If I am visualising this correctly, BIAB is essentially....

[TasunkaWitko]

...the beer brewing equivalent of using a giant tea bag?

If so, I'll see about giving it a try with my next brew. If there's anything more to it, please let me know.

I brew 1-gallon batches at this time, so BIAB is not totally necessary; however, there are some obvious advantages that I can see with less mess and probably better efficiancy....

Thanks in advance -

Ron

 

[soccerdad]

yep - essentially ! You are mashing in the big tea bag which eliminates the need for any extract or diluting of extract. You are making your own malt versus using store bought.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

any paint strainer bag will work also like at Lowes. a blue hawk 1 or 5 gallon paint strainer bag has the perfect gap for hops and grain and is reusable if cleaned well

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Sounds great, guys - thanks for the quick replies.

Is it important or necessary to keep the bag in motion during the mash, or can it simply sit there and steep?

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

you can dunk it up and down a few times at first then just lay it over the side and clamp to the top of your pot, these nylon bags can melt if too hot so its best to keep them off the bottom if you can, won't melt at 150 to 170 but high heat to the bottom to reach those temps might do it

 

[TasunkaWitko]

Okay, I can see that. Using a 1-gallon batch with a 12-quart pot, I might simply tie it to a wooden spoon sitting across the top so that the bag hangs just above the bottom. Temps probably won't ever be enough to be a problem, but that should be an added degree of insurance against melting.

Thanks again!

 

[C-Rider]

Here is a quick vidio showing my BIAB method

 

[unionrdr]

I use my nylon 5 gallon bag in my 5 gallon SS brew kettle & haven't melted it heating the kettle yet. The heating water creates an upward motion that keeps it off the bottom in my experiences. I wrap the top of the bag around the lip of the kettle with a floating thermometer in it.

 

[Malty_Dog]

Yep, my non-brewing buddy was laughing when I told him I'm doin a batch of "fancy tea" (a BIAB pale ale) the other week. Its a pretty fair analogy.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Keep in mind that this isn't the same as steeping specialty grains for extract brewing. You are actually mashing the grains at a specific temperature in the "tea bag". Temperature is critical. When I used to steep specialty grains, the temps varied from 160 to near boiling. When you mash, you are trying to hold a specific temperature (usually somewhere between 148 and 158 for a single infusion mash) for a length of time anywhere from 30 to 90 min depending on the brew.

You may already know all this, in which case just ignore the last paragraph. Just wanted to be sure you weren't under any misconceptions.

 

[cannman]

I usually like to reply with a photo, but Google was being exceptionally vulgar when I typed in "tea bag".....

 

[z-bob]

What's the practical BIAB limit (pounds of grain) if I have a 5 gallon kettle? I haven't done BIAB yet, I just heard about it a week ago. I used to mash about 5 pounds of malt; the limit was the size of my spaghetti cooker lauter tun.

 

[cannman]

What's the practical BIAB limit (pounds of grain) if I have a 5 gallon kettle? I haven't done BIAB yet, I just heard about it a week ago. I used to mash about 5 pounds of malt; the limit was the size of my spaghetti cooker lauter tun.

I was able to fit 4.5lbs of grain in a BIAB setup in BeerSmith 2, 3 gallon batch.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

the rule of thumb here is the pot needs to be twice the size of the batch for BIB so you need at least a 10 gallon pot to do a 5 gallon batch, then you can use any all grain recipe

 

[RM-MN]

the rule of thumb here is the pot needs to be twice the size of the batch for BIB so you need at least a 10 gallon pot to do a 5 gallon batch, then you can use any all grain recipe

But rules were made to be broken so I do a 5 gallon batch in a 7 1/2 gallon turkey fryer pot. It means that I have to do a small sparge step because there isn't quite enough room for all the water plus the grains and I have to be careful not to boil it over at hot break and limit the boil off but it can be done.

