1st BIAB - If I can, you can

[StanJohnson]

Good pics and good narrative. Nice. Very nice.

 

[Caucasian]

Do you bottle directly from primary?

 

[jmprdood]

Yes, I prime each bottle w/ Carb drops or sugar. Been doing it like that since I started back in the day. I don't like to transfer.

 

[Proboscidea]

Awesomely awesome! This visual guide rocks. Bookmarked forever!

Hey, got a question. You mentioned:

After the mash a cold water rinse

Why cold? Just curious. I've never seen that done before, but then again, I just fell off the BIAB turnip truck.

 

[jetmac]

i like it

 

[markm2151]

Fantastic post! I love the pictures and your finished beer looks fantastic!!! Ok, noob question from someone who has never done all grain: why do you need the false bottom?

 

[BunzoBrew]

Nice documentation of a brew day. BIAB rocks!

Enjoy your beer man.

 

[Doed]

Fantastic post! I love the pictures and your finished beer looks fantastic!!! Ok, noob question from someone who has never done all grain: why do you need the false bottom?

The false bottom in the pot is to keep the bag off of the bottom where the heat is. It keeps the bag from scorching or melting.

 

[jmprdood]

Awesomely awesome! This visual guide rocks. Bookmarked forever!

Hey, got a question. You mentioned:



Why cold? Just curious. I've never seen that done before, but then again, I just fell off the BIAB turnip truck.

That way I can squeeze the hell out of the bag and get every last drop of goodness out. The tannin thing is about PH not squeezing the wort out.

Cheers!

 

[Ralphadopolis]

Wow man, if you can do with an electric plate and the lack of a kitchen then I can definitely do this in my kitchen or backyard. thanks for the info.

 

[MyAlement]

Very similar method to what I use, different equipment. I now have an electric turkey fryer (30 quarts) I bought for $40 open box at my grocery store. It will hold at 150f, but isn't adjustable between there and boiling. Its simple and it works.

I found that partial mash or extract and steep methods are more of a PITA than just going AG (if you use BIAB), plus the ingredients are more expensive.

Good write-up.

 

[Mysticmead]

great write up and congrats on making some tasty looking beers using the BIAB method. I've been doing it for almost 3 years now and haven't looked back. To ANYONE that is thinking about stepping up to AG brewing from extract/partial mash, DO IT. It's a LOT easier than your think. Anyone that does a traditional AG and wants to give it a shot. DO IT, it means less to clean up at the end of the brew day and you're still making AG beer.

 

[befus]

Well done sir.

 

[neosapien]

I salute you sir!

This would make a great sticky to help guide people nervous about trying an all-grain brew. It certainly would've helped me.

 

[ahaley]

So I do extract with grains and hops, and I don't fully understand some of the all grain... Techniques, why do you have no airlock? After the boil is done you cool the whole pot to squeeze grain bag? What's the difference between AG and BIAB, I've only been able to find BIAB on YouTube, but I haven't looked super hard either. And last question from my trivia, you need a little more equipment for BIAB? Or just a bigger pot? ( for 5 gal batches ) I've seen some people who have the grain bags lynched above the pots, and false bottoms in a keg, 3 tier stands for every pot, is that all needed or wanted?
Brew on looks great! Once I get my place I'll most likely do AG

 

[jmprdood]

I don't use an airlock because the CO2 produced during fermentation is more than enough to keep oxygen away from the beer - it's not necessary. After the mash is done I rinse the grains (kind of a sparge) to get all the sugar and then squeeze the heck out of the bag. I cool the wort after the boil so I can pitch the yeast at the right temp. You need less equip for BIAB that's why I do it. BIAB is ALL GRAIN brewing, it's just a method. I can't do a bigger pot because I wouldn't be able to get it to boil without a stove.

I've found that BAIB allows me to do AG brewing in limited space and with limited equipment. It's the method that works best for me.

Cheers!

 

[Mysticmead]

So I do extract with grains and hops, and I don't fully understand some of the all grain... Techniques, why do you have no airlock? After the boil is done you cool the whole pot to squeeze grain bag? What's the difference between AG and BIAB, I've only been able to find BIAB on YouTube, but I haven't looked super hard either. And last question from my trivia, you need a little more equipment for BIAB? Or just a bigger pot? ( for 5 gal batches ) I've seen some people who have the grain bags lynched above the pots, and false bottoms in a keg, 3 tier stands for every pot, is that all needed or wanted?
Brew on looks great! Once I get my place I'll most likely do AG

do a search for BIAB on facebook we have a decent group there.. I also have a grain to glass 4 part series on my beer blog (link in sig). BIABbrewer.info is also a good resource on the BIAB brewing method.

 

[ahaley]

do a search for BIAB on facebook we have a decent group there.. I also have a grain to glass 4 part series on my beer blog (link in sig). BIABbrewer.info is also a good resource on the BIAB brewing method.

I'll have to look you guys up! Thanks
BIAB doesn't need more equipment, so all the stuff I've seen is optional?

 

[befus]

I'll have to look you guys up! Thanks
BIAB doesn't need more equipment, so all the stuff I've seen is optional?

What stuff? You need a bag...............that's it. If you already have a pot and the normal home brewer items, you just need a bag. I have been brewing off and on for almost 20 years and I just did my first BIAB earlier this month. It was easier, less of a mess, and although I missed several target temps, it was a fun day spent brewing. Now if you are talking 10 gallon stuff or big beers, you will need a method to get the bag up out of the wort cuz it'll be a heavy mutha. For normal 5 gallon and less brews, you just really only have to add the bag.

