GEB's Pimped Up APA - BIAB

[stripeyjoe]

Hi all,
I've had @Get_Er_Brewed Pimped Up APA delivered which is going to be my first attempt at AG and also BIAB. It came with Grandfather instructions... In summary, for the mash/sparge portion of the brew:

OG: 1.054
FG: 1.012
ABV: 5.5%
Volume: 23 litres
INGREDIENTS
4.9kg Crisp Maris Otter Pale Ale Malt
380g Crisp Crystal Malt

Fill the boiler with 17.8 litres of water and set a temperature for 68°C
Add your grains and stir
Mash at 68°C for 60 minutes
Mash out by raising temperature to 75°C for 10 minutes
Once 10 minutes is up switch the pump off
Rinse your grain with 14.5 litres of water at 75°C

then it moves onto hop additions and the boil.

I have an old 27l Burco (around 30-ish litres to the brim) and brew bag, should I follow the same guide, using 17/18l of water at 68°C (though probably heated to around 71°C for the strike) to mash for 60mins, raise the temp to 75°C and recirculate (either with a small submersible pump I have or manually with a jug) and then lift the bag out and sparge through it with another 14/15l of water at 75°C?

I have a second boiler that I can keep the sparge water at temp in, and, in the Burco, a steamer rack to keep the bottom of the bag away from the exposed boiler element which will be controlled by a PID so should be no issue with maintaining or raising the temp during the mash.

I think the total pre-boil liquor volume might be slightly too much for my boiler so have a contingency of moving the bag over to an old FV for the remainder of the spare and pour that into the boiler once some of the liquor has boiled off.

Does that all sound like it will work?

Any advice form BIAB'gers would be appreciated!
Thanks.

 

[GeorgieV]

Your pre boil liquor should be okay once you remove the grain. Keep in mind the grain will absorb some water.
With your setup (which is rather similar to mine) I would do the mash in the Burco, then drain part of the wort to your old FV and top up the Burco with sparge water. Keep doing that until you finish sparging, then remove the grain from the Burco, pour the wort back in and start boiling.
One thing to keep in mind is that using the steamer rack to support the grain bag will keep your grain in the top of the mash tun, so you may need to add some more water to keep it submerged - this water volume needs to be subtracted from the sparge water so that you keep the total constant.

 

[stripeyjoe]

Thanks Georgie!
Good idea about draining some wort off and doing the sparge in the boiler. I was going to start with the recommended 17.8l and top up with the rinse water if the grain was too dry, I guess the water should come just above the grain bed.
The steamer rack is around 6cm high, just enough to keep the bag off of the element, knowing my luck I’ll still end up melting the bugger!

 

[GeorgieV]

The steamer rack is around 6cm high, just enough to keep the bag off of the element, knowing my luck I’ll still end up melting the bugger!

You can clip the grain bag to the rim of your boiler using laundry pegs for example.

 

[Duxuk]

I've just started a BIAB brew with an overnight mash. My 178th! What I would do in your shoes is mash in the boiler for an hour then heat to mash out temp., hoist the bag to drain. Pop the bag in an FV and open it. Add the batch of sparge water and stir, leaving it for around 10 minutes to steep whilst I reheated the bulk to boiling. Hoist the bag to drain the liquor into the FV then add this to the boiler. You should be OK volume wise or you can always hold back some sparged liquor 'til you have space.
Another alternative if you have volume problems is to brew shorter and boil mainly lid on to reduce evaporation. It's fine for Maris Otter but may not suit all grain types to boil lid on.