Adding heat to a BIAB mash

It is possible to burn/scorch a BIAB bag when adding heat to your mash kettle.

When adding heat (lets say a a few degrees, up to 15 degrees for mash out) how do you prevent your bag from being damaged?

I can think of two methods:

1) raise the bag a little, and stir occasionally

2) use a cake rack or some kind of false bottom to keep the bag off the bottom.
Anything cheaper than this?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B000SIS2P4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20


Any other way to add heat, and protect your bag? I suppose you can try leaving the bag in and stir constantly - since it's just for a short time.

Any other ideas?

Ideally, it would be nice to be able to add heat without having to raise the bag.

I put a metal strainer at the bottom and tie it with some fishing line to pull it out before the boil. Works great.

tonyc318 said:

I put a metal strainer at the bottom and tie it with some fishing line to pull it out before the boil. Works great.

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Tony,
Might you have a link to the strainer you used?

Fishing line wont be affected by the heat?
What about a boil?

I have not bothered w/ a mash out since reading this...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/biab-why-mashout-309533/

or possibly good reading here as well...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/pros-cons-mashout-fact-fiction-310668/index2.html

I'm not convinced the mash out is really needed or all that helpful for BIAB...Your mileage and opinions may vary...cheers.

ArcLight said:

Tony,
Might you have a link to the strainer you used?

Fishing line wont be affected by the heat?
What about a boil?

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Sorry, no link. Just your standard veggie steamer found at a kitchen store. I will try to find one for u a little later.

I use one of these in my 5 gallon kettle. Works great, and my wife didn't mind me buying it because we use it for food also... http://amzn.com/B000Q4N2LO

evrose said:

I use one of these in my 5 gallon kettle. Works great, and my wife didn't mind me buying it because we use it for food also... http://amzn.com/B000Q4N2LO

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That's exactly what I use

wilserbrewer said:

I have not bothered w/ a mash out since reading this...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/biab-why-mashout-309533/

or possibly good reading here as well...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/pros-cons-mashout-fact-fiction-310668/index2.html

I'm not convinced the mash out is really needed or all that helpful for BIAB...Your mileage and opinions may vary...cheers.

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Some interesting stuff here, thank you for the links.

For large grain bills - I think that once I squeeze the bag, if I were to put the bag back into a pot with hot water, let it sit a few minutes, and pull it out, let it drain, and the squeeze, I would get a fair amount of extra sugar in the wort.

ArcLight said:

For large grain bills - I think that once I squeeze the bag, if I were to put the bag back into a pot with hot water, let it sit a few minutes, and pull it out, let it drain, and the squeeze, I would get a fair amount of extra sugar in the wort.

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Yes! With larger bigger beers of higher gravity the runnings absorbed by the grain will also be higher gravity, and a sparge of some sort will likely help.

Back to the original topic of adding heat w/ the bag in the kettle...I have read of people doing it without issue, and aslo people scorching the bag...my guess is that w/ low and gentle heating and occasional stirring there likely would not be an issue...just a guess of course, I've never tried it. I think polyester melts at like 3-400 degrees FWIW???

>.Back to the original topic of adding heat w/ the bag in the kettle...I have read of people doing it without issue, and aslo people scorching the bag...my guess is that w/ low and gentle heating and occasional stirring there likely would not be an issue...just a guess of course, I've never tried it. I think polyester melts at like 3-400 degrees FWIW???

I have this really cool Wilser bag and don't want to risk damaging it!

I wonder if instead of sparging, I try raising the bag, draining, squeezing, then lowering the bag so it reabsorbs wort, then raising, draining, squeezing again.
I might try this and take measurements using a refractometer.
How many additional points does a 2nd drain/squeeze (using wort vs water) give?
I think I will start keeping a log - just out of curiosity.
Probably not worth the effort, but at least I will have measurements to back it up.

