BIAB Brewing (with pics)

[rudy0498]

I'm defintely not concerned with it making it's way into the fermenter. I use pellet hops whenever I can, but there are some recipes where whole hops are the only option, or even a large portion of pellet hops can still plug up a dip tube.

Maybe I need to selectively use the hop stopper depending on the recipe. I would still like to find a way to use it regularly.

 

[thughes]

Hop spider.

 

[rudy0498]

Hop spider.

If I have to, I will resort to that. I've used one before and while the results are good, I wasn't a big fan of trying to stir in/around it.

Has anyone been able to use a ss mesh hop stopper successfully with BIAB?

 

[thughes]

Some guys just rinse the grain bag and then put it back in the kettle for the duration of the boil. Pull it out before chilling....gets all the hops residue, break, and other stuff out.

 

[Mysticmead]

I used the extra voile I had and made a hop sack. It has a tie string at the top that I tie off the one of the handles of my kettle (and keggle). it's big enough and long enough to just about reach the bottom of the pot and allows plenty of room for the hops to be mixed by the boil. no hops into the primary that way.

you used to use a herms. if you still have a pump you can recirculate during the mash and it'll help filter the wort pretty well.

Other than that, if you can post a pic of your bag material, just to see if it's the real fine weave or not.

 

[rudy0498]

A close up picture of the bag is below. I bought it from another HBTer who was making some extras. I don't think the quality of the bag is the problem. I no longer have a pump, so a recirc is not an option. I may try another batch and see if I can keep it suspended by stirring as I drain, or if I can scrape it away from the stopper as it drains. I hate to waste the money I spent on this thing.

 

[nate456789]

A close up picture of the bag is below. I bought it from another HBTer who was making some extras. I don't think the quality of the bag is the problem. I no longer have a pump, so a recirc is not an option. I may try another batch and see if I can keep it suspended by stirring as I drain, or if I can scrape it away from the stopper as it drains. I hate to waste the money I spent on this thing.

What I do is mash in the voile bag in the kettle. Stir enough to dough in. When I am done mashing I lift the bag out and sit it in a large stainless colander over the kettle and let it drain.
Then I put the bag in a food safe 5 gal bucket and pour rest of my water at 170 deg water on it. Let it mash out for 10 min. Then I squeeze the bag out. While this is happening I am bringing my first runnings up to boil.
Then I pour off the bucket and leave a little bit in the bottom which has some grain dust in it.
This method leaves very little grain dust in the kettle.
My efficiency has always been mid 80s this way.

 

[OzarkPA]

Hey guys - I want to try this out... but not sure what voile is!!? Is it like a sheer curtain? Cotton? Nylon? Avoid colored material?

 

[thughes]

Sometimes referred to as Swiss voile, the stuff they make the sheer curtains out of. Get a curtain (white, no colors) at Wally World for less than $10.00:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Better-Homes-and-Gardens-Solid-Voile-Curtain-Panel/15641983?sourceid=1500000000000003260370&ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=15641983

 

[eulipion2]

Has anyone been able to use a ss mesh hop stopper successfully with BIAB?

I think it was in one of the "hop taco" threads someone suggested ordering a SS mesh sheet (I forget how fine) from McMaster-Carr, folding it in half, clamping the edges and inserting a dip tube. I tried this and have had very good success, though I sometimes have to scrape it with my paddle during transfer if my brew has a lot of trub, usually my wheat beers.

That being said, I no-chill, so I don't really have to contend with cold break.

 

[msa8967]

I bottled my first two BIAB batches today. they were both cream ales that contained some flaked corn and rice. I noticed that there were very tiny particles suspened inside my beer while it was in the bottling wand. I cannot recall seeing these before so I was wondering if I made a mistake crushing the flaked corn and rice with the rest of my grain or if these partiles are just normal for the course of doing BIAB. Any ideas of what this might have been and if it could be a problem?

I did use new paint strainer bags to hold my grain.

 

[Mysticmead]

I bottled my first two BIAB batches today. they were both cream ales that contained some flaked corn and rice. I noticed that there were very tiny particles suspened inside my beer while it was in the bottling wand. I cannot recall seeing these before so I was wondering if I made a mistake crushing the flaked corn and rice with the rest of my grain or if these partiles are just normal for the course of doing BIAB. Any ideas of what this might have been and if it could be a problem?

I did use new paint strainer bags to hold my grain.

no need to crush flaked corn and rice.. just toss it in the mash. if you use voile instead of paint strainer bags it'll keep small particles out of the primary

 

[msa8967]

I kind of figured that so I moved to using voille material for the next several BIAB brews. I am not sure if the tiny particles will just fall to the bottom on the bottles and settle out with the yeast sediment or not.

