wilserbrewer BIAB bags

Conestoga said:

I keep a CO/CO2 monitor at seat level on the other side of the room there. It hasn't beeped once yet.

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CO rises, it is lighter than air, the risk is building up from the celing down and rising through the rest of your house.

It will take a very long time to go off at 24" from the floor, by the time it does you can be exposed to levels that can begin to hurt you without you realizing it.

pablosbrewing said:

CO rises, it is lighter than air, the risk is building up from the celing down and rising through the rest of your house.

It will take a very long time to go off at 24" from the floor, by the time it does you can be exposed to levels that can begin to hurt you without you realizing it.

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It would actually mix with the air before it filled the head space and worked its way down.

With a cathedral ceiling equipped with an exhaust fan (the space has a small workshop), I'm thinking I'll be okay.

Just thought I'd give a short review of my experience with Wilserbrewer's bags. I have done 16 batches with an original bag I got with a Northern Brewer BIAB kit and it has served me well. I decided to order the deal from Wilserbrewer's site. I placed my order on Sunday and it was here by Thursday. I'm not sure if I wasn't looking at the order form correctly or not but I think I got some extras. I was expecting a brew bag, a hop bag, a dry hop bag and a pulley thing. I ended up with all that and an extra hop bag and dry hop bag. Score!!!
The quality of the bag was great. Much tighter weave than my old bag was and the material seemed much sturdier. The sewing was perfect with no defects that I could see. I hadn't planned on brewing today but I was so excited to try out the new bag I ended up getting my brew on. the bag fit my pot really well which made doughing in much easier than with my other bag. There weren't any loose spots for grain to hide so I was able to stir much easier. No problem with scorching when I turned the stove on to keep mash temps up several times. The drawstring was nice when i pulled the bag. I squeeze the hell out of the bag and no problems noted there either. The hop bags worked really well and I was glad I had an extra one bc I was able to use pellets in one and whole hops in the other. Overall, very satisfied customer.

Used my bag with the pulley setup for the first time on Sunday to brew a Hefe with a 13.5 pound grain bill. It worked out awesome. The tapered bottom worked great after the bulk of the wort drained off. This bag cleaned up easier than my old one too because the husks don't get stuck in it as easily.

I just need a set of silicone gloves for squeezing the bag now.

Let me just go ahead and drop a note on WilserBrewers customer service.
We had a "Slight Problem" with sizing, and he not only squared me away. but also took care of me with another GREAT BAG
If for some reason, you are still on the fence about getting one of theses bags....
Get off your duff and GET one.
Michael has made me a customer for life

monkeyman1000 said:

No problem with scorching when I turned the stove on to keep mash temps up several times. .... I squeeze the hell out of the bag and no problems noted there either.

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ReddHead said:

I just need a set of silicone gloves for squeezing the bag now.

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Thanks a bunch for the positive feedback...

Just a couple of comments, and purely my opinion as I am a big fan of letting people sort their own technique, as what works for some, may not work or please all.

1. If you add heat to a mash, STIR WELL while adding heat, if heat is on you must be stirring. Any mash will scorch if wort or grains is not moving while being heated. The grain can scorch, the bag can scorch, STIR while adding heat gently.

2. OK, I know squeezing the bag brings about euphoria watching how much wort comes out of a bag a minute or two after being removed from the kettle. Try ignoring the bag for a good 20 minutes and just let it drain into the kettle while hanging on the pulley. After 20 - 30 minutes, the amount of wort left is negligible IMO, if you want to squeeze at that point the bag will be nice and cool. Save your money, pass on the silicon gloves. Yes, the bags are very strong and can likely take the abuse of squeezing, but in general, man handling your bag is not worth the effort ...JMO
Cheers and thanks!
wilser

Free shipping offer ends today, April 13th
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f41/wilserbrewer-biab-bag-free-shipping-469968/

wilserbrewer said:

Thanks a bunch for the positive feedback...

Just a couple of comments, and purely my opinion as I am a big fan of letting people sort their own technique, as what works for some, may not work or please all.

1. If you add heat to a mash, STIR WELL while adding heat, if heat is on you must be stirring. Any mash will scorch if wort or grains is not moving while being heated. The grain can scorch, the bag can scorch, STIR while adding heat gently.

2. OK, I know squeezing the bag brings about euphoria watching how much wort comes out of a bag a minute or two after being removed from the kettle. Try ignoring the bag for a good 20 minutes and just let it drain into the kettle while hanging on the pulley. After 20 - 30 minutes, the amount of wort left is negligible IMO, if you want to squeeze at that point the bag will be nice and cool. Save your money, pass on the silicon gloves. Yes, the bags are very strong and can likely take the abuse of squeezing, but in general, man handling your bag is not worth the effort ...JMO
Cheers and thanks!
wilser

Free shipping offer ends today, April 13th
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f41/wilserbrewer-biab-bag-free-shipping-469968/

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Hey! I have other things to do that day. By 10 minutes from pulling the bag out the wort is boiling and I've already added the hops. At my age, that time is more precious. I gotta squeeze that bag to speed thing up.

