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**241** · 03-08-2013, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrewHunter42

If you can add a RIMS tube with a march pump to circulate you'll get into the 90s on your efficiency. Borrowed a tube on a few batches and haven't gone back since. Went from the mid 60s and 70s to high 80s and 90s on efficiency. Have fun. Any problems with the larger bag coming unthreaded? No issues with the 24x24 but the 29x29 seems a bit less in quality

I've been dreaming of a RIMS tube for a while. Not "there" yet though, still getting my head around it and debating whether to go Auber sous vide controller or PID.

On the 29x29, no issues with mine other than some beige tinge from multiple mashes. Quality is fine

bbHop · 03-09-2013, 04:30 PM

Used our beloved bag for an american red ale last night that looks like it may approach imperial territory once things are said and done

.

First time using my new Barley Crusher - set the gap to 0.030 for a finer crush than what I get at LHBS - and landed at 79% brewhouse efficiency in beersmith (87% mash efficiency at pre-boil volume)! I had been getting upper 60's for brewhouse figures prior...

I mash in a 10g Rubbermaid with the bag, sparge at 165 in my boil kettle for about 15 minutes (intermittent stirring / dunking of grain in bag), then rack concentrated wort from cooler tun into kettle (calc'd to collect full pre-boil volume)...

love that bag, especially with the better crush i'm getting now...

**241** · 03-09-2013, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbHop

Used our beloved bag for an american red ale last night that looks like it may approach imperial territory once things are said and done

.

First time using my new Barley Crusher - set the gap to 0.030 for a finer crush than what I get at LHBS - and landed at 79% brewhouse efficiency in beersmith (87% mash efficiency at pre-boil volume)! I had been getting upper 60's for brewhouse figures prior...

I mash in a 10g Rubbermaid with the bag, sparge at 165 in my boil kettle for about 15 minutes (intermittent stirring / dunking of grain in bag), then rack concentrated wort from cooler tun into kettle (calc'd to collect full pre-boil volume)...

love that bag, especially with the better crush i'm getting now...

Right on. Any issues with trub on the finer crush?

bbHop · 03-10-2013, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 241

Right on. Any issues with trub on the finer crush?

Not that I could tell. Racking from boil kettle looked pretty standard for the beer i was making (bit of hop matter due to 6oz of pellets). No stray floaters from the grain or elevated sludge.

I will say that the finer crush lead to a higher amount of water absorption... I had been consistently avg about 0.68 fl oz/oz of grain with the bag, and that shot all the way to 0.82 for this brew using the new mill.

**241** · 03-11-2013, 02:22 AM

Interesting. Good to know.

So today I had the bag stretched over the handles of my kettle while mashing out and the bag cinged away in those areas. Next time I won't stretch it over the handles, just before it with bungee. No worries I have another back up.

bbHop · 03-17-2013, 02:59 AM

So I used the bag last night for the third time on a Summit / 2-row SMaSH (grain bill was only 8.25lb), and noticed when pulling the bag up to drain after the mash that there was a 1-inch or so hole on the side where the stitching had come undone... crap

I'm lucky enough to live close to the Concord showroom, and as always, David the showroom manager was super awesome about it and swapped me out for a new bag... he was pretty surprised / bummed that the bag had broke that soon. I actually ended up buying an extra one as well - thinking about some of the larger grain bills I have coming up (~15lb Hog Heaven clone in a few weeks), and that a double-bag treatment may be best.

Here's to hoping that I just happened to get a faulty one... though I can't say the stitching looks much different on the two new ones I just picked up. I'll post back with updates after the barleywine.

**MagicSmoker** · 03-17-2013, 01:23 PM

What's stumping me about this BIAB stuff is how you hold the bag over the kettle when draining it? Some of the custom bags I've seen have a reinforced fabric loop sewn on to the top of the bag so you can suspend the bag from an overhead pulley. That seems like a really worthwhile feature, even if it does bump the price up a bit... okay, more than a bit. Like 6x more, but, well... Seems worth it.

Larso · 03-17-2013, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MagicSmoker

What's stumping me about this BIAB stuff is how you hold the bag over the kettle when draining it? Some of the custom bags I've seen have a reinforced fabric loop sewn on to the top of the bag so you can suspend the bag from an overhead pulley. That seems like a really worthwhile feature, even if it does bump the price up a bit... okay, more than a bit. Like 6x more, but, well... Seems worth it.

I pull the bag, squeeze it, and then hang it over an empty fermentor or bucket off a brush handle across 2 chairs. If you've no loops just put a sieve or collander in the bottom of the bucket and sit the bag on top

**241** · 03-17-2013, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbHop

So I used the bag last night for the third time on a Summit / 2-row SMaSH (grain bill was only 8.25lb), and noticed when pulling the bag up to drain after the mash that there was a 1-inch or so hole on the side where the stitching had come undone... crap

I'm lucky enough to live close to the Concord showroom, and as always, David the showroom manager was super awesome about it and swapped me out for a new bag... he was pretty surprised / bummed that the bag had broke that soon. I actually ended up buying an extra one as well - thinking about some of the larger grain bills I have coming up (~15lb Hog Heaven clone in a few weeks), and that a double-bag treatment may be best.

Here's to hoping that I just happened to get a faulty one... though I can't say the stitching looks much different on the two new ones I just picked up. I'll post back with updates after the barleywine.

That's too bad about the ripped bag. That wasn't that big of a grain bill either. Hoping it was just a fluke.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MagicSmoker

What's stumping me about this BIAB stuff is how you hold the bag over the kettle when draining it? Some of the custom bags I've seen have a reinforced fabric loop sewn on to the top of the bag so you can suspend the bag from an overhead pulley. That seems like a really worthwhile feature, even if it does bump the price up a bit... okay, more than a bit. Like 6x more, but, well... Seems worth it.

I use a $6 BBQ grate from Walmart on top of my kettle and let the grains sit o n that and drain out as I get to a boil. By that time they're pretty well drained especially if you mash out.

**MagicSmoker** · 03-17-2013, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Larso

I pull the bag, squeeze it, and then hang it over an empty fermentor or bucket off a brush handle across 2 chairs. If you've no loops just put a sieve or collander in the bottom of the bucket and sit the bag on top

Hmm... I suspect I should have bought a colander before I started mashing today, eh?