10 gal BIAB in a keggle?

[Denny]

I just did my first all grain biab a few nights ago and it wasn't that bad at all. It makes me wonder if the skeptics/ detractors here have tried it at all....

I've tried it for a small batch which is how I know I wouldn't want to do it for a larger batch.

 

[KIAKillerXJ]

I ordered a special keggle bag by Jeff Omundson at bagbrewer.com. It is tapered in order to help pull the grain out of a smaller opening of a keggle.

I have one too

 

[tonyc318]

My bag from Jeff at bagbrewer.com came today. So excited to jump into AG.

 

[d_striker]

To me, doing anything larger than a 3 gal. batch via BIAB is unworkable. You need something like a hoist to lift the bag. It's easier to just build a mash tun and do it that way.

You guys need to eat more spinach.

 

[kh54s10]

You guys need to eat more spinach.

It's not that we can't do it, it is that we don't want to!

To me anything larger that about 3-4 gallons is far too much of a PITA.

Hot wet sticky and messy (unless you are very careful).

 

[mikeysab]

I just did 10 g via biab Sunday. A mild with 17 lbs of grain. Not hard at all to move the bag around, even soaked.

 

[tonyc318]

Seems to me like you have lots of wet grains to move some how regardless of the method. It's more a matter of finding out how to do that easily. For people making 10 gallon batches with 20 plus lbs of grain in a mash tun, how do you dispose of thos grains? You found a way that was easy for you to do it. Just like BIAB, find a way that's easy to pull out the grain bag and dispose the grains.

 

[ArcLight]

... Rather than pulleys, I have found a simple cheap tie down lashing strap works very well, tie it around the top of the bag w/ the clamp close by.

http://www.harborfreight.com/automo...of-2-1-inch-x-12-ft-lashing-straps-67386.html

I just slowly lift and cinch tighten the tie down strap as the bag comes up...the benefit is that the strap locks and takes the weight, lift a few more inches and let the bag drain...when done draining have a large bucket to lower the grain into.

below is another example, but these straps are more complicated to use but will easilly lift 1-200 lbs...

http://www.harborfreight.com/automo...ch-x-15-ft-ratcheting-tie-down-set-90984.html

The benefit of these types of straps is that they lock and take the weight for you. With the ratcheting strap, grandma could hoist 100 lbs easily.

I don't understand. How do you use the ratchet straps instead of the pulley?

The bag is draped over the pot, how do you raise it with straps?
Can you provide a picture?

 

[tonyc318]

Old thread that I started but thought I would update. I just brewed a 10 gallon batch of amber ale using the BIAB method in my keggle. It was tight! The grain bill was 19#. I put in 12 gallons of strike water. I also heated up a few gallons of water on the stove inside. When the mash was over I pulled out my bag. Dangit that was seriously heavy. Also a very tight fit. Some wort squeezed out onto the side of the pot.

I got the grain bag into my stacked buckets to drain (obviously the top bucket has holes in it). Then I sparged about 6 quarts over the grain bag. I squeezed the bag some and got to my preboil target of 12 gallons. I actually should have put in another half gallon as I under shot my volume a little.

The main reason I did 10 gallons of this beer is because I plan on giving a little over half of it away. I'm not sure I will do a 10 gallon BIAB batch again. If I do, I will wait until I get a pulley system rigged up.

Altogether a great brew day. Hit my target mash temp on the button of 154 and it only dropped to 151 in 60 mins. I ended up with 74% efficiency.

This is seriously the best hobby ever!

 

[paperairplane]

The fry basket / ratchet pulley combo makes biab a cinch. I can raise the bag, let it drain, sparge if I want to, all while starting the boil.

 

[sladek]

http://www.harborfreight.com/general-purpose-rope-hoist-60544.html 6 bucks each. I use two of them. One for the BIAB and one to lift ferment buckets/carboys etc...

 

[mdbrewer1]

Probably a dumb question, but how do you attach the bag to the pulley? I'm going to have my wife sew me up a bag soon and was wondering if there was anything I could ask her to add that would help.

Thanks!