BIAB Brewing (with pics)

[Antler]

Yup, I have exactly the same experience.

With my current setup I lose temps pretty fast (have to turn up the heat 3-4 times) during the mash so i stir for 5 minutes when adding heat. Only used the setup once so far but I got 78% efficiency.

 

[Fid]

I have two kettles and am considering a igloo cooler with a false bottom. Is there any reason I couldn't mash in the cooler, drain the wort into one of my kettles and then put my sparge water in on top of the grains still in the cooler for the ten minutes and then combine that wort with the initial mash wort by draining and pressing the sparge and grains? Process would look like this.

1. Bring water to strike temp in kettle 1.
2. Mash in cooler.
3. Bring sparge water to temp in kettle 2.
4. Drain wort from mash back into kettle 1.
5. Add sparge water to grains in cooler.
6. Let stand for the 10 minutes.
7. Drain new wort into kettle 1 with original wort and press grains.
8. Start boil.

Seems like it would work well to me and no lifting of grains and the like.

Thats what alot of us do for our all grain batches. At that point you obviously aren't doing a BIAB... you're mashing using a mash tun (your cooler) and then collecting your runnings into your boil kettle. The sparge method you're describing is called batch sparging. The only thing that I would recommend is not pressing the grains after your sparge. The reason that most people who press or squeeze their grains using the BIAB method is because its more difficult to ensure that your sparge water is rinsing all of the good stuff out of the grains when they're in the form of a big ball in a grain bag. You should end up getting pretty solid efficiency by batch sparging with no need of pressing anything out of the grains. I brewed one all grain BIAB batch and got about 63% efficiency. I'm sure if I would have stuck to it and adjusted some of my processes I could have squeaked out some better results but I was itcing to buy some more brewing gear anyways . Using a cooler with a false bottom and batch sparging (no pressing) my efficiency percentage is in the mid to upper 70's.

 

[McBrewskie]

Thats what alot of us do for our all grain batches. At that point you obviously aren't doing a BIAB... you're mashing using a mash tun (your cooler) and then collecting your runnings into your boil kettle. The sparge method you're describing is called batch sparging. The only thing that I would recommend is not pressing the grains after your sparge. The reason that most people who press or squeeze their grains using the BIAB method is because its more difficult to ensure that your sparge water is rinsing all of the good stuff out of the grains when they're in the form of a big ball in a grain bag. You should end up getting pretty solid efficiency by batch sparging with no need of pressing anything out of the grains. I brewed one all grain BIAB batch and got about 63% efficiency. I'm sure if I would have stuck to it and adjusted some of my processes I could have squeaked out some better results but I was itcing to buy some more brewing gear anyways . Using a cooler with a false bottom and batch sparging (no pressing) my efficiency percentage is in the mid to upper 70's.

Awesome response. Thanks so much.

 

[BPhad]

I have two kettles and am considering a igloo cooler with a false bottom. Is there any reason I couldn't mash in the cooler, drain the wort into one of my kettles and then put my sparge water in on top of the grains still in the cooler for the ten minutes and then combine that wort with the initial mash wort by draining and pressing the sparge and grains? Process would look like this.

1. Bring water to strike temp in kettle 1.
2. Mash in cooler.
3. Bring sparge water to temp in kettle 2.
4. Drain wort from mash back into kettle 1.
5. Add sparge water to grains in cooler.
6. Let stand for the 10 minutes.
7. Drain new wort into kettle 1 with original wort and press grains.
8. Start boil.

Seems like it would work well to me and no lifting of grains and the like.

I've done 5 biab batches and this sounds way more difficult. Really lifting and giving a couple squeezes is not too hard. And you only need one pot, no cooler, or 2 kettles. BIAB is supposed to be simple don't make it 3 vessel.

 

[tonyc318]

I thought the whole point to BIAB was to not have to sparge. At least thats what makes it really appealing to me.

 

[befus]

I thought the whole point to BIAB was to not have to sparge. At least thats what makes it really appealing to me.

That is true of the full boil volume BIAB. There is also the two part BIAB where you use less than full boil water amounts to mash, and 'rinse' or dunk your grains (sparge) in the remaining water in a second vessel of some type and add to the boil.

