BIAB Help

[toolboxdiver]

I am thinking about doing some small batch beers and I figure BIAB is the way to go. Do y'all add Rice Hulls in the bag with the Grain like I would in the Mash Tun?

 

[Oginme]

There should be no need to add rice hulls unless you are using an abnormal amount of hulless malts or adjuncts where drainage may be a problem. Using a bag, there is no one direction for the wort to escape, so you are much, much less prone to blocking it from coming out.

 

[toolboxdiver]

Thanks

 

[z-bob]

I have used an abnormally large amount of hullless adjuncts once (mixture of very fine corn meal and rye flour) and I still didn't need rice hulls. It did drain pretty slowly, but no danger of sticking.

 

[Waunabeer]

I have used an abnormally large amount of hullless adjuncts once (mixture of very fine corn meal and rye flour) and I still didn't need rice hulls. It did drain pretty slowly, but no danger of sticking.

Mine tends to drain slowly too, but I bought some heat resistant rubber gloves and just give it a good squeeze.

 

[toolboxdiver]

Mine tends to drain slowly too, but I bought some heat resistant rubber gloves and just give it a good squeeze.

Thanks

 

[LittleRiver]

If you can, rig up an overhead point for hoisting your bag with a rope and pulley(s). After hoisting, tie it off, fire the heat, and let the bag drain into the kettle during the entire boil.

There'll be no need for the hot sticky mess of squeezing, and the bag will be cool and light when you go to dispose of the grains. There'll only be about 1 to 1.5 cups of liquid left in a gravity drained bag, which is not worth the effort of squeezing.

 

[toolboxdiver]

If you can, rig up an overhead point for hoisting your bag with a rope and pulley(s). After hoisting, tie it off, fire the heat, and let the bag drain into the kettle during the entire boil.

There'll be no need for the hot sticky mess of squeezing, and the bag will be cool and light when you go to dispose of the grains. There'll only be about 1 to 1.5 cups of liquid left in a gravity drained bag, which is not worth the effort of squeezing.

Thanks I planned on that for larger batches in the future. For now the bag isn't that heavy as I am only using about 5lbs of grain in a batch and it is in the kitchen til my health gets better.

 

[teddy464]

If you can, rig up an overhead point for hoisting your bag with a rope and pulley(s). After hoisting, tie it off, fire the heat, and let the bag drain into the kettle during the entire boil.

There'll be no need for the hot sticky mess of squeezing, and the bag will be cool and light when you go to dispose of the grains. There'll only be about 1 to 1.5 cups of liquid left in a gravity drained bag, which is not worth the effort of squeezing.

I agree with LittleRiver, I have the bag on a rope and pulley that I suspend over the kettle (keg) at the end of the mash for ten gallon batches. Let that drain while you get up to boil and continue through... helps save time too, which is one of the many reasons why people BIAB.

 

[Ninoid]

I brew 100% wheat beer and squeeze bag without any problem.

 

[Morrey]

I use an Arbor Fab mesh basket for the mash along with a press plate to get all the wort from the grains I can get. When I make NEIPA's with wheat, oats and flaked barley, this makes a bit of a "porridge" consistency as opposed to straight husked malts. I'll throw in a handful of rice hulls to aide extraction, but if I didn't have rice hulls handy, I wouldn't go out to specifically buy them for that reason alone.

 

[teddy464]

I use an Arbor Fab mesh basket for the mash along with a press plate to get all the wort from the grains I can get. When I make NEIPA's with wheat, oats and flaked barley, this makes a bit of a "porridge" consistency as opposed to straight husked malts. I'll throw in a handful of rice hulls to aide extraction, but if I didn't have rice hulls handy, I wouldn't go out to specifically buy them for that reason alone.

I agree... rice hulls certainly won't hurt in a situation like that, but you can definitely get by without them for BIAB.