Hello
Just wanted to know if anyone has any incite into the effect’s (Positive or Negative) of the larger Grain to Water Ratio associated with No Sparge Mashing.
Thanks
That’s the whole idea behind the orginal BIAB. that is, Mash and Sparge water quantities together. I believe the efficiency is a little less than traditional Mash/Sparge but those that do it sugggest the convenience is worth a little less efficiency.
cheers
I biab pretty much exclusively, while the mash is full volume its key to actually mash out for decent efficienc.
I guess the implication of this statement is that the water/grain ratio during the conversion rest does not have to be excessively high if you add an infusion to both bring up the preboil volume to where you want it, and at the same time get it up to mashout temps.
Long story short, I personally don’t know of any positive effects of a very thin mash, but at some point there may be a negative if it gets too extreme. To the OP–what kind of water/grist ratio are you thinking of?
A thinner mash (2+ qt/lb) can increase efficiency as well as fermentability, IME. I believe Kai did some research on this as well, with good results.
To rustyhoover
For a low gravity 1.039 60 liter batch of beer i mash 12.5kg Malt with Around 80 Liters of water
around 6 liters / KG.
I do loose efficiency and have to compensate with additional grain. My numbers usually come in at around 64-65% efficiency.
I tend to mash a little higher than general for a medium body beer as my wort’s tend to attenuate down quite low. I have always just heated up to the Mash Out but i suppose i could just do an infusion creating a thicker mash.
To dsidab81!
What are the implications of NOT doing a mash out?
[quote=“BulldogZAR”]To rustyhoover
For a low gravity 1.039 60 liter batch of beer i mash 12.5kg Malt with Around 80 Liters of water
around 6 liters / KG.
I do loose efficiency and have to compensate with additional grain. My numbers usually come in at around 64-65% efficiency.
I tend to mash a little higher than general for a medium body beer as my wort’s tend to attenuate down quite low. I have always just heated up to the Mash Out but i suppose i could just do an infusion creating a thicker mash.
To dsidab81!
What are the implications of NOT doing a mash out?[/quote]
6 liters/kg (~3qts/lb for metrically-challenged folks like me 
) is not too extreme, so I’m sure you’re fine.
Now that Shade mentions it, I do recall hearing something about some potential benefits of a thin mash. I can’t recall the details of exactly how thin is optimal, but obviously there’s some ratio beyond which any benefits are negated .
Brukaiser probably has a spreadsheet and/or dissertation on it somewhere .
My thinking was that the biggest benefit of a mashout in this scenario is that it allows you to do your conversion rest at a lower water/grain ratio, then the mashout serves to bring the final volume up to where you want it. Since your ratio seems OK, I can’t imagine that the mashout will make a substantial difference.
I could be wrong of course, but I personally would not worry about it if you prefer to skip it.
By the way…64-65% efficiency sounds very good for no-sparge to me. If I were getting that I would not change a thing!
:cheers:
I get about the same efficiency with no-sparge at around 3.5qt/lb as I do with a normal mash. I’ve found it takes a little longer to convert, around 90min or so.
I find a 75-90 min mash works for me.
I’ve only attempted two biab sessions where i didn’t at least ramp to 168-170 or hold at that temp for 5-10 minutes. Both of those sessions I had diminished runoff while pulling my bag…could mean nothing at all, but I “feel” more certain about my process when mashing out.
Keep in mind that I’m biab’ing full volume, there are no dunk sparges involved.
