High gravity pumpkin ale question

[johnnysoj]

I thought you didn't need to sparge and mashout for a BIAB?
So what's the consensus? should I dump this batch or bottle and store it in a bottle bomb proof container?

[Afterlab]

I thought you didn't need to sparge and mashout for a BIAB?

If you hit your intended pre-boil gravity and volume without sparging then it's perfectly acceptable to skip the actual act of sparging. The act of mashing out and stopping enzymatic activity isn't a make or break either since you eventually get to that point short before boiling. Even if you skip those steps the act of getting up to those mashout temperatures and resting there for a short amount of time really helps to dissolve sugars and further break down starches. This is an important step that ensures you have a highly fermentable wort and not a hodge-podge of complex unfermentable compounds within a viscous hazy wort. One disadvantage you're at with BIAB is that as far as I can tell there really is no vorlauf step where you establish a filter of grain husks to block all of the starches, proteins and unfermentable compounds from getting into your wort.

[johnnysoj]

Thanks for the info Afterlab. Next brew I need to devote my complete attention to the process instead of being distracted with 50 other tasks.

[Afterlab]

Thanks for the info Afterlab. Next brew I need to devote my complete attention to the process instead of being distracted with 50 other tasks.

No problem, every "special" type of ingredient requires a "special" process to make sure it's flavors and potentially fermentable sugars are properly implemented into solution. One easy way to look at any unmodified/under-modified/unmalted, starch/adjunct is it needs to undergo a linear process of what I like to summarize as G.L.S. Like any typical malt under normal mash conditions, the starches need to undergo Gelatinization (where the starch cell walls take up water until the concentration of water is so high that they burst into smaller, more manageable portions), Liquification (where those more manageable starches become soluble in a liquid) and Saccharification (where Beta and Alpha enzyme are free to break down those soluble starches into smaller more fermentable sugars). These processes usually span the entire temperature range and time frame of the mash and this is one of the few times where temps all the way down from 104˚F all the way up to mashout temps need to be utilized.

If you need more suggestions on temps and rests to consider let me know, but I think you get the idea If there is ever any confusion just think of the acronym G.L.S. It can stand for Gay Lesbian Sex or it can stand for Gelatinization, Liquification and Saccharification.