BIAB mashing in ice chest

[cajunbrewer14]

About to get into BIAB. Ordered 30 quart turkey fryer on amazon for $12. Question is I want to hear strike water in pot then mash in ice chest . Do I have to have special rectangular bag or can I just get my grain wet and close bag and let it do its thing for 60 minutes?

 

[McKnuckle]

Ideally, the bag should line the mash tun perfectly, with no dead space around it. You want the grain and liquid to flow freely, not be constrained. The more constrained the mash is, the less surface area will be exposed and the less fluid movement will occur in your mash.

Those are bad for both efficiency and overall flavor extraction. So use this principle as a guide.

 

[madscientist451]

I put my BIAB bag in a round cooler, works great.

 

[cajunbrewer14]

Ok thanks guys!

 

[cajunbrewer14]

Is a 5 gallon round cooler big enough to mash for a 5 gallon BIAB recipe?

 

[McKnuckle]

Not a full volume mash, no (how could it?). But if you perform a 50/50 mash/batch sparge in terms of water volume, then certainly it's large enough.

 

[cajunbrewer14]

Not a full volume mash, no (how could it?). But if you perform a 50/50 mash/batch sparge in terms of water volume, then certainly it's large enough.

Right. That's what I mean.

 

[5hakesbeer]

I use a BIAB in my bottling bucket with great efficiency. wrap a sleeping bag around it and away you go. 1*C heat loss after 1 hour. just remember to stir the hell out of the mash!

 

[cajunbrewer14]

I use a BIAB in my bottling bucket with great efficiency. wrap a sleeping bag around it and away you go. 1*C heat loss after 1 hour. just remember to stir the hell out of the mash!

How many gallons of water do you normally use? I'm new to BIAB. And how long to stir in beginning?

 

[5hakesbeer]

How many gallons of water do you normally use? I'm new to BIAB. And how long to stir in beginning?

depends on the beer and amount of grain (obviously), but usually about 4 gals then sparge with a further 2ish after collecting first runnings. It's served me well for about 20 batches now without too much of a hankering to upgrade to something better. I'd probably prefer to spend the money on a couple more cornys tbh

 

[cajunbrewer14]

depends on the beer and amount of grain (obviously), but usually about 4 gals then sparge with a further 2ish after collecting first runnings. It's served me well for about 20 batches now without too much of a hankering to upgrade to something better. I'd probably prefer to spend the money on a couple more cornys tbh

Thanks! I appreciate all the help!

 

[BNolt17]

I use a 7.5 gallon cooler. Usually about 4.5 gallons of water to about 12# of grain leaves me a little room at the top. I dunk sparge into 3 gallons of 170deg water. After absorption I have 6.5 gallons of wort at the start of the boil. It's not exactly a traditional BIAB but it works for me and I get about 75% efficiency with double crushed grains.

 

[5hakesbeer]

Nice. I just leave it all as is, as if it is an actual mash tun. The BIAB for me is essentially just a false bottom and the tap for bottling collects the wort from the bottom. At the time it was the cheapest way for me to move into AG without worrying about the usual worries of BIAB and I haven't bothered changing since. It's brilliant how many different styles people have for something so simple.

 

[cajunbrewer14]

I use a 7.5 gallon cooler. Usually about 4.5 gallons of water to about 12# of grain leaves me a little room at the top. I dunk sparge into 3 gallons of 170deg water. After absorption I have 6.5 gallons of wort at the start of the boil. It's not exactly a traditional BIAB but it works for me and I get about 75% efficiency with double crushed grains.

Round cooler?

 

[BNolt17]

Yes. Not sure how easy they are to find. I work in athletics and we upgraded our water coolers so it fell into my lap. Works perfect

 

[PADave]

Why not just mash in the kettle? An old winter jacket will hold temps over an hour.

 

[cajunbrewer14]

Why not just mash in the kettle? An old winter jacket will hold temps over an hour.

You reckon I could mash everything full volume on a 7.5 gallon pot? Or do I need to do a partial mash and add steeping water? Also do you normally have to kick you heat on or does your heat stay good with jacket?

 

[pricelessbrewing]

The rule of thumb for no sparge is you'll need ~2x the batch size.

You will definitely need to sparge with a 7.5G mashtun/kettle, or drop the batch size down to ~3.5-4 gallons for typical beers. Lower for big beers

 

[PADave]

You reckon I could mash everything full volume on a 7.5 gallon pot? Or do I need to do a partial mash and add steeping water? Also do you normally have to kick you heat on or does your heat stay good with jacket?

Nope, that wont work. You need around 7.5 gallon of water, then the grains brings things up nice and close to the top. That's also what helps maintain temps, very little head space. If you want to do full volume 5 gal batches, you'll need a 10 gallon pot. With that setup I add no heat. Temps only fall about 2-3 degrees over an hour.

I missed in your original post about only having a 7.5 gal pot.