1st BIAB - If I can, you can

Very similar method to what I use, different equipment. I now have an electric turkey fryer (30 quarts) I bought for $40 open box at my grocery store. It will hold at 150f, but isn't adjustable between there and boiling. Its simple and it works.

I found that partial mash or extract and steep methods are more of a PITA than just going AG (if you use BIAB), plus the ingredients are more expensive.

Good write-up.

great write up and congrats on making some tasty looking beers using the BIAB method. I've been doing it for almost 3 years now and haven't looked back. To ANYONE that is thinking about stepping up to AG brewing from extract/partial mash, DO IT. It's a LOT easier than your think. Anyone that does a traditional AG and wants to give it a shot. DO IT, it means less to clean up at the end of the brew day and you're still making AG beer.

Well done sir.

I salute you sir!

This would make a great sticky to help guide people nervous about trying an all-grain brew. It certainly would've helped me.

So I do extract with grains and hops, and I don't fully understand some of the all grain... Techniques, why do you have no airlock? After the boil is done you cool the whole pot to squeeze grain bag? What's the difference between AG and BIAB, I've only been able to find BIAB on YouTube, but I haven't looked super hard either. And last question from my trivia, you need a little more equipment for BIAB? Or just a bigger pot? ( for 5 gal batches ) I've seen some people who have the grain bags lynched above the pots, and false bottoms in a keg, 3 tier stands for every pot, is that all needed or wanted?
Brew on looks great! Once I get my place I'll most likely do AG

I don't use an airlock because the CO2 produced during fermentation is more than enough to keep oxygen away from the beer - it's not necessary. After the mash is done I rinse the grains (kind of a sparge) to get all the sugar and then squeeze the heck out of the bag. I cool the wort after the boil so I can pitch the yeast at the right temp. You need less equip for BIAB that's why I do it. BIAB is ALL GRAIN brewing, it's just a method. I can't do a bigger pot because I wouldn't be able to get it to boil without a stove.

I've found that BAIB allows me to do AG brewing in limited space and with limited equipment. It's the method that works best for me.

Cheers!

ahaley said:

So I do extract with grains and hops, and I don't fully understand some of the all grain... Techniques, why do you have no airlock? After the boil is done you cool the whole pot to squeeze grain bag? What's the difference between AG and BIAB, I've only been able to find BIAB on YouTube, but I haven't looked super hard either. And last question from my trivia, you need a little more equipment for BIAB? Or just a bigger pot? ( for 5 gal batches ) I've seen some people who have the grain bags lynched above the pots, and false bottoms in a keg, 3 tier stands for every pot, is that all needed or wanted?
Brew on looks great! Once I get my place I'll most likely do AG

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do a search for BIAB on facebook we have a decent group there.. I also have a grain to glass 4 part series on my beer blog (link in sig). BIABbrewer.info is also a good resource on the BIAB brewing method.

Mysticmead said:

do a search for BIAB on facebook we have a decent group there.. I also have a grain to glass 4 part series on my beer blog (link in sig). BIABbrewer.info is also a good resource on the BIAB brewing method.

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I'll have to look you guys up! Thanks
BIAB doesn't need more equipment, so all the stuff I've seen is optional?

ahaley said:

I'll have to look you guys up! Thanks
BIAB doesn't need more equipment, so all the stuff I've seen is optional?

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What stuff? You need a bag...............that's it. If you already have a pot and the normal home brewer items, you just need a bag. I have been brewing off and on for almost 20 years and I just did my first BIAB earlier this month. It was easier, less of a mess, and although I missed several target temps, it was a fun day spent brewing. Now if you are talking 10 gallon stuff or big beers, you will need a method to get the bag up out of the wort cuz it'll be a heavy mutha. For normal 5 gallon and less brews, you just really only have to add the bag.

I'm really wanting to do BIAB as well and have been reading up on it for a few weeks.. I have a slow mental digester.. Anyhow, I keep forgetting to stop at the fabric store to get the voile for my wife to sew. I only plan to do 5 gallon batches.. since I don't have a ton of drinking buddies and have one heckofa pipeline already. Next batch should be an Irish Oatmeal Stout. But, that is an extract recipe. We'll figure something to get ready for the fall holidays and do it. Not sure what yet. Heck, maybe an AG version of IOS for a side by side.

Very nice simple set-up! I was all proud of my minimal BIAB set-up (small New York city apt), but you have me beat - I have a stove and everything (Luxury!). Seriously, I think this is a great thread, especially for people who want to make the jump to all grain - its easy! Try it!

