I quite like this for ease, is it quite efficient then?
How do you work out efficiency? My last brew with a dunk sparge I thought I got pretty close to the recommended OG
Sparge Technique BIAB
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I quite like this for ease, is it quite efficient then?
How do you work out efficiency? My last brew with a dunk sparge I thought I got pretty close to the recommended OG
I just put the numbers in to brewers friend and then put in my OG once it's cooled down.
I usually get about 75% efficiency
It takes less than 10mins to do, as I put the bag in the colander on top of my boiler to drain anyway. Always followed by a bag squeeze. So bunging a few liters of hot water through it before I do the squeeze takes seconds.
I usually get about 75% efficiency
It takes less than 10mins to do, as I put the bag in the colander on top of my boiler to drain anyway. Always followed by a bag squeeze. So bunging a few liters of hot water through it before I do the squeeze takes seconds.
Duncan Dobbin
Active Member
I brew 12L batches on my hob. I generally mash around 6-7 L in my 4 gallon kettle. Whilst mashing I heat another 11-12L water up to sparge temp in some other saucepans. Once the mash is complete I strain the wort into my FV, then place the grains into my bag and put this into the sparge water (added back to kettle from saucepans) for around 15 mins. After 15 mins I let the bag drain, then add the wort from the FV into the kettle and bring to boil. I've had great results from doing it this way, and I'm currently getting around 75% efficiency which I'm pleased with.
F00b4r
Landlord.
An interesting question as people keep mentioning their "efficiency" but neglect to mention whether they mean "mash efficiency" (how efficient their mash was - probably those quoting 80%+) Or if they mean their "brewhouse efficiency" (efficiency of the whole brew process, that includes other losses - quite likely those quoting in the 70's but impossible to know for sure).
Duncan Dobbin
Active Member
75% is my brewhouse efficiency.
I too have a large colander that fits on top of the pot then rinse through with warm water (kettle half filled, boiled then topped up with cold). I start warming the wort back up towards boiling whilst rinsing.
Not tried to measure efficiency yet but gravity readings tend to be a bit better than the prediction.
Not tried to measure efficiency yet but gravity readings tend to be a bit better than the prediction.
abag
Active Member
I have a 40L pan so normally do full volume/no sparge. For large grain bills I batch sparge.
Ian9365
Active Member
Sparging BIAB to some extent defeats the point of it, ie a simple, no faff way of brewing. Having said that you do need a fairly large kettle to do a full volume BIAB in any sort of quantity and a means of heating it. Not everyone is going to have that. I think people worry too much about efficiency, if your running a business selling the beer then it is obviously important but not to hobbyists surely, just use a bit more grain.
Sparging is hardly a big faff to be honest.
Here's how I do it:
During the last 20 minutes of my mash I sanitise my FV then add 2 domestic kettlefuls of boiling water to it plus one of cold. (18L brew) This is my sparge water. Then I tie up my grain bag, attach it to a rope and using a pulley hoist it up above the boiler to drain, meanwhile switching the boiler to 105c. When the bag is drained I give it a squeeze then using the rope lower it into the FV - open the bag and give it a good stir. Close the bag, re-attach rope I lift it a bit to drain into the FV. When it's drained I hoist it up above the boiler to drain further and to squeeze it out if necessary. Then I tip the contents of the FV into the boiler and put the lid on the FV ready for the finished wort. By the way, the sparge water is always pretty sweet so don't tell me it's a waste of time doing this.
So there's no extra washing up. No extra time taken as the boiler is heating up while I'm sparging. Tiny bit of extra work.
Here's how I do it:
During the last 20 minutes of my mash I sanitise my FV then add 2 domestic kettlefuls of boiling water to it plus one of cold. (18L brew) This is my sparge water. Then I tie up my grain bag, attach it to a rope and using a pulley hoist it up above the boiler to drain, meanwhile switching the boiler to 105c. When the bag is drained I give it a squeeze then using the rope lower it into the FV - open the bag and give it a good stir. Close the bag, re-attach rope I lift it a bit to drain into the FV. When it's drained I hoist it up above the boiler to drain further and to squeeze it out if necessary. Then I tip the contents of the FV into the boiler and put the lid on the FV ready for the finished wort. By the way, the sparge water is always pretty sweet so don't tell me it's a waste of time doing this.
So there's no extra washing up. No extra time taken as the boiler is heating up while I'm sparging. Tiny bit of extra work.
ChrisRedWills
Regular.
+1 the only difference is after spargeing I half fill the fv with sanitizer and stick all the bits i need after the boil
