BIAB in Concord / Ballington 36qt w/ basket?

[agrazela]

Anyone doing 5gal AG BIAB in one of these low-cost Concord / Ballington brand stainless pot with strainer baskets? Specifically the 36qt (9gal) size?:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A3J6F1Q/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

(I see these on ebay too for the same or slightly lower price)

I'm thinking the basket would make pulling and draining (and, egad, maybe sparging!) the grain bag a breeze. I do figure I'd be limited to ~1.070-1.075 OG in a 5gal batch, but that's at least 90% of what I brew anyway. And if I wanted the occasional Imperial, I suppose I could do two separate mashes for a single batch--which is what I'm usually doing now with my 20qt / 5gal kettle even for moderate gravity AG ales, and that's getting tiresome!

I did search and see that some BIAB'ers do use / have used this type of arrangement, but I have not seen any actual reviews of:
a) just how well the bag-in-basket-in-kettle system works out (vs. say, the standard bag-in-kettle)
b) this particular pot (quality, functionality, etc.)

Thanks!

 

[wilserbrewer]

Some like baskets, some don't. I feel a basket is not needed, just my opinion.

You can sparge directly with a bag hanging over the kettle IME.

Fwiw, I like to keep BIAB simple. One bag, one pot, grain and strike water...all you need.

Of course, opinions vary

I like the concord line. You could likely get a 40 or 50 qt cheaper without a basket. That's what I would do....

Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

 

[doug293cz]

I do use a basket and like it. Although I will be doing some experiments in no-squeeze draining with & without the basket. I'd like to find out if the bag drains better without the basket.

I have used a 32 qt (8 gal) Bayou Classic with basket for 5 gal batches. I did manage a couple of brews with 14 lbs of grain (OG 1.074), but could only use 6.5 gal of strike water, so had to do a pour over sparge with 1.5-2 gal to get my preboil volume of ~6-2/3 gal. Strike water + grain only gave me 1/4-1/2 below top of pot, so stirring was tricky (and a little sloppy.) Netted ~ 5.4 gal to fermenter.

So, 36 qt (9 gal) will work for what you intend, but will not allow full volume mash. You will need to do some kind of sparging.

Brew on

 

[agrazela]

Thanks for the replies so far.

Anyone else with reviews of this brand of pot with basket, or their experiences using bag-in-basket-in-pot for BIAB?

 

[TexasWine]

I use a 9 gallon bayou classic with the steamer basket. But I stopped using the basket during the mash and just line my pot with a bag.

Since I do all my brewing in the kitchen I don't have a convenient way to hoist a bag. The streamer basket is the perfect container for this. I pull the bag and drop it in the basket. Then I use an oven grate to let it rest over my kettle while I sparge. I open the bag right up and pour the water in.

 

[newnick]

The pot would most likely be fine as long as the handles don't fall off. There really isn't much that can go wrong with a pot. I use a 44qt. pot with a basket, but alot of brewers don't use the basket and do just fine. I like having the extra space that a 44qt. pot provides to help prevent a boil over when the wort first comes up to boil and hops are added. Most of the time I come close to a boil over at that point and I'm glad to have the room to handle it.
I've modified the pot with a bulkhead connection below the basket which I use to recirculate with a pump while mashing and for draining after the boil. I would say you can go either way with or without a basket. I would however suggest a slightly larger pot for convienence.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Agrazela, that is the exact pot I use, including the basket. I bought it specifically because it is tall and narrow so it fits on my cooktop stove and will boil in a reasonable time. No sitting outside in the hot sun or cold snow with a propane burner setup. I use a pulley setup over my stove to raise the basket.

Here's my setup:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f244/bag-hoist-hanging-any-pics-466358/index3.html

See post #25.

