BIAB Brewing (with pics)

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congrats!!! glad you got everything dialed in the way you like. For me, I stopped worrying about trub a while back and just transfer everything to the primary. I do use a hops sack to eliminate hops in the primary but the hot and cold break go right in. beer ends up crystal clear in the end.

My problem was all th trub getting sucked into the fermenter when transferring to the keg. My fault as I was trying to get as much as possible out of the carboy & was sucking trub in which was clogging the poppets, etc. Total p-in-the-a.....

I ended up scaling up the recipe a bit to end with 5.5 gals instead of a straight 5 like I was doing in the past & then leaving all the crud behind.
 
Well I have a question. After reading 13 pages and finally running out of steam.

I have a 6 gal boil pot. Could I do BIAB but then sparge with say 2 gal and boil down the sparge water some to add to the pot as it is boiling to keep my volume at a little over 5 gal? Yeah the sparge water won't have any hops in it but still in theory it should work right?
 
Well I have a question. After reading 13 pages and finally running out of steam.

I have a 6 gal boil pot. Could I do BIAB but then sparge with say 2 gal and boil down the sparge water some to add to the pot as it is boiling to keep my volume at a little over 5 gal? Yeah the sparge water won't have any hops in it but still in theory it should work right?


if you do this, you end up making beer.. so be careful.


you really should look into getting a bigger pot. That way you'll make even better beer.
 
+1 to MysticMead. It is really pretty hard to screw up this part of the process so badly that you don't get "beer". If you don't try to push the ABV you will be fine. You can just boil both until they can be combined and do the final 15 min or so in the single pot to get your flavor/aroma hops right.

However, all beers are not created equal. I have learned the hard way, with BIAB there is no replacement for having a big pot or keggle for brewing those double IPAs and big Stouts. I think that if you like to make beers over about 5% then 10 gallons is the minimum for getting really good efficiency without making a mess. My 15.5 gallon keggle has revolutionized the process. Keep in mind there are very inexpensive aluminum pots out there that work great.
 
You could also make smaller batches. I have a 6-gallon pot and do 2.5-gallon batches (i.e., half batches). This also lets me make a larger variety of beers to have on hand and not exceed the rate at which I can consume them.

One great thing about not brewing from a kit is that you are not locked into a particular batch size.
 
I started brewing BIAB because of your tutorial last year, and instead of converting to a 3V system I just decked out the BIAB setup. Thanks so much for your simple startup walkthrough.

IMAG1118.jpg
 
So... With the BIAB, do you need a false bottom?

No, in its simplest and purest form, BIAB requires a kettle large enough to hold all the brewing water you'll need and a large fine mesh bag that fits inside said kettle. I use a 10 gallon kettle and a chunk of voile curtain that I bought at Walmart for $8. Mash with 32qt of water or so and am left with about 5.75 gallons after boil. And it makes pretty darn good beer.
 
I'm not familiar with the Bilchman brew kettles so, I have one last question. Why in step 6 does it say that 6.75 gallons of wort was collected, when according to the graduations on the side there is over 8 gallons of liquid in the kettle? Is the air bubble I see supposed to suspend or something?
 
I'm not familiar with the Bilchman brew kettles so, I have one last question. Why in step 6 does it say that 6.75 gallons of wort was collected, when according to the graduations on the side there is over 8 gallons of liquid in the kettle? Is the air bubble I see supposed to suspend or something?
You see it wrong, the bubble it's a level of fluid inside. Therefore 6,75 gal inside--ready for boiling :).
 
I'm not familiar with the Bilchman brew kettles so, I have one last question. Why in step 6 does it say that 6.75 gallons of wort was collected, when according to the graduations on the side there is over 8 gallons of liquid in the kettle? Is the air bubble I see supposed to suspend or something?

Where do you see liquid over 8 gallons in the sight glass? It is right at 6.75
 
Yeah, it's hard to see (shadow/low contrast of that fragment). But THE bubble (as always) shows the level ;P

Haha, I should have realized that something was up. Now when I count backwards from the 8.0 G marker, the graduations don't start at 0.
 
To be completely objective, I've brewed all ways - extract, partial mash, all grain using MLT, as well as now BIAB - for about 8 years now. In all that time, I must say the BIAB batches I've made to date have been consistently better than a traditional MLT system, sparging, etc. Way better efficiency & flavor IMO. I'm all about simplicity & BIAB gives you that, along with a better finished product....
 
I just ordered my bag and am stoked for moving into AG through BIAB. Probably wouldnt be doing it otherwise.

Quick question: I know u can crush finer with BIAB and it helps eff. Does anyone ever get tannin type flavors from over crushing the husks?
 
