BIAB with current equipment

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SCBrewster

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I am still a newbie to homebrewing but I am looking to expand into all grain using the brew in a bag system. I have a 30qt stainless steel spot with the strainer bucket used for lobster and crab or whatever. Is this large enough to do 5 gallon batches? I figure if it is all I would really need is a mesh bag to line the strainer
 
your pot and basket are a good start but honestly will be a little small for full volume BIAB. (Where all the water goes in from the beginning.) This is not a huge issue. You can mash with a lower volume of water and then sparge the remaining volume over your grains and then combine to get your boil volume.

I have a 40Qt pot and it is close mashing with 7.75 gal of water and 12lbs of grain. I have about a half inch of headspace left in my pot with this volume.

I would recommend mashing with something like 5 gal and then sparging the remaining 2.75 gal over the grains after they have been removed. Probably do the sparge in a bucket. Then remove the grains and combine the runnings in the pot. should have no real problems with boil over I would think but you may have to watch it.
 
Hmm...not really. It's close. You might be able to get away with it if you sparge.

Figure for a five gallon batch, you're going to need around 6 gallons of preboil volume. Grain takes up around a tenth of a gallon per pound and will absorb something in that neighborhood again, which means that even a very modest 10lb mash will put you well above your pot size.

You could probably do a 4 gallon batch.
 
I do 5 gal BIAB with a 30 qt as Foosier described. I mash (stovetop) with 4 gals, and sparge with two. This seems to work out good for me (and my boil off). The only thing is I can only handle ~13-14 lbs of grain, so when I want to do bigger beers, I just use some LME to replace some grain to get me down to 13-14 lbs.
 
One other thing, don't use the straining basket for the mash, just use it on the sparge. At least with mine, using the basket caused me all sorts of issues because it makes it so you have a lightly smaller pot. My grain was too packed in there using the straining basket.
 
Ah, oops. I guess I didn't pick up on it the first time around. I have two 30qt kettles and use one for mash and one for sparge.
 
I do a 5 gallon batch in a 7 1/2 gallon pot. With the average OG recipe and the full amount of water needed the wort will be nearly to the top of the pot. I've begun using just a little less and then do a pour through sparge to get my full volume as it makes me feel better with a little more room in the pot while mashing and it does increase the efficiency a bit by getting out a few more sugars. I also control my heat carefully so I don't have a ton of boil off.
 
Oh ok. So basically if I mashed with a smaller amount and then sparged to match the boil volume I needed I could be fine? Also never doing all grain brewing how much water on top of 5 gallons do I need?
 
Yes, but you would need something to sparge in. That's why I have two kettles. How much water you need depends on how much boil off you get, plus ~1 gallon for grain absorption. On my stove, I get ~1/2 gal boil off in 1 hour. I always shoot a little low, so I end up at about 4.5 gals boiled. Then I can top up to get my numbers, as I'm new (~4 batches) to BIAB, and don't have my efficiency dialed in.
 
Well I have a 16qt pot too. How much water do you need for sparge? You just need a vessel for heating up the water to pour over it right?
 
That should work. I use 2 gallons to sparge with. I heat the water up to ~180 or so, because you want the sparge water to end up at 170 after the grain is put in. Then I dump the sparge water in to my fermenting bucket, put the grain bag in the basket in my sparge kettle (clip it to the basket with binder clips), then pour the sparge water over the grain in the basket. I then put the top on and wait 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, I let the bag drain by hanging the basket over the sparge water by putting my wort measuring stick through the handles on the basket and two chairs. If you don't already have a wort measuring stick to do that you could use anything, like a broom handle or something. I usually let it drain for ~15 minutes, then dump the sparge water in the main kettle. I've been getting between 65 and 75% efficiency so far. The 65% was my first time, and the other three have been 72-75%. I'm really just following what Deathbrewer said in this thread, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f39/easy-stovetop-all-grain-brewing-pics-90132/.
 
