Brew in a bag for big beers

[Rmerrill]

I'm looking to do a brew in a bag for a big beer 10%ABV. I've done this for basic beers with about 12lb grain bill for a finished product of five gallons but haven't tried the method with 20lbs of grain. My kettle is big enough but does anyone have any suggestions for brew in a bag with a big beer?

Cheers,
Rob

 

[wyzazz]

Depends on your efficiency but here are some things that I do for BIAB with higher gravity brews.

1. Boil longer, a 120 minute boil may seem excessive but if I haven't hit my pre-boil gravity I'll boil until I do.

2. Rig a pulley system or have a buddy help you lift/hold that bag of grain, it's going to be heavy!

3. If you have the means to, then sparge. This will only increase your efficiency.

4. Increase your mash time to 90 mins and stir often or recirculate, this will again increase your efficiency.

5. If you still can't hit your gravity, don't be afraid to add a bit of DME. Unless you're way off in your gravities, you won't even notice a flavor change.

 

[thughes]

Sign up here:

http://www.biabrewer.info/

And then take a look at the "Maxi BIAB" section (there are even calculators/spreadsheets to help you work things out).

 

[Rivercat96]

I think Wyzazz hit the big ticket items for achieving a decent extraction number. I would add that you may want to do a slightly finer grind on the grain to help out a bit more on the extraction and to double bag your grain so there's less of a chance for a torn bag. Let us know how the brew goes and post the recipe. I'd like to brew a big New Years brew and am putting some notes together on it. I hope you have a friend to help out with this brew cause 20 lbs. of grain + water is going to be work when you pull it.

 

[seabass07]

Definitely think about a dunk sparge. If you have another vessel to transfer the bag to, it makes it a lot easier. The problem isn't so much lifting the bag, it's holding it and letting it drain.

If you have a cooler or anything big enough for the bag plus a couple of gallons of water, you can just move the bag straight to that for the dunk sparge. I've done up to 19 lbs of grain using this method and it's really not much different than doing 15lbs of grain. I collect the sparge from the cooler a gallon at a time through the built in drain.

 

[frailn]

I brew BIAB exclusively and for bigger beers, I just make smaller batches. Yesterday, I brewed a 3.5 gallon batch that is estimated to come in around 9.5% ABV. Less beer for my brew-day effort, but the brew day goes much easier for me.

 

[bonsai4tim]

I've done this several times---single mash BIAB, raise the temp to 170 for mash out. I have a hook above the keggle to hang the bag from, but its a bitch to pick up--18 pounds of grain + 2 gal water (another 16 pounds) = 32 pounds. I usually have to stand on something to make the pick up.

Having a finer than usual grind helps with efficiency too

t

 

[cyclonite]

Dunk sparge makes a good difference in larger beers. I haven't done one that large, but the few I've done around 8-9%, I've gotten another 8% efficiency from doing a dunk sparge . And, as wyzazz said, keep some DME around just in case

 

[Atvar]

I've gotten around to weight issue by scooping a few lb of grain out at the end of my mash and into a 5gal paint strainer. Then I did the drain and squeeze to both bags. It's messier and more involved, but it worked well enough.

 

[samc]

2 bags, split the grain between them and the lifting is easy. No rule says it all has to be in one bag.

 

[Bucks-04]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/1st-all-grain-biab-ris-crazy-260086/

This was my very first bniab. A Russian imperial stout. My numbers aren't as high due to figuring out my equipment. But there are pics and some other comments from other members.

I second the pullley, if I didn't have one I would of been screwed.

Also I made my own grain bag and double lined it. I figured if there was a weak spot it would be the grain bag. It was easy getting it out.

 

[johnodon]

If you can find a steamer basket that fits nicely into your kettle, that makes "bag ripping" a non-factor. See the stickied BIAB thread for details: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/biab-brewing-pics-233289/

I can't tell you how nice it is to have the basket + pulley system!

John

 

[solbes]

If I can get my efficiency up on my 2nd BIAB another 4-7%, I'll be pleased as punch. No reason for me to move to a cooler style tun. The basket and pulley made the wet grain handling VERY easy. And the reflectix wrap around the kettle showed only a 2 deg F drop over 70 minutes for a relatively small mash volume. If I can go larger volumes that should only improve. Thanks for all of the awesome tips everyone!

If I wanted to go bigger beers (above 1.06), I will either have to get a bigger kettle (mine is 7 gal), drop my water/grist ratio below 2, add supplemental DME, or go belgian style with some sugar additions.