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Starting all grain with biab method

Northern Brewer General
#1

Hey guys,

I am interested in starting all grain brewing and was curious if I could use an all grain recipe kit in the same way that I use the biab kits form northern Brewer. The only difference between the kits is the amount of grain. The biab kits are made for 3 gallon finish volume and I believe the all grain kits are designed for 5 gallons. I’ve been using a ten gallon kettle and start my batches with 5.5 gallons to compensate for water loss s still end with about 4 gallons in the carboy.

So my questions are, will my kettle be large enough to make one of the all grain kits work, and will I be able to use only kettle without having a mash tun and lauter tun?

#2

Yes your kettle is perfect

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#3

Up your volume to 6.5… it’ll take some time, but you figure out how to find your targeted final gravity… I am with Brew Cat with your kettle… Sneezles61

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#4

Thanks guys, do I need to have the grain crushed any special way for this method? I read something about double crushing for biab but not sure if that’s necessary

#5

I dont double crush… One time through the JSP mill and into hot water. Sneezles61

#6

Kettle do think its fine. Try to start out with 7 gall. Your final wort volume will be around 5 to 5.5 gall of wort. Takes a few times to try. How much boil off you do have

#7

You can, but don’t have to, double crush.

Crushing finer can boot efficiency and speed the mash. If a non-BIAB brewer crushes too fine they risk a stuck sparge, but the BIAB bag doesn’t clog like a false bottom, or a bazooka, so you can safely crush much finer, no worries.

If you don’t double crush, no worries.

4 Likes
#8

Thanks for the input guys! I’ve got about a half a dozen batches of extract and biab batches completed, all which turned out very well, and I’m ready to start buying raw ingredients and experimenting more with beer smith. I really enjoy sours and want to start introducing all of these Pacific Northwest blackberries into my brew! Cheers and thanks again!

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#9

Odells blackberry gose is tasty.

#11

Any idea of about how many lbs of grain I could use if I have to start with 7 gallons of water?

#12

How big is your kettle and do you plan mashing full volume or doing a pour over?

#13

10 gallons and no plans on doing a pour over. I wil be upgrading to a 20 gallon in a couple of months

#14

Your kettle is big enough for any amount of grain for a 5 gallon batch. I figure grain absorption at roughly .15 gallons per pound or 3/4gallon for ten lbs. So if you want a preboil volume of 7 gallons multiply the wt by .15 and add that much more water. Does that make sense? What you could do is just mash in your 7 gallons and add the water your short until you get a feel for it. By the way you can just add cold water to make it easy

#15

Ok cool so just dilute it to get to my preboil volume? When I start a 3 gallon biab with 5.5 gallons I end up with about 3.5 to 4 gallons in the kettle post boil. I was going to just start with 7 for a ten to twelve pound grain bill and see where I end up. I have been looking into making a barley wine and that would require 20+ lbs of grain which is mostly where my question was stemming from. Planning on purchasing beer smith soon so I might just try and scale a barley recipe to 3 or 4 finished gallons

#16

Does the strike water temperature vary on amount of grain used? The biab 3.5 gallons gave me an exact temperature and once I mashed in, the temp was perfect. Maybe I should just purchase beersmith this weekend. I ordered the 3 ipa all grain kits this week so plan on doing one Sunday

#17

Beer smith is worth it imo.

2 Likes
#18

Yes, the amount of grain and the temp of that grain can affect mash temps. I agree with @uncdeo that beersmith is worth it. It will really help you dial in your system and process.

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