Should I care about efficiency?

Only works if you have a kettle big enough for your full boil volume plus loss plus the grain bill - probably in the range of 9 gallon capacity for a 5 gallon post-boil. Won't argue the appeal of simplicity, though. :)
The advantages of small batch size BIAB.
 
If I were to do a dunk sparge, what temperature should the water be?

For pure simplicity sake I dunk sparge in a gallon or 2 of room temp water (70-80 deg depending on the day). I did try heating the water up to 160-170 for one brew day but it didn't end up making any difference in my conversion so I haven't done it since. Side benefit - it cools down the grain bag making it much easier to squeeze :)
 
im 74 to 76 % using brewers edge system - kinda a biab type electric. i could improve it by modification of the kettle to recirculate but im good with 75%. system is easy to run. no need to worry . consistency is more important and finding the right settings and grain milling process.
 
If I'm doing a 5 gallon batch I no sparge because I don't care about efficiency, my mash tun isn't big enough to no sparge a 10 gallon batch.
 
Mash out and sparge temp is 168. The thinking is that the temp is high enough to denature the enzymes but low enough to avoid leaching tannins. That pour-over method probably won't yield as well as a decent dunk sparge but if you were holding the bag in a bucket with holes in the bottom and sprinkling evenly over the top you might set up a decent grain bed and approximate a fly sparge. I did something like that with a bottling bucket when I first started doing BIAB and had pretty decent efficiency with it. I get good efficiency now by doing recirculation during mash and doing a very slow fly sparge.
Most BIAB-ers do a very fine crush to get best efficiency, That's something that you can explore but most beginners are limited to whatever the LHBS can provide in terms of milled malt.
I did the same thing as you Craig I used a colander over kettle with grain bag slapped in and slowly sprinkled sparge water through grain bag. It's a bit of a PITA sometimes but yields good results I recon. Recently I adapted this to a large pot that I insert into my kettle with holes drilled in bottom I still drizzle over the sparge water I get 83-87% efficiency like this i got a 90 the other day but using gladfield malt I just think that stuff is the beez neez.
Yep but consistency is what you want to nock out tasty wort with the same gravity every time;).

First of all, to all responders, thank you for all of the thoughtfull input. The strainer over the kettle for sparging is definitely a PITA, so changing my sparge method to the holy bucket is more to do with improving my process as opposed to improving efficiency. Also, my kettle is not big enough for a full volume mash.

So, conflicting ideas above on the temperature, 72F vs 168F.
I understand that there are many ways to skin a cat (I don't care for cats, but for the record I have never skinned one)

I really like the bucket with holes inside another bucket for sparging.
I really like the idea that the room temperature sparge will reduce the tempearture of the grains for squeezing.
I really like the idea of approximating a 168F fly sparge with using those same buckets.
Thoughts, pros/cons?

Also one other question.

How important is it to heat the wort in the kettle up to 168/170F after removing the grains to these sparge buckets.
This s something that I ALWAYS forget to do.

Thanks again,
Craigerr
 
How important is it to heat the wort in the kettle up to 168/170F after removing the grains to these sparge buckets.
This s something that I ALWAYS forget to do.
If you're heating it through 168-170, vital, because you can't get to a boil without doing so. Otherwise, since the enzymes have already done most of their work, not very.
 
My theory for sparging hot 75c is makes the sugars caught up in the grains easier to rinse off. I've not tried a cold sparge but. I use gloves for the sparge part then you can squeeze like hell for as long as you want. Hey and between you and me I dont even squeeze I use another pot pressed down onto of the grain bag work a treat:).
More than one way to kill a cane toad:eek::cool::eek:!
 
My theory for sparging hot 75c is makes the sugars caught up in the grains easier to rinse off. I've not tried a cold sparge but. I use gloves for the sparge part then you can squeeze like hell for as long as you want. Hey and between you and me I dont even squeeze I use another pot pressed down onto of the grain bag work a treat:).
More than one way to kill a cane toad:eek::cool::eek:!
I sparge at/around 170 degrees for the same reasons - hot extraction of sugars - but I'm not doing BIAB, squeezing a hot bag of grain isn't a problem I have. It's rather like the fly sparge vs. batch sparge question going on in another thread: You may lose a point or two of gravity by sparging cold but you gain by being able to squeeze a grain bag. Again, we're upping the grain bill by a few ounces/hundred grams to overcome another problem.... It's all about the trade-offs.
 
I sparge at/around 170 degrees for the same reasons - hot extraction of sugars - but I'm not doing BIAB, squeezing a hot bag of grain isn't a problem I have. It's rather like the fly sparge vs. batch sparge question going on in another thread: You may lose a point or two of gravity by sparging cold but you gain by being able to squeeze a grain bag. Again, we're upping the grain bill by a few ounces/hundred grams to overcome another problem.... It's all about the trade-offs.
Yes and another trade off is higher sparge temp also doesnt drop kettle wort temp so quicker time to boil. Just a tiny bit though I do notice if I dont mash out it feels like forever until the hot break!
 