RM-MN said:

....At my age, that time is more precious. ....

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At your age, I would think eliminating labor that saves no time is a good thing
Even at my young age (cough), I try hard to eliminate any step that is inconsequential to the overall process.

This really applies to larger grain bills that are suspended over the kettle, and larger batches that take longer to reach boil, and if the bag continues to drip for the first ten minutes of the boil it's OK IMO.

If your bag is in a colander over the kettle, or your anxious to get the grain out the compost, have at it! For my set up with a pulley, same as with the two posters above, I have found the effort and inconvenience of squeezing the bag is eliminated with time and gravity, time that is concurrent with brewing, net zero free zip nada....cheers!

Oh, forgot your a farmer and like hard work....lol cheers buddy!

wilserbrewer said:

This really applies to larger grain bills that are suspended over the kettle, and larger batches that take longer to reach boil, and if the bag continues to drip for the first ten minutes of the boil it's OK IMO.

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I was going to chime in too that for small batch stuff, I can have the bag squeezed, emptied into the trash, and washed before I need the first hop addition. If it was a bigger and heavier batch, I can see letting it hang.

Ya know... These bags are just an awesome deal for the price. However, sometimes I like to buy new shi* and this effing bag won't break, rip or shred.. Lol ohhhhhh... I've tried. More than 150 batches on the damn thing and for the life of me I can't tell I used it yet!

I've been using it in the wrong size pot forever because I'm cheap... Gotta admit! Best bang for my buck in brewing!


Cheers!

I will try letting the bag drain without squeezing on my next batch. It just feels wonderfully manly and violent to squeeze the crap out of it while trying to see how much pain I can take from the hot wort while I have the fire going at full throttle to heat up the wort. :rockin:

Wilser, tell the truth...

You have to snicker everytime you here someone say/type "I love wilser's bag!".



John

Might be a good new slogan. "I don't normally squeeze another man's bag but when I do it's a Wilserbrewer's bag"

johnodon said:

Wilser, tell the truth...

You have to snicker everytime you here someone say/type "I love wilser's bag!".



John

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Ok, truth is I try not to look at it in that context
I do get great satisfaction from happy customers and positive feedback
Makes all the struggles and challenges of being a bag maker all worthwhile....fixing sewing machines etc. etc....It's not always easy believe me, but I try hard to deliver a nice product at a reasonable price....

monkeyman1000 said:

Might be a good new slogan. "I don't normally squeeze another man's bag but when I do it's a Wilserbrewer's bag"

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I discussed this at length with my marketing department and it seems like a big no go! While I think the premise works great for Dos Equis, just not for wilserbrewer...
Thank you for the suggestion.

Cheers and happy brewing!
wilser

ps; I'm not a fan of bag squeezing of any kind! Rather, just letting the bag sit and drain will reap you the benefit without the labor or sticky hands....oops ah anyways maybe a poor choice of words.
I'm out....
cheers!

My bags just came in today. I haven't had a chance to check them out but will when I get home from work this evening. I'm hoping to try them out next weekend w/ my first BIAB batch.

I have and use a bag of his as well. I ordered one for my 10 gallon pot and will be upgrading to a bigger one for my new 13 gallon pot.

Just ordered my second bag from him. My last bag I made a dumb move and put a small hole in it. It's still somewhat useable but why take the chance.....plus, I got 2 plus years out of it. Well worth it.

Well, I finally bought 2 more bags from wilser. 1 for my 15 gallon pot and 1 for my 10 gallon pot. The 10 also works great in my 5 gallon mash tun. I did 2 batches in the last 2 weeks and I can't believe I was such a cheap bastage to wait this long to get the right size for these pots. I had been using my keggle bag from wilser.

Also, I have to say that the hop boil bags are frigging great. First time I didn't get any hop particles in the boil. And they are so nice and big that they really allow a lot of surface area to get to the hops.

Then the pulley! This little thing is awesome! Works really great! Why did I wait?

Gotta again say.. Get the combo deal with hop bags and brew bags and pulley. It is the perfect combo!

Thanks Wilerbrewer!

Ordered a bag an pulley today, can't wait!

Used my new bags on the last brew for hte first time..... such a HUGE improvement over the paint strainer bags I was using....

Great product! Glad I finally jumped on board.

my bag came in the other day.. im looking forward to it. The mesh is soo much tighter than the crummy 29x29 generic bag i got at LHBS.

I see a lot of people squeeze and I typically dont do BIAB but wouldnt that extract tannins same as over sparging?

Mirilis said:

my bag came in the other day.. im looking forward to it. The mesh is soo much tighter than the crummy 29x29 generic bag i got at LHBS.

I see a lot of people squeeze and I typically dont do BIAB but wouldnt that extract tannins same as over sparging?

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Lots of people worry that squeezing the bag will extract tannins but in reality it is a chemical process, not mechanical, that extracts the tannins. You need a pH over about 6 and temperatures over 170 at the same time to complete the chemical process. Extracting the tannins by over sparging is because the excess water drives the pH upward.

