Does anyone line their mash tun with a BIAB?

[I-Hop]

Hello,
I poked around a bit but couldn't find the answer to this question. Does anyone use a BIAB bag to line their mash tun for easier cleanup? If so, are there any other advantages or disadvantages to doing this? Seems so much easier to just pull out the bag of grains after the wort is pumped into the boil kettle.
I noticed "The Brew Bag" company has a 400 micron option for recirculating. I imagine that is intended for this use.
Thanks for your input.

 

[troglodytes]

I do this exact thing. I've been keeping my mash volumes and sparge volumes consistent to what I used with my manifold. But now I get rid of the mash tun dead space, I can squeeze the bag, and grind finer. My efficiency is up about 5% using this method and cleanup is super easy. I've been doing this for about 15 brews now and it looks like my brew bag is developing some stretches and a small hole or two. So I'm going to need to replace it eventually, but I haven't noticed any grain getting through it yet.

 

[myndflyte]

Yup, I do this. I already had a converted cooler mash tun so I just bought a bag that fits that and still mash in there. Holds temps well and I just lift the bag out and squeeze while it's running into my pot.

 

[I-Hop]

I do this exact thing. I've been keeping my mash volumes and sparge volumes consistent to what I used with my manifold. But now I get rid of the mash tun dead space, I can squeeze the bag, and grind finer. My efficiency is up about 5% using this method and cleanup is super easy. I've been doing this for about 15 brews now and it looks like my brew bag is developing some stretches and a small hole or two. So I'm going to need to replace it eventually, but I haven't noticed any grain getting through it yet.

troglodytes,
Thanks for the input. Seems like a way easier cleanup. I hadn't thought about a finer grind, another advantage to this method, as well as the boost in efficiency. Do you know if you use the 200 or 400 micron bag?

 

[I-Hop]

Yup, I do this. I already had a converted cooler mash tun so I just bought a bag that fits that and still mash in there. Holds temps well and I just lift the bag out and squeeze while it's running into my pot.

myndflyte,
Thanks for the input!

 

[Yooper]

Yep, I do! I bought my bags from Wilserbrew here on the forum, because he custom makes them to fit for a great price.

I have a 3-vessel all electric HERMS and I added a tippy dump for cleaning the MLT, but the bag makes my life so much easier. Since I have bottom draining vessels, even with a false bottom I was getting some clogging in my pump, and this fixed my problem plus made the clean up even easier.

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

I use The Brew Bag to mash-in-a-bag using a 10 Gallon cooler. Works perfectly. Prevents any stuck mash issues. I highly recommend it.

 

[Dr_Jeff]

I don't understand the easier cleanup issue, I empty the mash tun and rinse it out, done.

 

[Bramling Cross]

Four years ago, I ditched twenty years' worth of manifold and braid designs and started using a bag in my rectangular cooler. Each of the various manifold and braid designs invariably came with a compromise of some sort.

By contrast, the bag was a revelation and is vastly superior on all counts. The bag's run-off performance is amazing, it took me several sessions to realize just how quickly I could drain the cooler. This is really handy when running a full volume/no sparge or parti-gyle program. It's also very efficient. From a practical point of view, your tun dead space becomes effectively zero and squeezing the bag (I use a cutting board to ram the bag against the back wall of the cooler) results in surprisingly light weight spent grain. Four years later, I'm still stoked at how easy it is to clean up the grain bag--dump, rinse, hang to dry, that's it. You're done in five minutes, tops.

I strongly recommend giving a bag a shot. I'd wager that my bag has netted me a 75% reduction in cussing during a brew day.

 

[Bramling Cross]

I don't understand the easier cleanup issue, I empty the mash tun and rinse it out, done.

I suppose it depends on your system. On my hooptie rig cleaning the mash tun involved shoveling out hot spent grain with a sauce pan, chasing small bits of grain under manifolds or braids, realizing that some of the slots or holes were plugged, disassembling the manifold or braid system, back flushing it, wondering where the hell did I put that stupid bottle brush that I really need right now, realizing that the ball valve was packed with spent grain, disassembling the ball valve, wondering for real this time where in blazes did that stupid bottle brush go, etc, etc.

By contrast, cleaning the bag is somewhat less exciting, but certainly much easier.