ArcLight said:

I wonder if instead of sparging, I try raising the bag, draining, squeezing, then lowering the bag so it reabsorbs wort, then raising, draining, squeezing again.
I might try this and take measurements using a refractometer.
How many additional points does a 2nd drain/squeeze (using wort vs water) give?
I think I will start keeping a log - just out of curiosity.
Probably not worth the effort, but at least I will have measurements to back it up.

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In theory this should have zero effect...you are washing / rinsing the grain w/ the same wort that is already absorbed by the grain...akin to taking a second bath w/ the same bathwater...

>>In theory this should have zero effect...you are washing / rinsing the grain w/ the same wort that is already absorbed by the grain...akin to taking a second bath w/ the same bathwater...

By adding liquid to the grain mass, and draining/squeezing it, are you getting additional sugar that was trapped in the grain mass? I would think Yes, but don't know how much. Maybe not much, so why bother? Maybe fresh hot water will get you an extra 5 points? Maybe not. Can't be sure without measuring.

The sugar content is already homogeneous throughout all liquid in the mash. It would be a waste of time to redunk in runoff.

I heat my mash regularly with the bag in and nothing to lift it off the bottom. I just make sure to stir constantly while heating. As long as the liquid is circulating around the bag it should not scorch.

I did this during my mash yesterday and when I brought my temp to 170 for mashout and had no issues.

On my first BIAB i used a thin paint strainer bag and when I heated my mash it scorched the bag. When I lifted the bag at the end of the mash it burst and all the grain went into the kettle. My brew day got a little longer but I made beer. I am now very careful since I had my wife make me a bag and would kill me if it was ruined.

If you use a Voille bag you'll be fine. The paint strainer bag are the ones that scorch. This was proved by a guy who has an electric BIAB setup. He took some Voille material leftover from making his grain bag and tied it directly onto the element, and set it on high for like 15 minutes. Let the water cool pulled the material out and it was fine.

>>If you use a Voille bag you'll be fine. The paint strainer bag are the ones that scorch. This was proved by a guy who has an electric BIAB setup. He took some Voille material leftover from making his grain bag and tied it directly onto the element, and set it on high for like 15 minutes. Let the water cool pulled the material out and it was fine.

I'm willing to try this, if you will replace my Wilser bag in case it gets damaged. :fro:

You should have purchased the limited lifetime warranty for only $99

My bag is voile. That may be why I don't need to lift it off the bottom. I only use the pain strainers for my hops. Those stay far from the bottom. They don't seem sturdy enough for 12 pounds of wet grain either.

I use paint strainers and just put a cake cooling rack in the bottom to keep it off the bottom of the pot while heating. Easy to pull out afterward with a spoon. Before I started doing this I scorched a bag.

I have never had a need to raise temp. Once I hit my strike temp I dough in, add the grains, stir down to my desired temp, pop on the lid and walk away. I mash in my SS brew kettle with no insulation whatsoever.

Are "wilserbrewer" bags scorch proof? More testing may be needed...

>>Are "wilserbrewer" bags scorch proof? More testing may be needed...

Yes, and they come with a limited lifetime warranty.


(Obviously I am kidding, I don't want to take the risk to my bag. I want someone else to try the experiement with their bag )

ArcLight said:

>>If you use a Voille bag you'll be fine. The paint strainer bag are the ones that scorch. This was proved by a guy who has an electric BIAB setup. He took some Voille material leftover from making his grain bag and tied it directly onto the element, and set it on high for like 15 minutes. Let the water cool pulled the material out and it was fine.

I'm willing to try this, if you will replace my Wilser bag in case it gets damaged. :fro:

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Well someone already tried it, and proved it, but your not convinced, why would you believe me lol

>>Well someone already tried it, and proved it, but your not convinced, why would you believe me lol

Just send me another Wilserbag and I will try it and report back the results

ArcLight said:

>>Well someone already tried it, and proved it, but your not convinced, why would you believe me lol

Just send me another Wilserbag and I will try it and report back the results

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Lol this is going nowhere haha

I use a basket strainer that I attach my bag to. Just like the Sticky in this "All Grain" forum