BIAB in Electric Keggle

Been searching hi and low for answers and have found very little about using an e-keggle for BIAB. What I am wondering is how to keep the nylon grain bag away from the 5500 watt element? I have seen some people using cake stands for gas keggles but I am afraid if I put some type of false bottom over the element there wont be enough depth in the water to cover a 10-20lb grain bill. Is this something I should even worry about? Can a ULWD element burn a nylon bag? When set to mash and sparge temps less than 180F. Thanks in advance.

keep the bag off the element. from what I've read, the bag will start to melt at 190F. While you have a mash/sparge temp of less than 180F the element will heat higher than that in order to heat the surrounding liquid. with a keggle you should be mashing with full volume for BIAB anyways, they would give you more than enough water to cover the grains.

I did a few brews like this. The first Brew I melted a small hole in the bag. After that I used a piece of 1 1/4" copper pipe with holes drilled in it as a guard. I sized the length so that it fit across the full length if my kettle and sort-of wedged into place so that it lined up with the hole for my element.

I've been using a BIAB e-keggle for about 8-10 months. I use a square piece of perforated aluminum with the corners bent down (as legs) to keep the bag off the element.

Its a little like this http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=13496&step=4&id=1003&top_cat=0 but I bought it at the local Ace Hardware.

Works like a charm, lets me keep the element on during the mash. Its easy to pull out with tongs when the mash is over.

t

bonsai4tim said:

I've been using a BIAB e-keggle for about 8-10 months. I use a square piece of perforated aluminum with the corners bent down (as legs) to keep the bag off the element.

Its a little like this http://www.onlinemetals.com/merchant.cfm?pid=13496&step=4&id=1003&top_cat=0 but I bought it at the local Ace Hardware.

Works like a charm, lets me keep the element on during the mash. Its easy to pull out with tongs when the mash is over.

t

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I think I have some material at work I can use that is similiar. Thanks everyone. I knew others must be doing BIAB with e-kegs.

Sorry to bump an old thread, but Richardwhittaker & bonsai4tim, can you post a pic of your setup? I used my electric keggle yesterday, and because of the bottom curve of the keg, it takes nearly 4 gallons to submerge them. My false bottom covered the entire first 4 gallons then, not leaving a whole lot for the grain bag.

I do electric BIAB and have no issues with the bag coming in direct contact with the element. There have been a few threads on here about this. The consensus on those threads seems to be that the melting point of the nylon bag is far higher than what the element gets to.

Here's my setup/process:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/my-new-electric-build-progress-224694/

Hoss, your setup is similar to mine (except I use 2x 1500w elements). https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/thinking-about-120v-biab-setup-211569/index3.html

I may try w/o a false bottom next time, because honestly, I probably wont even need to turn on my elements assuming my strike temp was right.

theschick said:

Hoss, your setup is similar to mine (except I use 2x 1500w elements). https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/thinking-about-120v-biab-setup-211569/index3.html

I may try w/o a false bottom next time, because honestly, I probably wont even need to turn on my elements assuming my strike temp was right.

Click to expand...

Ahh yes, I remember your build. You posted yours right about the same time I was planning mine. Are you using high density elements? Mine is an ultra low watt density element...not sure how hot those high density ones get????

Yeah, I believe it is a high density, its the basic (cheap) 1500w you find at places like home depot. Perhaps that's why I should avoid the grain bag.

my element at the time was a low density (not ultra low) 4500W 240v. I think what happened was my bag had gotten caught on the element as I was stirring. I will see if i can dig up a pic of the element cover I created. I have since moved away fro0m biab. not because it did not work but because I love to tinker.