 

[Mysticmead]

I thought the whole point to BIAB was to not have to sparge. At least thats what makes it really appealing to me.

the whole point of BIAB is to not spend a small fortune on buying and converting coolers, having a HLT, building a brew stand.. etc.. there are many different ways to BIAB and all of them are just as valid as the next. Me personally I do full volume when I can.. but if I were to make a HUGE beer and need to fit 25lbs of grain it would require a sparge of some sort.

the point is.. there's nothing truly written in stone about BIAB or any type of brewing for that matter. if everyone did it the same way we'd have no reason to talk about it on forums like these.

sparge or no sparge, BIAB or 3 vessel, RIMS, HERMS, step mashing, decoction, or single infusion.. in the end we're all making beer and that's all the really matters

 

[dobo]

the whole point of BIAB is to not spend a small fortune on buying and converting coolers, having a HLT, building a brew stand.. etc.. there are many different ways to BIAB and all of them are just as valid as the next. Me personally I do full volume when I can.. but if I were to make a HUGE beer and need to fit 25lbs of grain it would require a sparge of some sort.

the point is.. there's nothing truly written in stone about BIAB or any type of brewing for that matter. if everyone did it the same way we'd have no reason to talk about it on forums like these.

sparge or no sparge, BIAB or 3 vessel, RIMS, HERMS, step mashing, decoction, or single infusion.. in the end we're all making beer and that's all the really matters

Amen! What we do is a mix of Science and Art. In order to get good beer in the end, you can't cheat the science, but how each brewer goes about doing the science is what makes it an art (I for one admire the simplicity and low cost of the BIAB process as well as the flexibility in adjusting that process between no sparge to some sort of sparge based on what is needed to make a particular batch work).

Biggest thing you need to do as you are figuring out your process is to decide what really matters to you or makes sense for your situation. If it's to avoid sparging, then calculate out your volumes needed based on the biggest beer you intend to make and go for it. If you don't mind sparging then what kind will you do (simple rinse or are you going to dunk in a second container) and then go about figuring out all the details of what it takes to achieve that process.

Best part is, you have a whole bunch of people here who share what works for them so you get some ideas, and we help each other out as problems come up that you need to overcome, so you don't have to go at it alone.

Stop worrying if you're doing it right, or what the best way is (none of us are going to come to your place and tell you to stop using BIAB because you're doing it wrong), and just make some damn good beer!

 

[jmd1971]

I did my 3rd BIAB yesterday with the recipe found here https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/centennial-pale-ale-295004/. Went exceedingly well - got 85% efficiency! After the 60 min mash, I lifted the bag out, put in the basket that came with my turkey fryer pot (which I don't use - I use a converted keg for mashing/boiling), put a BBQ grate over the mouth of the keg, put the basket on top to drip out, & then pressed down on grains using a pot lid. Very little lifting, holding, squeezing, etc.

Also, I've always had trouble with tons of protein break/trub making it into my fermenter when using the ball valve on the side of my keg to drain after cooling. Instead, I used an auto siphon (as suggested my others in these forums) from the top & got very little trub! Altogether, it was a very successful brew day.....

I've been doing more frequent smaller gravity batches to try to get my personal BIAB process down & I think I've found it. Using BeerSmith, I've got the software tailored to the right water calc, etc. & things should be perfect on future batches.

Great stuff on here, all! Keep up the suggestions, info, etc.

 

[Mysticmead]

congrats!!! glad you got everything dialed in the way you like. For me, I stopped worrying about trub a while back and just transfer everything to the primary. I do use a hops sack to eliminate hops in the primary but the hot and cold break go right in. beer ends up crystal clear in the end.

 

[jmd1971]

congrats!!! glad you got everything dialed in the way you like. For me, I stopped worrying about trub a while back and just transfer everything to the primary. I do use a hops sack to eliminate hops in the primary but the hot and cold break go right in. beer ends up crystal clear in the end.

My problem was all th trub getting sucked into the fermenter when transferring to the keg. My fault as I was trying to get as much as possible out of the carboy & was sucking trub in which was clogging the poppets, etc. Total p-in-the-a.....

I ended up scaling up the recipe a bit to end with 5.5 gals instead of a straight 5 like I was doing in the past & then leaving all the crud behind.

 

[mb82]

Well I have a question. After reading 13 pages and finally running out of steam.

I have a 6 gal boil pot. Could I do BIAB but then sparge with say 2 gal and boil down the sparge water some to add to the pot as it is boiling to keep my volume at a little over 5 gal? Yeah the sparge water won't have any hops in it but still in theory it should work right?

 

[Mysticmead]

Well I have a question. After reading 13 pages and finally running out of steam.

I have a 6 gal boil pot. Could I do BIAB but then sparge with say 2 gal and boil down the sparge water some to add to the pot as it is boiling to keep my volume at a little over 5 gal? Yeah the sparge water won't have any hops in it but still in theory it should work right?

if you do this, you end up making beer.. so be careful.


you really should look into getting a bigger pot. That way you'll make even better beer.

 

[Brewitt]

+1 to MysticMead. It is really pretty hard to screw up this part of the process so badly that you don't get "beer". If you don't try to push the ABV you will be fine. You can just boil both until they can be combined and do the final 15 min or so in the single pot to get your flavor/aroma hops right.

