BIAB in 10 gallon pot?

[SailorJerry]

So, we are 5 or 6 batches into extract brewing and we just picked up a 10 gallon pot. Is that large enough to do 5 gallon batches for BIAB? I'm sure we'd have to figure out how much will boil off, and how much water will be offset by the amount of grain we use as well.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Yes. That'll be fine. Some test brews to fine tune boil-off, grain absorption, and trub loss are all that's needed.

eg. I know in my 40 qt. I can fill water to the middle of the lower handle rivet. After I get to strike temperature I can put about 9 lbs. of grain in there to get me about an inch from the top. After mashing I can drain enough out of the bag to get to about an inch below the bottom handle rivet. An hour of boiling will get me about an inch lower. Cooling the wort makes me go a tad lower still - or in FloppyLand... 5.5 gallons.

 

[marjen]

Yes, I use a 10 gallon Kettle for 5 gallon batches no problem.

 

[Morrey]

So, we are 5 or 6 batches into extract brewing and we just picked up a 10 gallon pot. Is that large enough to do 5 gallon batches for BIAB? I'm sure we'd have to figure out how much will boil off, and how much water will be offset by the amount of grain we use as well.

Ya dun good! I do 5.5G into fermenter in my 10G boil kettle. I average 12 pounds of grain into 7.25G (full vol) strike water. After lifting out grain bag and squeezing, you may have as much as 6.75G of wort, but probably a bit less in the beginning. After my losses of around 1.25G evaporation for a 60 min boil, I typically see 5.5G into fermenter.

Unless you have a crazy huge grain bill, 10G pot is ideal for 5G batch. I have started using Fermcap antifoaming agent which helps boil over for insurance.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I have started using Fermcap antifoaming agent which helps boil over for insurance.

Small threadjack.... Have you had boil-over issues with BIAB? I may have a little surface foam, but no matter the recipe I have never been in danger of boiling over.

 

[Morrey]

Small threadjack.... Have you had boil-over issues with BIAB? I may have a little surface foam, but no matter the recipe I have never been in danger of boiling over.

When I first started BIAB I had a darn mess from a boil over. I cant remember what the beer was but I think the grains used and the recipe composition may contribute to how much the wort foams when the boil begins....but this is simply my observation and not firm fact. I use a generic dimethicone drop I found at Walmart in the baby section for antigas in children. Same active ingredient as Fermcap. Probably not 100% necessary, but for $2 to do a ton of beers, I see it as an insurance policy. Use 10 drops and foaming issues are over. The antifoaming agent drops out during fermentation, and good head formation is normal after carbing.

My average pre-boil vol is 6.75G in a 10G pot so I am up to the vol boil overs do have the potential to make a mess if unchecked. I learned never walk away distracted when approaching the boil point.

 

[Murphys_Law]

I retired my 15G pot in favor of a 10G one and do BIAB. No issues! There was 1 big beer where I had to hold back a gallon of water due to a large grain bill so I just did a sparge when I pulled my bag (poured the water over the bag while it was draining).

 

[bajaedition]

I use an eight gallon, a 10 will be luxury

 

[wilserbrewer]

Yes. That'll be fine. Some test brews to fine tune boil-off, grain absorption, and trub loss are all that's needed.

eg. I know in my 40 qt. I can fill water to the middle of the lower handle rivet. After I get to strike temperature I can put about 9 lbs. of grain in there to get me about an inch from the top. After mashing I can drain enough out of the bag to get to about an inch below the bottom handle rivet. An hour of boiling will get me about an inch lower. Cooling the wort makes me go a tad lower still - or in FloppyLand... 5.5 gallons.

I brew using the same calculator

I get a kick out of reading people striking with 4.65 gallons and sparging with 3.45 gallons.

Or being fixated on boil off or grain absorption....

All I care about is post boil volume.

Never knew I was brewing in Floppyland

 

[SailorJerry]

Awesome info, thanks guys. This is totally new to us and I have 0 idea about what temp for strike water (assuming higher than my steeping temp (steeping probably isn't the right word anymore)), we have to order our grains already milled as we don't have a mill, any recommendations of where to order from? No LHBS near us. And, we'll probably have to get a new burner as ours is ancient and takes a long time for 3 gallons of a partial boil to get rolling...

 

[mongoose33]

Awesome info, thanks guys. This is totally new to us and I have 0 idea about what temp for strike water (assuming higher than my steeping temp (steeping probably isn't the right word anymore)), we have to order our grains already milled as we don't have a mill, any recommendations of where to order from? No LHBS near us. And, we'll probably have to get a new burner as ours is ancient and takes a long time for 3 gallons of a partial boil to get rolling...

A few factors to consider w/r/t temperature. I brewed 26 batches using a traditional mash tun, the last two doing BIAB. A little different figuring out the strike temp.

1. Temp of the strike water. Duh.

2. Ambient temperatures.

3. Retained heat of your burner; mine is a Hellfire and it'll keep adding heat for 20-30 minutes after I cover up everything w/ an old quilt.

4. Amount of grist. More grist means more cooling.

5. Temperature of grist. Learned the hard way that storing crushed grain overnight in a 40-degree garage meant a larger temp drop than storing it inside at 69 degrees. Now I always store inside the night before.

That said, w/ 7.5 gallons of strike water at 160 degrees and 12# of 69-degree grist, I dropped it about 9 degrees. I'm working toward reducing the strike water amount (second one, 7.25, third one will be 7). That will slightly raise initial mash temp as less hot water to drop in temp.

Just record carefully all the above parameters when you brew and you can relatively easily figure out where you need to be.

 

[Batman88]

I have a 10gal kettle. I'm currently in the middle of doing a 13# Belgian Tripel with 9.1gal of strike water and holding 1.2gal back. I'm right at the rim, so <12 and under is easily doable with your kettle and larger grain bills you can just hold a few litres back to add before boil.

Excuse the blurry picture, I was standing on one leg and lifting the lid while shooing the dog away. When I put the lid on it would ooze over the side.

PS: Big shout-out to Wilser, First time I used my new bag from you. It's fantastic, I squeezed the beejesus out of the bag and the seams are still tight as the day it arrived. The drawstring is the greatest thing you never knew you needed.