How to Grasp BIAB Nylon Bag

I am working my way into BIAB mashing and am working on lifting process to pull bag out of pot after mashing to drain. My concern is how to grasp nylon bag at top securely. I can already envision the draining bag of grain doing a cannon ball into the pot of wort!
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Charles

is the bag reinforced at the top? Maybe tie a knot at the top of the bag around a Carabiner or some other large heavy duty clasp and use that to pull on it.

I've seen some BIAB setups where they also use a large stainless basket that fits inside the pot that the grain bag sits in. The basket has a handle that is used to raise the grain bag out and has more stability and strength.

In fact, you can find reusable fine meshed baskets to use instead of a material type bag: https://utahbiodieselsupply.com/brewingfilters.php#biab

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f244/show-your-biab-stand-set-up-483034/
Has several pics of different solutions for lifting the bag.

or there is this option:
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O14bgW8xmqk&list=LLeTgOsZ8NiGvq2LGwZc0A-g&index=3[/ame]
The Alton Brown turkey fryer derrick.

What kind of bag are you using? How much extra material is there above the pot when you grab it? I used paint strainer bags in a turkey fryer basket which had a handle to pull it out. Now I use a purpose built bag with a cord that I can use to lift it out. Some bags have handles sewn in as well.

I do 5 gal batches and I just grab it with my hands. I stand on a stool so its below shoulder level and hold it there to drain for less than a minute. Drop it into a bucket with a grate underneath to drain. I start heating the boil and add the runnings back in once its basically drained. No need to go through the trouble of rigging a complicated system. Plus its exercise....

I had the same concerns, so having nice handles was important to me. I can't sew for s**t, so a homemade bag was out of the question. I ended up buying my bag from Jeff Omundson at BagBrewer.com. They're a little on the pricey side @ $35 incl. shipping, but extremely high quality, so it was worth every penny to me.

I bought my first bag from him nearly 3 years ago and just bought another a few weeks ago for my new 15g MegaPot. I went with the keggle design to help keep drips inside the pot and Jeff suggested adding some extra length to the bag to further control drippage/spillage, which he did at no extra charge. The handles, while probably not really necessary, are convenient and really the only reason why I bought one of Jeff's bags and not one of Wilserbrewer's, which I know are also very well made bags and are a little less costly.

My bag has a rope that I can draw tight and grab. I do grab the bag after it is out of the pot and I have not found any issues with grip even with my bigger grain bills.

Buy some rubber gloves from the store. Mine happen to be chemical resistant so they're a little thicker. Make sure the heat is off at the end of your mash and pick it straight up. I have an extra mini-fridge shelf and I place that on a fermenting bucket (I sanitize after chilling). I lift the bag up and let it drain into the kettle for a minute or two then give it a twist, grab a corner (keggle isn't wide enough to pull straight out) and in one swift motion I pull the bag out of the keggle and place it on the mini-fridge rack. I twist it enough at the top to hold itself closed and not spread out so as to drain wort on the ground. Take a gravity reading and volume measurement, calculate pre-boil gravity using tasteybrew calculators and pour the extra wort in once the grains are done draining.

Wilserbrewer bag with a rope/pulley attached to an eyebolt in the garage ceiling. Works very well for me. Wilsers bag draw string is very strong.

Great ideas and links to other places to look. To answer some of the questions, the bag I have is not reinforced at top and does not have a drawstring. (Upgrades for next purchase). The first time I used it, I gathered up top of bag and pulled it through one of the holes in my homemade mash paddle, then wound it around paddle. This held bag and as I continued to wind around paddle, it served to press liquid out of the grain. However, I had to hold paddle to keep it in place. I may do as one suggested and move grain bag to empty pot to further drain.

chowsky said:

Great ideas and links to other places to look. To answer some of the questions, the bag I have is not reinforced at top and does not have a drawstring. (Upgrades for next purchase). The first time I used it, I gathered up top of bag and pulled it through one of the holes in my homemade mash paddle, then wound it around paddle. This held bag and as I continued to wind around paddle, it served to press liquid out of the grain. However, I had to hold paddle to keep it in place. I may do as one suggested and move grain bag to empty pot to further drain.

Click to expand...

Or just get a stainless steel fry basket that will fit your pot. That way you don't have to purchase a reinforced bag and you can suspend the fry basket over the pot to drain without the need of an additional pot/bucket. Plus, in the steel basket, you can press down on the bag to squeeze out.

chowsky said:

Great ideas and links to other places to look. To answer some of the questions, the bag I have is not reinforced at top and does not have a drawstring. (Upgrades for next purchase). The first time I used it, I gathered up top of bag and pulled it through one of the holes in my homemade mash paddle, then wound it around paddle. This held bag and as I continued to wind around paddle, it served to press liquid out of the grain. However, I had to hold paddle to keep it in place. I may do as one suggested and move grain bag to empty pot to further drain.

