- Joined
- Nov 16, 2013
- Messages
- 3,110
- Reaction score
- 2,432
- Points
- 113
- Location
- Upper Michigan/S. Florida
In all of this time, I never did a "real" BIAB, nor a no-sparge. Well, today I did. Not on purpose............it was a total disaster of a day.
My grainmill didn't crush the grain, so I tore it apart and put it back together. Then it crushed it all too well- a very fine crush. So it went into a bag. It was a very small grainbill, a 5 gallon batch of an ordinary bitter. That's my first 5 gallon batch in about 10 years, so that was also something new.
My HLT had died, but I didn't know it until I got ready to mash in. My water was room temperature and my PID was throwing error messages. So I pumped the water to my BK to heat quickly. With no sight glass, and no volume markings, I decided to just do a full volume mash. It all worked out, but I really felt off of my game!
I would have never been able to do it with my regular 11 gallon batches, but since the grainbill was only 6.75 pounds, I didn't have any issues at all. (It wouldn't have fit in my MLT, all of my water wouldn't have fit in the BK, etc).
I guess I have to figure out what's wrong with my PID/HLT and I did miss my HERMS for sure but I think for small batches I can still consider no-sparge. I got 75% brewhouse efficiency, and I've heard that the wort quality is supposed to be "better" vs a sparge, but I have no idea if that is a valid thought.
I guess even old dogs can learn new tricks. If they have to. I guess.
My grainmill didn't crush the grain, so I tore it apart and put it back together. Then it crushed it all too well- a very fine crush. So it went into a bag. It was a very small grainbill, a 5 gallon batch of an ordinary bitter. That's my first 5 gallon batch in about 10 years, so that was also something new.
My HLT had died, but I didn't know it until I got ready to mash in. My water was room temperature and my PID was throwing error messages. So I pumped the water to my BK to heat quickly. With no sight glass, and no volume markings, I decided to just do a full volume mash. It all worked out, but I really felt off of my game!
I would have never been able to do it with my regular 11 gallon batches, but since the grainbill was only 6.75 pounds, I didn't have any issues at all. (It wouldn't have fit in my MLT, all of my water wouldn't have fit in the BK, etc).
I guess I have to figure out what's wrong with my PID/HLT and I did miss my HERMS for sure but I think for small batches I can still consider no-sparge. I got 75% brewhouse efficiency, and I've heard that the wort quality is supposed to be "better" vs a sparge, but I have no idea if that is a valid thought.
I guess even old dogs can learn new tricks. If they have to. I guess.