BIAB forum?

[porterguy]

Why no BIAB forum? It would really be helpful to those of us who do BIAB to have all the posts in one place. I know there's an Australian BIAB site, but that's not the same as having one here.

Can a mod or someone who makes such decisions on HBT give a response or explanation of what it would take to create one, please?

 

[Jester]

I know the majority of BIAB information shows up under the All Grain forum. There is a great "sticky" thread in the All Grain forum and that is where I learned how to BIAB.

It would be nice to have separate forum for that, but I'll let the moderators chime in on that one. =)

 

[bengerman]

i kinda agree with you guys. when i was doing BIAB it really would've been nice to have a sub-forum for it, especially for things like min/maxi BIAB calculators and whatnot..

i'm not sure if there's the demand for it here, since i think a lot of people do biab as a step from partial mash into a 3-vessel system.

 

[el_caro]

+1 for a BIAB forum on HBT

 

[diegobonatto]

+1 also...

 

[solbes]

+3

 

[tom_gamer]

Why no BIAB forum? It would really be helpful to those of us who do BIAB to have all the posts in one place. I know there's an Australian BIAB site, but that's not the same as having one here.

Can a mod or someone who makes such decisions on HBT give a response or explanation of what it would take to create one, please?

I'm too new to this I guess. What is BIAB?

Is there a thread that I missed on all these meanings?

Two Beer or not Two Beer

 

[IffyG]

It's been talked about before, but it's never going to gain any traction because there are already too may subforums. It's fundamentally the same as all grain brewing, so it's topics get contained in that forum. The beauty of it is, practically everyone tags it with BIAB so it's easy to find in the search.

 

[IffyG]

I'm too new to this I guess. What is BIAB?

Brew in a bag.

 

[MonkeyWrench]

I see where this would be handy, but it is just an all grain technique. So while it's nice to put like things together, eventually you have so many different sub-forums that it becomes a nightmare to navigate. Where do you stop? Putting no-sparge in it's own forum, and batch sparge in it's own forum, partial mash, then probably HERMS, and RIMS....you get the point. It's nice to have it in the grain brewing area because some of the thoughts behind the technique transfer over. I mean really, it's just a no sparge with one vessel, so people like me that want to go no sparge with 2 or 3 vessels also find that the calculations and theory also apply to them.

 

[IffyG]

Hell, bottling and kegging should be split before anything else gets a dedicated subforum, since you can go your entire brewing lifespan and only use one or the other.

 

[samc]

Alas you need to go here as too many are anti sub forum

 

[porterguy]

Too many sub-forums as in what? That it would be too easy to find if it had a separate listing? That's like saying every all grain question should be under one sticky called "All grain brewing".

Isn't the idea of this forum to enable people to easily get into homebrewing? What's an easy way to move from extract to all grain? BIAB

How about a forum "Bridge to All Grain:Brew-In-A-Bag"?

 

[tom_gamer]

Too many sub-forums as in what? That it would be too easy to find if it had a separate listing? That's like saying every all grain question should be under one sticky called "All grain brewing".

Isn't the idea of this forum to enable people to easily get into homebrewing? What's an easy way to move from extract to all grain? BIAB

How about a forum "Bridge to All Grain:Brew-In-A-Bag"?

+1

Two Beer or not Two Beer

 

[daksin]

Adding a +1 in hopes this will get made. I know BIAB is covered under AG, but it would be nice to collect it all in one spot without having to filter though a lot of stuff that isn't relevant to me.

The hardcore AG guys would probably agree- BIAB doesn't offer them any insights to their process either.

 

[smyrnaquince]

How about a forum "Bridge to All Grain:Brew-In-A-Bag"?

BIAB is All Grain. For some of us, it is not a bridge, but an endpoint.

 

[Rifester]

I'll throw in my vote here as well. I have made the move to BIAB and don't see the need to brew any other way... It would be nice to be able to filter BIAB related topics/issue via a BIAB subforum. So +1 !

 

[Rifester]

Alas you need to go here as too many are anti sub forum

If any of you BIAB and use Google +, I am creating a Google + BIABrewer.info Circle. If you want to be a part of it PM me here or at BIABrewer.info.