I do also squeeze my grain after dumping the sparge water in the boil kettle. After draining it, with the basket in the bottom of the now empty sparge kettle, I push it with the top of another pot. DO NOT try doing this with the basket suspended. I did that the first time and the handles to the basket flew off and I got a face full of hot delicious wort. :)
 
If you pot is too small to fit all the grain and brewing water, you can dunk sparge the bag in another vessel, be it a pot, cooler, or bucket (dunk sparge), or you can slowly pour sparge water through the grain bag while it is held above your kettle (sprinkle sparge)
 
I do the sparge with cold water. The grain is pretty hot yet and the cold water warms up pretty fast to the point that it dissolves the sugars well but cools the grain enough that I can squeeze that last quart of wort out with my hands. Any wort left in the grains is wasted as the next step is to discard the grain.
 
So it sounds like I could make the hop to all grain with almost literally no more investment than the bag. Any reason as far as beer quality goes to build a mash tun and all of that?
 
RM-MN said:
I do the sparge with cold water. The grain is pretty hot yet and the cold water warms up pretty fast to the point that it dissolves the sugars well but cools the grain enough that I can squeeze that last quart of wort out with my hands. Any wort left in the grains is wasted as the next step is to discard the grain.
Click to expand...

I think sparging with hotter water is so you can stop conversion - that is the amylase is denatured over 170 so conversion from starch to sugar stops. OTOH, at that point all of it should be converted, or something like.
 
SCBrewster said:
So it sounds like I could make the hop to all grain with almost literally no more investment than the bag. Any reason as far as beer quality goes to build a mash tun and all of that?
Click to expand...

With more traditional all grain setups you have a little more control, and can also sometimes get higher efficiency. I've been happy with my BIAB system so far, and I don't think I will go the traditional route any time soon (if ever). It is by far the easiest/cheapest way to get into all grain. With everything homebrewing, you just have to do what works FOR YOU. :)
 
What types of efficiencies do you get with your BIAB compared to the standard(ish) for all grain?
 
You can get any where from 70-85%, but if you are new I would expect 60-70 until you get your system down. Not saying will absolutely get that amount but thats what I was getting until I learned a few things. Mill your grains twice, stir while it is mashing like it owes you money(if you can do full amount), if you cannot do full boil I will believe you will suffer a few points. It will be basically batch sparging with a bag. Batch sparging is good, as good as BIAB if not better. If I was going to start BIAB without doing full boil I would make it a partial mash with 1-3 pounds DME. Until you get your system down or can do full BIAB boil, which for a 5 gallon batch you usually need a 10 gallon kettle.
 
ACbrewer said:
I think sparging with hotter water is so you can stop conversion - that is the amylase is denatured over 170 so conversion from starch to sugar stops. OTOH, at that point all of it should be converted, or something like.
Click to expand...

You are correct that the 170 is to stop the long chain sugars from being broken down into more fermentable short chain sugars. It takes the whole sparge being at 170 so you might have to start with boiling water and maybe more quantity than you want to sparge with to get there and then you need to hold it there for at least 10 minutes. Many batch spargers will have the tun drained by then.

When I BIAB, as soon as I pull the grain bag I start heating the collected wort, making that my mash out. There will be very little wort left in the bag of grains to change and I don't give the enzymes much time to act on that cooler wort as I dump it into the heating wort.
 
whiskeyjack said:
You can get any where from 70-85%, but if you are new I would expect 60-70 until you get your system down. Not saying will absolutely get that amount but thats what I was getting until I learned a few things. Mill your grains twice, stir while it is mashing like it owes you money(if you can do full amount), if you cannot do full boil I will believe you will suffer a few points. It will be basically batch sparging with a bag. Batch sparging is good, as good as BIAB if not better. If I was going to start BIAB without doing full boil I would make it a partial mash with 1-3 pounds DME. Until you get your system down or can do full BIAB boil, which for a 5 gallon batch you usually need a 10 gallon kettle.
Click to expand...

