BIAB Brewing (with pics)

Yakima 728
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Brewing BM's OktoberFAST today: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f63/biermunchers-oktoberfast-ale-ag-39021/

BTW...here is my new mash paddle: http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

f440771c-3763-4021-8ec5-b6e3312afaf0_300.jpg


The gerneral consensus on the BIAbrewer.info forum is that this is a better style of paddle for BIAB than the traditional ones. I really didn't understand why until I tried it. It really does move the grain around nicely with just an up and down motion. No more getting the bag wrapped around the paddle while stirring! :)

John
 
Seven said:
I just stumbled upon this little beauty while reading another thread here at HBT: Rope Ratchet

I just ordered one to replace the pulley that I rigged up previously from spare parts. Thought I would post this here in case anyone else needed a simple and inexpensive pulley for their BIAB adventures.
Click to expand...

Seven,

Have you used this pulley system yet? My steamer backet arrives tomorrow and I still need to install something to raise/hold it.

I would really like to buy locally rather than have to order yet another item online. Any suggestions?

FYI...my ceiling in my garage is about 11ft. high I need something that I can mount up there and not need to go back up and tinker with it. Also, do these think "lock" or do you need to time them off on something?

Thanks,

John
 
johnodon said:
Seven,

Have you used this pulley system yet? My steamer backet arrives tomorrow and I still need to install something to raise/hold it.

I would really like to buy locally rather than have to order yet another item online. Any suggestions?

FYI...my ceiling in my garage is about 11ft. high I need something that I can mount up there and not need to go back up and tinker with it. Also, do these think "lock" or do you need to time them off on something?

Thanks,

John
Click to expand...

This rope ratchet works great. The pulley will lock the load end of the rope in place as you pull on the free end of the rope. No need to tie the loose end of the rope to anything. Once you get your bag/basket to your desired height just let go of the rope and it will stay put. To release, you depress a small metal lever on the pulley mechanism. This allows you to keep the grain bag/basket as high or low as you need it. Their website says several retailers carry it but if you can't find it locally you should still order it online as it's worth the wait. Amazon.com sells them also.

Highly recommended for BIAB!
 
johnodon said:
This is the part that concerns me. Is the "small metal lever" located where the unit is anchored to the ceiling? Or is down at working level?

Thanks!

John
Click to expand...

The release is on the main body of the pulley mechanism. If you have high ceilings you can attach a chain or something to the ceiling and drop it down to where you can then attach the pulley so it will be within easy reaching height. That's what I did.
 
Seven said:
The release is on the main body of the pulley mechanism. If you have high ceilings you can attach a chain or something to the ceiling and drop it down to where you can then attach the pulley so it will be within easy reaching height. That's what I did.
Click to expand...

Now I just need to work around my garage door. :confused: Why can't anything ever be easy!
 
Ohhhh happy days! New toy arrived. :)

Photo0082.jpg


Photo0083.jpg


I can already see how the basket is going to make life a joy!

BTW...doesn't look very big in teh pics but that is the 62qt. version.

John
 
C-Rider said:
Wish I could find a basket like that for my 3 gallon brew kettle.
Click to expand...

I bet you could probably find something to fit your pot Rider. If you provide the interior dimmensions (diameter and height), I can help you look. Mayb
even somehting like a spaghetti strainer would work for a pot that size.
John
 
C-Rider said:
Wish I could find a basket like that for my 3 gallon brew kettle.
Click to expand...

Try everydaykitchenneeds.com they have several sizes if I remember right. I just got my 42 qt pot with basket.
 
I use a colander for my 5-10 gallon partial mashes and it works pretty well. I'd bet it can hold a full grain bill for a 3 gallon batch. Something like one of these with the handles sitting on the edge of your pot.
 
Thanks for the awesome thread. I just brewed the Summer Citrus Wheat from the HBT recipe section. Shot my mash temp to hell, but not bad for a first time All Grain.
 
BM's OktoberFAST is starting it's second week in the fermenter: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f63/biermunchers-oktoberfast-ale-ag-39021/

Did BM's Cream of Three Crops on Saturday: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f62/cream-three-crops-cream-ale-66503/

Doing BM's Black Pearl Porter as I type this: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f126/black-pearl-porter-ag-24243/

And, got my first taste of BM's Orange Kolsch that I did 2 weeks ago: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f71/orange-kolsch-ag-ex-30918/

Man was everyone right. That Orange Kolsch is fantastic. And...it is still green. I can't wait for it to age another week or two.

