I’m curious what type of efficiency people are getting with BIAB? I’m especially curious about anyone that is measuring mash pH.
i don’t boil in a bag but i mash in a bag, not quite the same thing. however i run around 70 percent. i do check my ph with strips on occasion but i really don’t make any adjustments.
I do my mash in a cooler instead of my kettle, but it’s essentially BIAB since I do full-volume/no sparge. Plus, I squeeze my bag. I just mash in the cooler to help hold temp during the mash.
I hit 80-81% brewhouse efficiency with a fine crush. If my grains aren’t crushed as fine as I’d like (I don’t have a mill yet), then my BE is in the 72-74% range.
I don’t have a pH meter yet, but I use Brunwater and shoot for 5.3 for most beers. So far, so good.
I’ve only done 2 batches, but I got around 80% efficiency. I mill pretty fine, gap is set at .030" on my barley crusher. As Jake Keeler says, I goose it to keep the mash temp in line. I mash in my kettle, have a steamer rack on the bottom (so I don’t scorch the bag or grain) with a chain going up to the handles so I can pull it out after the mash. I like it a lot. Today will be my first time doing full volume mash. The last 2 batches I did partial volume mashes, like I used to with a cooler setup.
Brew in a bag is a kick ass method. Oh, and I do 3 gallon batches, so it suits me pretty well.
I don’t get caught up on efficiency since I have my BIAB down but every now and again I check and am usually between 78 and 83%. I’m very pleased with my beers as are all my beer-snob friends.
Unless you’re squeezing wort out of the grains, it will be the same as a batch sparge with the same volumes.
75-80% squeezing the bag and a single batch sparge.
I mash in a bag too and get anywhere from 75% to 80%. Most of the time, I mash for 60 to 90 minutes as I’m doing things around the house. Post-mash, I “dunk” sparge and squeeze my bag too 
So I did the full volume last Saturday evening. I got right at 75% efficiency. Solid. Crushing finer is the key to getting a good efficiency with brew in a bag. I also mash for 75 minutes or so, but I’m not entirely sure that’s necessary.
I get 81% when I do “sparge” by rinsing the grains with some hot water. I’m not going to sparge anymore in future and figure my efficiency will fall probably to low 70s. BIAB is a very viable method, especially for small batches (I make 3 gallons or less) although I have a friend whose grandmother sewed him an enormous pillowcase and he makes 15-gallon batches with BIAB. He has a pulley system to lift the grain bag out and to let it drip out. He loves it and wouldn’t have it any other way. Awesome.
I have have done BIAB for about 10-15 batches now. I have my own mill so my crush is always the same. I have seen anywhere from 64-81% efficiency. I think it is important to squeeze the bag. I have had no problems with tannin this way. I think the large swing in efficiency is some what do to adjuncts. For instance I had lower efficiency with a 50% wheat beer.
I also measure my PH with strips, but I can barely tell where its at. It seems like orange is from 4-6 PH lol. Maybe I need some different strips.
You’re friend has an awesome grandmother. I hope he makes her a batch of whatever she wants whenever she wants it.
as mentioned i mash in a bag then everything else as normal. however i have my eye on a seafood steamer kettle at the store. it has about 6gallons and about two inches up is a circumferential indent for the steamer basket to rest on. i have been meaning to see if there is room below this where i could drill through and place my electric element. then i would have an electric steamer kettle and i could skip the mash in the cooler part and control my mash temps directly with the electric element
That’s cool, give it a go.
The brews in a bag batches I did were disappointing to me. But I think there may have been something else causing the issue, not to do with brewing in a bag. I replaced my siphon hose and it seems to be fine. I might try brewing in a bag again sometime, but for now I’m back to 4 gallon batches in a 5 gallon cooler.
More to clean, but whatevs. Brew day, for me, is typically around 4 hours with a 60 minute mash and 60 minute boil. So no big deal.
the cooler is pretty easy and i still put all the grains in a bag. just lift them out of the cooler in the bag, clean up is a snap.
this is similar to the kettle i found
http://img1.targetimg1.com/wcsstore/TargetSAS//img/p/10/82/10827023.jpg
Oh, nice! So that steamer rack goes on the bottom of the kettle? If so, that’d be just about perfect for brewing/mashing in a bag. No scorching the bottom of the bag.
I mash in a bag, compress the bag to get “leftover” runnings after the first sparge. During a typical brew, I collect from 5 to 7 quarts after the bag drains. Those leftovers are condensed on the stove and dumped into the kettle when the volume is about a quart or so.
This is super condensed and typically over 1.220 (where my refractometer stops).
It’s a super-shot of highly condensed wort.
right. if there is enough room below that ring, i can put my electric element in it and then also have an electric steamer. at first glance it is a very close fit, but i haven’t actually measured it.
so now i am more interested in making an electric steamer/brewer with shelf. found this from bayou classic
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Bayou-Classic-Stainless-Spigot-Pot/21721738?findingMethod=Recommendation:wm:RecentlyViewedItems
That’s cool, it’s too bad it’s from Walmart. But I really like the Bayou Classic kettles. For small batches though, it’s not really necessary to have the spigot. I’m fine with no spigot with 4 gallon batches. But if I did anything bigger than 5 gallons, I’d want one probably.