Wire mesh brew in a bag?

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Bugaboo

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I've been doing biab for a handful of batches now and saw a hop filter project online which used wire mesh. I have a 82 qt kettle with a perforated basket and thought I could some how bend the mesh used in this project around the inside of my basket making it more durable and easier to clean than my nylon bags.

Here's the project http://www.wort.org/diy/8-homemade-kettle-hop-filter.html

Here's my basket http://www.lalagniappe.com/mall/bc-perforated-baskets.htm

Anyone seen this done? Any suggestions as to mesh size or thickness of the wire?

P.S. I cut the top of my basket off to allow my lid to fit after I put legs on my basket to clear the heater elements, so it is the inside of the basket is only 13 inches now
 
I'm always amazed at how HBT comes up with the exact same thing I'm doing at just about the same time I'm doing it and someone posts it.

I just ordered the Bayou Classic 36 qt SS basket at cookware.com for $20. Evidently a sale as this is cheaper than the aluminum one. I have gotten different measurements at each site I go to, including the one you linked to, but as far as I know, the 36 qt is 12.5" in diameter which should be (a little tight, but) just right for a 5 gallon paint strainer bag to fit over with the elastic girdle. The 24 qt is 11.5" in diameter and I thought it'd be too loose.

I was thinking of doing a stainless 30 X 30 mesh filter bag and sewing it myself. Anyways, just gonna do a paint strainer for now. This is all in the BK for pellet hops, not BIAB. Let me know what you come up with.
 
I am interested in knowing more details of that too. I'm assembling the same thing soon and not sure if I want to just stick to 5 gal paint bags or do something with stainless mesh. Got the 36 qt Bayou Fryer Basket coming which has a 12.5" width. I'm thinking it would fit the elastic of a paint strainer bag snug and need no other securing.

At least that's what I'll do in the mean time. Do tell Scubz.

EDIT: (oops... thought i posted this on another thread, but it's the same one)

Hey Scuba- That's my first time checking out your rig. Really awesome.
 
Only clue I saw in Scuba's thread was he was thinking about using 30x30 316ss mesh. My man concern is getting a mesh with the proper opening space and wire width to work for filtering grain and not be too fragile.

Any suggestions?
 
That's what I heard, I believe, from Bobby_M. He has a video about sewing stainless.

I'm not convinced a stainless screen would be more convenient than a paint bag even from a cost perspective. Just invert and rinse out and then eventually replace it after about yea brews. I won't be collecting cold break in it, just pellet matter. I really think the combo of cold break and hop matter is where it all goes wrong. Saving the cold break for my bottom drain filters.

FYI- in case anyone cares, I was wrong about the 36 qt dimensions. It's the 24 qt who's basket is 12.5"... reordered. So, that's a 6 gallon 'tea-bag' in a 15 gallon kettle. Good enough.
 
Mesh size is somewhat dependent on how fine you crush the grain. I use a Voile BIAB in my MLT and it is a very fine weave, much smaller pores than a 30 30 mesh.

In addition, wouldn't you be better off with straight non porous sides and a mesh bottom only so that the wort flows down through all the grains instead of taking a shorter path out the sides. Similar to the way the http://www.speidels-braumeister.de/ is set up.
 
Yep....30x30 mesh. After putting it all together, if I had to do it again, I would seriously consider a nylon bag. The trick would be to put some hoops in there so it stays flat against the inside of the basket. Maybe a few feet of very thin stainless round bar made into a very wide open cage...you could drop that inside the bag, then drop them both in the basket and it'd work great. Disposable materials are nice....I just got tired of the bags clogging with hops.

A lot of people have mentioned having the holes at the bottom vs. the sides too.....I can't say which way is better. It's definitely cheaper and easier to just have holes at the bottom of a cylinder (like a pot with perfed stainless at the bottom, then dropping that into a bigger pot).....and for grain I think it'd work great. But if you plan to use it for hops as well, I think there'd be less circulation and it might hamper the boil.
 
The trick would be to put some hoops in there so it stays flat against the inside of the basket. Maybe a few feet of very thin stainless round bar made into a very wide open cage...you could drop that inside the bag, then drop them both in the basket and it'd work great.

or how about a big silicone o-ring that's the perfect outside diameter for the inside diameter of the basket and drops down to the bottom. Such as McMaster Part: 9396K393.

I just kind of thought that the hop matter would expand as much as it needed to and a 'weight' wouldn't be needed, but I guess you're saying that the bag would flop around at the beginning of the boil and make it difficult?
 
For those who have done BIAB using a metal stockpot type basket, how much grain can these 30-qt / 44-qt baskets hold?

I'm thinking about giving BIAB a whirl using a metal basket from Bayou Classic but I'm not sure about the total grain capacity of these baskets.

My kettle is the Boilermaker 10-gal. (d=13.5" x h=16.5")
 
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