 

[wingedcoyote]

I've been doing 2.75-gal batches in my 5gal pot and I think I'm just about maxing it out, so the rule of thumb is pretty close for me. My mash tends to just about fill the pot, I sparge with about another gallon and then combine the runnings, and by then I'm close enough to the rim of the pot that I'd be pretty nervous if I didn't have Fermcap-S nearby.

 

[RM-MN]

I've been doing 2.75-gal batches in my 5gal pot and I think I'm just about maxing it out, so the rule of thumb is pretty close for me. My mash tends to just about fill the pot, I sparge with about another gallon and then combine the runnings, and by then I'm close enough to the rim of the pot that I'd be pretty nervous if I didn't have Fermcap-S nearby.

You do have your pot maxed out for that size pot and batch but the boil off stays pretty much the same so as you go to larger pots and batches, you can come closer on the boil to pot size ratio.:rockin:

 

[Weezy]

The pot size rule only applies if you do full volume biab. A lot of us sparge.

 

[CB_in_Tokyo]

The pot size rule only applies if you do full volume biab. A lot of us sparge.

I do all grain using a cooler as a mash tun, but I'd like to give BIAB a try for the experience. If you are sparging, how is that done? Do you need a different pot to sparge in, or do you pump hot water over and through the bag into the existing pot?

 

[Weezy]

You can use your imagination. Just remember that all you're trying to do is literally wash off the sugary wort that is stuck to the grain. some people dunk the bag into another pot of water, stir for a bit, then yank and squeeze. Others pour water over the bag. Some lift the bag and put the bag in a strainer placed on top of the mash pot, then dump the water over it. You can even do it with cold water and not worry about tannin extraction, although hot sparge water probably does do a more thorough job of rinsing the grains off.

 

[unionrdr]

I've sparged about every way you can with biab. A 10 minute dunk sparge works best for me. It allows me to stir the grains with the bag stretched over the 2nd kettle of sparge water. I do PB/PM BIAB, so I've done as much as 6 1/2lbs of grains in about 2 1/2 gallons of water in my 5 gallon kettle. Sparge with 1 1/2 gallons in 3 or 4 gallon kettle, depending on which one fits better. I get about 3 1/2 gallons boil volume for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[BrewinBromanite]

I mash in a 5 gal round igloo cooler for BIAB, and can easily fit 11-12 lbs of grain in the bag (using a large lowes paint strainer bag). There's a calculator out there that helps you figure out how much you can mash in your particular vessel. If I find it I'll post it.

I stir really well as the water is mixed in with the grain, probably once throughout the typical hour long mash, then again really well at the end to make sure there's no dough-balls. I drain and squeeze the bag, and call that my "1st runnings." I usually move that wort to my kettle, and add the bag back to the cooler, and "dunk sparge" with the remaining required volume for about 10 mins (stirring again initially and at the end of 10 mins really well, then squeeze the bag). Combine the 2 volumes in the kettle and commence boil as usual. Simple, low-tech, and I've had great efficiency every time this way.


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[unionrdr]

Yeah, same here. My efficiency & thus OG's went way up. I've gotten 1.061 OG from recipes that were to be 1.046 maximum. Beers came out as intended as well.

 

[BrewinBromanite]

http://www.homebrewdad.com/view_page.php?pageid=1

Here's a nice link. It shows that 12 lbs is about the limit for a 5 gal vessel, assuming a 1.25 qt per l of grain ration for the mash thickness. Again, this won't accommodate at full-volume mash, so you have to take the "1st-running", then do a separate dunk/batch sparge, and combine the 2 volumes. A spare large pot or your fermenting bucket works great to hold the wort until you combine the volumes.


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[unionrdr]

I originally bought a set of 4 nested SS stock pots with lids. So I just use the 3 or 4 gallon for the dunk sparge.

 

[BrewinBromanite]

Yeah, same here. My efficiency & thus OG's went way up. I've gotten 1.061 OG from recipes that were to be 1.046 maximum. Beers came out as intended as well.

Same as well. When I used Beersmith for my first PM and AG recipes, I ended up with a way higher ABV than anticipated, so I now adjust my expected efficiency accordingly.


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