However, all beers are not created equal. I have learned the hard way, with BIAB there is no replacement for having a big pot or keggle for brewing those double IPAs and big Stouts. I think that if you like to make beers over about 5% then 10 gallons is the minimum for getting really good efficiency without making a mess. My 15.5 gallon keggle has revolutionized the process. Keep in mind there are very inexpensive aluminum pots out there that work great.

 

[smyrnaquince]

You could also make smaller batches. I have a 6-gallon pot and do 2.5-gallon batches (i.e., half batches). This also lets me make a larger variety of beers to have on hand and not exceed the rate at which I can consume them.

One great thing about not brewing from a kit is that you are not locked into a particular batch size.

 

[Dillonks1]

I started brewing BIAB because of your tutorial last year, and instead of converting to a 3V system I just decked out the BIAB setup. Thanks so much for your simple startup walkthrough.

 

[jwalk4]

So... With the BIAB, do you need a false bottom?

 

[Kaz]

So... With the BIAB, do you need a false bottom?

No, in its simplest and purest form, BIAB requires a kettle large enough to hold all the brewing water you'll need and a large fine mesh bag that fits inside said kettle. I use a 10 gallon kettle and a chunk of voile curtain that I bought at Walmart for $8. Mash with 32qt of water or so and am left with about 5.75 gallons after boil. And it makes pretty darn good beer.

 

[jwalk4]

I'm not familiar with the Bilchman brew kettles so, I have one last question. Why in step 6 does it say that 6.75 gallons of wort was collected, when according to the graduations on the side there is over 8 gallons of liquid in the kettle? Is the air bubble I see supposed to suspend or something?

 

[mirogster]

I'm not familiar with the Bilchman brew kettles so, I have one last question. Why in step 6 does it say that 6.75 gallons of wort was collected, when according to the graduations on the side there is over 8 gallons of liquid in the kettle? Is the air bubble I see supposed to suspend or something?

You see it wrong, the bubble it's a level of fluid inside. Therefore 6,75 gal inside--ready for boiling .

 

[Dillonks1]

I'm not familiar with the Bilchman brew kettles so, I have one last question. Why in step 6 does it say that 6.75 gallons of wort was collected, when according to the graduations on the side there is over 8 gallons of liquid in the kettle? Is the air bubble I see supposed to suspend or something?

Where do you see liquid over 8 gallons in the sight glass? It is right at 6.75

 

[jwalk4]

Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Or am I reading this wrong?

 

[jwalk4]

you see it wrong, the bubble it's a level of fluid inside. Therefore 6,75 gal inside--ready for boiling .

ohhhhhhhhhhhh now i get it!!!!!!!!!!

 

[mirogster]

ohhhhhhhhhhhh now i get it!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, it's hard to see (shadow/low contrast of that fragment). But THE bubble (as always) shows the level ;P

 

[jwalk4]

Yeah, it's hard to see (shadow/low contrast of that fragment). But THE bubble (as always) shows the level ;P

Haha, I should have realized that something was up. Now when I count backwards from the 8.0 G marker, the graduations don't start at 0.

 

[christpuncher123]

Is this where I'm supposed to hide from the cooler loving BIAB haters? Wow don't praise BIAB on the open forum or you could get knifed! LOL..

 

[jmd1971]

To be completely objective, I've brewed all ways - extract, partial mash, all grain using MLT, as well as now BIAB - for about 8 years now. In all that time, I must say the BIAB batches I've made to date have been consistently better than a traditional MLT system, sparging, etc. Way better efficiency & flavor IMO. I'm all about simplicity & BIAB gives you that, along with a better finished product....

 

[tonyc318]

I just ordered my bag and am stoked for moving into AG through BIAB. Probably wouldnt be doing it otherwise.

Quick question: I know u can crush finer with BIAB and it helps eff. Does anyone ever get tannin type flavors from over crushing the husks?

 

[Riseabovebb]

I just ordered my bag and am stoked for moving into AG through BIAB. Probably wouldnt be doing it otherwise.

Quick question: I know u can crush finer with BIAB and it helps eff. Does anyone ever get tannin type flavors from over crushing the husks?

I haven't experienced any issues with tannins due to crush. I always double crush at the lhbs.

 

[Mysticmead]

I just ordered my bag and am stoked for moving into AG through BIAB. Probably wouldnt be doing it otherwise.

Quick question: I know u can crush finer with BIAB and it helps eff. Does anyone ever get tannin type flavors from over crushing the husks?

nope... no tannin flavors from the crush.. and you can squeeze the bag too.. no tannins that way either