting to around 70% efficiency even with a sparge.

This has been my experience as well–maybe slightly higher. I average between 70-75% without a sparge and 75-80% with one. I don’t mind a few points lower for the easier cleanup. This next batch I’m going to pour the topoff water over the grain bag to reach my preboil volume instead of squeezing completely and then topping off which I think will help. I haven’t done that in the past.

I’m doing a 12% barleywine with 41.75lbs of grain this Saturday. Gonna double up bags for this one… wish me luck!! hahaha

[a10t2]

@ickyfoot

Yeah, but your site indicates that you’re looking at down around 50% efficiency going that route (no sparge).

That’s a pretty conservative number. A no-sparge will be about 60-80% efficient, depending on gravity. http://braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?ti … 8weight.29

@ickyfoot

do you have to worry about oxygenation when you dump sparge water into the tun after draining the sweet wort?

You do, but as long as you aren’t making serious efforts to aerate the wort it shouldn’t be much of a concern. Assuming you’re using hot sparge water, it should be more or less de-aerated to begin with.