So I’m gearing up to try my hand at my first MIAB brew. Any helpful suggestions?
Search BIAB (not MIAB) for original posts 2-3 years ago for helpful info by guys that orginated the process.
:cheers:
Regardless of what you may read about BIAB no sparge, you get better efficiency if you sparge. I mash in one pot and sparge in a second pot by just dunking the grain sack and giving it a good stir and let it sit for 10min (this is after the hour long mash of course). Without a sparge I was getting 62-68% efficiency. With a sparge I’m getting 74-78%. Just a tip.
Couple of things that work well for me when I do MIAB:
- Use 5-gal nylon paint strainer bags from Home Depot and put no more than 5 lbs of grain in each bag so there’s plenty of room to stir.
- If you are checking your mash pH so you know you’re in the right range you can crush the grain pretty close to flour with no fear of excess tannin extraction.
- If you’re kettle is big enough to hold all the grain and all the water, and you aren’t concerned with losing a little efficiency (I get ~70% this way), go with a no-sparge mash and make your day easier and your beer maltier.
- At the end of the mash, bring the temp up to 165F and do a short rest here to squeeze out a little more enzyme activity.
- Have a bucket at hand when you pull the grain bags and clamp them to the side of the bucket so they can fully drain.
BTW, I’ve been posting here for three years about “MIAB” so searching for that term will get you loads of good info! 
[quote=“Shadetree”]Couple of things that work well for me when I do MIAB:
- Use 5-gal nylon paint strainer bags from Home Depot and put no more than 5 lbs of grain in each bag so there’s plenty of room to stir.
- If you are checking your mash pH so you know you’re in the right range you can crush the grain pretty close to flour with no fear of excess tannin extraction.
- If you’re kettle is big enough to hold all the grain and all the water, and you aren’t concerned with losing a little efficiency (I get ~70% this way), go with a no-sparge mash and make your day easier and your beer maltier.
- At the end of the mash, bring the temp up to 165F and do a short rest here to squeeze out a little more enzyme activity.
- Have a bucket at hand when you pull the grain bags and clamp them to the side of the bucket so they can fully drain.
BTW, I’ve been posting here for three years about “MIAB” so searching for that term will get you loads of good info! [/quote]
:roll: Great now you got him started
[quote=“dobe12”]Great now you got him started[/quote]I hope so - MIAB is kind of the holy grail for the homebrewer who wants to make cheap, easy, and small batches of beer but isn’t ready for a mashtun.
Thanks dobe and shadetree. You two have always been helpful. I appreciate it.
I have a 7 gal. kettle and planned on a grist of 15 lbs. I’m guessing I need my water to be at 155 for dough-in? I kinda planned on a sparge simply because I’m worried about a full-volume mash and the room that much grain will take up. Am I right in thinking that?
With a 7-gal kettle you won’t have enough wort after mashing 15 lbs of grain (losing ~2 gallons to absorption) unless you do a sparge or accept a lower efficiency and mash more grain, then top up the kettle for the boil. Strike temp will depend on the weight and temp of the grain and volume of water, but starting ~10F above the desired mash temp usually works for me.
So then you’re saying that with a 7 gallon kettle, I need to mash more than 15 lbs. And top off the water to get the 1.073 I’m shooting for?
Or you’re saying that if I mash with 6 gallons of water ( and hope it all fits) I’ll only end up with about 4 gallons of wort? Therefore I would need to mash more than 15 lbs. to hit my target gravity due to the dilution??
And I typically just use distilled water and add some Burton water salts. Will that do enough for my PH ? This will be the first time I’m not using any extract.
Well, I just made a post about my second batch of BIAB which is boiling away right now. However you chose to drain/strain the mash make sure it is not going to plummet back into your kettle exploding wort everywhere. I used a colander that seemed to fit my pot perfectly, it did not. I bumped it and it fell…
I had the exact same thing happen a few months ago. Was a complete mess. All over my kitchen. I was scrambling to make up for the lost wort with more water and adding some DME. Turned out to be one of my best beers. Go figure. I have since bought a turkey frier and mash, boil, etc outside and of course, have yet to make a mess.
[quote=“HellBound”]Or you’re saying that if I mash with 6 gallons of water ( and hope it all fits) I’ll only end up with about 4 gallons of wort? Therefore I would need to mash more than 15 lbs. to hit my target gravity due to the dilution??[/quote]Yes, but you can’t hit 1.073 with this small kettle because the grain takes up room, too. You need a bigger kettle. [quote=“HellBound”]And I typically just use distilled water and add some Burton water salts. Will that do enough for my PH ? This will be the first time I’m not using any extract.[/quote]Depends on the recipe (SRM). There are a number of good spreadsheets out there for estimating mash pH - EZWater is probably the easiest, Palmer’s RA sheet is a little more technical, and bru’nwater is the most complicated.
I meant “great now you got him (shadetree) started”… on the whole MIAB vs BIAB topic. Let it go man… let it go…
[quote=“dobe12”]Let it go man… let it go…[/quote]Talk to yourself much? I was only pointing out that some of the best threads with the most knowledge of the technique would have “MIAB” somewhere in them.
Yeah, because most start with BIAB, but you obsessively try to correct everyone into calling it MIAB. Again… let it go…
I’ve hit 1.080 in the same kettle, only with extract. It makes that much of a difference?
[quote=“dobe12”]Yeah, because most start with BIAB, but you obsessively try to correct everyone into calling it MIAB. Again… let it go…[/quote]Hardly ever see someone arguing with themselves, but you’re doing a good job of it, dude. Might want to check the thread’s title, though.
Yeah, because most start with BIAB, but you obsessively try to correct everyone into calling it MIAB. Again… let it go…[/quote]
Hello pot…meet kettle… :blah:
