BIAB Brewing (with pics)

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Hello, This weekend I did a (test batch) BIAB 1 gal SMASH with 2 lbs of grain, after holding the bag up and letting it drip for about 60 sec, squeezing the bag made quite a difference in final wort volume, though I didn't measure it, from watching when I squeezed, Im guessing it was about 12 oz or so, sorry guys at the time I wasn't thinking about measuring the volume.

If I do another test batch next weekend, Ill measure the amounts from dripping and also from squeezing.

Cheers :mug:
 
I am attempting my 2nd batch of BIAB tonight! :mug: Brewing a Bells Two Hearted clone. I've done an extract clone of that was very good so it should be interesting to see how this one compares!

My first BIAB turned out OK, but not as good as I was hoping for. I'm tweaking some things to do differently tonight. One major thing is I got a grain mill to crush my grains finer.

I'm anxious to see if my tweaks will produce a better beer and I'm also anxious to see how the AG version of this clone compares to my extract version...
 
Apologies if this has been asked elsewhere, but a search yielded nothing!

How possible do you guys think it would be to put the grain in a number of smaller grain bags for ease of mash out?

I was thinking of spreading the grain bill between 4/5 smaller grain bags to make the mash out easier on the arms (no pulley for me unfortunately). I could lift each bag out, squeeze them dry(ish) without having to hold the whole lot up in one go.

I don't foresee any problems with it, but you guys are the experts.
 
Safa said:
Apologies if this has been asked elsewhere, but a search yielded nothing!

How possible do you guys think it would be to put the grain in a number of smaller grain bags for ease of mash out?

I was thinking of spreading the grain bill between 4/5 smaller grain bags to make the mash out easier on the arms (no pulley for me unfortunately). I could lift each bag out, squeeze them dry(ish) without having to hold the whole lot up in one go.

I don't foresee any problems with it, but you guys are the experts.
Click to expand...

There's a link to a video on a post by sidbedi 2 pages back that addresses this.
 
If you are doing small batches or use a number of bags to make it easier to squeeze you could use my method. A coffee cup in each hand and pressing down w/all the weight you can. I began w/1.5 gallons and 4.4 lbs of grain and wound up w/1.3 gallons after squeezing/pressing so to me it's worth the effort.

10.jpg
 
trevor_b said:
For a standard ABV beer what is the amount of water needed total? 4.5 gallons or so?
Click to expand...

Sounds about right...just spitballing here, but you could mash in a touch low on volume, and max out the kettle w/ a hot water addition after the mash to give you plenty runnings for a 3 gallon batch....w/ 4.5 gallons initial water you will be close to overflowing the pot...I suggest mashing in a little low on water and adding hot water after the mash...stir and stir then pull the bag.
 
SiriusStarr said:
World's largest pair of underwear, or new brew bag? You decide!

Can't wait to try it out this weekend; sorry, it came out so well I had to share. :D
Click to expand...

That'll lots o' ****e!!!!
 
wilserbrewer said:
Sounds about right...just spitballing here, but you could mash in a touch low on volume, and max out the kettle w/ a hot water addition after the mash to give you plenty runnings for a 3 gallon batch....w/ 4.5 gallons initial water you will be close to overflowing the pot...I suggest mashing in a little low on water and adding hot water after the mash...stir and stir then pull the bag.
Click to expand...

I agree. This is what I did for my first batch (5.5 gallons batch in 32 quart kettle).

I mashed with about 4 gallons IIRC, and after mashout I topped up to 6.5 gallons.
 
ok guys, I'm thinking of going BIAB from all extract for my next brew (queue drums and fanfare)... was going to try the all grain Chinook IPA kit from Northern brewer pre-crushed grains etc... now I only have a 7.5 gallon pot that came with my Bayou burner... do I have enough volume in that pot do do BIAB or should I hold off till I have a bigger pot??? (volume is 10 lbs of 2-row and one pound of carapills)
 
wormraper said:
ok guys, I'm thinking of going BIAB from all extract for my next brew (queue drums and fanfare)... was going to try the all grain Chinook IPA kit from Northern brewer pre-crushed grains etc... now I only have a 7.5 gallon pot that came with my Bayou burner... do I have enough volume in that pot do do BIAB or should I hold off till I have a bigger pot??? (volume is 10 lbs of 2-row and one pound of carapills)
Click to expand...

Never did that big a batch, but I've mashed 7 lbs of 2Row in a 5 gallon cooler so I think you'll have no problem. I'm sure someone brighter than me will kick in soon. :mug:

Oh, that was NOT for a 5 gallon brew. I think I did 3 gallons.
 
wormraper said:
ok guys, I'm thinking of going BIAB from all extract for my next brew (queue drums and fanfare)... was going to try the all grain Chinook IPA kit from Northern brewer pre-crushed grains etc... now I only have a 7.5 gallon pot that came with my Bayou burner... do I have enough volume in that pot do do BIAB or should I hold off till I have a bigger pot??? (volume is 10 lbs of 2-row and one pound of carapills)
Click to expand...

You won't have enough volume if you're trying to mash with the entire volume. I have an 8 gallon pot and yesterday I mashed 9 pounds of grain at 6 L / kg (2.88 qt / lb) for a mash volume of ~6.5 gallons and my pot was full. Really full, like less than a half-inch down from the rim, so there's no way you're going to fit 6.5 gallons of water and 10 lbs of grain in a 7.5 gallon pot.

However, there's no reason why you couldn't mash with 5.5 gallons or whatever will comfortably fit in your pot and then top off with the extra volume before the boil. For instance, according to Brewtarget (which was pretty accurate for me with this last mash), a ~5.9 gallon mash will give you a total mash volume of 7.1 gallons (which should fit comfortably in your pot and will yield about 5 gallons of wort, in which case you can top off with a gallon of water (or whatever you need for your boil off rate) and be fine. That would be mashing at 4.9 L/kg (~2.3 qt/lb).
 
Sure, I just brewed a Scotch ale with 13.5 lbs of grain in a 7.5 gallon pot for 5.75 finished gallons (FG 1.073 with 1 lb of DME added). I suspend the grain/bag after mash and 170F mashout by a fryer basket and rope/pulley. Then drip 1-2.5 gallons of sparge water through there.

I certainly would not recommend this large of a mash right away, but 11 lbs is doable. Generally I get better efficiencies with the standard 7.5-9 lb mash (mid 80 %). With the 11-13.5 lbs I get ~ mid 70%'s.
 
solbes said:
Sure, I just brewed a Scotch ale with 13.5 lbs of grain in a 7.5 gallon pot for 5.75 finished gallons (FG 1.073 with 1 lb of DME added). I suspend the grain/bag after mash and 170F mashout by a fryer basket and rope/pulley. Then drip 1-2.5 gallons of sparge water through there.

I certainly would not recommend this large of a mash right away, but 11 lbs is doable. Generally I get better efficiencies with the standard 7.5-9 lb mash (mid 80 %). With the 11-13.5 lbs I get ~ mid 70%'s.
Click to expand...

Do you mill your grains finer than standard all grain?
 
solbes said:
Sure, I just brewed a Scotch ale with 13.5 lbs of grain in a 7.5 gallon pot for 5.75 finished gallons (FG 1.073 with 1 lb of DME added). I suspend the grain/bag after mash and 170F mashout by a fryer basket and rope/pulley. Then drip 1-2.5 gallons of sparge water through there.

I certainly would not recommend this large of a mash right away, but 11 lbs is doable. Generally I get better efficiencies with the standard 7.5-9 lb mash (mid 80 %). With the 11-13.5 lbs I get ~ mid 70%'s.
Click to expand...

I am very curious how you can fit that kind of volume. As I said, my larger pot was full with a smaller volume of grain, and that was crushed very finely. What is your secret. :D
 
Yeah my grain is probably a little finer than std. Not terribly so though. I double bag my grain. A coarse paint strainer bag inside a fine voile bag, which does reduce the trub by 1/2 gallon or so.

As to higher grain amounts, I just mash at a lower grist ratio. That one was mashed at around 1.4 qt/lb. It does lower the efficiency some I guess.

Theres no getting around the fact that larger kettles make BIAB easier. I have my eye on a nice 15 gallon stainless, but haven't gotten the fundage approved by the boss yet :)
 
wormraper said:
ok guys, I'm thinking of going BIAB from all extract for my next brew (queue drums and fanfare)... was going to try the all grain Chinook IPA kit from Northern brewer pre-crushed grains etc... now I only have a 7.5 gallon pot that came with my Bayou burner... do I have enough volume in that pot do do BIAB or should I hold off till I have a bigger pot??? (volume is 10 lbs of 2-row and one pound of carapills)
Click to expand...

You are close to your kettles limit! Use the rackers calc to determine mash volume.

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

The way around a small kettle is to mash w/ less watter in the kettle, then dunk sparge the bag in another pot bucket whatever, then combine runnings. Even a cold sparge will work if that is the best you can do.
 
wilserbrewer said:
You are close to your kettles limit! Use the rackers calc to determine mash volume.

http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

The way around a small kettle is to mash w/ less watter in the kettle, then dunk sparge the bag in another pot bucket whatever, then combine runnings. Even a cold sparge will work if that is the best you can do.
Click to expand...

ahhh, that should work then. I have a 5 gallon kettle that I use as well so sparging in a 5 gallon kettle after mashing in the 7.5 should work it seems.
 
wormraper said:
ahhh, that should work then. I have a 5 gallon kettle that I use as well so sparging in a 5 gallon kettle after mashing in the 7.5 should work it seems.
Click to expand...

I tried this for the first time last week and it seemed to work well for me. I mashed for 60 in about 6 gallons of water and then transferred my bag of grains to about 2.5 gallons of pre-heated water in my 5 gallon kettle and sparged for 10 minutes at 170. I then combined the two into my 7.5 gallon kettle to give me enough pre-boil volume for a 5 gallon batch. I hit 80% efficiency doing this and I was using about 13 lbs of finely crushed grain.

Beer has been in the fermenter for about a week so I will update on how it turns out...
 
Mikko said:
1.st post from Finnish lurker :) , my 2 cents:

If you squeeze grain bag you waste less wort in grains.
That means that you can use less water overall and still get amount of pre boil wort you want.

Because you can use less water, wort is less diluted and SG is higher, and that means you can use little bit less grains to get same SG than without squeezing, and you get efficieny gain !

Squeezing works same way than batch sparging. When you do batch sparge you dilute wort that is remaining in grains, so you waste less of it. When you squeeze, the wort remaining in grains is still stronger stuff, but you waste much less of it.

EDIT: I noticed that by squeezing I actually do not mean really "squeezing" , but letting wort drip out of bag somehow. I have not actually measured how much more wort is removed from grains if I really squeeze bag vs I just let it hang and drip slowly on top of kettle.

Here Iam mashing 5gal's of 1.100 Barley Wine, total efficiency according to Beersmith2 was 70%, it is enough for me, did not do batch sparge :

Brew kettle (50l) has 3000w custom made immersion element and it is controlled with arduino based control box. Software is home made (Iam SW engineer), DS18S20 digital temperature sensor monitoring wort temperature and cheap chinese pump doing wort circulation. Out of picture is winch which Iam using to lift grain bag out of kettle. Iam very happy with this setup, works excellently.
Click to expand...

Instructions link for setup please? Very interested in learning about this.
 
weeple2000 said:
Instructions link for setup please? Very interested in learning about this.
Click to expand...

I don't have instructions at the moment for my system.

I actually use arduino programmed to work like simple PID controller now, you just set temperature and it keeps it, then you must manually dial next temperature etc..

I have "auto mode" which has about 90% done. It would enable you to program automatic mashing programs, however I noticed that it is more cumbersome to use and I do not like it, dialing next temperature manually is not that big deal.

There is this BrewTroller project which is more complex system for automating brewing.
https://www.oscsys.com/projects/brewtroller

Iam however programming v3.0 of this system (very very beginning) and Iam planning to make it available to others also if there is interest.

This time Arduino works only as simple input and output board, switching relays , reading temperature sensors etc.. and you just connect it with USB to Android tablet/phone or on linux/win/mac based computer and it works as user interface. Planning to do support for all those platforms.

aand if somebody sends me free iPad I can check if it is possible to support it also ;)

This way it is much more simpler system for anybody to do. You do not have to deal about lcd screens, rotary controllers, buttons, leds, soldering many components etcetcetc...
 
Mikko said:
I don't have instructions at the moment for my system.

I actually use arduino programmed to work like simple PID controller now, you just set temperature and it keeps it, then you must manually dial next temperature etc..

I have "auto mode" which has about 90% done. It would enable you to program automatic mashing programs, however I noticed that it is more cumbersome to use and I do not like it, dialing next temperature manually is not that big deal.

There is this BrewTroller project which is more complex system for automating brewing.
https://www.oscsys.com/projects/brewtroller

Iam however programming v3.0 of this system (very very beginning) and Iam planning to make it available to others also if there is interest.

This time Arduino works only as simple input and output board, switching relays , reading temperature sensors etc.. and you just connect it with USB to Android tablet/phone or on linux/win/mac based computer and it works as user interface. Planning to do support for all those platforms.

aand if somebody sends me free iPad I can check if it is possible to support it also ;)

This way it is much more simpler system for anybody to do. You do not have to deal about lcd screens, rotary controllers, buttons, leds, soldering many components etcetcetc...
Click to expand...

Have you considered using a raspberry pi?
 
