BIAB Brewing (with pics)

[Mysticmead]

Has anybody had any problems with tannins from squeezing the bag? It always seemed like a no-no from what I have read, but everybody here seems to do it.

nope..not a single problem... I believe its one of those myths about brewing.

 

[mrmadworx]

Ok so quick question, I'm a newb brewer and looking to go all grain. If you have a good blichmann kettle why are you using a bag? Why not just get the false bottom designed for the pot and skip buying the basket, bag and pulley system? Seems more complicated.

 

[jaginger]

Short answer is because you only need 1 kettle to BIAB.

 

[Mysticmead]

Ok so quick question, I'm a newb brewer and looking to go all grain. If you have a good blichmann kettle why are you using a bag? Why not just get the false bottom designed for the pot and skip buying the basket, bag and pulley system? Seems more complicated.

if he skipped the bag... how would he remove the grains? remember, with BIAB you mash and boil in the same kettle.. while it is probably over kill to have a blichmann kettle, if you really think about it, does anyone really need a blichmann? its all about the bling factor...if you want it and can afford it.. then go for it

 

[Squirrels]

If you are interested in raising the basket (build legs) I found a great way to do this. All I needed was 4 5/16" carriage bolts, any length you wish, 4 acorn nuts, 4 hex nuts and 4 washers. Put on the hex nut and washer onto the carriage bolt. Feed the bolt through one of the holes and cap on the inside of the pot with the acorn washer. Do this for the 4 legs. It works great for me. I have my basket elevated about an inch off of the bottom. I think I will have to use the ladder pulley trick. This is a great write up of a great way to brew beer! I hate to clean more than I have to.

 

[Mysticmead]

If you are interested in raising the basket (build legs) I found a great way to do this. All I needed was 4 5/16" carriage bolts, any length you wish, 4 acorn nuts, 4 hex nuts and 4 washers. Put on the hex nut and washer onto the carriage bolt. Feed the bolt through one of the holes and cap on the inside of the pot with the acorn washer. Do this for the 4 legs. It works great for me. I have my basket elevated about an inch off of the bottom. I think I will have to use the ladder pulley trick. This is a great write up of a great way to brew beer! I hate to clean more than I have to.

make sure all that hardware is stainless..

 

[edecambra]

This was a sweet write up. I have done about 7 BIAB batches now and I have a question for all the fellow BIAB'ers: How do you deal with the excess trub in the kettle?

So far I have been whirlpooling and racking off, but I just realized that I don't wait near long enough (5-10 minutes as opposed to the 20-30 I have just read it takes) When I am racking though it seems like there is a crap ton of trub, and I use irish moss and my hops have been in mesh bags that I remove before whirlpooling.

Anyway I have been looking at getting a valve and some kind of screen/false bottom/hop and break blocker. I think on my next brew I will just wait longer for the whirlpool, but 30 minutes here and there adds up to a long ass brew day!

What do you all do to manage this, and if anyone has a screen how well does it filter out the break material?

 

[Squirrels]

make sure all that hardware is stainless..

Oh it is all stainless! I also disassemble it, wash and dry it after every brew. No other way to brew.

Edecambra, you may want to search for a hop taco or hop stopper. Both of those look like they work well. You can see the hop stopper at the electric brewery web site.

 

[Mysticmead]

I have a question for all the fellow BIAB'ers: How do you deal with the excess trub in the kettle?

whirlpool, wait 30 minutes and rack off the trub. if a little makes it to the carboy oh well, it isn't going to hurt anything

 

[Skrimpy]

Short of reading the whole thread (Yeah, I'm lazy...or busy, I have a set of 3 year old twins a six year old with mommy at dance and have to make dinner), I have heard that squeezing grain bags can extract tannins making the beer taste bad. Many BIAB brewers are squeezing the bags. Is there any evidence that squeezing the bag releases tannins or not? Are there any peer reviewed studies? If not, this would be a great one to publish...if we can find the appropriate journal? Maybe a microbiology, biology or chemistry journal?

 

[Mysticmead]

Short of reading the whole thread (Yeah, I'm lazy...or busy, I have a set of 3 year old twins a six year old with mommy at dance and have to make dinner), I have heard that squeezing grain bags can extract tannins making the beer taste bad. Many BIAB brewers are squeezing the bags. Is there any evidence that squeezing the bag releases tannins or not? Are there any peer reviewed studies? If not, this would be a great one to publish...if we can find the appropriate journal? Maybe a microbiology, biology or chemistry journal?

squeezing is fine. mainly its high temps that release the tannins that or over sparging. Since you normally don't sparge with BIAB (yes I know some do dunk sparging but that's not the same) and you aren't heating to high temps tannins release isn't a problem.

 

[Skrimpy]

squeezing is fine. mainly its high temps that release the tannins that or over sparging. Since you normally don't sparge with BIAB (yes I know some do dunk sparging but that's not the same) and you aren't heating to high temps tannins release isn't a problem.

So this begs more questions.

If some are getting as good an efficiency as some that fly sparge pretty well, why would you sparge at all with BIAB?

Also, with the exception of using the grain bed as a filter I don't see how wringing out the grains in the bag is any different than letting them drain from the kettle with gravity and in the same manner sparging. It's actually probably more efficient. If you put clean water in at 170 for sparging, mix the stuff around, pull the bag out and then squeeze it, it's pretty much the same thing as sparging. Again though the difference being you aren't using the grain bed as a filter.

 

[Mysticmead]

Some people don't have a pot large enough to do the full volume so they do a dunk sparge in another pot with clean 170 degree water. Me personally I let drain for 20 minutes then squeeze. Works for me

 

[Antler]

Forgive me if is is a stupid question, but all your grains go in during the mash, and all your hops are added during the boil at a certain time is this accurate? I'm researching BIAB brewing, but I want to do everything in one pot all at once, the way you have. Thanks for this thread and pics!

