jmd1971

Recipes 

My problem was all th trub getting sucked into the fermenter when transferring to the keg. My fault as I was trying to get as much as possible out of the carboy & was sucking trub in which was clogging the poppets, etc. Total p-in-the-a.....

I ended up scaling up the recipe a bit to end with 5.5 gals instead of a straight 5 like I was doing in the past & then leaving all the crud behind.

mb82

Recipes 

Well I have a question. After reading 13 pages and finally running out of steam.

I have a 6 gal boil pot. Could I do BIAB but then sparge with say 2 gal and boil down the sparge water some to add to the pot as it is boiling to keep my volume at a little over 5 gal? Yeah the sparge water won't have any hops in it but still in theory it should work right?

Mysticmead

Recipes 

if you do this, you end up making beer.. so be careful.


you really should look into getting a bigger pot. That way you'll make even better beer.

Brewitt

Recipes 

+1 to MysticMead. It is really pretty hard to screw up this part of the process so badly that you don't get "beer". If you don't try to push the ABV you will be fine. You can just boil both until they can be combined and do the final 15 min or so in the single pot to get your flavor/aroma hops right.

However, all beers are not created equal. I have learned the hard way, with BIAB there is no replacement for having a big pot or keggle for brewing those double IPAs and big Stouts. I think that if you like to make beers over about 5% then 10 gallons is the minimum for getting really good efficiency without making a mess. My 15.5 gallon keggle has revolutionized the process. Keep in mind there are very inexpensive aluminum pots out there that work great.

smyrnaquince

Recipes 

You could also make smaller batches. I have a 6-gallon pot and do 2.5-gallon batches (i.e., half batches). This also lets me make a larger variety of beers to have on hand and not exceed the rate at which I can consume them.

One great thing about not brewing from a kit is that you are not locked into a particular batch size.

Dillonks1

Recipes 

I started brewing BIAB because of your tutorial last year, and instead of converting to a 3V system I just decked out the BIAB setup. Thanks so much for your simple startup walkthrough.

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Citadel c/o 11'

jwalk4

Recipes 

So... With the BIAB, do you need a false bottom?

Kaz

Recipes 

No, in its simplest and purest form, BIAB requires a kettle large enough to hold all the brewing water you'll need and a large fine mesh bag that fits inside said kettle. I use a 10 gallon kettle and a chunk of voile curtain that I bought at Walmart for $8. Mash with 32qt of water or so and am left with about 5.75 gallons after boil. And it makes pretty darn good beer.

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Draft 1: Belgian Chocolate Stout
Draft 2: Belgian Wit
Draft 3: Double IPA

Primary 1: Irish Red Ale
Primary 2: Weizen

On Deck: Imperial Stout, Berry Wheat

jwalk4

Recipes 

I'm not familiar with the Bilchman brew kettles so, I have one last question. Why in step 6 does it say that 6.75 gallons of wort was collected, when according to the graduations on the side there is over 8 gallons of liquid in the kettle? Is the air bubble I see supposed to suspend or something?

mirogster

Recipes 

You see it wrong, the bubble it's a level of fluid inside. Therefore 6,75 gal inside--ready for boiling .