I just ordered my bag and am stoked for moving into AG through BIAB. Probably wouldnt be doing it otherwise.

Quick question: I know u can crush finer with BIAB and it helps eff. Does anyone ever get tannin type flavors from over crushing the husks?

I haven't experienced any issues with tannins due to crush. I always double crush at the lhbs.
 
I just ordered my bag and am stoked for moving into AG through BIAB. Probably wouldnt be doing it otherwise.

Quick question: I know u can crush finer with BIAB and it helps eff. Does anyone ever get tannin type flavors from over crushing the husks?

nope... no tannin flavors from the crush.. and you can squeeze the bag too.. no tannins that way either :)
 
+1 to mysticmead. No off flavors from double crushing or squeezing. Squeeze the heck out of that thing! More wort = More beer! ;)
 
Really? I've never Really squeezed the bag because I read on here it would give tannin flavours. I just let it drain until my arms get tired and toss it. I'll squeeze from now on.
 
This is really good to know. Looks like I might be jumping up to 10 gallon batches too. My wife scored me a sweet 15.5 gallon keg today and I already have a keggle made.
 
Might be tough doing full volume BIAB with only a keggle or 15.5, for that reason I'm getting a 20gal from Spikebrewing once he gets them in stock. Woooo! My calculations using the biabbrewer.info calc shows that I can do 10 gal batches with a OG of around 1.080 which will give around 19.5 gallons full mash volume.

Of course the other option with a 15 is to top-off after mashing. I prefer the all volume though and my poor 10gal AL pot is just not cutting it - I overflow on 1.052-1.054+ OG batches.
 
I've done a 10 gallon BIAB batch a couple of times in a keggle with a two-three gallon batch sparge. It is fine for a medium strength beer but I wouldn't go over about an OG of 1.080.
 
Brewitt said:
I've done a 10 gallon BIAB batch a couple of times in a keggle with a two-three gallon batch sparge. It is fine for a medium strength beer but I wouldn't go over about an OG of 1.080.

I would def be doing session style beers for 10 gallon batches in a 15.5 gal keggle.
 
Did my first BIAB this morning. Got a 75% efficiency, not too shabby. In a few weeks we will see how it turns out.
 

Stupid question- that an aquarium thermometer (and if so why?) or a heater (self explanatory).[/QUOTE]

Looks like a garage, and an aquarium heater. Some people do that to hold fermentation temps in there garage.
 
This is what happens when you biab cream of three crops using Ontario Beer Grains with no irish moss, no whirlpool, and no worflock. Perfect, clear beer with 75% efficiency!

IMG_00000034.jpg
 
I am doing my first BIAB this weekend, and following this DFH90 min clone: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f69/dogfish-head-90-minute-clone-260675/
The recipe is written for 70% efficiency. Do you think I have a good time of hitting that my first time out? I was planning on getting the grains double milled at the LHBS

can you hit 70%... sure. as long as those grains are double crushed and you do a good 90min mash. that's is a lot of grain so I hope you have a large kettle and a way to suspend the bag. :)
 
I've got a 11gal pot, and it has the lobster cage insert which I am planning to suspend my voile bag from. 90 minutes is a long time though... was hoping to do 60 with a 10 minute mash out. Is it more likely I end up in the 60's?
 
I've got a 11gal pot, and it has the lobster cage insert which I am planning to suspend my voile bag from. 90 minutes is a long time though... was hoping to do 60 with a 10 minute mash out. Is it more likely I end up in the 60's?

do the 90 minutes, it gives you an extra 30 minutes to get everything ready for the boil. even with a 90 minute mash and 90 minute boil you can be done in 4 hours (including cleanup if you clean as you go)
 
I have to 2nd MysticMead regarding a way to suspend the bag with a heavy grain bill. The recipes I've done are usually 10-12 lbs & lifting the bag out to drain is tough when fully absorbed w/ water. For a large grain bill, definitely take that into account as holding huge weight for 5ish mins above the kettle would not be easy on the back!

Also, keep in mind that when you lift the bag out, if doing so manually, the bag & liquid are very hot! As I use a converted keg, I have to kind of maneuver the bag to get out of the opening in the top requiring me to grab a lower section of the bag - invariably scorching myself. A pair of gloves would be recommended...
 
Or you can do the double bag trick and deal with half of the grain bill at a time. However, be aware that it means stirring and manipulating two bags rather than one for the entire mashing process. I have done it a couple times and find it to be a good solution. I still like to use a rope and pulley to hold the bags for squeezing. Just avoids unnecessary spills and scalding.
 
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