Bag broke...had this built instead

[Borgstrom]

The brew before last my BIAB bag ripped, dumping the grains and ruining the batch - a California Common. It was actually the first batch of home-brew I ever had to dump after 3 years

So, I designed a stainless steel metal mesh filter basket to custom-fit my 15g kettle instead of getting a new fabric bag. It's designed with some swing-out hooks to hold the basket up while draining.

We had the first brew with the new basket a couple of weeks ago -- a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone. The basket worked beautifully -- no more worries about the bag getting sucked in by the pump and stopping flow, no hassle holding the bag and squeezing while draining. Draining is aided by just pushing down on top of the grain bed with a lid from a large pot. Had a bit of a foam overflow during mash which never happened with the bag, but was easy enough to clean up. Not sure why that happened...

In any event, this first batch with the new basket is cold crashing now and should be ready to drink next week (& tasting pretty good already!)

If I were to design this again, I would make the diameter of the basket 1" smaller to allow more room for the swing-out hooks in the "up" position. As it stands now, they press in a little bit into the mesh which may fail in the future. So far it doesn't seem to be an imminent problem.

Anyway, I thought I would share this in case any other BIABers were looking for ideas to add a bit more stainless to their kit!

 

[FoxPaw]

Borgstrom, that is cool, like a big ss hop sock but for mashing. Great way to solve the problem with the bag. Hope the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale comes out great. :rockin: I am brewing a AG Yooper House APA tomorrow on a two pot gravity system w/one pump, looking forward to this one.

 

[zaptop]

Borgstrom, are you from sweden maybe?

Snyggt gjort!

 

[Michigan_Wolfman]

That is waaaaaay cool! :rockin:

 

[Bellybuster]

I too brew in a basket like that..... Love it! Such easy cleanup

 

[alphaomega]

Nice, I like the swing out hooks!
Though, if anyone wants to replicate this, then I think solid walls instead of mesh would be a better choice. For no sparge, this might not matter much, but it would also give you the option to recirculate and sparge.

 

[Bassman2003]

Thanks for posting. Could you tell me what micron size the mesh is? How small is the smallest you would go? 100micron? 200 micron?...

And I agree, solid side walls would stop the wort from escaping without going through the actual grain bed.

 

[Homercidal]

Very nice unit, but it's not BIAB. It's a Zap Pap device.

Same concept, different hardware.

I don't intend to be mean, just pointing out the difference for new brewers looking into BIAB and might see this and assume it's required somehow. BIAB is very popular because the only thing you need to get started in AG brewing is a cheap bag. This is a more expensive version.

 

[Borgstrom]

Foxpaw -- yep. Bag was great to get started with 1-vessel brewing, but after 2 bags I wanted something more durable.

Zaptop -- born in USA, but grandparents from Sverige...

Bellybuster -- great minds think alike! How did you fabricate yours? Pictures?

Alphaomega -- good point. I suppose I was just looking for a SS replacement for the bag. In my setup, I guess my concern would be having enough flow through the bottom mesh for recirculation. For the last batch I got about the same efficiency as previous batches using a cloth bag (79% mash efficiency according to BS2).

Bassman -- 400 micron

Homercidal -- Agree that metal basket is not essential (although nice to have); bag does keep gear expense down. However compared with conventional 3-vessel brewing I would argue it has less expense and (important for me) the same storage requirement as BIAB since basket can be stored in kettle. And, I would argue this is BIAB -- brew-in-a-basket! What is Zap Pap?

 

[Homercidal]

Homercidal -- Agree that metal basket is not essential (although nice to have); bag does keep gear expense down. However compared with conventional 3-vessel brewing I would argue it has less expense and (important for me) the same storage requirement as BIAB since basket can be stored in kettle. And, I would argue this is BIAB -- brew-in-a-basket! What is Zap Pap?

Ha! Well, you got me there!

Zap Pap is the bucket in a bucket lauter system that Charlie Papazian showed in his Complete Joy of Homebrewing way back in the late 70's when homebrewing first got legalized in the US.

Basically a bucket with the bottom drilled, that sat inside another bucket.

 

[zaptop]

Zaptop -- born in USA, but grandparents from Sverige...

Cool! Got a really big family of Borgströms here on the island!

 

[Bellybuster]

yep... BIABasket

mine is 400 microns as well
system purchased from Colorado Brewing Systems after a couple decades of 3 vessel brewing. Never go back.

these baskets are hardly a zap-pap. zap-pap was a simple mediocrely effective AG method, BIAB was an improvement on that and the SS basket is yet another improvement on the bag.

I thoroughly enjoy brewing again. The 3 vessel had me dreading brew day even with the automation etc I had built in. Brew day is now just a simple affair.

 

[MerlinWerks]

Are you guys recirculating during the mash with these as well?

 

[Bellybuster]

Yes, I recirc for the entire mash.

 

[Biscuits]

Dunno if anyone has asked already...but...how do you squeeze?

 

[bcltoys]

Dunno if anyone has asked already...but...how do you squeeze?

You can order a press plate for 30.00 and change or make your own press plate.

 

[Bassman2003]

I have a pulley and winch setup. So the bag just hangs from the garage ceiling.

 

[Borgstrom]

Are you guys recirculating during the mash with these as well?

Yep -- see photo in original post. Recirculation is much easier than with the bag since the bag isn't constantly being sucked into the outlet.

 

[Borgstrom]

Dunno if anyone has asked already...but...how do you squeeze?

I just got a big pot lid and pressed down; no more rubber gloves and burned hands squeezing the bag!

 

[joebob296]

The brew before last my BIAB bag ripped, dumping the grains and ruining the batch - a California Common. It was actually the first batch of home-brew I ever had to dump after 3 years



So, I designed a stainless steel metal mesh filter basket to custom-fit my 15g kettle instead of getting a new fabric bag. It's designed with some swing-out hooks to hold the basket up while draining.

We had the first brew with the new basket a couple of weeks ago -- a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone. The basket worked beautifully -- no more worries about the bag getting sucked in by the pump and stopping flow, no hassle holding the bag and squeezing while draining. Draining is aided by just pushing down on top of the grain bed with a lid from a large pot. Had a bit of a foam overflow during mash which never happened with the bag, but was easy enough to clean up. Not sure why that happened...



In any event, this first batch with the new basket is cold crashing now and should be ready to drink next week (& tasting pretty good already!)



If I were to design this again, I would make the diameter of the basket 1" smaller to allow more room for the swing-out hooks in the "up" position. As it stands now, they press in a little bit into the mesh which may fail in the future. So far it doesn't seem to be an imminent problem.



Anyway, I thought I would share this in case any other BIABers were looking for ideas to add a bit more stainless to their kit!

Care to share how much the basket was? Also where did you get it made. I've been looking into getting a ss basket and I like this design the best.

 

[MerlinWerks]

If you have the time, a close up of the swing-out hooks would be appreciated.