Brew In A Bag questions. New to AG.

I have been brewing for about 5 years now but I have never done an all grain batch. Brewing for me is about saving money, though at this rate I will have to drink heavy for the next 2 years to pay for the equipment, and doing it with as little effort as possible.

So Brew in a Bag really appealed to me. Almost no extra equipment to buy. And I am pretty sure I actually get it.

I read about it in the following link:
The Brewing Network &bull; View topic - How to go from Extract to AG for < $10.00

So here are my questions:

1. Why use a fine mesh plastic "voil?" Why not use a thin cheap pillow cover made of a cotton blend? If it is a cleaning issue just throw it in with your whites on laundry day. Then maybe wash it agian with the colors to makes sure there is no bleach smell. Or just throw it out after each use.

2. He uses the full amount of water in his mash. I know there is a grain to water ratio (1 quart to 1 pound i think) that is used during mashing. But on the other hand there is no sparging in the BiaB process so there is no sparge water to add later. How much water do I use? I do 5 gallon batches.

3. This is not really a BiaB question. I think that i am going to use an Igloo cooler and do a BiaB brew. Assuming I get the correct strike temp and it holds for the correct amount of time, can i just leave it in there overnight? A kind of "set and forget it" way of mashing. Of course it will cool out of strike temp overnight.

It is unimportant exactly why but my schedule is complex and it would work out better if I mash one night and then do everything else the next night.

4. After the mash I plan to split the new wort into two kettles (because i have 2 20q kettles) for the boil. Anyone have a problem with this idea? I plan to make a keggle, so I don't want to waste the money on a 30q brew pot.

I do BIAB also. It's nice!

1. I think in that forum, through out the pages, they discuss the cotton bag...anyway I am not sure, but maybe the cotton soaks up too much sugars and may not be as permeable as the fine mesh. I just use two 5 gallon paint strainers. They fit around my turkey fryer and wash up afterwards in warm water.

2. If you go to http://http://brew365.com/mash_sparge_water_calculator.php and type in the information with 1.33 qts/lb you will get the total mash and sparge water. I do around that. The other day I had 9lb grain bill and was able to put in 5 gallons of water into the 30qt pot with a couple inches to spare. I ended up toping off with some 170* water to "sparge" so I could boil 5 gallons down to 4. (Weird recipe I used)

3. Set it and forget would ruin the sugars you extracted too much I think. However on the BIAB forum link youposted they talk about going through the boil and allowing the wort to cool naturally without and immersion chiller and up to 24 hours before pitching yeast with no ill flavor effects.

4. Splitting the wort to boil is not a problem either.

madewithchicken said:

1. Why use a fine mesh plastic "voil?" Why not use a thin cheap pillow cover made of a cotton blend? If it is a cleaning issue just throw it in with your whites on laundry day. Then maybe wash it agian with the colors to makes sure there is no bleach smell. Or just throw it out after each use.

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I don't know, I think the pillow cover might be too fine, and would take forever to drain. My bag is made from a sheer curtain.

madewithchicken said:

2. He uses the full amount of water in his mash. I know there is a grain to water ratio (1 quart to 1 pound i think) that is used during mashing. But on the other hand there is no sparging in the BiaB process so there is no sparge water to add later. How much water do I use? I do 5 gallon batches.

Click to expand...

You can start by assuming that grain will absorb .12 gallons per pound. Experimentation may show something different, but it's a good enough number to start with.

When I BiaB, I use a 30 qt turkey fryer pot, and I usually don't have enough room for a full volume mash. I generally just mash with around 6 gallons, and then top up with water after lautering to reach my desired pre-boil volume.

madewithchicken said:

3. This is not really a BiaB question. I think that i am going to use an Igloo cooler and do a BiaB brew. Assuming I get the correct strike temp and it holds for the correct amount of time, can i just leave it in there overnight? A kind of "set and forget it" way of mashing. Of course it will cool out of strike temp overnight.

Click to expand...

The beauty of the BiaB method is that you don't need a separate mash tun. If you're planning on using a cooler, why not just spend another $15 and put a stainless braid and ball valve in it?

madewithchicken said:

4. After the mash I plan to split the new wort into two kettles (because i have 2 20q kettles) for the boil. Anyone have a problem with this idea? I plan to make a keggle, so I don't want to waste the money on a 30q brew pot.

Click to expand...

When you make your keggle, you're going to need a turkey fryer burner anyway, right? Why not just buy the burner now, and use the 30 qt pot that comes with it?

*EDIT* That took me so long to type, two people responded before I hit send!

Alright (rolls up sleeves)

1. If you used a cotton pillowcase the likelyhood that any cleaning agents you used in the washing machine would leach into the wort, leaving off flavors. In general the mesh bag is easy to clean, made for this application, and is relatively cheap (one big enough to line a 5 gal cooler is <10 bucks). Also if you use a pillowcase you will most likely get a stuck sparge (inability to drain the wort out of the grains).

2. The grain will absorb some of the water, but I don't know the calculations for it (it's somewhere, I'm sure). Needless to say, use more water than 5 gallons for a 5 gallon finished batch.

3. This is exactly what I do, I think I posted pics in another thread about this recently. I line the cooler with the bag and mash as usual. Before I switched out the valve, I used the one the cooler came with, a bottle cap, and a rubberband to drain the wort out. (read as cheep)

Do NOT leave your mash overnight. This will allow bugs to start working in there, and it will sour. Ever heard of sour dough, or sour mash whiskey? That's where the sour comes from. An hour is all you need for mashing, and if you start your boil as your draining the wort out, you can get it done quicker.

4. Splitting the boil isn't a big problem, just be careful with your hop additions. You're going to have to split them in half as well in order to get full utilitization from them.

I figured leaving it overnight was a bad idea. But if someone came and said, "Oh yeah, I do that every time I brew," it would have made things easier.

Mike, I read your tutorial with the bottle cap and rubber-band. I loved that part the most. But I am not worried about the cleaning agents in the pillow case. They all dissolve in water and I can just soak it in water then rinse it. But on the other hand it is less than $10. I guess I am just attached to the idea of taking everyday items and using them for brewing.

Lustreking, I do not plan on buying a turkey fryer. Our gas range should do just fine. Or should it? I have been assuming it would because my old job boiled water on a gas range in a 30q kettle. Maybe theirs was a higher output gas stove. I think ours is the same output. It is a nice gas range.

Screw it, I will just keep splitting in into half and putting it in my 2 20q kettles. It boils in that just fine.

Splitting it should be fine, but I think the point was that you probably won't be putting a keggle on the stovetop (I have done it out of desperation but it didn't work so well).

Some people do mash overnight but they do so in converted coolers that don't loose so much heat that the bugs can start working. I think it was reported they loose less than 10 degrees overnight, you will get a very fermentable wort this way.

Splitting the boil should be fine, however, I definitely don't think that you'll be happy with a keggle on a stovetop. I doubt it would have the power to bring your wort to a boil, plus that's a lot of weight to put on your stovetop, too.

'Tis the season to find relatively inexpensive turkey fryer kits everywhere. I think you will definitely be happier with a move outside to propane.

I also agree that you should be fine mashing overnight as long as it's pretty well insulated. Beer may turn out drier that you hope though, because extended mashing is said to increase the fermentability of the wort.