BIAB v. Traditional Mash Tun (Boom goes the dynamite!)

[BradleyBrew]

I've done both. Most recently I have been doing no sparge parti-gyle brewing with my traditional mash tun. This has been my biggest improvement in over all flavor / quality.

 

[MotorcycleMatt]

I've done both. Most recently I have been doing no sparge parti-gyle brewing with my traditional mash tun. This has been my biggest improvement in over all flavor / quality.

yea ive gone to no sparge biab. Im really digging it.

 

[rockbasementbeer]

It may have been my process, but i feel like the beers ive done since switching to a cooler mash tun vs biab have cleared a little faster. As to the quality of taste, I haven't noticed much if any difference

 

[BradleyBrew]

yea ive gone to no sparge biab. Im really digging it.

I've done it over the past summer... maybe like 6 brews sessions and I get a much deeper malt flavor then the traditional batch sparge method.

 

[CUrchin]

So,does the grain know it's going through extraction in a bag rather than a cooler/MLT? I think not...So there you have it.

 

[BradleyBrew]

So,does the grain know it's going through extraction in a bag rather than a cooler/MLT? I think not...So there you have it.

ohhh...It knows that you know that it knows that its in a bag so by default it can simple not be as good.

 

[whitehause]

I've done a bunch of both. 30 or so BIAB and a ton of MT single sparge. For BIAB I started holding back a gallon or two of water heated to 180 and dunk the bag in that to help rinse the grains. It upped my OG by a couple points. The crush is a big part of BIAB also. Crush the hell out of em!

Like others have said, I just got tired of wrestling with the bag so I went with the MT.

Other than the heavy dripping bag, and a slight hit in OG, BIAB works just as well as MT sparge.

If it's better quality your looking for, fermentation temp control made the biggest difference for me.

 

[jmadway]

I have done quite a lot of both. they both work and make decent beer, I dont have any quantitative side by side data though. I think there might be a difference when you get into very clean light lagers (because of the extra grain matter / hot break in the biol with BIAB), but fermentation temp and pitching rates are an area that most brewers could make a bigger improvement in their beers. My preference is to use a regular mash tun, because it is less messy may take 30 seconds more cleaning, but in my experience there is really no difference in clean up time, you can go dump a mashtun just as easily as a bag then rinse it out and you are done. also I am not a fan of how much you loose to trub with BIAB, and how hard it is to keep trub out of the fermenter (I reuse yeast so having trub in the fermenter isnt good for that). chickens

Why does BIAB produce more trub?

And +1 on the Weber grill. Cheap and works great.

 

[seefish]

Why does BIAB produce more trub?

When you use a mash tun you can do a vorloff (sp?) that allows the grain bed to act kind of like a filter. That being said, I don't think its anything that a good cold crash plus fining agent and a couple weeks in a fridge won't clear up. That would probably be troublesome if you are yeast harvesting though.

 

[tonyc318]

When you use a mash tun you can do a vorloff (sp?) that allows the grain bed to act kind of like a filter. That being said, I don't think its anything that a good cold crash plus fining agent and a couple weeks in a fridge won't clear up. That would probably be troublesome if you are yeast harvesting though.

It's amazing what time in the cold will do. The problem is patience.

 

[BadMrFrosty]

When you use a mash tun you can do a vorloff (sp?) that allows the grain bed to act kind of like a filter. That being said, I don't think its anything that a good cold crash plus fining agent and a couple weeks in a fridge won't clear up. That would probably be troublesome if you are yeast harvesting though.

I filter my wort through a sanitized tea towel when dumping into the fermentation bucket. Towards the end when the sludge is thick I sanitize my hands and give it a good squeeze. Works great, hardly any trub.

 

[chickens4life]

It's amazing what time in the cold will do. The problem is patience.

For me patience has nothing to do with it, trub settles out quickly and my concern was amount of trub not serving clear beer, the issue is effectively separating large amounts of trub after the boil so that the east are not mixed with it at the bottom of my carboy after fermentation.
My second issue is the excessive loss of wort to that trub, I lose about 2 - 2.5 as much volume to trub when I do BIAB.

 

[tonyc318]

For me patience has nothing to do with it, trub settles out quickly and my concern was amount of trub not serving clear beer, the issue is effectively separating large amounts of trub after the boil so that the east are not mixed with it at the bottom of my carboy after fermentation. My second issue is the excessive loss of wort to that trub, I lose about 2 - 2.5 as much volume to trub when I do BIAB.

Huh. I don't lose that much. I use whirlfloc in my boil and whirlpool it after chilling to settle the trub. I don't have a ball valve on my kettle, so I siphon off the top. I try not to get a ton of trub in the fermenter, but don't really care that much. The siphoning off the yeast cake after fermentation is what matters more IMO. Then when I transfer to the keg and let it hang out for 4 weeks, my beers are usually very clear.

 

[beergolf]

I thought squeezing grains in a bag releases unwanted tannins? Am I wrong on that?

Yes you are wrong with that. Squeeze away.

 

[NewJersey]

i dont think you would be able to a 10 gallon batch with biab.
im on a traditional mashtun setup with no biab experience.

 

[tonyc318]

i dont think you would be able to a 10 gallon batch with biab. im on a traditional mashtun setup with no biab experience.

I've done a 10gallon batch on my BIAB set up twice. While it's not impossible, it does SUCK!!!! And I will not do it again. I would just do a double brew day if I want to make 10gallons of the same thing or set up a cheap and easy cooler mash tun like Denny Introduced.

 

[Cider123]

I really like the idea of using the heavy SS grill and the kettle lid to squeeze the bag and wort back into the kettle.
I was placing the bag in a colander over a bucket, then pouring contents of the bucket in the kettle. Also getting sticky hands squeezing a damn hot bag!

I'm using the grill next time, genius!

 

[beaksnbeer]

i dont think you would be able to a 10 gallon batch with biab.
im on a traditional mashtun setup with no biab experience.

I do 15 gallon batches to split 3 ways almost every other weekend

 

[libeerty]

I do 15 gallon batches to split 3 ways almost every other weekend

I do 7-11 gallons BIAB. Wilsonbrewer pulley and his sweet bags makes it easy.