 

[HopSong]

I'm really wanting to do BIAB as well and have been reading up on it for a few weeks.. I have a slow mental digester.. Anyhow, I keep forgetting to stop at the fabric store to get the voile for my wife to sew. I only plan to do 5 gallon batches.. since I don't have a ton of drinking buddies and have one heckofa pipeline already. Next batch should be an Irish Oatmeal Stout. But, that is an extract recipe. We'll figure something to get ready for the fall holidays and do it. Not sure what yet. Heck, maybe an AG version of IOS for a side by side.

 

[gyst]

Very nice simple set-up! I was all proud of my minimal BIAB set-up (small New York city apt), but you have me beat - I have a stove and everything (Luxury!). Seriously, I think this is a great thread, especially for people who want to make the jump to all grain - its easy! Try it!

 

[jmprdood]

Thanks - brewing a BIAB "Cream of Three Crops" Cream Ale right now - 'bout 30 mins into the mash....

 

[ahaley]

Some things I've seen, I dont know if it was 5 or more gal, but he had a pulley and a huge pot, with a trap door looming thing in a 3 tier stand, but I'm going to look into doing some all grains pretty soon hopefully.

 

[befus]

Some things I've seen, I dont know if it was 5 or more gal, but he had a pulley and a huge pot, with a trap door looming thing in a 3 tier stand, but I'm going to look into doing some all grains pretty soon hopefully.

Sure, and you can set that up IF you have a garage, deck, etc. and you may want to. As far as have to haves, just look at this thread with the really well done documentation and photos. All he has is the brew bag and the few items all home brewers already have like a heat source, pot, fermenter and such. You can get more in to it, but all you really have to have for smaller batches is that bag.

 

[ahaley]

Dang, ok I may have to look more in depth into sparging and learning how to mash and everything

 

[jmprdood]

ahaley - I do BIAB because all I had to do was buy a cheap voile curtain at wally world, cut it in half and away you go. Simple, cheap, easy and better beer.

Cheers!

 

[wormraper]

wow, I'm THOROUGHLY impress jmprdood, one thing I noticed was that you topped off to 4 gallons. I always though that was a no no with the all grain/biab techniques, that you needed a big 7.5 gallon or above pot and a 2nd pot boil the grains, the sparge in the bigger pot then combine to one big pot. wouldn't that dilute the efficiency by topping off? if not I would KILL to do biab since I only have a 5 gallon pot (could probably do a full 5 gallon batch if I could top off with one or two gallons of water)

and secondly I noticed you ground your grain in a grinder. can I ask what purpose since it's already been malted? I thought if you got the malted grain it would just be drop in the bag and steep.

 

[kh54s10]

wow, I'm THOROUGHLY impress jmprdood, one thing I noticed was that you topped off to 4 gallons. I always though that was a no no with the all grain/biab techniques, that you needed a big 7.5 gallon or above pot and a 2nd pot boil the grains, the sparge in the bigger pot then combine to one big pot. wouldn't that dilute the efficiency by topping off? if not I would KILL to do biab since I only have a 5 gallon pot (could probably do a full 5 gallon batch if I could top off with one or two gallons of water)

and secondly I noticed you ground your grain in a grinder. can I ask what purpose since it's already been malted? I thought if you got the malted grain it would just be drop in the bag and steep.

Topping off is OK to increase the final volume but it needs to be part of the recipe. You never boil grains, only the wort. BIAB is usually a one pot process.
The grains used in beer making are malted (germinated and cooked) and must be milled/crushed to allow the extraction of the sugars needed to be fermented. In BIAB you are mashing the grains, not steeping. Even with steeping the grains need to be milled.

I personally find BIAB to be a PITA. I will still do it when I need a quick brew day but I dislike messing with a hot wet sticky bag of heavy spent grains.

 

[jmprdood]

Wormraper- I can only mash about 8lbs of grain and boil about 3Gs. So I formulate my recipes so I can top up to 4 or 4.5G. The abv is brought down, but your brewhouse efficiency is based on the SG, boil volume, and grain bill.

I just brewed a cream ale with 5lb of pale malt, 1lb of flaked corn, 1lb of flaked rice and 4oz of carapils. I collected 3G of pre-boil wort that had an adjusted for temp SG of 1.068. This gives me an efficiency of about 75%. When I topped up to 4.5G I had an OG of 1.044 which should yield about 4.5% ABV.

Cheers!

 

[wormraper]

Topping off is OK to increase the final volume but it needs to be part of the recipe. You never boil grains, only the wort. BIAB is usually a one pot process.
The grains used in beer making are malted (germinated and cooked) and must be milled/crushed to allow the extraction of the sugars needed to be fermented. In BIAB you are mashing the grains, not steeping. Even with steeping the grains need to be milled.

I personally find BIAB to be a PITA. I will still do it when I need a quick brew day but I dislike messing with a hot wet sticky bag of heavy spent grains.

sorry, boil was the wrong term, I understand that you only boil the wort and hops just got me terms wrong.

huh, didn't realize you had to mill steeping grains. wonder why I never see a grain mill as part of the ingredient list for BIAB setups , (don't wanna spend $100-$250 on a grain mill that I only use to make beer)