Thanks - brewing a BIAB "Cream of Three Crops" Cream Ale right now - 'bout 30 mins into the mash....

Some things I've seen, I dont know if it was 5 or more gal, but he had a pulley and a huge pot, with a trap door looming thing in a 3 tier stand, but I'm going to look into doing some all grains pretty soon hopefully.

ahaley said:

Some things I've seen, I dont know if it was 5 or more gal, but he had a pulley and a huge pot, with a trap door looming thing in a 3 tier stand, but I'm going to look into doing some all grains pretty soon hopefully.

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Sure, and you can set that up IF you have a garage, deck, etc. and you may want to. As far as have to haves, just look at this thread with the really well done documentation and photos. All he has is the brew bag and the few items all home brewers already have like a heat source, pot, fermenter and such. You can get more in to it, but all you really have to have for smaller batches is that bag.

Dang, ok I may have to look more in depth into sparging and learning how to mash and everything

ahaley - I do BIAB because all I had to do was buy a cheap voile curtain at wally world, cut it in half and away you go. Simple, cheap, easy and better beer.

Cheers!

wow, I'm THOROUGHLY impress jmprdood, one thing I noticed was that you topped off to 4 gallons. I always though that was a no no with the all grain/biab techniques, that you needed a big 7.5 gallon or above pot and a 2nd pot boil the grains, the sparge in the bigger pot then combine to one big pot. wouldn't that dilute the efficiency by topping off? if not I would KILL to do biab since I only have a 5 gallon pot (could probably do a full 5 gallon batch if I could top off with one or two gallons of water)

and secondly I noticed you ground your grain in a grinder. can I ask what purpose since it's already been malted? I thought if you got the malted grain it would just be drop in the bag and steep.

wormraper said:

wow, I'm THOROUGHLY impress jmprdood, one thing I noticed was that you topped off to 4 gallons. I always though that was a no no with the all grain/biab techniques, that you needed a big 7.5 gallon or above pot and a 2nd pot boil the grains, the sparge in the bigger pot then combine to one big pot. wouldn't that dilute the efficiency by topping off? if not I would KILL to do biab since I only have a 5 gallon pot (could probably do a full 5 gallon batch if I could top off with one or two gallons of water)

and secondly I noticed you ground your grain in a grinder. can I ask what purpose since it's already been malted? I thought if you got the malted grain it would just be drop in the bag and steep.

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Topping off is OK to increase the final volume but it needs to be part of the recipe. You never boil grains, only the wort. BIAB is usually a one pot process.
The grains used in beer making are malted (germinated and cooked) and must be milled/crushed to allow the extraction of the sugars needed to be fermented. In BIAB you are mashing the grains, not steeping. Even with steeping the grains need to be milled.

I personally find BIAB to be a PITA. I will still do it when I need a quick brew day but I dislike messing with a hot wet sticky bag of heavy spent grains.

Wormraper- I can only mash about 8lbs of grain and boil about 3Gs. So I formulate my recipes so I can top up to 4 or 4.5G. The abv is brought down, but your brewhouse efficiency is based on the SG, boil volume, and grain bill.

I just brewed a cream ale with 5lb of pale malt, 1lb of flaked corn, 1lb of flaked rice and 4oz of carapils. I collected 3G of pre-boil wort that had an adjusted for temp SG of 1.068. This gives me an efficiency of about 75%. When I topped up to 4.5G I had an OG of 1.044 which should yield about 4.5% ABV.

Cheers!

kh54s10 said:

Topping off is OK to increase the final volume but it needs to be part of the recipe. You never boil grains, only the wort. BIAB is usually a one pot process.
The grains used in beer making are malted (germinated and cooked) and must be milled/crushed to allow the extraction of the sugars needed to be fermented. In BIAB you are mashing the grains, not steeping. Even with steeping the grains need to be milled.

I personally find BIAB to be a PITA. I will still do it when I need a quick brew day but I dislike messing with a hot wet sticky bag of heavy spent grains.

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sorry, boil was the wrong term, I understand that you only boil the wort and hops just got me terms wrong.

huh, didn't realize you had to mill steeping grains. wonder why I never see a grain mill as part of the ingredient list for BIAB setups , (don't wanna spend $100-$250 on a grain mill that I only use to make beer)

jmprdood said:

Wormraper- I can only mash about 8lbs of grain and boil about 3Gs. So I formulate my recipes so I can top up to 4 or 4.5G. The abv is brought down, but your brewhouse efficiency is based on the SG, boil volume, and grain bill.

