BIAB no pulley options / suggestions

[pretzelb]

I'm about to foolishly try another big beer with my BIAB setup and I'd like some tips or suggestions for sparging and squeezing. Here is a photo of my set up which includes a cooler MT and a HLT kettle. Not seen is my BK.

For a "normal" sized beer I have good success with draining, squeezing, then adding sparge water and repeating (after a good stir). I'm able to manage the bag and the MT fairly easily. But with a very large grain bill this becomes too heavy and bulk of the grains make it hard to push aside for draining. I also don't have any kind of colander strong enough to hold up to the grain size.

On my last big beer I just pushed through and struggled around it. This time I'm debating if I should give up and just do a full volume mash. I'd like to get more out of the grains so I'd prefer the batch sparge. I think my best bet might be to just try and strong arm it again as best I can. Just wondering if someone has a creative alternative I haven't thought of. Now I'm off to the LHBS to buy my wheat wine ingredients. Cheers.

 

[sillbeer]

I'm about to start my first BIAB with a 5 gallon batch. I don't have a pulley setup yet but I foresee setting one up in the near future.

 

[soccerdad]

How many pounds of wet grain?

 

[wilserbrewer]

I brewed this morning with that very same cooler, with a braid.

Most common cooler BIAB method is to run off the wort through a drain. Any chance you could add a drain?

Just an idea....a square cooler bag will get a bit unwieldy, a round kettle bag would be more manageable.

 

[Stillraining]

I never could squeeze out to my satisfaction on big brews...Why fight it?....Just move to a full mash tun, its not that much more equipment ,time or trouble. You can make it as simple or complicated as you want. My set up is 2 coolers and a boil pot. Pretty simple. And IMHO way more fun and safer.

 

[aamcle]

Do you have a ladder? If so you can rig up some sort of temporary hoist n take the pain from the strain!

If you need a total of say 40 liters of water save 10-15 litres dept on grain bill and split the water in 1/2 and dunk twice. You know all about that, the trick is to rig and up a temp hoist.


Aamcle

 

[chuckcomm]

I'm about to start my first BIAB with a 5 gallon batch. I don't have a pulley setup yet but I foresee setting one up in the near future.

I did the pulley and ladder for my first BIAB brew day.

The next brew I didnt want to get out the ladder and rig it up so I got a metal rack (I think Im using the one that goes in our microwave) that would fit on top of my kettle. My BIAB bag is in a basket in the kettle. When the mash is done I lift the basket and slide the rack under it to drain. I then pour sparge water over this, stir and squeeze until I reach my boil volume.

 

[enkamania]

I use a fryer basket and shelf from my kegerator. I pick up the basket, put down the shelf on the pot. I use a pot lid to "squeeze" the bag.

 

[pretzelb]

How many pounds of wet grain?

20 lbs in total. For me "normal" is around 12 which I didn't have a problem handling. The barley wine I just did was 25 and that was a beast.

 

[bondra76]

This was brought up in another forum - use 2 bags or 3 bags instead of 1.

Instead of having 1 gigantic bag of grain, the 2-3 smaller bags will be much more manageable.

Looks like you don't do BIAB over a direct heat source, so stirring (which is the obvious hindrance) wouldn't be a problem in your case.

 

[pretzelb]

Do you have a ladder? If so you can rig up some sort of temporary hoist n take the pain from the strain!

If you need a total of say 40 liters of water save 10-15 litres dept on grain bill and split the water in 1/2 and dunk twice. You know all about that, the trick is to rig and up a temp hoist.


Aamcle

Hmmm, I do have a very large ladder I could use. I will have to see if I have any rope. I don't like it for a permanent solution but it might help me get by when I brew this one.

 

[pretzelb]

The next brew I didnt want to get out the ladder and rig it up so I got a metal rack (I think Im using the one that goes in our microwave) that would fit on top of my kettle. My BIAB bag is in a basket in the kettle. When the mash is done I lift the basket and slide the rack under it to drain. I then pour sparge water over this, stir and squeeze until I reach my boil volume.

I did try some cooling racks we had in the kitchen but they were too small for the cooler. I then tried them on the kettle but the bag just flopped over the sides. I didn't really plan my way to a BIAB setup so I'm not as prepared as most everyone else here.

 

[aamcle]

Dunking I think works better than pouring through, can't prove it though.


Aamcle

 

[sillbeer]

I just pulled the grain bag out of my 5 gallon Murphy's Stout and it was very light. I held it for about 5 minutes then dropped it in a bucket. It's a low gravity beer. I would expect 10 gallon high gravity beers to be a problem.

 

[doug293cz]

Dunking I think works better than pouring through, can't prove it though.


Aamcle

Unless you do the pouring very slowly and carefully, dunking (batch sparge) works better. Pouring is analogous to fly sparging, but it is even easier to get channeling (and reduced efficiency) with pour over.

