BIAB: How to make the Bag?

[duffman2]

Ok I get the basics. Get voile material and sew it up. No big deal. But what has proved to be the best design?

I really want to jump from my traditional AG setup to what looks like a really easy BIAB process. If anybody has any good tips or suggestions, please let me know

Thanks and Cheers!

 

[plaidpaint]

I just use a square of material that's big enough to sit on the bottom of the pot and still hang out a fair bit on all sides. No sewing involved. So it'll depend on the height and diameter of your pot, but a square the size of the width of the bolt of fabric should be lots, and then you get two factory edges, so less likely to fray. I think mine's 1m square (3' or so )

 

[ultravista]

I used a rectangle. The panal I bought @ Wal-Mart was 59x64; the material was cut in half folded from the bottom to the top. This yielded two 29 inch bags.

The bag fits perfectly into my 10 gallon Rubbermaid tun.

 

[Backporchbrewery]

I don't do the biab thing but I thought people just used the 5gal paint strainer bags?

 

[kable]

I have heard a good rule of thumb is that the bag is big enough so that your kettle can fit inside it and still be able to pull the draw strings closed.

Some have tapered the bottom corners so they don't drip on both sides as you pull it out.

 

[RM-MN]

Here's a tip. Don't sew it at all. Line your mash tun and let it drape over the side. Mash like you normally would or mash full volume if you have the room in the mash tun. When it comes time to drain the tun, lift the edges of the fabric to form a bag of grain and drain the liquid. If you choose to sparge instead of full volume, drop the bag of grain back in, add water and stir. Let it sit for however long you choose for your sparge and pull the bag out again, this time squeezing out all the sweet wort that you can reasonably do. Drain the tun again and discard the grain. Rinse the fabric and hang it to dry.

 

[eastoak]

i bought my bag already made for $5 or so at my LHBS. they are available online too.

 

[ultravista]

5 gallon paint strainer bags are far too small for 10+ pounds of grain. The grain will be restricted and will not move freely in that confined space. I suspect horribly low efficiency numbers.

 

[tekknoschtev]

I did similar to what ultravista did. I bought the curtain panel, and then folded it in half and sewed the whole length giving me a huge tube. Then I measured my pot's height, added 10 or so inches, and sewed a line across the tube and cut it off. Bam, bag! I wound up getting 3 bags for my pot out of it, and then a smaller bag for my smaller pot from the left overs.

 

[duffman2]

Cool, the tube design sounds like it wouldn't drip out of the sides right? I think that sounds pretty good

 

[choffon]

i bought my bag already made for $5 or so at my LHBS. they are available online too.

which homebrew store do u use