Made my first bag

Was surprisingly easy. Got the voile curtain from Lowes for $10 and was able to make 2 bags out of it. Each end has pockets already sewn in it for the curtain rod and so I was able to just thread some webbing through them and use then for a sinch strap. I could have easily gotten another bag out of it. 3 bags for $10 is not to shabby. Cant wait to use them.

Nice! I sew about as well as I fly-fish (looks good at the beginning, rapidly deteriorates), but am looking for the right bribe for SWMBO...seems like the way to go!

Am I the only one who's lost on this one?

What did yoiu use to sew the bag together? Hand or machine? single or double stitch? I hav ehesitated making a bag out of shower curtain material because 1. I have not yet done my first BIAB and 2. the paint strainer I bought was stitched and had a sealant on it. Don't want my bag to split when I first lift it from the pot.

freshhoarse said:

Am I the only one who's lost on this one?

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He made a polyester-mesh bag for mashing grain.

I used 2 yards of voile last night and it was strong enough to lift 4.5lbs of wheat plus all of the water it absorbed, which I calculate to be nearly 2 gallons. That's about 20lbs. of weight.

I didn't stitch a bag, though. Just pushed the material into the pot and used clothes-pins where it was remotely close to the pot's edge. I'd prefer a bag, but I don't sew, nor does SWMBO, and I'm not sure the neighbor lady would know what I need.

tre9er said:

He made a polyester-mesh bag for mashing grain.

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Thanks! Oh, that's pretty cool.

Was single stitched on a sewing machine. In the end it was big enough to put my pot on. As far as strength goes, based on some "pull tests" I think it should hold. I may try doubling the bag (since I made two of them) the first time just in case, but it appears to be pretty strong. It was nice that both ends of the curtain already had a pocket sewn in them. It was easy to just thread a rope (or in my case, some polyester webbing) through the pocket and make a nice pull string. I used polyester thread for the stitching.

I guess I was shocked at how easy it was. Next plans are a reflectix "jacket" for the mash and possibly a hop spider with some of the leftover material. I also plan on doing a trial run with water to see what my temperature drop is with the reflectix jacket.

No worries about any sort of treatment that might have been applied to the fabric at the factory?

dkennedy said:

Nice! I sew about as well as I fly-fish (looks good at the beginning, rapidly deteriorates), but am looking for the right bribe for SWMBO...seems like the way to go!

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I picked up a yard of 100% polyester voile this week and am hoping to convince SWMBO to sew it up for me with her machine this weekend myself. I'm thinking foot massage, sit-down Thai dinner, or something along those lines.

tre9er said:

I used 2 yards of voile last night and it was strong enough to lift 4.5lbs of wheat plus all of the water it absorbed, which I calculate to be nearly 2 gallons. That's about 20lbs. of weight.

I didn't stitch a bag, though. Just pushed the material into the pot and used clothes-pins where it was remotely close to the pot's edge. I'd prefer a bag, but I don't sew, nor does SWMBO, and I'm not sure the neighbor lady would know what I need.

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I also did my BIAB with a plain sheet of voile. I used those metal binder clips around the edge of the steamer basket to hold the "bag" in place. Worked just fine, just don't lose an edge of the sheet in the mash!