Did a 1.5 gal version of NB Jake's CDA. I really got to get a mill, had my LHBS mill for me and the last few times have been getting ~78% eff. This time I decided to sparge for the first time and ended up with 72%. I noticed when I looked at the grains they were not crushed as much as they had been before, I saw her run them through the mill twice so maybe they changed the settings, or because it was a bigger beer I lost some eff. Oh well got my fermentation chamber working for the first batch also. In a few weeks I will give my opinion on the beer.
 
weeple2000 said:
Have you considered using a raspberry pi?
Click to expand...

Yes I have considered, system should also contain Raspberry support. As you can use GPIO you can get rid of arduino altogether.

Although as you can buy those "android on stick" thingies very cheaply from china and also arduino clones cost almost nothing there, cost wise it is quite same to use raspberry or android.
 
Hi, question here. I've taken an interest in this BIAB technique (albeit a much less technical approach than the one pictured here!) as I'd quite like to give all-grain a go without the equipment investment (for the mean time, at least).
I was wondering: Is it plausible to line a regular cooler with a bag and sort of do a 'mash in a bag' before transferring to my brew pot? My pot is just about 5 gallons, which is too small to do proper BIAB but just big enough to boil a decent batch.
I understand this would decrease efficiency vs using a properly converted mash tun, but is there anything strikingly horrible about this idea?

I know I sound cheap, but I've spent a fair bit on HB recently and would like to actually get some batches in before spending any more!
 
Peppers16 said:
Hi, question here. I've taken an interest in this BIAB technique (albeit a much less technical approach than the one pictured here!) as I'd quite like to give all-grain a go without the equipment investment (for the mean time, at least).
I was wondering: Is it plausible to line a regular cooler with a bag and sort of do a 'mash in a bag' before transferring to my brew pot? My pot is just about 5 gallons, which is too small to do proper BIAB but just big enough to boil a decent batch.
I understand this would decrease efficiency vs using a properly converted mash tun, but is there anything strikingly horrible about this idea?

I know I sound cheap, but I've spent a fair bit on HB recently and would like to actually get some batches in before spending any more!
Click to expand...

That should work just fine - the only issue is you wouldn't be able to add heat during the mash if your mash temperature dropped, but a cooler should hold temps pretty well anyway so that might not be an issue.
 
Peppers16 said:
Hi, question here. I've taken an interest in this BIAB technique (albeit a much less technical approach than the one pictured here!) as I'd quite like to give all-grain a go without the equipment investment (for the mean time, at least).
I was wondering: Is it plausible to line a regular cooler with a bag and sort of do a 'mash in a bag' before transferring to my brew pot? My pot is just about 5 gallons, which is too small to do proper BIAB but just big enough to boil a decent batch.
I understand this would decrease efficiency vs using a properly converted mash tun, but is there anything strikingly horrible about this idea?

I know I sound cheap, but I've spent a fair bit on HB recently and would like to actually get some batches in before spending any more!
Click to expand...

yes you can do exactly that. the efficiency will NOT be hurt. In fact, you can crush finer and not worry about a stuck sparge (if you even bother with a sparge). You can also vorlauf to get clear wort into the kettle, although not vorlaufing does NOT cause cloudy beer. when draining if the flow stops, simply lift the bag a bit and it'll flow again.
 
Anyone ever have their dogs eat thru their grain bags? :cross:

I was brewing my 3rd BIAB over the weekend and after I'm done mashing and draining the grain bag, I usually put it in a bucket on my deck until I dump the grains into my compost. Well, the other night, I forgot about the grains in my bucket and I let my two labs out to do their business. Usually when they go out, they can be loud as they like to play and roughhouse. The other night I remember thinking to myself how quiet they were being not even thinking about the grains in the bucket. Well, when I went to let them in I saw grains everywhere and my grain bag with a nice big hole chewed through it?! :( I had been debating on brewing up 2 batches over the weekend, but my dogs made my decision easy for me. No bag, no brewing. ;) I think from now on, I won't wait to dump the grains into the compost... :mug:

Luckily I didn't have any hops in there as I've heard they can be pretty lethal if dogs ingest them.
 
Mysticmead said:
yes you can do exactly that. the efficiency will NOT be hurt. In fact, you can crush finer and not worry about a stuck sparge (if you even bother with a sparge). You can also vorlauf to get clear wort into the kettle, although not vorlaufing does NOT cause cloudy beer. when draining if the flow stops, simply lift the bag a bit and it'll flow again.
Click to expand...