 

[Yooper]

I know the majority of BIAB information shows up under the All Grain forum. There is a great "sticky" thread in the All Grain forum and that is where I learned how to BIAB.

It would be nice to have separate forum for that, but I'll let the moderators chime in on that one. =)

The reason it's not separate is because it is all-grain, and a technique for all-grain. What would we do next? Separate fly sparging and batch sparging into their own forums as well? What about no-sparge, which can be BIAB or traditional technique?

Since BIAB is very much the same as "regular" AG brewing (water, ingredients, efficiency, temperature and so on), separating it out doesn't make sense to me.

 

[Strangelove]

If Gluten-Free has it's own section, surely BIAB rates one.

While BIAB is all grain, it seems to be different enough to get its own section. Just about every aspect of it is different. Besides, it has it's own subsections:no sparge vs dip sparge, etc, etc.

My 2 pence.

 

[jigidyjim]

It would only make sense as its own section if some high % of the all grain section is currently dedicated to things not relevant to BIAB - building a mash tun for example. However, if most of the posts are things like "is this recipe good" or "what temp should i mash at", then really you'd need three sections: BIAB, brewing not in a bag, and All-Grain-Brewing-But-Don't-Talk-About-Mash-Or-Sparge-Equipment-Here!

Anyone have a feel for what most posts in the all grain section are like? I don't read it regulary, I only go there when I search for things and it points me there.

 

[bennett2136]

Learning BIAB is a lot of trial and error until you get your system dialed in. That's why I think it is kind of hard to designate a sticky BIAB thread into a solve-all solution for people thinking about using this method.

 

[dantheman13]

It seems to me that the wealth of information on BIABrewer would out-weigh the argument that BIAB 'is just another all grain method', but I'll have to vote not to create a subforum anyway. The Aussie board covers BIAB so in-depth already. The subject is so detailed and new that having a whole other forum for it, with experts at that brewing technique, is all the homebrewing community really needs. The only thing that is lacking is the advertisement that BIABrewer exists... however, I think every serious BIAB homebrewer eventually discovers that site via HBT anyway.

So, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

 

[el_caro]

It seems to me that the wealth of information on BIABrewer would out-weigh the argument that BIAB 'is just another all grain method', but I'll have to vote not to create a subforum anyway. The Aussie board covers BIAB so in-depth already. The subject is so detailed and new that having a whole other forum for it, with experts at that brewing technique, is all the homebrewing community really needs. The only thing that is lacking is the advertisement that BIABrewer exists... however, I think every serious BIAB homebrewer eventually discovers that site via HBT anyway.

So, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!

I think you just put up a damn good argument for having a BIAB forum on HBT. Yes there is a wealth of good info on BIABrewer I agree. The Aussies may in fact be the new age pioneers of this process. But there are also a lot of BIAB brewers in the US and elsewhere who have this wonderful site as their homepage and would like to stay here and not roam to other sites.
I can see the point made by many here about BIAB and AG brewing but believe BIAB is a fast growing trend and warrants its own forum.

I feel compelled to ask the question - Is BIAB the elephant in the room?

 

[tom_gamer]

From personal experience, I have never done all grain, and wasn't planning on it, mostly because all the YouTube video I have seen show massive rigs that I cant afford right now. I never knew about BIAB until I accidentally saw this thread. I've been on this brewtalk for about 2 month now and it would have been nice to have seen this earlier. I know there is a sticky but like I mentioned earlier, all grain "pushed" me away with initial cost. I vote for a BIAB technique section.

Two Beer or not Two Beer

 

[Bobby_M]

I think a BIAB sub-forum could be useful as long as threads that are only pertinent to that particular process are posted there. The rub is that although the Aussie's are particular about it being a single vessel, no-sparge process, there are folks who dunk sparge. Does that type of discussion belong there? I agree with Yooper though that it has so many more similarities with all other types of all grain methods that incrementally splitting them out would have to be all or nothing to be useful.

 

[dantheman13]

Does that type of discussion belong there?

