eBIAB Basket Design

[specialkayme]

I'm designing an eBIAB basket from Utah Biodiesel, and considering the price I wanted a second opinion before I pulled the trigger.

I have a 15 gallon Spike Kettle (dimensions attached). I got a few custom ports put on it (see attached pre-order dimensions). The bottom three ports are for the heating element, exit port, and temp probe. The top port is for a recirculating pump. The highest of the bottom three ports is the temp probe, and with the temp probe in it, the top of the probe is 3.75" above the bottom of the kettle. 16" from the bottom of the kettle is the bottom lip of the top port.

I figured (and Utah confirmed) that I need a 14" diameter basket, with 4" feet, that is 12" tall. That should fit well in the kettle (actually provide about 1.8" of extra space, which I'll need for the U-support below), and be 16" in overall height, which will fit below the top port.

Utah recommended the 400 micron size. Sounds reasonable, and I've read plenty of threads that seem to use it. I'm not sure why my Brew-in-a-bag uses a 210 micron size that works great but the metal basket should be 400 microns, but I'm not going to question the collective wisdom here.

Utah suggested I get a U-support & 2 side drain hooks to support the basket up when draining, and suggested putting them 3-4" up from the bottom of the basket. They said the U support was more popular than their J hook support, or the side hook supports they've done in the past. I have no experience with any of their support systems, so I'm assuming the U-support 4" up from the bottom of the basket would be fine.

So ultimate design:
- 14" diameter basket.
- 4" feet
- 12" tall
- 400 micron size
- U-support 4" up from the bottom of the basket
- press plate

Anyone with experience in this area care to tell me if they think I'm on the right track or off somewhere?

 

[Lucky2be]

Sounds about like mine the only thing I did differently than that was having them off set the u hook brackets so it tilted a little. I always found it drained just a little better with it cocked rather than flat. Just me though.

 

[ZmannR2]

I love my basket from Utah Biodiesel!! Only thing I wish I did was have the walls a solid metal with mesh only at the bottom. That way during recirculating it makes a nice filter bed and clarifies your wort.

As far as feet, I went with no feet and use the false bottom sold by brewhardware.com. So my basket sits up over my element and temp probe.

Also I use a 20 gal brew kettle to make 10 gal batches. And on bigger beers I use damn near all that space.

 

[specialkayme]

I did my first brew with the new basket. Still some bugs to work out though.

First thing I noticed was my BHE dropped. With my bag I was hovering in the mid to low 80% range. This batch I hit 67%. I don't mind the decrease in efficiency, provided I get something that is consistent for me to work with.

Grain absorption was alot more too (almost twice as much) when compared to the bag. Again, not a big deal, but something I didn't account for (and my end volume was low).

It also created a very thick mash. By lifting the bag that far up off the heating element (I had to in order to fit the thermometer below it), there wasn't alot of space for grain to mix with water. At a 12.8 lb grain bill, it ended up looking more like oatmeal than a mash. Some of that may be resolved when I add another 0.5 gallons of water to adjust.

More important to me, I had to stir the mash fairly frequently. I maintained a mash temp of 150 degrees, and I'd walk away for 10 min and come back to vigorously stir the mash, and found the temp would drop down to 147 (easily), which is telling me the mash temp was significantly lower than I planned on. I'm going to try another batch to see if the increase in water, and loosening up the mash a little, solves some of this temp flux issues. But if not, I'm going to go with the recirculating pump to get some more consistency in the temps.

But hey, it's progress.

 

[Bing]

I love my basket from Utah Biodiesel!! Only thing I wish I did was have the walls a solid metal with mesh only at the bottom. That way during recirculating it makes a nice filter bed and clarifies your wort.

As far as feet, I went with no feet and use the false bottom sold by brewhardware.com. So my basket sits up over my element and temp probe.

Also I use a 20 gal brew kettle to make 10 gal batches. And on bigger beers I use damn near all that space.

If your basket walls are solid metal,will you control the flow rate of the wort?

 

[odie]

I use a steamer basket inside my kettle and then a bag. I’m thinking about using some aluminum flashing rolled up inside the basket to close the side holes. Basically making the basket walls solid. This would force the flow all thru the grain bed?

 

[odie]

Think your drop in efficiency is maybe due to less volume in the basket than was in the bag?

 

[odie]

 

[ZmannR2]

That’s aluminum?? Can we get it in stainless?

 

[ZmannR2]

What’s the thickness on that? I’m gonna order a sheet in stainless from steelnow

 

[odie]

It's aluminum flashing that I've had sitting around for years. Home depot or Lowes. very thin. 12" x 10ft roll (I will cut down to a manageable size. It was coated with something on one side so I scrubbed it off with a brillo pad. Boiled the whole thing a couple times to sanitize it an oxidize/seal the aluminum. My basket is aluminum anyway.

I have a small pump on order so I can recirc during the mash. Right now I'm draining the kettle into a bucket and pouring it back on the top. But without the sides sealed I can't really say how much is flowing down thru the grains vs going out the side holes above the grains.