In an effort to know how much water I need for an upcoming small batch no sparge BIAB I want to know how much water I need. I haven’t started messing around with Beer Smith so forgive me if this info is there.
Is it safe to assume .1 gallons per pound of grain absorbed and roughly a gallon per hour of boiling?
Boil off will depend on the rate of boil and the shape of the pot. I loose about 1 gallon in 90 minutes with my 3 gallon pot. Keep some extra water boiling on the side to top off if needed.
And the grain absorption?
Same as when I batch sparge, whatever the software tells me. .1 sounds about right.
That’s an OK place to start for boiloff. You’re going to have to brew a few batches and dial it in from there. Your absorption may be significantly lower depending on mash thickness and how hard you squeeze your bag. A typical recipe for me may be in the 6lb of grain ballpark, and I typically lose about a quart to the grains.
I just read that with no sparge BIAB I’ll need to use more water than BIAB, is this true? If so, I didn’t think Beersmith accounted for it. Any insights into a calculation or online calc?
That doesn’t make much sense to me. First of all, true BIAB as it was initially developed is the no-sparge variety. Secondly, the whole idea of no-sparge is simply to use your full volume of water all at once. There really shouldn’t be much difference. If anything, no-sparge may use a little less water, since the extra thin mash leads to less water retention by the grains.
You don’t need any of the vague rules of thumb about water volumes or efficiency that you see people post. No offense, but if you want to BIAB, you really need to check out BIABrewer.info. It takes a little work to learn at first, but BIABacus calculates everything for you much more accurately than all the estimates people make. Go here to register and introduce yourself. Then once you can download, go here, download the file, and ask questions. You’ll get all the help you need for BIAB. Then share what you learn with your fellow AHA brewers.
And unless your pot just isn’t big enough, BIAB should be a full volume mash (mash and sparge in one). There’s no reason for a subsequent sparge, but don’t misconstrue it for no-sparge.
I almost always BIAB and when I do I usually sparge. To do this, I mash at the typical 1.0 to 1.8 quarts per pound of grain, like you would for a regularly sparged beer. Then I’ll either dunk the bag in warm 170+ F water, or I’ll do a quasi-fly sparge through a colander. I’m always shooting for efficiency in the mid 80s. With my small batches and a good crush, this is a piece of cake to attain. If no-sparge can get me to ~85% efficiency (e.g., for low gravity beers <1.045), then I just add the remaining volume of clean water to the boil kettle. I would not advocate mashing at >2.0 quarts per pound unless your experience dictates that it’s okay to do. I’m not saying it’s wrong, I’m just saying, I’ve never tried that personally.
Yes, 0.1 gallons per pound is a standard absorption rate. Actually in my case I find it to be closer to 0.11 or 0.12 gal/lb. YMMV
And 1 gallon lost per hour of boil is also about right. Again, my actual numbers are a little higher than this, more like 1.1 gallons or so. It depends on how hard you boil and how big your kettle is.