 

[Mysticmead]

they should drop out with the yeast.

 

[perimeter]

I hope to do a BIAB batch this weekend and after reading about the first 20 pages of this thread I was still left with one question. Maybe it was addressed and I missed it, but why is a finer crush or double crush helpful for efficiency using this technique? I just got a RebelBrewer mill for my birthday and get great crushes with it.

 

[Mysticmead]

by crushing finer you expose more of the grain to the water. with a high water volume mash like with BIAB it will convert pretty complete if crushed fine. you also don't have to compensate for not sparging which would normally mean adding an extra pound or two of grain. In a traditional 3v setup they don't crush to fine because they could get a stuck sparge. In BIAB that's not an issue. I have my barley crusher set to .034 and average 75% efficiency

 

[perimeter]

Mine is set to 0.027". Do you think that'll work okay for a BIAB batch?

 

[Mysticmead]

Mine is set to 0.027". Do you think that'll work okay for a BIAB batch?

should work great.. I could go much tighter on mine I just haven't played with it since setting to .034. Hmmm... might try dropping it down to a tighter setting on my next beer to see how I like it. The main thing in BIAB is ti crush it nice and fine.

 

[Sippin37]

Is it easy to make the gap a little smaller on the Barley Crusher? I just got one but didn't want to mess with the gap spacing for fear of breaking the thing, lol!

 

[Mysticmead]

Is it easy to make the gap a little smaller on the Barley Crusher? I just got one but didn't want to mess with the gap spacing for fear of breaking the thing, lol!

real easy. loose 2 screws.. insert feeler gauge at desired thickness.. turn adjustment knobs to tighten roller to the feeler gauge. tighten screws

 

[Sippin37]

Got it. It didn't come with the feeler gauge, did it? If not, where do you find one of those guys?

Thanks

 

[msa8967]

Got it. It didn't come with the feeler gauge, did it? If not, where do you find one of those guys?

Thanks

Any basic autoparts store or hardware store will carry these. I bought mine from Autozone for about $6.

 

[nate456789]

I usually just run it thru the crusher twice if I am doing BIAB. I have no problem hitting in the 80s like that.
That way I don't have to keep messing with the gap if I want to do a regular mash.

 

[Ralphadopolis]

Thanks for the great info, and easy to follow instruction. I was going to start buying equipment for AG, but I think im gonna skip that for now and try BIAB.

 

[Riseabovebb]

Thanks for the great info, and easy to follow instruction. I was going to start buying equipment for AG, but I think im gonna skip that for now and try BIAB.

I definitely recommend brewing in the BIAB style. I just brewed the hopslam clone Seven references earlier in the thread. I tasted the brew yesterday prior to dry hopping and it smells and tastes FANTASTIC.

I did need to add 2 lbs of DME to hit my target OG due to efficiency/capacity issues, but that's said to only be an issue for really big beers where a whole ton of grain is needed.

Good luck to you!

 

[JonathanG]

I just want to say that this thread has been invaluable. I recently started home brewing in March, and am planning to do a BIAB for my second batch next week. It'll be my own take on Biermuncher's Orange Kolsch. Thanks for all of those that have contributed to this thread. It encouraged me to try all grain for my second batch.

 

[ThePonchoKid]

That is a heat shield that keeps the sight-glass from boiling and the plastic cover on the valve handle from melting. It also protects the thermometer casing from overheating and breaking. Although I temporarily removed the built-in kettle thermometer for BIAB.

Hah! I suspected that kettles like these would need some sort of shielding. Anyone who has had any experience with a gas burner should be skeptical of leaving these kettles unshielded. Do the designers of these and similar kettles address this concern?

 

[Mysticmead]

nope.. none that I know of have a heat shield built in... you'd think they'd all have one by now

 

[jmd1971]

Hate to ask, but without paging through all 69 pages of posts, could someone please repost the formula to derive how much water should be added to the kettle based on the amount of grain being used, evaporation, length of boil, etc.?

I wish you could search the thread but can't figure out how. I want to do my first BIAB this Friday - looking forward to it!

Great info, all...

 

[JimTheHick]

Hate to ask, but without paging through all 69 pages of posts, could someone please repost the formula to derive how much water should be added to the kettle based on the amount of grain being used, evaporation, length of boil, etc.?

I wish you could search the thread but can't figure out how. I want to do my first BIAB this Friday - looking forward to it!

Great info, all...

Lots of variables here that are going to be particular to your setup (evap rate and how hard/if you squeeze the bag).

I just mash at 1.5 qt per pound and then add sparge water up to 7 gallons (6 gal batch) over the top of my bag as it sits on a grate draining into my kettle. It's pretty simple. Just plan for boiling off about a gallon over a sixty minute boil to hit your total wort volume.