 

[brewbama]

I use the Brew Bag as a filter sitting atop a false bottom in a blue rectangle cooler MLT. I recirculate thru a RIMS during the entire mash. I get crystal clear wort into the BK.

for cleanup I simply lift the bag, put it in a bucket, carry it outside to feed the deer. Come back in and rinse it out.

cheers.

 

[Jag75]

I never even thought about that . What a smart way !

 

[Jim R]

I don't understand the easier cleanup issue, I empty the mash tun and rinse it out, done.

I use an Igloo cooler and a commercial, stainless steel, round false bottom. To clean it up I tip it upside down in the garbage bin, hose it down in the grass and run the water out through the bottom valve. Clean up takes about 1-2 min. My efficiencies are at least 75%. There would be no need for a BIAB bag for me although I could see an advantage with a manifold or braid false bottom that was harder to clean.

 

[Big Monk]

I use the Brew Bag as a filter sitting atop a false bottom in a blue rectangle cooler MLT. I recirculate thru a RIMS during the entire mash. I get crystal clear wort into the BK.

for cleanup I simply lift the bag, put it in a bucket, carry it outside to feed the deer. Come back in and rinse it out.

cheers.

Yup. IMHO, this is the best use for a bag.

 

[Yooper]

I don't understand the easier cleanup issue, I empty the mash tun and rinse it out, done.

It depends on your MLT and the amount of grain. I have a keg, which weighs maybe 30 pounds. I brew 11 gallon batches, usually ABV about 7-9%, so 25+ pounds of grain. 3-4 gallons of water absorbed by that grain bed, so 25-32 pounds of water weight. So thats 30+25 (or more)+30= 85 pounds of weight for my MLT after the mash and sparge. I weigh around 130 pounds.

So, the MLT weighs a tad less than 70% of my body weight, on a good day with a lighter grainbill.

It's not that easy, especially when you brew indoors and your spouse isn't a fan of huge messes in the laundry room. Building a tippy dump helped, but it's still really really HEAVY.

The bag helps, as with a tippy dump I can dump the bag after draining into a bin to take out and dispose of. But it's still something to consider.

If I was brewing 5 gallon batches with 10 pounds of grain in a lightweight cooler, well, yeah, then big deal.

 

[Bruce Carbaugh]

Yes, started with the 10 gal igloo and used it with a bazooka tube. Then upgraded to SS brewtech mash tun and did one mash without the bag. Back to the bag in the mash tun ever since. Wouldn’t mash any other way.

 

[brothernoonan]

Definitely depends on your setup. I mash in a 15gal keg. For a while, i put the grain in the bag on top of the false bottom too. As Yooper mentioned, 50 lbs of now-wet grain is very difficult to just pull through a 12" hole in a keg, so I ended up tipping it over anyway. More interesting, though, was that I was fly-sparging at the time, and noticed that with the bag it was much easier for the sparge water to run down the sides of the keg rather than through the grain, so my efficiency was horrible. I gave up on the bag and started batch sparging. Much easier, and *way* more efficient.

 

[eric19312]

I do it in a 15.5 gallon bayou classic kettle with a norcal fales bottom. I brew 17 gallon batches with typically about 30 pounds of grain. The bag is fantastic:

• no grain gets under my false bottom
• Cleanup of the mash tun is much easier - I use a winch from Wilser to hoist the bag
• The grain can drip dry after being hoisted out so it weighs much less when I have to take it to the trash
• No stuck mashes which did happen before from time to time

One downside was I had my mash tun configured with a blichmann autosparge. That thing got in way of lifting out the bag and once I tore my bag on it. In the end I figured out how to attach the autosparge to my kettle lid and no issues at all since then. I highly recommend getting a fabric filter for three vessel brewers. You do not need to call it a BIAB bag.

 

[BIGRUGBY]

I don't understand the easier cleanup issue, I empty the mash tun and rinse it out, done.

I mash in a bag. Used to BIAB, then kept the bag for mashing. My bag isn't sized for my 10 gal Igloo cooler so it frequently falls in or catches the spoon when I stir. I've been thinking of not using the bag just to save the step of washing all the grain out from the bag when I'm done. Like you said, just dump it out and rinse it- seems pretty easy. That being said, I've never had a stuck sparge and can double grind my grain for higher efficiency.