I just brewed a cream ale with 5lb of pale malt, 1lb of flaked corn, 1lb of flaked rice and 4oz of carapils. I collected 3G of pre-boil wort that had an adjusted for temp SG of 1.068. This gives me an efficiency of about 75%. When I topped up to 4.5G I had an OG of 1.044 which should yield about 4.5% ABV.

Cheers!

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interesting. I don't mind losing a tad of abv since I no longer drink to get drunk, but rather would be able to drink 3 or so of them without feeling too buzzed (I'm a lightweight so anything past 3 beers is enough to get me pretty tipsy)

and sorry for the newbie question but how do you "adjust" the recipe to take into account the extra top off water????

wormraper said:

sorry, boil was the wrong term, I understand that you only boil the wort and hops just got me terms wrong.

huh, didn't realize you had to mill steeping grains. wonder why I never see a grain mill as part of the ingredient list for BIAB setups , (don't wanna spend $100-$250 on a grain mill that I only use to make beer)

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If you are buying kits the steeping grains are probably already milled.

If you make your own recipes and want to mill steeping grains you can use a corona style mill like the one in the OP's pictures. ~$25-$35

Hey folks,

First off, thanks for all the great info. Just pitched my yeast for a blonde. I bought a bigger pot, cut up a curtain, sewed a bag and now I am a BIAB brewer.

This is only my 3rd batch and wanted to go all grain ( BIAB is the way to go, IMHO). Hit all my numbers with 76% efficiency, great fun.

Thanks for the expert advise.

kh54s10 said:

If you are buying kits the steeping grains are probably already milled.

If you make your own recipes and want to mill steeping grains you can use a corona style mill like the one in the OP's pictures. ~$25-$35

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wow, $25-$35 ??? I didn't know they made them that cheap. I'm so used to my parents and other relatives who grind their own flour and use mills that are around $200-$400

Timberbrew- Welcome and good on you! It ain't that hard!

Worm - I use a corona type mill and they are great for cracking malt, you can find them all over for <$35 delivered. But you can have your LHBS crush the grain for you. Just make sure it is a fine crush for BIAB. You'll get better efficiency.

jmprdood said:

Timberbrew- Welcome and good on you! It ain't that hard!

Worm - I use a corona type mill and they are great for cracking malt, you can find them all over for <$35 delivered. But you can have your LHBS crush the grain for you. Just make sure it is a fine crush for BIAB. You'll get better efficiency.

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gotcha, gotcha, that works, just found out my LHBS will grind grain for free if I buy it there so that will hold me over for a while. my (hopefully) last question is. I know you have a 4 gallon pot which limits your brew. would I be able to mash about 10 lb's of grain in my 5 gallon pot? that way I could brew a full 5 gallon batch by topping off to 5 g in the fermenter?

also someone mentioned that when topping off like you're doing that you need to adjust the recipe to account for the topoff. is it as simple as keeping all the grains, hops etc the same for a FULL 7.5 gallon boil (down to 5 gallon wort at the end) even though you're boiling less water? then top off to of kind "fill in the cracks" so to speak or am I missing something?

Correct - you have the idea. Tho' it is better to do full boils, the top off works for beers that are smaller gravity, say 1.050 or less.

jmprdood said:

Correct - you have the idea. Tho' it is better to do full boils, the top off works for beers that are smaller gravity, say 1.050 or less.

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think I got it now. yeah, I'd love to do a full boil but I was stupid and opted for the 5 gallon pot instead of getting a 7.5 gallon pot (at the time I didn't realized how much cheaper it was to do ag or how easy BIAB was)

wormraper said:

huh, didn't realize you had to mill steeping grains. wonder why I never see a grain mill as part of the ingredient list for BIAB setups , (don't wanna spend $100-$250 on a grain mill that I only use to make beer)

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when you buy your grains, have them crushed for you (all home brew suppliers will do this for you. if not then shop somewhere else). if doing BIAB ask that they be double crushed. no need to buy a grain mill.

Mysticmead said:

when you buy your grains, have them crushed for you (all home brew suppliers will do this for you. if not then shop somewhere else). if doing BIAB ask that they be double crushed. no need to buy a grain mill.

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yeah, I checked my LHBS, they'll crush for free. picked up a 7.5 gallon aluminum pot today on craigslist so I can do full boils now

wormraper said:

wow, $25-$35 ??? I didn't know they made them that cheap. I'm so used to my parents and other relatives who grind their own flour and use mills that are around $200-$400

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mine was $25 shipping included. Google Discount Tommy.

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