Small Kitchen BIAB

So I am looking to get into AG brewing soon and I am looking in to the BIAB method. The problem is I live in an apartment with a limited space on the stove top and the complex does not allow you to have even propane burners on the porch. I can have any kind of cooker/burner that is electric on the patio. Is there an easy way for me to do BIAB brewing in the kitchen or on the patio with an all electric system?

look up deathbrewers stovetop AG brewing https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/

I do 2.5 gallon batches on stove top. I use a cooler mash tun as well. Only problem I have is not being able to boil as vigorously (for fear of boil over) so my evaporation rate is lower so I can't use as much sparge water and hence only get 65% efficiency.

I also did a 2.5 gallon batch in a 5.5 gallon brewpot. I didn't do a sparge and got about 65% efficiency, which I didn't think was too bad for the first time I did this. I don't think I could do BIAB for a 5 gallon batch on my electric stove.
The batch I did was a Spotted Cow clone and was one of the best beers I've brewed.

Todd

What I do is heat my mash water in one big 6 gallon pot and mash there using the electric burner on the lowest settign to hold my mash temp perfectly.

Then I put the bag into the other pot or bucket if you need too and pour it through the bag and then lift the bag into a collander and strain it.
Then put the bag back into the other pot and sparge for 15 minutes at appropriate temp and then repeat the process.
Then just boil and go ahead with your boil process. Two pots, a collander and a large brew bag. You can substitute a bucket if you need to and then add the contents back to the boil kettle. You can do 5 gallon or 4 gallon batches this way depending on the amount of grain you have to mash.

I'm doing 1.5 gallon BIAB batches in a 3 gal kettle on my 1500 kw hot plate.
I just bought a 5 gallon cooler and will try heating the water in my kettle then pouring it into the cooler w/the bag in place and add and stir my grain. Hope to keep temp more constant that way. The small amount tended to cool off to fast in the kettle even w/a towel wrapped around it. Shoots the cooler was only 25 bucks.
Gonna try it for the first time Monday doing an American Stout of my own recipe.

Couldnt your efficiency be increased with BIAB because you can squeeze the bag, re-submerge the grain then sqeeze it out again? Thereby psudo-sparging in the same wort without introducing more water?

i do 5 gallon BIAB on my stove i have nmy pot wraped in insulationso as to help maintain the heat. my pot is an old aluminum tukey fryer pot. the secret was insulating the pot

Only problem I have is not being able to boil as vigorously (for fear of boil over) so my evaporation rate is lower so I can't use as much sparge water and hence only get 65% efficiency.

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You can easily compensate for this a few ways:

1) Take a day to boil a full volume of water for an hour to measure the boiloff rate for your pot, you'll no longer add extra water and your efficiency will go up.

2) If you boil with the lid on, take the lid off and that'll increase your efficiency a few points as well.

3) Just add an extra 30 minutes to your boil. More water boiloff, higher efficiency.

I only use i a five gallon pot and a three gallon pot. What I do is do very large partial mashes. I've found that I can get about 9 pounds of grain no problem then add extract to get extra gravity points if necessary. Then for spathe i use the three gAllon pot, steep and let drain through a colander and repeat 3 times. I can get up to ~75% efficiency. All done on my stove in my apartment

TopherM said:

You can easily compensate for this a few ways:

1) Take a day to boil a full volume of water for an hour to measure the boiloff rate for your pot, you'll no longer add extra water and your efficiency will go up.

2) If you boil with the lid on, take the lid off and that'll increase your efficiency a few points as well.

3) Just add an extra 30 minutes to your boil. More water boiloff, higher efficiency.

Click to expand...

I am pretty sure you misunderstood the post you are responding to.

Also for #2 you should NEVER boil with the lid on unless you want DMS.

Yeah... my pot is too small to add anymore to and I don't use a lid as I'm well aware of what it'll do.

I boil with the lid on but leave a crack to let the steam out and prevnet boil overs. I have also read over deathbrewers AG brewing instructions, Im just worried that pots that big wont do too well on my electric stove top.

taa800 said:

I also did a 2.5 gallon batch in a 5.5 gallon brewpot. I didn't do a sparge and got about 65% efficiency, which I didn't think was too bad for the first time I did this. I don't think I could do BIAB for a 5 gallon batch on my electric stove.
The batch I did was a Spotted Cow clone and was one of the best beers I've brewed.

Todd

Click to expand...

Do you mind sharing your spotted cow biab receipt?

Stovetop is no issue for AG...I do all my batches this way. Understanding your boiloff rate is paramount. You should definitely run a couple of trials using a few different settings on your stove (high vs. 9 or 8). I get a great rolling boil at 8 on my stove if I bring it to a boil using the high setting. It allows me to do 90 minute boils for 1 gallon batches.

I don't use a bag so I have a fine mesh colander and three dedicated pots (12 qt and 2 10 qt). Sparging takes a while...but results are fantastic.

I do three gallon batches in my five gallon pot. I use my priming bucket for a dunk sparge and wring the heck out of the grain bag. Go to home depot and get a paint straining bag. It works great. Stove top all the way. I am up to about ten lbs of grain and drifting up to 75% efficiency.

grunewaldj said:

Do you mind sharing your spotted cow biab receipt?

Click to expand...

Here's what I did. Remember, this is for a 2.5 gallon batch.

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size (fermenter): 2.50 gal
Boil Size: 3.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 2.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.051 SG
Estimated Color: 5.0 SRM
Estimated IBU: 38.0 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name
3 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM)
8.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
4.0 oz Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM)
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Saaz [3.00 %] - Boil 1.0 min
1.0 pkg Kolsch Yeast (Wyeast Labs #2565)
0.50 oz Brewer's Gold [9.40 %] - Boil 45.0 min
1.00 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 60.0 mins)

Check out this thread, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/new-toy-287917/

I was thinking that an Induction cook-top would make a great BIAB system. You would have to get an induction ready pot, but induction cook tops are very efficient for delivering heat because they create a magnetic curent that causes ferrous metals to heat up, meaning that not just the bottom of the pot is conducting heat, but up the sides of the kettle inside the magnetic field will be hot . The OP states they are using this for 5 gallon batches. It might be a good option.