All grain equipment

[GASoline71]

Just out of curiosity, what makes biab a waste of time and efficiency? I've DONE and read about systems that get just as good efficiancies as traditional MLT. And biab is usually reported to SAVE time. I'm about to build a single vessel recirculating biab system so i'm just curious as to what your thoughts and observstions are.

Sorry mang... I should have described what I meant about efficiency. I wasn't referring to the "brewhouse" efficiency. What I was actually talking about was the so called time and labor savings of AG BIAB.

The day I have to use a 10 foot ladder to brew with... will be the day I'm standing on it adding hops to a 15bbl kettle.

Gary

 

[gizmodog51]

i'm in the BIAB camp and for the money invested in equipment it is a great way to do A.G.
i find that people will make their hobby as complicated as needed to fit their needs.
i like KISS keep it simple, stupid.
nothing wrong with either camp three tier, fly sparging, batch sparging or BIAB...it's whatever a person feels good about.
i found pulling the rope to lift 13 -17 lbs of water laden grain scarey so I invested in this: http://www.tractorsupply.com/en/store/hand-winch-600-lb-pulling-capacity?cm_vc=-10005

really helped and my beers have been great ......:rockin:

GD51

 

[mikeysab]

The day I have to use a 10 foot ladder to brew with... will be the day I'm standing on it adding hops to a 15bbl kettle.

Gary

10 foot ladder for brewing? I've been seeing that described for biab and dont get it. I've seen people using ladders more for cooler brewing than biab. My system certainly isn't going to be using any ladders.

 

[Hawkeye11]

I just don't think its easier or a time saver once you move out of the kitchen.
people get great efficiency with it. 5-10 gallon BIAB setups seem to get just as complicated as a mashtun setup.

I get 80% efficiency and save about an hour over fly sparging. It's quite easy and can accommodate grain bills to 15+ LBS for 5 gallon batches. I find it much less complicated.

 

[Hawkeye11]

Whats your typical time frame with BIAB?

Around 3.5 to 4 Hours depending on mash profile and boil time.

 

[GASoline71]

10 foot ladder for brewing? I've been seeing that described for biab and dont get it. I've seen people using ladders more for cooler brewing than biab. My system certainly isn't going to be using any ladders.

I've seen it in pics here... and my buddy that did it as well. A ladder and a pulley system to lift a 20 lb. to 30 lb. bag of wet grains out of a 15 gallon kettle.

I use a 10 gallon cooler mash tun... and don't lift it once during the whole brewing process. I don't lift my kettle either... I am also not using any pumps. It is super simple...

Only thing I lift on brew day is pints of homebrew...

Gary

 

[RM-MN]

Never tried BIAB only because I didn't think it would save time compared to batch sparging or the differnce would be small. My typical brew day with batch sparging is 5 to 6 hours if I could cut that to 3 or 4 then I could manage that after work weekdays.

Whats your typical time frame with BIAB?

It usually takes me about 3 1/2 hours for a brew day for 2 1/2 gallon batches, a little longer for a 5 gallon batch as it takes longer for the heating and cooling. Never over 4 hours from starting to bring equipment from the basement to the kitchen until the brew is in the fermenter and everything cleaned and put away again. I think I could do 2 batches in the 6 hours you have mentioned. My big time difference is using the kitchen stove to heat and a tub of water with snow in it for cooling. A good propane burner and an immersion cooler would probably speed up the process but then I would be brewing outside and some days I want to brew aren't very nice to be outside.:rockin:

 

[mikeysab]

I've seen it in pics here... and my buddy that did it as well. A ladder and a pulley system to lift a 20 lb. to 30 lb. bag of wet grains out of a 15 gallon kettle.

I use a 10 gallon cooler mash tun... and don't lift it once during the whole brewing process. I don't lift my kettle either... I am also not using any pumps. It is super simple...

Only thing I life on brew day is pints of homebrew...

Gary

I've seen it too. Not pointing fingers at anyone but i think some people feel that a ladder is a required piece of equipment for biab. For me, building a stand out of unistrut is the way to go. I got scrap pieces of strut from work and nuts and bolts from my dads material collection so the stand is free. Add a pulley with a hook to suspend the basket/bag and viola. But thats just me. I've seen people use chairs, tables, milk crates......anything to build tiers or platforms. Thats perfectly fine and I don't knock it it at all. Its about makin beer and however people get that done effectively, good for them.

 

[Denny]

Never tried BIAB only because I didn't think it would save time compared to batch sparging or the differnce would be small. My typical brew day with batch sparging is 5 to 6 hours if I could cut that to 3 or 4 then I could manage that after work weekdays.

Whats your typical time frame with BIAB?

I can do an AG batch sparge brew in about 4 hours.

 

[GASoline71]

I've seen it too. Not pointing fingers at anyone but i think some people feel that a ladder is a required piece of equipment for biab. For me, building a stand out of unistrut is the way to go. I got scrap pieces of strut from work and nuts and bolts from my dads material collection so the stand is free. Add a pulley with a hook to suspend the basket/bag and viola. But thats just me. I've seen people use chairs, tables, milk crates......anything to build tiers or platforms. Thats perfectly fine and I don't knock it it at all. Its about makin beer and however people get that done effectively, good for them.

Good post. I am not trying to point fingers either. The AG BIAB works for some people, no doubt. I guess (for me) after seeing the complete simplicity of AG brewing with a 10 gallon round cooler for a mash tun, and a single infusion mash with a batch sparge... it suprises me that the AG BIAB even exists.

Gary

 

[doby]

Thanks RM-MN for the feed back! I am going to look at biab closer and give it a try, in the summer I boat weekends and if I can find way of doing ag in 4 hours or under that would work after work weekdays.

Denny, your system and advice has been invaluable to me, I get a consistant 75% effeciency with equipment I put together from things I had laying around and it is simple. I am also going to try and streamline the system to cut down on time. Maybe I can as I gain experiance