Brew on

 

[masskrug]

Do what you can and add some sugar or DME to level your numbers.

 

[TexasWine]

I'm about to foolishly try another big beer with my BIAB setup and I'd like some tips or suggestions for sparging and squeezing. Here is a photo of my set up which includes a cooler MT and a HLT kettle. Not seen is my BK.

For a "normal" sized beer I have good success with draining, squeezing, then adding sparge water and repeating (after a good stir). I'm able to manage the bag and the MT fairly easily. But with a very large grain bill this becomes too heavy and bulk of the grains make it hard to push aside for draining. I also don't have any kind of colander strong enough to hold up to the grain size.

On my last big beer I just pushed through and struggled around it. This time I'm debating if I should give up and just do a full volume mash. I'd like to get more out of the grains so I'd prefer the batch sparge. I think my best bet might be to just try and strong arm it again as best I can. Just wondering if someone has a creative alternative I haven't thought of. Now I'm off to the LHBS to buy my wheat wine ingredients. Cheers.

I'm a tad confused about your set up. Does your cooler have a ball valve for draining towards to bottom like most cooler MTs? If not, that's one modification that will definitely ease your brew day. Almost a necessity I'd say.

I'm also confused why you would want to hoist the bag or lift it out of the cooler at any point other than to clean it. Mash, drain, sparge, drain. No lifting of the bag required.

What am I missing?

 

[wilserbrewer]

I'm a tad confused.....
What am I missing?

I believe the OP has a 48 qt square ice cube cooler without a drain and a BIAB bag.

No idea why he has chosen this route...or how he intends to empty the wort from the cooler. A square or rectangular bag does not shape nicely like a round kettle bag when hoisted from the cooler, most using a bag and cooler are using the bag as a sparge tool and draining the cooler with an outlet at the bottom.

 

[pretzelb]

I'm a tad confused about your set up. Does your cooler have a ball valve for draining towards to bottom like most cooler MTs? If not, that's one modification that will definitely ease your brew day. Almost a necessity I'd say.

I'm also confused why you would want to hoist the bag or lift it out of the cooler at any point other than to clean it. Mash, drain, sparge, drain. No lifting of the bag required.

What am I missing?

I do have a valve on the bottom. That picture isn't the best. I have a stand where I gravity drain to the BK. The idea behind hosting is to squeeze and drain before adding sparge water. After adding sparge water I will mix, let sit for a few minutes, then drain, hoist, squeeze, and drain again.

 

[pretzelb]

I believe the OP has a 48 qt square ice cube cooler without a drain and a BIAB bag.

No idea why he has chosen this route...or how he intends to empty the wort from the cooler. A square or rectangular bag does not shape nicely like a round kettle bag when hoisted from the cooler, most using a bag and cooler are using the bag as a sparge tool and draining the cooler with an outlet at the bottom.

I do have the outlet but as you noted the square bag and cooler don't sync up well with a round BK. That is what makes my setup a bit awkward. With my BK on the ground, my MT sits above it on a stand. Since the bag won't hover above the BK cleanly all my squeezing of the bag needs to be above the cooler MT. I need to see if I can get a ladder to fit above the cooler while it is elevated above the BK. If not then I could just move the cooler around and squeeze off to the side, the move the cooler back and drain to the BK.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Ok, so you do have a drain....

I would just let the mash drain, then tip the tun and let it drain some more.

I used that same cooler yesterday, one the mash was drained I tipped the cooler way up towards the drain and let it drip for about 30 minutes, produced about 3 quarts and the grain bed did not contain much wort worth worrying over.

 

[TexasWine]

I wouldn't worry about hoisting the bag. Just use something like the lid of a small pot to do your squeezing. Press down on the grains while they sit in the cooler.

 

[pretzelb]

Here is a better picture. I even threw in the smaller ladder I have. I should have included this at the start.

The reason why I was going to hoist was when I squeeze with the bag in the cooler, it ends up getting absorbed right back into the grains. But it might be the easiest option.

 

[pretzelb]

Trying again

View attachment 1450636016586.jpg

 

[BowAholic]

I use a fryer basket and shelf from my kegerator. I pick up the basket, put down the shelf on the pot. I use a pot lid to "squeeze" the bag.

x2...it's easy and it works

 

[aamcle]

Tap n a bag, let it drain, squeeze, close the tap add sparge water and mix, drain it do it again. No lifting required.


Aamcle

 

[Mer-man]

Or split the huge grain bill in half and mash once, hoist/drain like you normally do. Then dump the grain and refill with the other half of the grain bill, and repeat.
I.e, double mash.

 

[Psylocide]

 

[Mer-man]

Is that with the 22re or did Toyota stop using that motor?

 

[Psylocide]

98 4Runner SR5... it's a 3.4L V6. Looks like they stopped producing the 22re in 97, but I wouldn't buy an SUV with a 4 cylinder.