Yes and another trade off is higher sparge temp also doesnt drop kettle wort temp so quicker time to boil. Just a tiny bit though I do notice if I dont mash out it feels like forever until the hot break!
And I never do a mash-out so nothing to compare! Again, trade offs, the tiny bit of change to my wort during the sparge (I batch sparge so I'm raising the temperature of the malt quite a bit, into the mid-160's) doesn't matter to me, so no mash out.
 
And I never do a mash-out so nothing to compare! Again, trade offs, the tiny bit of change to my wort during the sparge (I batch sparge so I'm raising the temperature of the malt quite a bit, into the mid-160's) doesn't matter to me, so no mash out.
Yeah I've been just hitting my second mash step then sparging hot now not raising whole kettle temp to 75. The enzymes are soon to be killed anyway once the wort is heated to boil.

It's a prolonged conversion thing the big boys contend with in the mega breweries I hear?
 
Yeah I've been just hitting my second mash step then sparging hot now not raising whole kettle temp to 75. The enzymes are soon to be killed anyway once the wort is heated to boil.

It's a prolonged conversion thing the big boys contend with in the mega breweries I hear?
More like once they get the wort to specifications, they want to hold it there. Their big engineering problem is repeatability.
 
Great thanks guys.
Sorry if I was beating a dead horse like a red headed step child, but I am learning as I go.
Appreciate all of the input.
I think I will go with the 168/170F sparge water (which is already part of my routine), with the perforated bucket within a bucket, and give it a good squeeze after a slow sparge.
Hope to get another brew day in around Nov 23 or 24.
Cheers all!
 
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My mash out is an infusion which not only changes the temperature but thins the mash as well. After a couple of steps my conversion mash thickness gets up to 1.6 qt/lb or so and adding for mash-out puts me at or over 2 qts/lb. That offers the advantage of diluting sugars so that osmotic(?) forces can allow sugar molecules "trapped" in the grain bed to migrate into solution. I'm not sure of the exact advantage of stopping conversion except that, for me, it stops the dextrin conversion so I'm not loading up on non-fermentables. Truth is that after an extended mash, enzymatic action has dwindled anyway, so the denaturing part is sort of moot, I'm sure.
 
My mash out is an infusion which not only changes the temperature but thins the mash as well. After a couple of steps my conversion mash thickness gets up to 1.6 qt/lb or so and adding for mash-out puts me at or over 2 qts/lb. That offers the advantage of diluting sugars so that osmotic(?) forces can allow sugar molecules "trapped" in the grain bed to migrate into solution. I'm not sure of the exact advantage of stopping conversion except that, for me, it stops the dextrin conversion so I'm not loading up on non-fermentables. Truth is that after an extended mash, enzymatic action has dwindled anyway, so the denaturing part is sort of moot, I'm sure.
In that case, if you really wanted to raise the temperature, you could do a single, thin decoction. But that, too, is not for the beginners' area. And there's no osmotic force or anything of that nature, sugar just dissolves better in hotter water.
 
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So, conflicting ideas above on the temperature, 72F vs 168F.
Sugar is more soluble at higher water temperatures, and that's the idea behind 168-170.

I usually forgot to heat up the sparge water and ended up with a lot of unintended 65°F cold dunk sparges. They both work. The sugar is already dissolved; you're simply washing it off the grain bed. Cool grains drain easier, too.
 
I tried cold sparges a couple times but decided a hot sparge keeps my boil kettle warmer and requires less reheating. Not enough that I put a lot of effort into it either way though.
 
So, getting back to efficiency. I have been brewing allgrain my last four batches. I had BIAB dialled in real good, hitting temperatures, gravities, volumes etc. Efficiencies were high 60's, but always within a percent or two. My first batch using the coleman cooler mash tun, efficiency shot up to 74, second 78, third 74, and last night efficiency worked out to 66:confused:, not that I am uber concerned about efficiency, but with everything based on 75% efficiency, I had to make some adjustments to get the beer where it was supposed to be. PBG was 9 points low. It is what it is I added what DME I had on hand, less than a pound, thanks to Chico for the real time advice. Then I extended the boli to get to target gravity.

Recipe
Coffee's for Closers
5.5 gallon fermenter
PBG 1053
OG 1063
FG 1016
With close to a 90 minute mash at 155F, and 5.11 pH, conversion, and a 10 minute batch sparge adding the 170F sparge water (pre-measured from total water volume), and giving it a 10 minute rest before collecting the second runnings. Conversion in brew session registered 66%, with PBG coming in at 1044.

I feel like my process is good....but I have just switched from BIAB to allgrain, and trying to dial it in, but the conversion seemed to be my issue with this batch for some reason.

Is the low pH to blame?
Should I mash longer?

Hep me brothas and sistas!
 
How much grain in that recipe?
 

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