BIAB - improved???

[simco999]

Well this is interesting - my mate who is new to BIAB - but not to brewing - has tried something I have never seen on here or anywhere else.

While waiting for his BIAB to mash out at 80C ish - he thought - I'll just chuck some boiling water on the grain while its in the FV/bucket waiting to go back in the boiler.

So he has the grain out of the boiler just resting in the FV. Just added this to make it more obvious. He adds three kettles of water to the grain - about 4.5 liters. This washes the grain as per normal sparging. Once this is done he adds the grain back into the boiler along with the sparge liquor.

All goes well - he takes the grain out and does the normal boil. But - HELLO - his efficiency has gone through the roof. A good 10 points above what he was getting before - high 1030s becomes mid to high 1040s with around 4.5 kg of grain.

Now I don't want to get too excited but has anyone known this before. A good way to improve BIAB??

BTW - if this increases tannins - hes dead!!

[Bribie]

I take it then that what he did was to add more water to the grain then, on finally hoisting the bag and removing it he would have ended up with more sweet wort in the boiler that he would otherwise have got. So the spent grain would have less of the sugars and fermentables absorbed - however I guess he then had to boil a bit longer to get the wort level back down to what it would have been if he hadn't used the 3 kettles (around 4 litres I would guess)

I've done something similar in the past with a side "sparge in a bucket" and it does indeed improve efficiency a bit, then you have to boil longer, so it's swings and roundabouts I guess - spend more on grain or more on gas/electricity. However the increase in efficiency you noted seems quite interesting in your mate's case.

[Tom_D]

I do pretty much the same. I generally mash with around 14L of water and I heat up the remaining water to almost boiling point and sparge (dunk). I wouldn't say my efficiency is through the roof but it is always around 80% which I'm happy with.

[jimp2003]

I have recently adjusted my method slightly.

I used to just do the "pure" BIAB method of having the full volume of water required for the recipe in the 50l kettle and mashing with a mashout stage then pulling the bag and draining.

Now hold back 4 litres of the water and heat seperately to use in a sort of mini sparge. My efficiency has gone up (coincidence?) and it means that because I am not adding extra water for the sparge I do not have to boil any longer than usual.

[Bribie]

Yes, rinsing something repeatedly with smaller amounts of water gives far better "efficiency" than rinsing only once with a larger amount. I remember this from my high school days at Walbottle Grammar School (Northumberland) when we did an experiment rinsing a flask that had contained a strong solution of something. We used a set amount of water either as a single stage rinse, then repeated the experiment with the same amount split in 2 and hence 2 rinses, then did a final rinse with a set amount of water and measured what was in that last rinse. Sure enough using the single rinse there was still chemical detectable, using the two rinses it had basically cleaned out everything and nothing further detectable. But all with the same volume of rinsing water.

I've always remembered that (forgotten what the principle is called - partition coefficients maybe or is that something else?? ) and it certainly applies to brewing. At the end of the day it depends how much faffing around you want to do, but side sparging has got me about 80% as opposed to my usual 74% I get with your "regular" 5% ABV type mash.

[simco999]

Thanks for all the information. So there is something in this sparging thing after all!!!

[Beer O'Clock]

Brew day tomorrow, so I think a sparge step might be worth trying. Anything to get more sweet loveliness into my FV.

[Tom_D]

I remember this from my high school days at Walbottle Grammar School (Northumberland)

It's a small world Bribie! I lived in Ponteland in my early teens and one of my best mates is in Heddon, just next door to Walbottle.

[Bribie]

Haha when we were doing our A level exams we used to wag off to the Three Tuns afterwards - in civilian clothes of course

[simco999]

Brew day tomorrow, so I think a sparge step might be worth trying. Anything to get more sweet loveliness into my FV.

Yeps - doing one tonight - I've downedsized my initial water to 30 litres (normally 34) - I'll sparge with three kettles full - about 4.5 litres.

Then do my usual 60 min boil.

[Beer O'Clock]

Brew day tomorrow, so I think a sparge step might be worth trying. Anything to get more sweet loveliness into my FV.

Yeps - doing one tonight - I've downedsized my initial water to 30 litres (normally 34) - I'll sparge with three kettles full - about 4.5 litres.

Then do my usual 60 min boil.

Sorry Sim, I forgot to post my result. I got (on this occassion) an increase of 3% in efficiency. 83% from an average of 80%.
I have hit 85% previously. Not conclusive, but enough to spur me on to try it again. It will be interesting to see what the average is.

[simco999]

I measure my results in OG - I suppose I could stick it all into a beer engine to see what my efficiency is. May do thatthis time just out of interest.

Aslong as I make beer I'm not that bothered!!

[Beer O'Clock]

As long as I make beer I'm not that bothered!!

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