Cheapskate BIAB

[Dory Rules]

I'm pretty new to brewing, and looking to move to BIAB. I've read through a lot of posts on this site, but haven't found a system close to what I am thinking of. Please tell me if this design makes any sense or if I'm completely off base. Thanks in advance!

• 10 gallon kettle. Simple, with only a ball valve outlet at the bottom. Heavily insulated.
• 2,000 watt heatstick
• Bag or mesh basket to fit whole kettle
• Immersion cooler

The above so far seems pretty standard. I'm thinking of a twist in the process however.
Mash-in to mash-out as normal (problems with stirring mash with heat stick?)
Dump and rinse bag or basket
Put bag or basket back in kettle (bag would have spatter screen to keep bottom open)
Use heat stick to boil wort.
Immersion cooler to cool to pitch temp.

My thoughts are that now I have the hot break and cold break inside the bag or basket. Maybe vorlauf a couple pitchers of wort to help. Wort should be pretty clean going to the fermentor.
I have read of people trying to bottom fire their kettles to boil with a basket in place, but the bubbles never enter the basket. That shouldn't be a problem since the boil initiates from inside the bag.

What do you think?
--Edit--
This would allow me to purchase multiple size kettles, and/or spend more on fermentation control.

 

[Dory Rules]

Has anyone tried doing the boil with a bag or basket in place?

 

[mirthfuldragon]

I think you are over-thinking. Also, more cleaning. Hot break and cold break are going to happen regardless. From what I have read and my own experiences, kettle trub has not negatively effected my beer, or rather, I have turned out some very nice beers and I transfer all but about a pint to the fermentor. One of the nice things about BIAB is making clean-up easier, and having my BIAB get all funky with hops and trub would be no fun to clean at all.

I am sure you could do it, but I do not see how it would improve the beer. My (completely unsubstantiated) instinct is that the proteins that make up hot break and cold break are going to pass through and around the bag as if it were not there, since proteins are very, very tiny.

I have used paint strainer bags as hop spiders before, and what I was left with was a bag full of hop detritus, and I do not recall noticing a difference in kettle trub going to the fermentor. YMMV.

 

[ancientmariner52]

I can speak to stirring the mash with a heat stick. I built mine around a 1500 watt water heater element mounted in a chrome plated sink drain elbow, so that the element is at a right angle to the handle (drain tube). I found the basic plan on line somewhere.

Anyway, I wired it through a foot switch, so that I could use one hand to stir, one hand to hold a digital thermometer, and one foot to operate the switch. Bluegrass fiddle music helps, I reccomend John Hartford. I worried about damaging my plastic cooler mash tun with the element, but I've never found a mark after many, many brews. The only thing I would change is to mount the element loop vertically instead of horizontally.

 

[shetc]

I use this kettle, and that's a great deal https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FTLY1K/ref=as_at/?creativeASIN=B000FTLY1K

 

[SanPancho]

this sounds like a huge sticky mess with all sorts of issues to solve. using the stick alone as a heat source isnt the best idea. and it'll be fun to clean- hop oils and wort caramel.

why dont you invest in the largest plastic funnel you can find, and a few strainer bags to cover it? run the wort off into the funnel and let the straining happen there. if you have two of them, when one starts to clog you can swap it for the second one and clean out the first one. repeat as necessary.

a funnel is cheap. if you just got bulk voile (what most biab bags are made from) you can just lay down sheets to cover the funnel. dont even need to pay for sewn bags.

havent priced it, but seems like it should be pretty cheap to me. wilser might sell you some of the voile cheap since there's no sewing involved.

 

[cegan09]

There's zero point in putting the bag back in. Break material is fine. I've been dumping most of the kettle trub into my fermenter for years to no ill effect. There's experiments to back up this point.

Why are you stirring with a heat stick? A big paddle is cheap, just buy one. I wouldn't want to risk damaging the heating element and creating an electrical hazard.


Don't over think this. You can make a dead simple system without making weird problems.

Get the kettle, get the bag, get the heat stick. heat water to mash temps with the heat stick, then remove heat stick. add bag and grains, stir with normal paddle. When mash is done remove bag and grains, put heat stick back in, use that to boil. After boil just drain into fermenter. Enjoy your beer a couple weeks later.

 

[LittleRiver]

cegan09 nailed it.

Only thing I would add is to insulate the kettle during the mash. Use an old sleeping bag or some blankets, and it won't cost you anything.

If you haven't already bought a thermometer, consider one that has a remote probe, so you can monitor the temp without removing the insulation.

 

[ODI3]

Reasons not to stir with heat stick:
You dont want to be banging the side of the kettle or trying to break up dough balls with a heat stick. Mash paddles work much better for this.
heat stick has hydro running through it, the less you touch it the better
Heat stick has cord attached which is kinda a pain in the ass to stir with
mash spoons are better for taking hydrometer samples or taste tests

I personally dont like to have my bag in at any time when element is on. bag can insulate element end potentially melt or burn some grain which wrecks your batch.

I have never used a 2000w element before, im not sure if its strong enough. I think to run 2000 element you'd need a 20a gfci kitchen receptacle 20a plug and 12 ga wire.

to filter, most people just drain through a bag into the fermenter instead of reinserting the bag back into the kettle

 

[z-bob]

For a mash paddle, a 5 gallon paint stirrer works great. And they are really cheap. I sand mine lightly after the first use because the wort raises the grain.

One thing I've been considering trying when I transfer my wort from the kettle into a bucket, is lining the bucket with a paint strainer bag to catch most of the hops particles and break matter. Lift the bag out and squeeze it, and I have relatively clean wort -- or that's the theory. I really don't care if some gets through, but I don't like all of it going into my fermenter because the hops never really pack down and they hold a lot of beer at the end. (so I've been using a hop sock, but that seems to cut down on hop utilization)

 

[ancientmariner52]

I underlet through my manifold, I've never even seen a doughball. I use my wooden mash paddle to stir, the heat stick is for adding heat, you stir with it to prevent scorching and to heat evenly. I don't use a bag (yet) but I have seen no reason to think it wouldn't work. I never stop moving the heat stick while it is powered, so it never gets very hot. I'm not saying anyone else should do this. I'm saying it is practical, it works, and if built correctly, safe.

 

[Dory Rules]

Thanks everyone! Yea, I have a habit of making things more complicated. I think I'll drop the idea of the heat stick and go with normal BIAB procedures. I may try filtering through voile on the way to the fermenter. May help with aeration.
@shetc - I'll give that kettle a closer look.

 

[shetc]

Thanks everyone! Yea, I have a habit of making things more complicated. I think I'll drop the idea of the heat stick and go with normal BIAB procedures. I may try filtering through voile on the way to the fermenter. May help with aeration.
@shetc - I'll give that kettle a closer look.

Have a look at www.biabrewer.info -- I have learned a lot there.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Thanks everyone! Yea, I have a habit of making things more complicated. I think I'll drop the idea of the heat stick and go with normal BIAB procedures. I may try filtering through voile on the way to the fermenter. May help with aeration.
@shetc - I'll give that kettle a closer look.

There you go again making things more complicated. Filtering post boil is difficult due to proteins, don’t bother imo

 

[kh54s10]

You talked of doing a mashout stirring with the heat stick. There is no reason with BIAB to even do a mashout. That is a procedure used when fly sparging for 45 minutes or longer.

I tried straining the wort going into the fermenter ONCE!!! What a pain. There are very few if any benefits of straining. I do use a paint strainer bag to contain the hops though. The deepest trub layer in my fermenter has been about 1/2 inch.

 

[Dory Rules]

Simpler yet! I like it.