I don't do full volume mash. I reserve usually about 2 gal for a sparge. I raise the basket and rest the perforated bottom third of a Home Depot bucket in the top of the basket. Sparge water goes in and takes ~30 min to trickle through. Sort of a BIAB version of a fly sparge. I get about 80% efficiency. With this method, I can do gravities up to 1080-ish with AG and no added sugars in the boil. My last brew was 15 lbs of grain. I would probably max out at 16 lbs. Works great with maximum comfort and minimum hassle.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

P.S. The quality is fine. I've done about 20 brews with it a routinely lift it with 5.5 gal of wort to put it in the sink for cooling (that's another thread for my bilge pump/IC cooling system). I also inserted some small stainless bolts in the three bottom bolt holes in the basket to hold it off the bottom of the pot. No scorching the bag if I do step mashes.

 

[Siberian]

My setup requires the basket to keep the bag under control in large batches.

Without it with a full bag (40ish pounds) bulges over the sides and runs wort down the kettle as I lift it out.



Basket helps it keep its shape:





Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[agrazela]

Agrazela, that is the exact pot I use, including the basket. I bought it specifically because it is tall and narrow so it fits on my cooktop stove and will boil in a reasonable time. No sitting outside in the hot sun or cold snow with a propane burner setup. I use a pulley setup over my stove to raise the basket.

Here's my setup:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f244/bag-hoist-hanging-any-pics-466358/index3.html

See post #25.

I don't do full volume mash. I reserve usually about 2 gal for a sparge. I raise the basket and rest the perforated bottom third of a Home Depot bucket in the top of the basket. Sparge water goes in and takes ~30 min to trickle through. Sort of a BIAB version of a fly sparge. I get about 80% efficiency. With this method, I can do gravities up to 1080-ish with AG and no added sugars in the boil. My last brew was 15 lbs of grain. I would probably max out at 16 lbs. Works great with maximum comfort and minimum hassle.

Nice MacGyvering on the hoist system there. I am interested in that particular pot for many of the same reasons (still cooking on stovetop, needs to fit in my sink for cooling).

So glad that you have the exact thing I'm looking at, and that it can handle 15-16lb grain bills in the basket (the max I figured it would). So let me ask you some Q's:

What did you make your insulation blanket from? Does it seem to help a lot? (I've been putting my 5gal kettle in a pre-heated oven to hold mash temp, can't do that with this kettle)

What are the exact outer diameters of both the body of the pot and of the basket itself? (Want to see if the pot WILL fit in my sink, and if the basket could rest inside my current pot for draining)

What does the bottom of the basket look like? (Just the three holes you mentioned, or is it fully perforated like the sides?)

 

[xcdarrel17]

I use a 9 gallon bayou classic with the steamer basket. But I stopped using the basket during the mash and just line my pot with a bag.

Since I do all my brewing in the kitchen I don't have a convenient way to hoist a bag. The streamer basket is the perfect container for this. I pull the bag and drop it in the basket. Then I use an oven grate to let it rest over my kettle while I sparge. I open the bag right up and pour the water in.

I use this same pot as well, but I have stopped using the steam basket once I got a nice bag (thanks wilserbrewer). A few things I noticed when using the basket were:

- The basket would rip/tear the cheap paint strainer bags when stirring.
- I was having trouble dialing in mash temps and I had a theory it was partly due to the water sitting beneath the basket not getting stirred up well. Not sure if that is true, but it gave me something to blame.
- No real limitation on batch gravity if you do a dunk sparge. Just mash at a lower volume and dunk or pour over to get to your pre boil gravity.
- Eliminating the basket means one less thing to clean

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

The insulation is Reflectix(?) bought at HD. I bought a 16" roll, which worked out great since the pot is 16" high. I cut it to length to allow 3 wraps around the pot and used adhesive backed velcro strips to hold it in place. Just had to cut notches for the pot handles. It holds my temp loss to 1-2 degrees over an hour. With the basket spacers I can also do step mashes without scorching the bag.

OD of the pot is 12.5". OD basket is 11". Most pots of this size are 14+" OD so this is perfect for stove top. Here are some photos that show the bottom of the pot (with my high tech nut and bolt spacers) and also my sparge setup. You can barely see the holes in the bottom of the bucket. I use the clamps to keep the bucket raised above the grain. I didn't bother putting the bag in the basket for the photo.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

Sorry for the sideways photo but you get the idea.