 

[verboten]

Even with my awesome spike false bottom in my 15 Gallon kettle/Mash tun, I use a bag, it reduced my cleanup time, i no longer have to shovel it out into a bucket, and there is no loose grain stuck to the sides.

 

[beernutz]

Yep.

 

[I-Hop]

Wow!
I wasn't expecting this much input. I love this site. It's good to see all the viewpoints and different setups this particular idea works with as well. I am using a 3 vessel single tier keggle system with Jaybird false bottoms and HERMS. I think I will get myself one of those bags made for recirculating. Hoisting a bag out of a kettle that sits on top of a brewrig seems much easier to me than lifting that keggle full of wet grains. Plus, the added benefit of avoiding a stuck sparge is great as well.
Thanks for all the input!

 

[Bramling Cross]

I use the Brew Bag as a filter sitting atop a false bottom in a blue rectangle cooler MLT.

At your convenience, I would like to learn more about the false bottom that you've fitted into your rectangular cooler. You've implemented something that I've been trying gin up for several years.

I appreciate your time.

 

[JAReeves]

There has been a lot of great information posted so far on this topic, I love this site.

For what it's worth, I use a Wilser bag fitted for my 10Gal HD Cooler. I double-grind my grain at .025, then batch mash/sparge using Denny's 1/2 & 1/2 method. Squeeze the poopies out of the bag after the sparge goes into the kettle, and I get efficiencies of 80-90%. The spent grain goes into either the mulch bin for garden fertilizer or (after oven-drying and freezing) bread, pizza crust, cookies, etc. I only do 5 Gal batches, so even a DIPA, RIS, or BW is still manageable to lift by hand, but I am thinking of how to set up a pulley system in the garage in the future to make life easier. I have two pots/kettles, one to heat H2O, the other to collect and boil wort.

Here is where I might be a complete idiot (at least partial idiocy being a given)-after I rinse the chunks off my bag, I throw it in the washing machine with the rest of the whites and hang dry. I am not a fan of mold or mildew.

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

Here is where I might be a complete idiot (at least partial idiocy being a given)-after I rinse the chunks off my bag, I throw it in the washing machine with the rest of the whites and hang dry. I am not a fan of mold or mildew.

I've never considered running The Brew Bag through the washer. I rinse it to remove as much residual grain as possible. Then place it in the sanitizer bucket while I get the boil started. Then hang it to dry.

Does anyone else wash their bag? Or do you rinse and sanitize?

 

[Dog House Brew]

I had Wilser make a bag for my 120qt MT. I use a HERMS that is continuously recirculated. What I like, besides the cleanup, is that I never have to worry about a stuck sparge. I also like not having to vorlauf.

 

[Harleybrew32]

I use it on my Grainfather to cut down on particles in the boil.
works like a charm. I put it on the outside of the mash bucket. it usually catches about 1/4 cup of grain crap.
probably not worth it but it makes me feel better

 

[seatazzz]

My tun is a repurposed 16g blue extract barrel, and my bag fits it perfectly. I use a false bottom to keep it off the bottom so recirculating is a breeze. I get decent efficiency out of my system, and the cleanup makes it SO worth it. Once the tun is drained I pull up the bag, give it a twist, and use a spring clamp to hold it up so it drains completely. Usually just dump the spent grain into a trash bag but I've got a friend who raises chickens, every once in a great while he'll come over to get them. Bag has lasted over 3 years now with just a couple small snaggy holes, will need to replace it probably this year. Best way to brew in my opinion.

 

[Gruel]

+1 for using a bag in addition to your usual lauter/sparge setup, for ease of cleaning out the spent grain.
In my (limited) experience, the bag does not cut down on the need to sparge, and does not reduce the amount of Vorlauf (wort returned to the lauter/sparge vessel for a second round of filtering through the grain bed) you need.

 

[bstacy1974]

Count me in as well. Started using a bag and stainless false bottom in my cooler mash tun 5 or 6 years ago. I second a previous response that this is the best use of a brew bag.
I buy cheap bags on Amazon but plan to get a Brew Bag this year, maybe.

 

[Dustin_J]

Me too - 3V electric HERMS. Cleanup is much easier with the bag when brewing inside - as others mentioned, just pull the bag, drop in a bucket, take it outside to dispose of. Easy peasy.

