BIAB Brewing (with pics)

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Brewing this Saturday in like 20 degree weather. Any tips on how to maintain mash temp? I usually wrap in blanket but last time I brewed in like 35 degree weather it was pretty hard to hold the temp. A little tempted to just move my kettle inside after I get the water up to 160 and bring it back out for the boil.
 
I brewed last weekend, it was about 25 out when I started. My garage is insulated so it's not ask cold as some might be. Using a heavy old comforter I only lose 2-3 degrees over an hour mash. I fold it so it's double thick around my kettle and get it to hang as close to the floor as possible so cold air doesn't get underneath.
 
I agree with larger batches holding temperatures extremely well with the kettle properly wrapped. One trick I've learned from here regardless of batch size is to lay some aluminum foil on top of the mash before putting the lid on. This helps with the dead space in the kettle.

How does this help with deadspace?
 
The area above the mash would be "head" space.

Now things make much more sense. I was trying to picture how the foil would prevent heat from sinking into the dead space below the false bottom for example!

Does a lot of heat get lost in the head space? I do full volume 25L batches in a 55L kettle/tun which leaves me with about 20 liters of head space
 
Conclusion

So this is how I do BIAB and I've had excellent results with this process. I’ve brewed everything from simple pale ales to big IPAs (Hopslam, Pliny the Elder) to English milds and Irish stouts using the BIAB technique described here.

I'm not saying BIAB is better or quicker or cheaper than traditional all-grain brewing techniques. I can say that I’ve had success with this technique and I am very pleased with the overall process and the beers that are created using this method.

It takes me approximately 4 to 6 hours to complete a typical all-grain batch with this brewing method. BIAB is said to be less equipment intensive than traditional all-grain brewing but I can say from my experience that BIAB can still be fairly equipment intensive - depending on how you choose to do it. Since I haven’t brewed a traditional 3-vessel all-grain batch (yet) I can’t compare and contrast the two methods or give any personal opinion on which is best. I suspect, as with anything else, there is no "best" brewing method and it really just boils down to finding what works best for YOU.

I'd love to hear any feedback you may have about the information provided here. I'm still learning and evolving and I know I've only barely scraped the surface of the mountain of brewing information out there.

Happy brewing! :mug:

(A big thanks goes out to all of the BIAB brewers out there who took the time to document and share their ideas, experiences, and results. Credit to the Australians who pioneered this BIAB method of brewing. Forums like HomeBrewTalk and TheBrewingNetwork were instrumental in providing a resource where people like me could learn and share information. I couldn’t have done any of this without you.)
I have not tried a mash out for fear of burning my bag. I use a portable skinning rack to drain
 

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So I finally graduated to all-grain and went straight to 10 gallon batches using the BIAB method. Seven who started this post had to be my biggest inspiration. Being I'm an old fart, I had to rig up someway to do this without wrecking my already suspect back. I found a used patient lift off Craigslist and it has worked out better than I thought possible. Here are a few pics of my latest brew day.

Cheers everybody
 

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Love the use of the patient lift for multiple purposes. Gotta find myself one of those.

Brew on :mug:
 
Love the use of the patient lift for multiple purposes. Gotta find myself one of those.

Brew on :mug:
Yeah doug, it really is versatile. Easy to let your mash drain and move those heavy carboys around. You can get them in electric battery or manual pump versions. Both would work well.
 
Did my first all grain brew (Columbus IPA) on my new to me eBIAB system this last Saturday. Everything went relatively well. Efficiency was a little lower than what was planned for the in the recipe so my starting gravity came in about 5 points low. Made sure to take lots of notes so I can adjust my equipment profile in Brewfather. Will be doing another brew of a Blonde Ale this coming weekend and really looking forward to it.

Video of boil with Steam Slayer
 
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STEP 10: Transfer, Aerate, Pitch, Ferment

Transfer wort to fermentor.

View attachment 22054

Aerate wort using the aeration method of your choice. Splashing the wort while siphoning, rocking or shaking the fermentor, or using an aquarium pump or pure O2 all work great.

Pitch yeast and ferment.

View attachment 22055

Just curious why your fermenters are in a storage bin? Is it just for keeping them out of the light or do you do use if for temperature control? Interested because I was using my kegerator as a fermenter, but I started kegging my old beer and lost that space. Thanks!
 
