Brew in a Basket...anybody try one of these?

[kevreh]

Whats better, 300 or 600 micron, what are most people using?

 

[ccbadd]

Whats better, 300 or 600 micron, what are most people using?

I went with 400 micron for mine.

 

[SoCalHomeBrew]

I use a 12 Gallon kettle with an Utah Bio-diesel 400 micron Basket and will never go back to a nylon bag again. It has stand off feet so no need for a false bottom, the perimeter is open allowing more circulation when stirring, a handle for lifting the basket, drain back is much faster so the basket is not as heavy initially, it has a stand to allow further draining, and removing is easier to manage spills or burning your hands. You can press the grains to drain faster although I do not and I'm still hitting my expected efficiency/gravity without doing that. Cleaning is ridiculously easy as the spent grains fall right off and out when sprayed with a a hose.

I picked up my kettle online for $65 with a steam tray that I use as a lid, and the basket from Utah Bio-diesel as a blem for $100 (blem was a slight bend in the side bar which i just bent back). It was a cheap and highly effective all in one brew solution and I've very happy with it!

 

[kevreh]

Cool, good find. So are you sparging or rinsing the grains? What kind off efficiency are you getting?

 

[SoCalHomeBrew]

I took quite a few different approaches to this at first, looking for what works best for my setup with varied results. I now mash in the entire batch volume (+ expected boil off), no sparge, only a final ramp up of temp at the end before drain and regularly hit 74-77% efficiency (depending on the grain bill) after boil off. In the bag, I would have to sparge and/or sqeeze the bag to meet those numbers.

 

[RedlegEd]

Whats better, 300 or 600 micron, what are most people using?

I got the 600 micron as I figured it doesn't need the "filtering" precison of 300 or 400. So far, I'm really happy with it and getting about 78-80% efficiency by milling at the default ~.045" on my Schmidling Maltmill. I do sparge (rinse) with about a gallon of the treated mash water (pulled before mashing,) and then press the grain bed in the basket with a pot lid. I found that using a colander helps disperse the rinse water a little better.

 

[SoCalHomeBrew]

Nice setup! Do you run a bayou burner with it wrapped in reflective bubble wrap or is it electric?

 

[RedlegEd]

Nice setup! Do you run a bayou burner with it wrapped in reflective bubble wrap or is it electric?

Thanks! I used to run gas, now it's electric (only 120V, hence the insulation.) Just a comment on your pics (BTW, also nice setup,) be careful of your thermometer's readings. I did the exact same thing to get the probe out of the way of the basket and found that it was off by about -25⁰ (reads lower than actually is) when I was mashing. Now, I always use a digital thermometer to check the mash temp, and I'd recommend you double check yours JIC you don't have the same problem.
Ed

 

[Bellybuster]

I've been brewing with a basket (400 microns) for over a year. Will never go back to bags or mash tun.

 

[SoCalHomeBrew]

You are right about the temp probe on the pot once the basket is in with grain. It only corrects when stirring. I find it useful on initial pre grain warm up, and post grain boil/cold crash. I use a mash probe and laser for the rest. I really dig the idea of electric brewing, maybe I will convert that direction some day and ditch the propane.

 

[RedlegEd]

I really dig the idea of electric brewing, maybe I will convert that direction some day and ditch the propane.

If/when you switch, I think you'll really like it. My only "regret" (if you can call it that,) was not going to full 240V. Unfortunately, the cost of extending that into my garage would have been prohibitive, so I used the 120V/20A circuit I already have there. The downsides are longer to heat and not a very rigorous boil, but it's quiet, clean, compact, and very easy to use. I just added a digital thermometer to my control box to monitor the mash. I hope to use it soon (brew day today called off due to Mother's day and didn't want to offend/irritate SWMBO.) I got the idea from SteelManCM in this thread.

 

[jr72023]

FYI, Colorado Brewing Systems recently went from a full mesh basket to a solid side basket with a mesh bottom so sparging would be more efficient, forcing the water to travel move purely downward through the mash. They do supply many small breweries so there might be something to it.

 

[RedlegEd]

FYI, Colorado Brewing Systems recently went from a full mesh basket to a solid side basket with a mesh bottom so sparging would be more efficient, forcing the water to travel move purely downward through the mash. They do supply many small breweries so there might be something to it.

Now that you mention it, that's what the Grainfather does as well. I figured before I spend too much more money on my rig, I'll do a test to see how much difference it makes. I went to Lowe's and got a 5 gal food-grade bucket. Cut out the bottom and cut off the top to make a sleeve that would fit in my basket. Next brew, I'll put the grain inside the sleeve and recirculate through the grain. I'll see if it makes a difference. If it does, then I might consider getting a SS sleeve made that fits better...if not, well, it's only $5 for the bucket.

 

[SoCalHomeBrew]

I'm extremely interested in your results as well as applaud your low cost solution to testing the theory.

 

[RedlegEd]

I'm extremely interested in your results as well as applaud your low cost solution to testing the theory.

Thanks, I'll let you know. I was considering heavy duty AL foil, but decided against it due to the metallic taste it may impart to the beer unless it's been seasoned. I started with an aluminum turkey fryer pot, so I learned the hard way about prepping aluminum before brewing with it.

 

[BrewSS]

Looks cool, but for $80, I'd rather stick with bags and save up for a mash tun.

 

[The_Bishop]

Then, quite possibly, you're in the wrong thread. I have all the equipment to do three vessel, two vessel and one vessel brewing. I've used them all.

In the end I stuck with single vessel brewing. For my purposes it works very well, is vastly faster, and requires a hell of a lot less cleanup than any other system I've used yet. The bags work well. I used them for a good long while and still have one or two for my 'portable' BIAB rig. The basket setup which has a higher price premium to be sure, offers easier cleanup with no recirculation issues and it drains very well. There's no chance of scorching. It's also a lifetime piece of equipment.