 

[seatazzz]

Gonna add to mine, having clearer wort go into the boil kettle is another bonus; no grain bits like I had with my old tun, no nasty bazooka to clean, and less hot break. I finally learned (after 3 years, geez) to shake the bag out after dumping it, BEFORE rinsing, and almost all of the grain bits go away (albeit all over my shirt, pants, hair, dog, cat, yard, whatever is in the way) but the bag is clean and ready to go for next time. Never looking back.

 

[belgabrewing]

Yep, I do! I bought my bags from Wilserbrew here on the forum, because he custom makes them to fit for a great price.

I have a 3-vessel all electric HERMS and I added a tippy dump for cleaning the MLT, but the bag makes my life so much easier. Since I have bottom draining vessels, even with a false bottom I was getting some clogging in my pump, and this fixed my problem plus made the clean up even easier.

I use 5 gallon paint filter bags from Home Depot. They only cost a few dollars each and I have used each one dozens of times. I use one in the mash tun and one to line my fermenter. It works great to filter out the hops and junk as you pour the wort into the fermenter. The pores as so small it really aerates the wort like crazy as you pour through it. Lift it out and let it drain completely and all you have left is clean wort. I sanitize it in a bowl with a no rinse sanitizer.

 

[PberBob]

I have a really simple mash. set-up. An upright 8 gallon igloo cooler with replacement spigot (twist open/close), a 'vegetable steamer basket in the bottom that opens up to fill the diameter, and then the bag on top of that.

 

[myndflyte]

I've never considered running The Brew Bag through the washer. I rinse it to remove as much residual grain as possible. Then place it in the sanitizer bucket while I get the boil started. Then hang it to dry.

Does anyone else wash their bag? Or do you rinse and sanitize?

I run mine through the washer. I rinse off as much grain as I can then just chuck it in with the next load of laundry. It comes out barely damp so I just hang it up to dry.

 

[verboten]

Does anyone else wash their bag? Or do you rinse and sanitize?

I wash mine with the brewery rags/towles and i only use oxyclean free

 

[UncleD]

After multiple batches mucking around with the sparge getting stuck and having to vorlauf more times than I can count, I finally tried using the BIAB bag in my mash tun. The sparge was easy, so that was great. However, I did notice a drop in my efficiency from a similar prior batch without the BIAB bag. Maybe I didn;t quite mix the grain in as well. Either way, I'll compensate a bit for it next time. Well worth it in my opinion!

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

I mashed in a rectangular cooler with a bazooka filter for quite a few batches, starting in March. By the next winter, I realized how much it sucked to try to clean out a cooler mash tun when you can't just take it out and hose it off. Massive PITA. In addition, I had quite a bit of loss in the mash tun resulting in really poor brewhouse efficiency. At 60%, I figured it would turn into a problem with my next beer, which was a bourbon county brand stout clone. With 25 lbs of grain (large grain bills hurt efficiency), I figured I would run into problems.

I decided I would try using a bag in my cooler (at the time, I didn't know anyone did that). It worked great. Zero loss in the MLT, less grain absorption and my efficiency went way up. Plus it was far easier to clean the MLT...just pull the bag, dump into a compost bag and throw it into our compost recepticle. Then I just rinsed the cooler and bag with my sprayer at our sink. Not ideal, but a lot easier than dealing with an MLT coated in grain bits.

I'm a big fan of using a bag and removing the grain from the wort as opposed to removing the wort from the grain.

In general, we, at the typical homebrew scale (10 or less gallon batches), have some luxuries that are not realistically available at the pro brewery scale. MIAB is one (though there is a 7 barrel basket based BIAB rig available). Another is immersion chillers. They are so much easier to use and clean and have zero risk of clogging or harboring nasties. I understand following the "Big boys" with processes/equipment where it potentially yields better beer, but I'm also for taking advantage of things we can do at our scale that makes things easier with no impact to beer quality.

 

[BIAB-Tim]

5 gallon Cooler false bottom and a Bag ! 5 gallon batches no dead space in the cooler and it holds the heat Better @60min mash ! The bag is more for finer crushes than clean up !

 

[greywolf]

I do it with a 20 gallon kettle as a mash tun. It has a basket which I line with voile. I was amazed at how easily I can runoff and no more stuck sparges.