Cooler biab

[Psylocide]

You know i trust you so i will just stop worrying about temps im about to no chill and 30 min. Mash anyways. You ever 30 min mash? Problem with pulley is i dont know how big an eye i need or where to put it or how also i have big cheap aluminum pot you saw it where do i get collander THAT big. I have racks from keg fridge i can drip dry /squeeze thanks anyways iijakii

Ladder for a hoist should work.

If you're going to 30 min mash, make sure your crush is nice and fine. Almost flour. I've recently gone back to 1 hr mashes, but it's purely because I am doing other things and not rushing it so much lately. Efficiency has increased, but I also started playing with pH and full volume mashes, so I don't know whether 1 or all of these things are contributing the most.

However, I was consistently getting 75% efficiency with a 30 min mash and no water adjustments.

You'll need to use whirlfloc in the boil (last 5 or 10 min) and most likely fine with gelatin or at the very least, cold crash before packaging if you want clear beer.

I make crystal clear beer this way, but not f I skip the whirlfloc.

 

[applescrap]

Thanks for the sage advice psylocide and iijakii, this i feel is monumental steps in home brew. I believe i can brew in 2 hours +or- 30 min for mash means ALot to me. More time for golf!

 

[Jim311]

I think what I did on the last batch was picked the grain bag up and put it in a separate pot I had. I kept periodically draining the pot into the keggle as it heated up to a boil. Then once it wasn't really dripping much anymore into the pot, the bag was cool enough to just squeeze over the keggle. I guess I did have to clean that second pot, but it was fairly small anyway, and what's one more thing to clean eh? Still easier than the cooler.

 

[urg8rb8]

I started this hobby off by making ten 5-gallon extract batches. Then I wanted to improve my beer by going to AG without having to spend a lot of money on additional equipment. I just ended up getting a 10-gallon igloo cooler and a huge grain bag. Best decision ever! Easy to use, easy to clean.

 

[labcor]

I do with a picnic cooler. And Work !

 

[wiggybrewer]

Bag, cooler, sparge, shorter brewday! Awesome!

 

[Gavin C]

Bag, cooler, sparge, shorter brewday! Awesome!

How does a bag in a cooler or pot or otherwise make it shorter or more awesome. Perhaps I am less liberal than others with my awe and punctuation .

 

[bigdawg86]

I too am about to venture into BIAB from extract and ran into this thread... I have a 12g SS brewtech BME kettle but due to all the welded ports it seems insulating it for the mash would be difficult. I don't want a formal 3 vessel system quite yet either... but this. I like this idea! I can get a cooler / bag, mash in that. Drain to kettle. Then do a light sparge with a 5 gallon stock pot I have from my Northern Brewer starter kit which I already put a valve in. Heck with little extra money I can add a 1500W element and Inkbird's IPB-16 PID Controller to essentially hold my sparge water at temp.

1.) Heat mash water in boil kettle...
2.) Mash in cooler.
3.) Lauter to kettle.
4.) Sparge / mash out using my 5 gallon ghetto kettle. Putting a little element in there can hold temps fine and 5 gallons is enough for a sparge right?

Technically it's a modified 3 vessel system. Does this seem retarded?

 

[McKnuckle]

It's a fine and normal alternative that many folks use. You are employing the bag in the cooler as a filter, rather than using a false bottom or manifold. You can also keep the bag in the cooler after lautering, dump in your heated sparge water, and drain again (batch sparging). Works a treat. Hardly need to vorlauf, either, if at all.

After all that, you can hang the bag or place it on a colander over your cooler (or kettle), and either gravity drain or squeeze to collect more wort.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I too am about to venture into BIAB from extract and ran into this thread... I have a 12g SS brewtech BME kettle but due to all the welded ports it seems insulating it for the mash would be difficult. I don't want a formal 3 vessel system quite yet either... but this. I like this idea! I can get a cooler / bag, mash in that. Drain to kettle. Then do a light sparge with a 5 gallon stock pot I have from my Northern Brewer starter kit which I already put a valve in. Heck with little extra money I can add a 1500W element and Inkbird's IPB-16 PID Controller to essentially hold my sparge water at temp.

1.) Heat mash water in boil kettle...
2.) Mash in cooler.
3.) Lauter to kettle.
4.) Sparge / mash out using my 5 gallon ghetto kettle. Putting a little element in there can hold temps fine and 5 gallons is enough for a sparge right?

Technically it's a modified 3 vessel system. Does this seem retarded?

If it is, then we're retarded together. This is the exact process I follow with the exception that I heat my sparge water in the same kettle I boil in and put it into a 5G round igloo as a "HLT".

I was using a bazooka screen in the MLT, but had efficiency issues. With the bag I can mill finer, get better/faster conversion, and raised my brewhouse efficiency from 61% to 70%. Not a big deal for my IPA's, but I want to brew some 12+% stouts and going in with a crappy efficiency was not a recipe for success.

 

[RM-MN]

If it is, then we're retarded together. This is the exact process I follow with the exception that I heat my sparge water in the same kettle I boil in and put it into a 5G round igloo as a "HLT".

I was using a bazooka screen in the MLT, but had efficiency issues. With the bag I can mill finer, get better/faster conversion, and raised my brewhouse efficiency from 61% to 70%. Not a big deal for my IPA's, but I want to brew some 12+% stouts and going in with a crappy efficiency was not a recipe for success.

Mill it finer yet and get your brewhouse efficiency up more.

 

[jalc6927]

I use a bag sold by wilser and it works great

I left the false bottom in my cooler and have no problems at all