Ahh, see I learn something every day

I do BIAB exclusively and squeeze the frack out of my bag (don't tell my wife) and never, ever have had a tannin problem. In fact, I just got a pair of special gloves so I don't burn my hands and I can squeeze even more. Between stirring my mash every 15 minutes and squeezing, I get awesome efficiency and never miss my SG.

Love these bags.

Stupjd question, but are the hop bags intended for whole hops or pellets, or both? Will I lose any hop oil from using a bag?

I would say both. It's a giant bag and it's got plenty of room for either.


Cheers!

Just received my order! Very high quality stitching, very fine mesh - much better than the bag from my lhbs I'd been using. Looking forward to using it, and shipping was prompt! Thanks

I received my bag from Wilser yesterday. Fit perfectly with my new 15 gallon SS kettle, so I am pumped to brew with my new setup. Just need to carve out some time.

Back to tbe bag, it looks like top notch quality. Very happy with the purchase and uber prompt fabrication/delivery for a custom product. Thanks Wilser!

PS - I am a bag squeezer at heart, but will have to experiment with this new setup. I was always able to squeeze my old bag between the frier basket and a sauce pan lid pain free. It seems my bag has grown, so a new strategy is needed

LOL i havnt had a chance to use my bag and i think ill have to order another soon. My brewing plans are changing along with my kettle! ill use the bag i got now on my 15g, and ill need one for my 12.25g kettle which im hoping to set up as EBIAB with 2 120v elements. (ill keep the 15g around on propane for larger batches or incase i want to do 2 at the same time).

Now i got to sell my 24 gallon and 17.5 gallon kettles. blah

Guess I will add my praise as I just did two batches last weekend. I did a 1.5 gallon batch on Friday and a 4 gallon batch on Saturday. I have two different pots so I have 2 sets of bags for each pot. I decided to use the hop bag for the first time. I will say that using the hop bag and squeezing this at the end of the boil saves a lot of wort. I may have to adjust my water quantities since now I have less trub. My efficiency was higher so it did not cause a problem with my last batch.

I use both of my bags on brew day. The first bag for the mash and the second one I sanitize and then use it to line my fermenter to get have a final filtration. After I poor the chilled wort into the bucket I slowly lift up the bag and rotate the bag around to filter out as much as possible. When I use carboys I put the bag in my bottling bucket to filter the wort and then drain the wort with a funnel into the carboy.

This method definitely reduces the amount of trub going into the fermenter.

I have considered using the dry hop bag inside my carboy when I fill it from kettle then pulling it out to see if it filters much trub out. Anyone tried that before I do?

Mirilis said:

I have considered using the dry hop bag inside my carboy when I fill it from kettle then pulling it out to see if it filters much trub out. Anyone tried that before I do?

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Are you pouring from your kettle or do you have a valve so you leave a lot of trub behind?

My large bag fits nicely in a 5 gallon bucket. I usually pour everything into the bucket. When I lift up the bag, I would guess that I have anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 of a gallon of liquid trapped in the bag due to gunk plugging up the bottom of the bag. I than have to grab the bottom of the bag and start tilting it to allow the wort to flow through a clean portion of the bag until that area clogs up.

I'm thinking the dry hop bag may be too small unless you get a good whirlpool and can get the wort out of the kettle without disturbing the trub in the bottom.

I would maybe try it in a bucket first and see how it goes.

I have a valve and 1/2" silicone tube I use to transfer to my carboy. I was thinking of putting the tube in the dry hop sack then dropping it in my carboy.

A good portion already gets left behind but I just wanted to catch that initial plug of gunk when I open the valve.

I have ordered multiple bags over many years. The quality has always been great and the final product has been, well, if less that great it was due to no fault of the bag.

Highly recommended.

Thanks all, appreciate the feedback. We are still offering the free dry hop sock with any order...just mention it with your kettle dimensions and I will happily throw it in.
Cheers!
Wilser


Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

Finally got to use my bag for the first time... It was pretty awesome! My wort was much less cloudy!

Just about to order a "backup" should I ever need it, but I have put these through many batches now without issue. I don't necessarily treat them very well during the brew process, and they're still holding strong:

• *many* things to poke the bag in the kettle - whirlpool arm, thermometer probe, intake elbow
• I use a large 'metal' spoon to stir the mash
• 14-17lb grain bills, lifted out via the pulley and drawstring (much heavier than 17lbs saturated with wort)

Whatever I throw at it, it holds strong. If it ever breaks, it's my own doing... I'm not gentle with them. My best batches so far have been BIAB with these bags.


TL;DR - Great bags, great service, get them.

I commented before on the perfect custom fit to my 15G brew kettle. I got a chance ot use it for the first time last weekend and it worked like a champ. Very fine mesh will likely give me less trub in primary. And the drawstring was super easy to lift and attach to my rope/pulley in my garage.

Thanks everyone!
All recent orders shipped.
Wilser


Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

Has anyone actually crafted the pulley in their kitchen? I don't brew on the stove in my kitchen but I brew on an induction burner in my kitchen frequently. Lifting the bag to let it drain has been the bigger challenge.