 

[Mysticmead]

yep.. all the grains go in the bag for the mash. then hops are added during the boil at certain intervals depending on the type of hops and the amount of bitterness you want.

 

[dantheman13]

Forgive me if is is a stupid question, but all your grains go in during the mash, and all your hops are added during the boil at a certain time is this accurate? I'm researching BIAB brewing, but I want to do everything in one pot all at once, the way you have. Thanks for this thread and pics!

Yes, all of your grains go into the bag, and the boil is the same as any other style of brewing. As others have stated, most BIAB methods don't involve a sparge, so you can do one mash in your single kettle, pull out your bag and squeeze/drain, and then bring it to a boil. Check my sig for the Aussie BIAB forums; lots of infos there as well.

 

[Antler]

yep.. all the grains go in the bag for the mash. then hops are added during the boil at certain intervals depending on the type of hops and the amount of bitterness you want.

Thanks for the fast reply! My lovely better half has Just given me a turkey deep-fry kit, so I'm looking into trying a BIAB soon. Where does everyone buy their ingredients? My local brewery store doesn't carry a lot of hops and grains.

 

[Mysticmead]

Thanks for the fast reply! My lovely better half has Just given me a turkey deep-fry kit, so I'm looking into trying a BIAB soon. Where does everyone buy their ingredients? My local brewery store doesn't carry a lot of hops and grains.

Brewmasters Warehouse is a great place to buy. they have a great crush on the grains as well.

 

[Beer_Guy]

Here is a Home Brew supplier in Canada.

http://ihomebrewing.ca/

In St Johns there is Brewer Lane. They list grains on their site.

http://www.brewerylane.com/index.html

[Google Maps search location is handy.]

 

[Antler]

Thanks beer_guy!

 

[sha0056]

Alton Brown has a pulley setup that may work for those of us who can't or don't want to permanently attach pulleys to ceilings. In season 10, he did an episode called "Fry Turkey Fry" and built a rig off of his aluminum (I think) ladder that would accept a pulley system along with a cleat to lock the grain bag in place above the brew kettle. It seems to work well and is adjustable in position so you can make sure you don't get any swing or motion when lifting it out of the brew pot. I'd trust the set up to hold at least 40 lbs when using a sst bucket like Seven did, if your mounting is secure enough, with some decent sized bolts.

I'm going to try this method out when I do my first BIAB, but I need a fermy chamber built before this so it'll probably be a few months.

Great advice though!

Good Eats... and drinks!

 

[Antler]

I'm new to AG and I'm doing research do attempt a BIAB in a few weeks. Is there any real advantages of using mash tuns, and hot liquer tanks? I mean a BIAB seems like a fairly straight forward system, the more I read about the bigger systems people have the more I can't see why more people aren't into BIAB. What are the advantages to using bigger systems with 3 kettles?

 

[jaginger]

im sort of exploring both methods as well. advantage of 3 vessel seems to me to be no lifting and draining of the bag, which is a bit cumbersome, especially for bigger than 5 gallon batches.

i think clarity is generally not as good in BIAB as you don't have the grain bed filtering. those are small issues IMO, but some slight disadvantages to BIAB.

 

[Mysticmead]

im sort of exploring both methods as well. advantage of 3 vessel seems to me to be no lifting and draining of the bag, which is a bit cumbersome, especially for bigger than 5 gallon batches.

i think clarity is generally not as good in BIAB as you don't have the grain bed filtering. those are small issues IMO, but some slight disadvantages to BIAB.

with a traditional 3 vessel system, unless you have a single tier with pumps, you have to lift water. Also with a traditional 3 vessel system you have to lift the mash tun full of wet grain to dump it unless you stand there scooping it out. Even that is a lot of bending and twisting on the back. granted, once I decide to join the 10 gallon club I'll probably only use BIAB for smaller batches in the 5 gallon range. unless I add a pulley to my brew house then I'd still do BIAB.

yes BIAB has a cloudier wort going to the boil kettle, but the finished product going to the keg or bottle is just as clear. believe me, if a beer is cloudy and entered into a competition, the judges will notice. BIAB produces award winning beers..

now, all of this is not to say that BIAB is right for everyone, it isn't. a 3v setup isn't right for everyone either. the simple fact that with both methods we're taking grain and converting it into beer is all that matters. which ever way YOU prefer to do it is the right way.

 

[Antler]

Thanks! I'm gonna be trying some 5 gallon batches and experimenting with some recipes I find here, then if I like it as much as I think I will, I'll be upgrading to 10 gallon batches, bigger burner, etc.

 

[dallasdb]

subscribed

 

[Skrimpy]

Well...I maybe off to the races this weekend. 10 gallons with a pully on the ceiling in the garage. Some bullets:

-The easiest way it seems for an all wheat is BIAB because there is no stuck sparge.

-Apparently, BIAB does clarify on the chill, in the fermenter and maybe in the keg. My thinking is if you rack to a secondary and cold crash it for a day, it should clarify pretty quick.

-PLUS, I'm not entering any contests, so I don't give a crap if it's hazy. As long as it tastes good, I'll take it over anything bought in the store.

 

[Mysticmead]

my 100% wheat hefe came out great. Just for the experience I even did a double decoction mash.

 

[Antler]

Do any of you all filter your beer before Kegging and force carbing?

 

[Mysticmead]

Do any of you all filter your beer before Kegging and force carbing?

nope.. I crash chill it for 3-7 days then rack to the keg. I'll add gelatin if needed.