I would answer this question with: if it involves a bag, then yes. When I did BIAB, I read a lot of the BIABrewer forum, and there are many different methods that the Aussies (and others) use for BIAB. For example, I was using the Maxi-BIAB, which involves a sparging step. There's stove top BIAB, and burner BIAB. Small set ups, and huge setups. Unfortunately, I've only really seen one method of BIAB stickyed here (maye two?), but if you check out BIABrewer you'll see a dozens of variations on the process.

The reality is that the BIABrewer forum isn't going anywhere, and the experts are posting there. The real question therefore is would the experts start posting on HBT if there was a BIAB section? If they don't, then making a BIAB section might not be worth cluttering up the main page (personally I am fine with that clutter, but the admins have stated that this is the reason why there is no BIAB section).

As tom-gamer displayed, the real issue that needs to be solved is the advertisement of BIAB. There is that sticky on the All Grain section, but not everyone notices it. Personally, I would think it would be rad if BIABrewer was some sort of sister forum to HBT, or if there was some space to link to them directly. That probably won't happen either, but just throwing that out there anyway.

 

[Bobby_M]

What does it take to become a BIAB "expert"? I guess the issue I have there is that you could probably just as easily direct people to other forums and sources for just about any topic that is covered here. There are probably more "expert" types hanging out over at the AHA forum than here.

I still think BIAB is a minor variant of typical all grain brewing (granted one with a high level of regional acceptance). If I put a bag in my mashtun to aid in cleanup, but otherwise run it as a fly sparged, three vessel system, it's completely arguable that it's BIAB. I'd just be using it either as my separation medium or to augment some other medium like a false bottom. I could just as easily argue that RIMS/HERMs style systems are far more unique as an AG variation than BIAB is.

1 tier, 2 tier, 3 tier
fly sparge/batch sparge/no sparge
1 pump, 2 pump, no pump
false bottom, braid, manifold, polishing pads, (voile bag)
1 vessel, 2 vessel, 3 vessel, HL on demand
Mash heat: eRIMS, dfRIMS, HERMS, Direct Fire, None.

BIAB, depending on who you ask, would be constructed in definition with a certain combination of attributes above.. something like 1 tier, no sparge, voile bag, 1 vessel, Direct Fire (or none).

All the other ways you could combine them would be left to the AG forum.

 

[dcp27]

I've been doing BIAB for over a year and am a pretty big advocate of it, but I think the idea of it having its own sub-forum is useless. It's not like AG and BIAB are segregated. There's nothing about the technique that can't be easily converted to 'normal' AG, and vice versa. if you're mashing, you're mashing, whats it matter if its in a bag or not? does someone really need to know you're doing BIAB to help you with a problem?

honestly, what would be gained in giving it its own sub-forum?

 

[rico567]

BIAB is All Grain. For some of us, it is not a bridge, but an endpoint.

This is the thread-ender for me. BIAB IS, in fact, AG, so it belongs as some subtopic of that.

 

[porterguy]

I'm looking at it from the same perspective as Tom Gamer. I stumbled onto/into BIAB. I also had ruled out AG due to the cost/additional equipment to store (and clean). BIAB has allowed me to move past extract brewing, and I would have done so sooner if I had known about it. But, at present, you need to already know about BIAB, and know it is an AG style, so you then know you might find info in the AG section.

I guess I don't see the down side of using 3/4 inch of space for a BIAB heading, and making more people aware of an AG option that they may otherwise never know about. How many extract brewers who no longer read this "beginners" forum any longer have never heard of BIAB, and maybe never will, because they think AG is too complicated/or think they can't afford to go AG. So... they don't read the AG forum, and therefore never discover BIAB.

At my brew club, very few of the AG brewers have ever heard of BIAB, so it's not as if it's common knowledge. I like BIAB. I think others might too. But I think it's relatively unknown.

 

[dantheman13]

At my brew club, very few of the AG brewers have ever heard of BIAB, so it's not as if it's common knowledge. I like BIAB. I think others might too. But I think it's relatively unknown.

I'd have to agree. Personally, I am hoping that the next edition of How To Brew will have a chapter dedicated to BIAB.