Click to expand...

Mine doesn't have a draw string (that I'm aware of) on it either. It's just the $4 bag from the brew shop that's the biggest one they sell.

You could build a Zappap mash tun which is a bucket with a BUNCH of tiny holes drilled in the bottom of it and put the bag in that to drain into a second bucket as an option.

If you have that pot with holes that comes with some turkey fryers you could also use that. Pull it out of the water and run your mash paddle under the handle and let it drain while you come to a boil. If that isn't high enough maybe you could bring it to the top of your kettle and set it at an angle and lean it against the pot so it drains and supports itself.

Holding the bag gets really old REALLY quick. 15 lbs of grain plus a few extra pounds of water isn't my idea of light work.

The whole purpose of BIAB is to use one pot. If your thinking of getting a second pot like everyone is recommending, you may as well just get an igloo cooler and make a mash tun.

I think your main thing is, getting a bag with reinforced edges with either a heavy draw string or sewn in handles like others suggested or a lifetime stainless steel mesh strainer that I linked to. That's the easy part. The hard part is hoisting it out reliably and safely. If your in a garage or someplace with and overhead, attach so pulley to the overhead and build a pulley system to house it out. If outside, build a "teepee" type pulley system like in the video someone linked.

Hoisting it out the way you are is OK, but, that's back breaking work and it's a burn waiting to happen.

dmcman73 said:

The whole purpose of BIAB is to use one pot. If your thinking of getting a second pot like everyone is recommending, you may as well just get an igloo cooler and make a mash tun.

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I do agree with you that what sets BIAB apart from traditional MLT brewing is the single vessel approach, but there's nothing wrong with using a hybrid system if it results in a better process (it's up to each brewer to determine what "better" means to them). I do BIAB with a sparge. It's technically not single vessel (or is it?), but I'm really pleased with the process and the results.

Setting aside batch sizes >10g, there's just no way I would trade my direct-fired mash for an infusion-only mash system and probably lose efficiency points in the process, just because my BIAB system isn't pure single vessel, full volume BIAB as it was originally intended to be.

LLBeanJ said:

I do agree with you that what sets BIAB apart from traditional MLT brewing is the single vessel approach, but there's nothing wrong with using a hybrid system if it results in a better process (it's up to each brewer to determine what "better" means to them). I do BIAB with a sparge. It's technically not single vessel (or is it?), but I'm really pleased with the process and the results.

Setting aside batch sizes >10g, there's just no way I would trade my direct-fired mash for an infusion-only mash system and probably lose efficiency points in the process, just because my BIAB system isn't pure single vessel, full volume BIAB as it was originally intended to be.

Click to expand...

Oh you misunderstood me, i wasn't trying to imply that if you use two pots or whatever then it's not BIAB, I was simply saying why not just use a mash tun cooler instead of getting another pot and drilling holes in it like someone else had recommended.

If I would have gone the BIAB route, I definitely would have invested in the stainless steel mesh strainer in place of a a bag, but that's me.

I do think that the best solution would be to use a fitted colander that some of these turkey fryers come with and set the bag in there. No need to worry that the bag will slip or rip as your hoisting it out.

No worries, bud. I apologize if my post came across as defensive, as it was not my intention.

I've been brewing now for a little under three years and 60+ batches, every one of them BIAB. I've learned a lot during that time, and still have much more to learn. Recently, I've been retooling my brewing process and buying new equipment to make my brew day as simple as possible, while not compromising on what I consider to be must-haves in the process. In doing so, I seriously considered moving away from the bag and toward a basket, or a combination bag/basket process. I agree with you that a basket would be a great way to go, but ultimately, after weighing many options I chose to remain using just a bag as the basket would have added more complexity to my process, whereas simplicity was the goal. Someone else in my shoes could've very easily come to another conclusion based on what they have to work with (environment and financial resources) and what they considered to be most important for their brewing process.

Dopeybrew said:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f244/show-your-biab-stand-set-up-483034/
Has several pics of different solutions for lifting the bag.

or there is this option:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O14bgW8xmqk&list=LLeTgOsZ8NiGvq2LGwZc0A-g&index=3
The Alton Brown turkey fryer derrick.

Click to expand...

I need one of those flashing beacons. I'm sure it would make my beer taste better.

dkevinb said:

I need one of those flashing beacons. I'm sure it would make my beer taste better.

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You laugh, but I bet it would prevent drunk assistants from walking into it.

A simple girth hitch with any handy line or strap would be effective.

+1 ^^^

or just get a piece of the rope material that you are using to hoist the bag and tie the ends together.

I have a home sewn bag that has handles and also a wilserbrewer bag without, and they are both easy to manage. After pulling the bag I place it in a mesh colander and squeeze and let it drain while it comes up to boil.