RedlegEd: I'm interested in the outcome of your experiment. I've been debating changing out my open sided basket for a closed side design like Colorado Brewing's setup.

 

[RedlegEd]

RedlegEd: I'm interested in the outcome of your experiment. I've been debating changing out my open sided basket for a closed side design like Colorado Brewing's setup.

I'll be happy to post the results as soon as I can get another brew day in. Since I recently did BM's Centennial Blonde in my open basket (and have all my data,) I figured that would be a good candidate to re-brew with a sleeve for comparison. If it turns out to perform much better, methinks I'll just have a thin gauge SS sleeve made to fit snugly in my basket. I suspect the cost of just the sleeve would be much less than buying a whole new solid-side basket and accomplish pretty much the same thing. Then again, if I only gain a few points in my efficiencies, it might not be a cost effective mod. No matter what, I still love my basket and prefer it hands-down over my bag.

 

[hafmpty]

I'll be happy to post the results as soon as I can get another brew day in...Then again, if I only gain a few points in my efficiencies, it might not be a cost effective mod.

I'd be interested to hear/see how the clarity is vs a mesh basket. I'm currently using a mesh basket and would like a bit clearer wort in the kettle. I dump all the trub currently and don't worry about it, but if clearer wort is possible, at least out of mashing into boiling, I'd be willing to look into having my basket modified or getting a sleeve made.

Looking forward to your info. Take pictures if possible. [emoji3]

 

[The_Bishop]

I would think that if you're careful about lifting the solid sided basket up out of the wort, it should be just like draining a mash tun.

 

[brianccarr]

I've been considering the solid sided basket myself. I want to keep my system portable for brewing on the deck and taking to friends to brew. I have a Blichmann G2 20 gallon kettle and I'm considering gas firing the kettle up to mash temp and then dropping in the basket. To maintain temps throughout the mash I am looking at recirculating through the Blichmann RIMS Rocket 120v or a RIMS Tube from Brew Hardware's with a 120v element. I want to keep the heating element out of the kettle. My concern is will I get enough flow rate through the basket not to scotch the wort. Seeing how I only need I nominal amount of heat to maintain mash temp I feel like the 120v element will be fine. The grain crush will need to be a little courser maybe. Would love to hear some thought and opinions if this sounds feasible.

 

[hafmpty]

The grain crush will need to be a little courser maybe.

This is pretty much a must. I do direct-fired RIMS using the Blichmann Tower of Power Module. I crush at .050 and have the ball valve wide open during the entire mash. There are different gap measurements thrown around for a recirculating BIAB system, but the consensus is widen the gap if you're going to be recirculating.

Don't rule out a direct fired approach for you system. If you can recirculate fast enough you won't run the risk of scorching. The secret is using large ID tubing (1/2"+) and getting a good flow rate. Before the Tower of Power I made a controller using an Auber PID & RTD probe, Hot Surface Ignitor to light the propane, relay timer (used to trip the solenoid valve a couple seconds after the HSI turned on to give it time to beat up), and a cheap solenoid valve off eBay (valves4projects). Total invested was around $150-$200 for the controller with switches and lights and buzzers oh my. Could have gone a bit cheaper but I wanted it to look sweet too.

 

[brianccarr]

I hadn't even considered direct firing the mash. I would actually prefer to do that as I would eliminate having to clean another piece of equipment. As I stands now, I will have a kettle, a solid sided basket if that's what I buy ( should be easier to clean), pump, hoses, and plate chiller to clean. I only want to make the best decision the first time. I will buy a Blichmann controller. I just don't want to buy the gas version only to find out I should have bought the electric version. I know this thread is about the basket so I still have that decision to make as well.

 

[beermaestro]

Has anyone brewed with this solid sided basket yet? Is it better than the regular full mesh basket? I am going to buying either one or the other and would like to know if one is better than the other or if they are really about the same.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

I have and its prone to stuck sparges if you mill too fine but if you don't it works great, I have a 15 gallon home made basket from an actual concord pot so its heavy then cut the bottom out and added a blichmann false bottom, use it for 3 years before I upgraded to a 3 pot set up, I still have it just in case I ever go back to brew in a basket, I dont get rid of things that work lol

 

[BeeRRunBrewery]

To "piggy-back" on beermaestro's comment is what mesh/ micron screen are people using for their solid sided baskets.

 

[RedlegEd]

If you recall in my earlier post (https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=7576456&postcount=43), I was going to try an experiment using a 5 gal bucket as a sleeve in by brew basket. Well, I just kicked my keg of Kölsch, so it's time to brew another batch of BM Centennial Blonde. Since I have my brew log data from the last batch, it will be a great opportunity to see what difference, if any, a sleeve makes to the brew basket. I'll post the results tomorrow.

 

[RachmaelBenApplebaum]

out of curiosity, and I know people like to save a buck, but, I see some really nice brew rigs on here, why not just buy a proper mash tun? I mean, a ported kettle with tc fittings and a thermowell? Maybe save a little and just get the right equipment? I brew on some seriously ghetto equipment and make decent beer, I just don't get the fuss I guess.

 

[TexasWine]

why not just buy a proper mash tun?

What is a proper mash tun? For me, a proper mash tun turns out to be my boil kettle as well.

 

[The_Bishop]

out of curiosity, and I know people like to save a buck, but, I see some really nice brew rigs on here, why not just buy a proper mash tun? I mean, a ported kettle with tc fittings and a thermowell? Maybe save a little and just get the right equipment? I brew on some seriously ghetto equipment and make decent beer, I just don't get the fuss I guess.

My equipment is ghetto?