I am loving the BIAB process. I have hit all of my #s consistenty. The only issue that I had was when I did the BMs OctoberFAST. It was the first time that I used my CFC and I did not account for cooling loss. So, I ended up about a gallon short but the #s were still spot on.

John
 
Just picked up a 5 gallon Colman cooler for $25. I'm doing small 1 1/2 gallon batches and they cool off fast during the mash. Hope this solves that problem. Looked around here in the islands for a 3 gallon one but could not find one. Online the price was OK, but shipping was twice the cost of the cooler.

IMAG0033.jpg
 
This is the system I have been using recently, and I have to say it works very well. I still sparge but this is a great how to on BIAB style brewing. Fantastic little setup by the way,that brew pot looks fantastic.
 
I have been doing BIAB for my last three brews (including today). In terms of setup and execution, everything has been going quite well. My first two I did a partial volume mash followed by a batch sparge to bring up the volume since my pot is small. Although the beers have turned out great I have missed my numbers every time with efficiencies below 70%. I have gotten close to my target ABV because my fermentations have been more complete than expected. I figured my low efficiency of mashing must be because of the partial volume mashes. Today I was able to do a full volume mash in a 13 gal pot without a batch sparge. Today was also my worst efficiency yet, just over 60%. I should say that this is a wheat beer and I did make one mistake, I forgot the mashout and just went right to boil. I should say that I have also been doing 60 min mash and 60 min boils.

Any suggestions are welcome.
 
Low efficiency? How was the crush? ph? I mashed last night at 67C for 90 minutes, mashout @ 75C for 10, and got about 85%. One thing on wheat is you really need a rest at 40C.
How is your insulation? Holding temp ok?
Some report lower eff. with larger batches too.
 
I had 13.25 lb total grain and 7 lb was white wheat, the rest was 2 row and caravienne. I ordered the grains online and didn't really know how to evaluate the crush. I do know that the caravienne that I used had a lot of powdery material so it was pretty well crushed but the wheat I couldn't judge since I haven't used it before. I also havent used the vendor before (farmhouse brewing supply). The wheat had a lot of white gritty material so I presume it was crushed OK.

The temperature started at 67 C and went down to 66 C over an hour so it was quite good. I generally wrap a couple layers of towels around the pot and it holds quite well. I didn't do a 40 C rest and I didn't mash out. The latter was intended but somehow overlooked. I got a lot of wort out of the grain when I removed the bag so I don't anticipate the loss was too great there.

I went back to my volumes and calculations and I got maybe 65% at most but I know that folks are getting in the 80% range pretty reliably.
 
What were your gravity readings? How did you calculate efficiency? And how much water? Were you doing a ten gallon batch? Tough to do a 10 gallon biab in a thirteen gallon pot. Most use double size kettle. I'm totally maxed out in my 7.5 gallon pot, in fact, I try to brew smaller than 5.
This is how I calculate:
http://www.brewersfriend.com/brewhouse-efficiency/
 
My preboil was 1.042 at about 7.5 gallons. My post boil was 1.048 at 6.5 gallons. I let BeerAlchemy calculate the efficiency. Your calculator gave me 62.5%. It was a 5 gallon batch in a 13 gallon pot starting with about 8.25 gallons.
 
This question may have been answered already but how does one sparge when doing BIAB? I only have a 7.5 gallon kettle and would like to make bigger beers but cannot fit the full grain bill and preboil volume of water into it. I brewed a beer with 12# of grain and filled the thing to the brim but still came up short after the mash. Any suggestions?
 
Well, two ways to sparge w/ BIAB. You can either dunk the bag in sparge water in another pot or vessel, or you can place the bag on a screen or colander above your pot and pour your sparge water through the grain bag. You can also just pour the sparge water gently over / through the bag of grain as it is suspended above the kettle. A ratchet pulley works very well for this, as well as hoisting grain bags.



edit...your second vessel need not be a pot, an hdpe bucket will aslo suffice in a pinch. Also if you are limited, you could perform a cold sparge w/ unheated water if your limited.
 
