BIAB with two pots

[skyzo]

So I have finally made the switch to all grain after years of extract brews. Only problem is, I live in an apartment, so full-scale propane burners and stuff arent really an option.
Because of these limitations I was thinking about just making 2.5 gallons batches, and BIAB appealed to me because of not needing to get much extra gear.
At my local co-op, they had some stainless steel 16qt stock pots on sale for $5, I couldnt resist and bought 2 of them.
Now, what I was thinking, is I would do sort of a hybrid BIAB. I would mash in one of the pots, and when the mash was done, would transfer to another pot that had sparge water in it. Let it sit in there for 5-10 mins, and then transfer the sparge water to the main pot and begin the boil.

Is there any reason why this wouldnt work? I was worried at first that the 16qt pots would be too small, but since I am splitting it up like that, maybe it will work?

Thanks

 

[BigRock947]

That's how I do my BIAB and it works well for me.

PS: I use a colander to hold the grain bag when I'm getting ready to transfer to the sparge water. I let the mash water drain into the pot when it slows, I put the bag into the sparge pot open the bag, give it a quick stir and wait 10 minutes.

 

[dcp27]

It'll work fine. I used to do the same with two 20qt pots.

 

[skyzo]

Awesome! Thats good to hear.

How big of batches were you making dcp with your 20qt pots?

 

[skyzo]

So would I just do the standard 1.25qts/lb of water for my mash, then calculate the rest of the initial volume in the sparge water?

 

[dcp27]

3-5 gallons, depending on how much grain I could fit. Usually 3 gals tho so I could do it more often. If you can fit the grain, you can top up to whatever size you want, a full boil isn't necessary. preferred, but not necessary

pretty much, don't forget to account for the grain absorption (~0.1 gal/lb). you can also go thicker if you want to fit in more grain. I tend to prefer around 1.5 qt/lb tho. if you haven't seen it yet, the last calculator on this will let you know the max you can fit: http://www.rackers.org/calcs.shtml

 

[thughes]

It'll work fine. I used to do the same with two 20qt pots.

x2