BIAB 10 gal batch in 15 gallon kettle?

[cuse88]

I often don't brew anything over 5 gallons so my 15 gallon kettle is more than big enough for my batches.

I'd like to make a 10 gallon batch of my Wheat beer in order to experiment a little bit.

Would a 10 gallon batch be possible in my 15 gal kettle?

 

[brew_ny]

Missed the BIAB my bad

all the best

S_M

 

[tmendick]

I have been told it is possible. You just have to use a dunk or pour "sparge" when you take the bag out, since the water alone you would need is about 14-15 gallons total.

 

[singybrue]

Depending on how much grain you're mashing, you'll probably have to top off your boil volume with sparge water, but you should be good to go at that point, be ready with the spray bottle of water for potential boil-overs.

 

[Thedutchtouch]

It depends on a few factors, most importantly grain volume and boil off rate, but yes, it's possible. You can always dunk or pour sparge, or even just add some water after you remove the bag if you can't fit it all at once, BIAB always has a much more watery mash than "normal" brewing so I personally don't think that mashing with full or 3/4 volume makes any difference.

 

[KIAKillerXJ]

exactly. 10 gallons of high gravty- not without additional water/sparge. 10 gallons of something sessionable, yea, I've done it.

 

[mmb]

Well, my first BIAB attempt yesterday was a 10G batch with 17lbs of grain in a 15G pot and it was a total cluster****. I wouldn't do it again with the 15G pot.

 

[RM-MN]

Well, my first BIAB attempt yesterday was a 10G batch with 17lbs of grain in a 15G pot and it was a total cluster****. I wouldn't do it again with the 15G pot.

Why not? You now know what to expect and what needs to be changed to make it effective. Go for it!

 

[mmb]

Why not? You now know what to expect and what needs to be changed to make it effective. Go for it!

The changes needed would be removing water from the mash and sparging the grain to boil volume after pulling the bag. I already have a three vessel system and tried BIAB because of the "simplicity" of the full volume mash and no sparge. Adding complexity to the process such as sparging would require another vessel to heat water in and needlessly complicates things. At that point, go two vessel with recirculation MLT/Kettle system.

I'll still BIAB and teach it for intro to all grain, but, in my opinion, 10G of a 1.040+ OG beer in a 15G pot is pushing the limits of the vessel.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Well, my first BIAB attempt yesterday was a 10G batch with 17lbs of grain in a 15G pot and it was a total cluster****. I wouldn't do it again with the 15G pot.

Large batch BIAB brewing is all about "bag control" and having an easy and effective way to raise the bag. I have done several 15 gallon batches in a 20 gallon pot and find the following points helpful...

1. Mash in so that you are at about 80% of your pot volume, this will allow for easy mixing of the grain without spilling, let mash rest.

2. Add hot water for mash out up to about 1/2" below the kettle rim and stir well and let rest say 5-10 minutes.

3. Slowly hoist bag allowing it to drain as you go with a ratchet pulley and let bag hang and drain just above kettle / wort surface. A well fitted and shaped tapered bag will allow the runnings to neatly drain in a single stream back into the kettle with no mess.

4. Pour sparge water gently and slowly over and through the bag to achieve pre boil volume.

5. Dispose of spent grain and boil.

Once you have a sound practice, large batch BIAB can be very manageable.

Cheers!
wilser

 

[RM-MN]

The changes needed would be removing water from the mash and sparging the grain to boil volume after pulling the bag. I already have a three vessel system and tried BIAB because of the "simplicity" of the full volume mash and no sparge. Adding complexity to the process such as sparging would require another vessel to heat water in and needlessly complicates things. At that point, go two vessel with recirculation MLT/Kettle system.

I'll still BIAB and teach it for intro to all grain, but, in my opinion, 10G of a 1.040+ OG beer in a 15G pot is pushing the limits of the vessel.

There is really no need to heat the water for sparging. People who have tried both ways have found little difference between sparging with hot water compared to cold. You usually aren't sparging with a large quantity of water when you BIAB and the wet grains are hot enough to warm that amount of water enough to dissolve the sugars.

Wilserbrewer suggests adding hot water to bring your wort to mash out but that too is an unnecessary step as you achieve the same end by pulling the bag and begin to heat the collected wort immediately as you drain the bag and sparge.

 

[wilserbrewer]

There is really no need to heat the water for sparging.

I agree, the only advantage of heating the sparge water will be reducing overall time of the brew session. Larger the batch, the more time impact.

 

[mmb]

There is really no need to heat the water for sparging. People who have tried both ways have found little difference between sparging with hot water compared to cold. You usually aren't sparging with a large quantity of water when you BIAB and the wet grains are hot enough to warm that amount of water enough to dissolve the sugars.

Wilserbrewer suggests adding hot water to bring your wort to mash out but that too is an unnecessary step as you achieve the same end by pulling the bag and begin to heat the collected wort immediately as you drain the bag and sparge.

I suspended the bag and heated to mash out, then pulled and squeezed. Still didn't sparge the grain. And I should correct the volume, it was an 11G batch to have 10.5-ish G into fermenters.

Why not? You now know what to expect and what needs to be changed to make it effective. Go for it!

The change needed to be made to make it effective is swapping the 15G pot for a 20G pot.

 

[cuse88]

A 10 gallon batch is possible from what I'm getting but a bit extra work (as with anything ha).

If I decided to just do an 8 gal batch, I should be fine and not adding any extra steps correct?

 

[worxman02]

My last BIAB batch was a 5 gallon batch of a Wee Heavy in my 15 gal brewpot with 21lbs of grain or so and it barely fit with all the grain and the water. You would need a bigger pot if you are going to regularly do 10 gal batches of high gravity beer.

My penultimate batch was a 10 gal Scottish Pale ale and I was able to fit all that grain and water perfectly fine in the brewpot. It was a little awkward to mix the grain with the water within a half inch of the top of the pot but it all worked out. That was about a 5.5-6% final ABV brew. Don't remember the OG.