I do mine in a 7 1/2 gallon turkey fryer but I have good temperature control and I watch it like a hawk as it comes to a boil so the hot break doesn't spill onto the wife's new stove.:rockin:

I use a Corona style mill and set it as tight as I can. My first and subsequent batches were 80% no sparge or 85% with a dunk or pour through sparge. To get that efficiency with a roller mill it has to be double milled or milled with the rollers set as close as you can and still make the grain feed.
 
RM-MN said:
I do mine in a 7 1/2 gallon turkey fryer but I have good temperature control and I watch it like a hawk as it comes to a boil so the hot break doesn't spill onto the wife's new stove.:rockin:

I use a Corona style mill and set it as tight as I can. My first and subsequent batches were 80% no sparge or 85% with a dunk or pour through sparge. To get that efficiency with a roller mill it has to be double milled or milled with the rollers set as close as you can and still make the grain feed.
Click to expand...

I also use a 7.5 gal pot, although I use Fermcap, so I don't have to watch my boil. I really love that stuff. I just watch TV in the other room while I boil. +1 to double milling.
 
Oh so I guess I didn't think about that. I would also need a mill to do this
 
Whoever you get your grain from (LHBS or online) will usually mill your grain. Just ask them to do it twice.
 
Wouldn't it just be easier to do 4 gallon batches with what you have? That would fit your pot better. You could do the entire mash in the bag that way, a paint strainer bag wouldn't be straining to contain it all, and it would be easier to lift.

If I needed to sparge anyway, I wouldn't do BIAB, although I do squeeze the bag and run some wort through it a few times just to make sure I get it all. With low gravity beers I get about 80% efficiency, with higher gravity beers I don't do nearly as well, almost as if my limit is about 1.054 with my setup.
 
zacster said:
Wouldn't it just be easier to do 4 gallon batches with what you have? That would fit your pot better. You could do the entire mash in the bag that way, a paint strainer bag wouldn't be straining to contain it all, and it would be easier to lift.

If I needed to sparge anyway, I wouldn't do BIAB, although I do squeeze the bag and run some wort through it a few times just to make sure I get it all. With low gravity beers I get about 80% efficiency, with higher gravity beers I don't do nearly as well, almost as if my limit is about 1.054 with my setup.
Click to expand...

His setup is perfectly viable for 5 gal batches. I and others in this thread are doing the exact same thing. The only issue will be if he does 15+ lb grain bills.
 
I've done a couple 2.5 gallon batches in a 4 gallon pot on my stove. Got 71% efficiency each time wih a cold water sparge to get my boil volume of 3.5 gallons.

I've found the bag prevents boilover somewhat. I use my paint strainer mash bag in the boil kettle too, for my hop additions. When I see the boil foaming quite badly, the bag seems to contain it until I can bring it under control.

Just bought a burner, the boss doesn't like m
e boiling on the stove. Gonna move it outdoors, and in the next couple weeks I plan to have a 48 quart kettle and an immersion chiller.

Go for it, it's easy and fun. A lot easier than I ever expected.
 
Oh well that will be plenty! That'll give you what like 8% abv give or take?
 
I'm getting pumped to do this! But I also want to start kegging too which obviously I could do both at the same time but id rather do one step at a time. I think just being able to buy actual grains rather than lme or dme. Baller
 
The bigger grain bill with biab the more efficiency goes down. If you do biab make sure your bag can handle 15 lbs and all the wort it absorbs. As well as being able to hold it up to drain. I set up a ladder over my brewpot to hang the bag on and squish it with 2 plates, this is where you get your higher efficiencies with biab. Getting every ounce of sugar out of the grains. On big beers I mash 2 qt/lb with the rest of the water in another small pot for dunk sparge. 90 minute boil to get as much water as possible
 
I like the idea with the straps and the plates. Pretty innovative. Might just have to steal that out of your book!
 
Another thought. When I do extract brewing I usually end up steeping some specialty grains. Is that the same process as brew in a bag or all grain? Or do you put the steeping grains in with the mash. I'm assuming ill get answers of people that do it both ways but just curious
 
Most of us do put all the grains in for the entire mash. There have been posts about putting the really dark grains in nearer the end of the mash as those brewers feel that the flavors are not as harsh that way.
 

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