I'm getting ready for my first all-grain BIAB and wonder if anyone is JUST using a mesh (voile) bag and not the added strength of a metal basket. Am I asking for trouble in trusting a cloth bag to hold all that wet grain? Also, what's the average batch size folks brew when using this method and a keggle?
wrench - I went for a stainless steel false bottom from brewhardware.com

https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/biabbottom13.htm
Kept my bag off of my electric heating element. Have to figure out your dead volume though.
 
Last year my FIL gifted me a crappy 5L all grain kit of malt that had been barely milled god knows when and some ancient hops. I rigged a very simple BIAB setup and decided that this year, I would improve my setup and brew something before it got too cold.

Fortunately, 2 weeks ago there was a period of warm weather perfect for getting my fermentation started. I had ordered a cheap stock pot on Amazon and cancelled the order when I saw that a nearby shop was selling paella cauldrons. I bought a 25L one to make 10-15L batches, a stainless steel tray for deep frying and some Lidl reusable mesh fruit & veg bags to make an oatmeal Stout.

My recipe was:
-74.3% pale ale
-14.9% flaked oats
-5.9% roasted barley
-5% chocolate malt
Small quantities of EKG hops at 60, 30 & 5mins & US05 yeast

The mash went well and I managed to hold the temperature consistently. Extraction was much better than the last time but because my kitchen only has a tiny flat glass top hob, I couldn't bring the wort to a rolling boil. In fact, it overheated and shut off for 10 mins giving me a heart attack as I had promised my wife that nothing would go wrong. Maybe next time I'll try to use a wood fire rig used to paella that I found in my woodshed to get a nice rolling boil.

I had read horror stories on here of oatmeal stouts stalling out at 1.020 due to the proteins & unfermentables but I took a reading today on day 11 and the yeast has gobbled down my wort from about 1.041 to 1.010 today, despite the cool weather.

I'm very happy with the progress that the batch has made and also that my weird paella cauldron setup worked pretty well!
 

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Last year my FIL gifted me a crappy 5L all grain kit of malt that had been barely milled god knows when and some ancient hops. I rigged a very simple BIAB setup and decided that this year, I would improve my setup and brew something before it got too cold.

Fortunately, 2 weeks ago there was a period of warm weather perfect for getting my fermentation started. I had ordered a cheap stock pot on Amazon and cancelled the order when I saw that a nearby shop was selling paella cauldrons. I bought a 25L one to make 10-15L batches, a stainless steel tray for deep frying and some Lidl reusable mesh fruit & veg bags to make an oatmeal Stout.

My recipe was:
-74.3% pale ale
-14.9% flaked oats
-5.9% roasted barley
-5% chocolate malt
Small quantities of EKG hops at 60, 30 & 5mins & US05 yeast

The mash went well and I managed to hold the temperature consistently. Extraction was much better than the last time but because my kitchen only has a tiny flat glass top hob, I couldn't bring the wort to a rolling boil. In fact, it overheated and shut off for 10 mins giving me a heart attack as I had promised my wife that nothing would go wrong. Maybe next time I'll try to use a wood fire rig used to paella that I found in my woodshed to get a nice rolling boil.

I had read horror stories on here of oatmeal stouts stalling out at 1.020 due to the proteins & unfermentables but I took a reading today on day 11 and the yeast has gobbled down my wort from about 1.041 to 1.010 today, despite the cool weather.

I'm very happy with the progress that the batch has made and also that my weird paella cauldron setup worked pretty well!
A rolling boil is not necessary. Both hop alpha acid isomerization, and SMM conversion to DMS with subsequent dissipation of the DMS, depend only on temperature and time. If you get within a degree or two of 100°C that is good enough (i.e. simmering.) A rolling boil (more heat to the kettle while boiling) only increases the rate of water evaporation (boil-off.)

Brew on :mug:
 
A rolling boil is not necessary. Both hop alpha acid isomerization, and SMM conversion to DMS with subsequent dissipation of the DMS, depend only on temperature and time. If you get within a degree or two of 100°C that is good enough (i.e. simmering.) A rolling boil (more heat to the kettle while boiling) only increases the rate of water evaporation (boil-off.)

Brew on :mug:
Good to know! I was just hovering around a boil but not quite. I've also done some research on historical brewing (in early medieval Ireland, pre hops) and it doesn't seem ale was brought to boil til relatively recently. My brew wasn't meant to be heavily hopped so I wasn't too concerned if it came out a bit under hopped.
 
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