That's encouraging, although I should have emphasised that my cooler doesn't have a spigot (none in the UK do for some reason).
Do I understand correctly that sparge isn't absolutely necessary if you mash with the full volume of water you need? Would running water through the grain a few times be preferable?
I'm still a bit confused about sparging. Am I right in thinking its to stop the mash reaction and wash a bit more sugar out of the grain?
 
You could even just use your 5 gal brewpot - I use paint strainer bags from Home Depot, sparge (if desired) by lifting the grain bag into a colander placed over the brewpot, then top off to 5 gal after you chill. I get my full boil by just splitting the boil (I have two 5 gal pots).

For maintaining mash temp, I preheat my oven (lowest temp is 170), then turn the oven off after dough in and place the brewpots in the oven
 
Thanks all for the help. I guess the AG barrier doesn't have to be so tall afterall! Sorry if I was off topic.
 
You could always drop down to say 3 gal batches till you can get a larger pot, or decide you like 3 gal because you can brew more often. It was the suggestion of people here to me when I asked the same question a few months ago.
 
Sparging with BIAB seems to be one of those topics that doesn't have a black or white answer. Mostly seems like a matter of personal preference to me. I've read a lot of BIAB'ers who do full volume with a sparge and then without a sparge to compare efficiencies and seem to not get much differring results either way.

I don't have the means to do a full volume BIAB so I choose to do a sparge in a smaller kettle and this seems to give me the most success. I've only done 3 BIAB batches total and my last 2 have been done with a sparge. My first batch, I just mashed the grains and then boiled the wort and when I was ready to rack the wort into my fermenter, I topped it off with tap water to get to my 5 gallons. While the beer turned out ok, it seems to be a bit on the weaker side. I forgot to take an OG reading so I didn't have any numbers from an efficieny standpoint, but I'm guessing they weren't too good.

I just bottled my 2nd BIAB last night and I had about 80% efficiency with the added sparge and I just brewed my 3rd BIAB over the weekend and hit aroung 80% again. So, I think I will stick to what seems to be working for me... :mug:
 
sha0056 said:
You could even just use your 5 gal brewpot - I use paint strainer bags from Home Depot, sparge (if desired) by lifting the grain bag into a colander placed over the brewpot, then top off to 5 gal after you chill. I get my full boil by just splitting the boil (I have two 5 gal pots).

For maintaining mash temp, I preheat my oven (lowest temp is 170), then turn the oven off after dough in and place the brewpots in the oven
Click to expand...

+1 to using your brew pot, I just started doing All-grain BIAB. Im using 2 pots and a paint strainer bag from Home Depot also, boil pot first, then dunk sparge in 2nd pot, combine the 2 and boil, works great.

My first All-grain BIAB was in the boil pot only, no sparging, worked out great too.

Cheers :mug:
 
MMJfan said:
Sparging with BIAB seems to be one of those topics that doesn't have a black or white answer. Mostly seems like a matter of personal preference to me. I've read a lot of BIAB'ers who do full volume with a sparge and then without a sparge to compare efficiencies and seem to not get much differring results either way.

I don't have the means to do a full volume BIAB so I choose to do a sparge in a smaller kettle and this seems to give me the most success. I've only done 3 BIAB batches total and my last 2 have been done with a sparge. My first batch, I just mashed the grains and then boiled the wort and when I was ready to rack the wort into my fermenter, I topped it off with tap water to get to my 5 gallons. While the beer turned out ok, it seems to be a bit on the weaker side. I forgot to take an OG reading so I didn't have any numbers from an efficieny standpoint, but I'm guessing they weren't too good.

I just bottled my 2nd BIAB last night and I had about 80% efficiency with the added sparge and I just brewed my 3rd BIAB over the weekend and hit aroung 80% again. So, I think I will stick to what seems to be working for me... :mug:
Click to expand...

+1 If it works, don't fix it. lol

Cheers :mug:
 
mb82 said:
You could always drop down to say 3 gal batches till you can get a larger pot, or decide you like 3 gal because you can brew more often. It was the suggestion of people here to me when I asked the same question a few months ago.
Click to expand...

+1 to this. Everyone seems stuck on 5 gallon (or 10 gallon) batches. One of the beauties of BIAB, or ANY all grain brewing, is you are not limited to 5 gallon increments of beer. I am moving to smaller batches, not because of limits on what I can make (I have a 15.5 gallon keggle and a 20 gallon pot), but because I want to make more styles more frequently. But yes, if you have smaller pot to work with, cut the 5 gallon recipe in half. Your LHBS will do that for you. Then enjoy easy whole grain BIAB brewing!
 

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