Anyone ever try doing BIAB in a keggle?
My first post and a few questions regarding this brewing method.
I did a few PM brews a few years back then stopped brewing for various reasons. I scored a 1/2 barrel a couple weeks ago and thought I'd get back into brewing. I cut the top off the barrel and made a keggle out of it. The rest of the equipment I have.
My question is regarding adjuncts like flaked corn, flaked wheat, etc. Would I be able to combine it in the bag with the rest of my grain bill or should I have it in a separate bag? Should I mill the flaked corn fine like the rest of my grains? I don't plan on doing this until my second or third batch but I want to get an idea of what to do with adjuncts when the time comes.
My first batch is going to be a simple SMaSH so I can get the feel of this method and my equipment.
Thanks to all who posted in this thread. You've made the process appear relatively easy and fun to do.
msa8967 said:Anyone ever try doing BIAB in a keggle?
Anyone ever try doing BIAB in a keggle?
add it all to the grain bag...
no need to mill flaked corn... it's flakes
I just wanted to say thanks to everyone in the thread for getting me into bag brewing. Just completed my second BIAB brew day yesterday and got 81% efficiency on a 1.100 monster DIPA. Cheers!
BIAB seems to be the best of both worlds. You get the quality of AG brewing but the time and expense isn't much more involved than extract brewing!
I've been studying this thread for the last few months, slowly upgrading my gear, and am excited to say I will be doing my first AG, BIAB session this week! Can't wait. Praying it goes well!
SiriusStarr said:Think before you start about how you're going to get your bag off the bottom of the kettle if you're heating up quickly (e.g. for your mashout). If you go slow it should be fine, but I prefer to stick something inert under there just for peace of mind. Or you could try to lift it, but you don't want to do that.
SiriusStarr, what do you suggest using at the bottom of the kettle? I've heard of others using a SS steamer basket. I've done at least 6 BIAB batches without anything at the bottom of the kettle and sooner or later i'm probably gonna end up burning my paint strainer bag unless I start using something at the bottom.
Rafael
Do you have any idea how the fine-ness of your bag relates to that of a paint strainer (a'la'home-depot)? That is what I was planning on getting for my first go.
In the future if things get way out of hand (which I'm sure they will, AG seems to much better) I'll bust out the wallet for one of those custom sized BIAB bags.
SiriusStarr, what do you suggest using at the bottom of the kettle? I've heard of others using a SS steamer basket. I've done at least 6 BIAB batches without anything at the bottom of the kettle and sooner or later i'm probably gonna end up burning my paint strainer bag unless I start using something at the bottom.
Safa said:SiriusStarr, thanks for the advice, Im contemplating my first BIAB too!
Do you have any idea how the fine-ness of your bag relates to that of a paint strainer (a'la'home-depot)? That is what I was planning on getting for my first go.
In the future if things get way out of hand (which I'm sure they will, AG seems to much better) I'll bust out the wallet for one of those custom sized BIAB bags.
Can you pull this off with a 9 gallon kettle? Or is 10 gallon really the way to go?
Thanks
SiriusStarr said:Think before you start about how you're going to get your bag off the bottom of the kettle if you're heating up quickly (e.g. for your mashout). If you go slow it should be fine, but I prefer to stick something inert under there just for peace of mind. Or you could try to lift it, but you don't want to do that.
Be careful about getting a temperature different between the inside and outside of your bag if you have a very fine fabric. I have to stir/squish mine periodically while heating to get it to equalize and not just overheat the wort outside the bag. If your fabric is less fine than mine, it shouldn't be a problem.
Also, be prepared for the fact that your bag may not drain quickly if you have a very fine fabric/lots of sticky thick stuff (I know, so technical) in your grains. I was surprised and unprepared for just how slowly mine drained; it requires a LOT of squeezing with the fine voile that my bag is made from, so a bucket + colander/cooling rack/something hole-y is useful to be able to drain with, rather than having to try to hold it over your kettle.
YMMV, but just things I encountered when I did my first BIAB last month and wish someone had told me. It really is quite easy and works great.
Brewed up my first AG using the BIAB technique. I couldn't have asked for a simpler method for brewing! I learned a couple of things in the process.
- Use a rather large bag! I have a large 15.5 gallon keggle but only a 5 gal paint strainer bag and it made for an interesting time keeping the grain properly mashed. My initial gravity was several points lower than expected because the grain was crowded. I added DME to make up the difference. I'll be picking up a voile' later today and fitting it to my keggle.
- When you thought you squeezed the bag enough, squeeze it again and again and again! I finally ended up with close to a gallon of wort after all that squeezing. I aimed for a finish of 5 gallons but ended up with just over 6 gallons. Thank G*d for a second primary bucket!
- watching cold break form can be entertaining. I expected to have a lot more break material but after 14 hours of sitting in the carboy it's settled nicely so far.
The only thing left to do is wait....
- watching cold break form can be entertaining. I expected to have a lot more break material but after 14 hours of sitting in the carboy it's settled nicely so far.
So, total n00b questions, but I'd like to move from extract brewing to all grain or a biab variation, and this looks like a winner. But I'm trying to wrap my head around the whole thing. So I've got a 7.5g brew kettle. If I wanted to do a 5 gallon batch, could I use this method, then just top off with water to get 6g of wort, in which case I would then continue as normal (boil etc)? How much water would I have to mash with? And let's just say I had a 10g kettle, if you wanted to end up with a 5g batch, how much water do you brew with initially? Do you mash with 6.5g, to end up with maybe 6g of wort to then boil as normal? I'm sure the process is simple, but I'd like to picture it in my head before I move forward.
MMJfan said:I BIAB with a 7.5 gal kettle and my first BIAB I was told I could do a 5 gal batch by topping off with water to get my desired amount of wort in the fermentor. Personally, I wasn't happy with my results. I've since gotten a 5 gal kettle that I use to sparge with. I mash in about 6 gal in my larger kettle and then sparge in about 2.5 gal in the smaller kettle. I then let the bag drain into a sanitized bucket after the sparge and squeeze it a little bit and then combine all of my liquids into my large kettle to about 7 gallons for my boil. I've done this 3 times and I've hit around 80% efficiency each time and I'm much more happy with the results than I got by topping off with water.
So, total n00b questions, but I'd like to move from extract brewing to all grain or a biab variation, and this looks like a winner. But I'm trying to wrap my head around the whole thing. So I've got a 7.5g brew kettle. If I wanted to do a 5 gallon batch, could I use this method, then just top off with water to get 6g of wort, in which case I would then continue as normal (boil etc)? How much water would I have to mash with? And let's just say I had a 10g kettle, if you wanted to end up with a 5g batch, how much water do you brew with initially? Do you mash with 6.5g, to end up with maybe 6g of wort to then boil as normal? I'm sure the process is simple, but I'd like to picture it in my head before I move forward.
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