CrystalShip said:
This question may have been answered already but how does one sparge when doing BIAB? I only have a 7.5 gallon kettle and would like to make bigger beers but cannot fit the full grain bill and preboil volume of water into it. I brewed a beer with 12# of grain and filled the thing to the brim but still came up short after the mash. Any suggestions?
Click to expand...

the most common way is to dunk sparge. this is taking the grain bag and dunking it into a second pot with the rest of the water needed. another way would to be slowly pouring sparge water though the grain bag while its suspended over the grain. you can suspend it by either a rope and pulley setup or by placing something over the brew kettle to hold the bag (grill grate or colander). both have worked for others. I suggest getting a bigger brew pot.
 
Yes, a larger pot is needed. Bigger beers (1060) are a challenge and a pain. You need more mash water and you also need to then boil it all off. Best and least painless way is to plan on adding some DME or LME to pump the OG.
 
Brewitt said:
My preboil was 1.042 at about 7.5 gallons. My post boil was 1.048 at 6.5 gallons. I let BeerAlchemy calculate the efficiency. Your calculator gave me 62.5%. It was a 5 gallon batch in a 13 gallon pot starting with about 8.25 gallons.
Click to expand...

This has been bugging me and I finally figured it out, I think. Your water water far too little. BIAB is usually done with all the water used in the mash process, including sparge and water absorbed by the grain. At 4 qts per pound (2 for mash and 2 for sparge), 13.25 lbs of grain requires 13.25 gallons plus another 6.5 qts or so for the grain. That surely affected your efficiency.
 
I have a very similar method but I would NEVER squeeze the grains... I wait until the dripping slows then I slowly shower the grains with a little sparge water. Squeezing will surly release tannins that will give you off flavors.
 
BrewinMAINEiac said:
I have a very similar method but I would NEVER squeeze the grains... I wait until the dripping slows then I slowly shower the grains with a little sparge water. Squeezing will surly release tannins that will give you off flavors.
Click to expand...

Greetings from the other Maine.. ;-)

I always squeeze my bag. Never had an issue.

(Boy, that just sounds wrong.. lol)
 
BrewinMAINEiac said:
I have a very similar method but I would NEVER squeeze the grains... I wait until the dripping slows then I slowly shower the grains with a little sparge water. Squeezing will surly release tannins that will give you off flavors.
Click to expand...

That's purely a myth. Squeezing does nothing to tannins. Think about out. A commercial brewery uses a LOT more grain than we do. The weight of those grains alone exerts more pressure than you ever will by squeezing. Tannins require heat AND mainly PH.

Sent from my Epic 4g using Home Brew Talk
 
Mysticmead said:
That's purely a myth. Squeezing does nothing to tannins. Think about out. A commercial brewery uses a LOT more grain than we do. The weight of those grains alone exerts more pressure than you ever will by squeezing. Tannins require heat AND mainly PH.

Sent from my Epic 4g using Home Brew Talk
Click to expand...

+1. I always squeeze my bag. Actually I push down on it with a cookie sheet while it sits on a grate over the top of my kettle. Never a problem. Pure myth.

I'm sure if you oversparged, raised the pH with your tap water and then put it into a press you'd surely extract tannin. But let's be reasonable.
 
Brewitt said:
My preboil was 1.042 at about 7.5 gallons. My post boil was 1.048 at 6.5 gallons. I let BeerAlchemy calculate the efficiency. Your calculator gave me 62.5%. It was a 5 gallon batch in a 13 gallon pot starting with about 8.25 gallons.
Click to expand...

I don't know if it was the amount of water. That puts the mash thickness around 2.5. It's high, but not too high. Did stir the hell out of the mash? Wheat will give you some crazy dough balls since it doesn't have husks. That alone could drastically reduce your efficiency.
 
seabass07 said:
I don't know if it was the amount of water. That puts the mash thickness around 2.5. It's high, but not too high. Did stir the hell out of the mash? Wheat will give you some crazy dough balls since it doesn't have husks. That alone could drastically reduce your efficiency.
Click to expand...


2.5 for the mash thickness is fine.. we're talking BIAB here.. a mash thickness of 3 is considered normal
 

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