Need help, doing BIAB in a 60L boil pot, first time

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Ingvaroo

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Hey guys, i just to this 60L boil pot (plastic) now, beersmith tells me i can only do about 30L batch from that, is that true ?

I ditched my 30L pot to be able to use the 60L pot and end up with 2x20L batches, am i calculating this wrong ?

How much water should i use for the mash ? (about 9-10kg of grains)
And what should i end up with after boil ?
Do i add water before boil ?

Never done a big boil like this or even a mash, so all advices appreciated.
 
Hey guys, i just to this 60L boil pot (plastic)

What does "60L boil pot (plastic)" mean? I sincerely hope that doesn't mean that anything in that pot is made out of plastic!!!

I have a 44qt/11 gallon pot, and can pull off a max of about 28qt/7 gallon BIAB batches of average gravity beer. By that math, you should be able to pull off approximately 38L batches of average gravity beer in a 60qt pot.

HOWEVER, it depends alot on the size of your grain bill and your pot's boil-off rate, loss to trub, etc.

You should be able to pull off two 40L batches in a 60L pot if you watch your boil like a hawk to avoid boilovers and keep the gravity in the 1.04-1.05 OG range.

How much water should i use for the mash ? (about 9-10kg of grains)
And what should i end up with after boil ?
Do i add water before boil ?

Do you have BeerSmith set up with a custom profile for your equipment? If yes, it will automatically tell you all this stuff. If not, you need to set up a unique equipment profile for your equipment and process. Things like boil off rate are pretty different depending on the diameter of your pot.

The numbers in BeerSmith are very accurate if you have a good custom profile, but if you are using BeerSmith without setting up a profile, all the numbers are just based on averages, so the numbers may be way off from your specific pot and process.
 
Yes its a plastic barrel, 60L turned into a boiling pot. Been using one 30L for quite some time now along with thousands of others probably. (works fantastic, and is about 100% cheaper)

My grains are about 9-10kg, i was trying to see this in beersmith but i dont really know how to configure it and see the right resaults.

If i mash with 50L of water, remove grains when done and add water to get 50L again, then boil, would that work out ?

Best regards
 
First off, how do you boil in plastic, and how are you not leaching plastic into your wort?

Second off, you really need to set up your unique equipment profile in BeerSmith. There is a tutorial on how to do it in the program help file. You only have to do that set up once!!

Again, all of these numbers are dependent on your personal equipment and process, so NOBODY can give you exact numbers on the volumes your system is going to require.

If i mash with 50L of water, remove grains when done and add water to get 50L again, then boil, would that work out ?

The CAN I MASH IT online calculator says that 10kg of grain will displace about 3.2 L of water, so if you start with 50 L, you'd be up to 53.2 L, so 6.8 L of wiggle room in your 60 L pot. Not much, but doable as long as you watch for boilovers.

From there, you'd sqeeze the bag as much as possible back into the kettle and boil. You DON'T want to add water at that point, as you have no idea what you need to add unless you know your exact boiloff, loss to trub, cooling contraction, etc. Again, all numbers you can enter ONCE in a BeerSmith custom equipment profile and never have to worry about again.

The best way to get back to a larger volume would be to wait until cooldown, take a gravity reading at pitching temp, then add water to get back to your recipe OG, the same way an extract brewer would do topoff water.

AGAIN though....this is all WAYYYYYY more complicated than just reading the literature for 5 minutes and setting up a custom equipment profile in BeerSmith, so DO IT DO IT!!!
 
How do i boil in plastic ?

Simple, ill include some images.


Food grade plastic barrel.

(P.S these are not actually my images, but its the same system as i have)

7Eob5h.jpg


o677rh.jpg
 
So you have heating elements inside a plastic vessel? Do you know for sure that the plastic is rated to over 212F/100C?
 
Boiling in HDPE buckets is a very common practice outside of the US. ;)

Ingvaroo, mash with as much water as is comfortable and heat the remainder of the water to mashout temp in another pot. When the mash is complete pull the bag and "dunk sparge" it in the other pot with the remaining water and then dump that into you boil bucket.

For a better understanding, go to http://www.biabrewer.info/, join up, and then research "Maxi BIAB".
 
"A linear polymer, High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) is prepared from ethylene by a catalytic process. The absence of branching results in a more closely packed structure with a higher density and somewhat higher chemical resistance than LDPE. HDPE is also somewhat harder and more opaque and it can withstand rather higher temperatures (120° Celsius for short periods, 110° Celsius continuously). "

HDPE Resistance:

Excellent resistance (no attack) to dilute and concentrated Acids, Alcohols and Bases.
Good resistance (minor attack) to Aldehydes, Esters, Aliphatic and Aromatic Hydrocarbons, Ketones and Mineral and Vegetable Oils.
Limited resistance (moderate attack and suitable for short term use only) to Halogenated Hydrocarbons and Oxidizing Agents.


HDPE Quick Facts:

Maximum Temperature: 248°F 120°C
Minimum Temperature: -148°F -100°C
Autoclavable: No
Melting Point: 266°F 130°C
Tensile Strength: 4550 psi

http://www.dynalabcorp.com/technical_info_hd_polyethylene.asp
 
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