Equipment

[radiodome21]

Hi guys. Sure this has been addressed before but here goes. I'm going to switch to BIAB. I do PM now and BIAB seems to make the best sense. I've decided that I'm going to buy my bag from wilserbrewer but I'm undecided on a kettle. I'm deciding between a spike kettle and a concord. I will say that I'm not a huge fan of buying things on eBay but it's hard to ignore the price.

15 gallon kettle seems ideal but realistically I do not see myself doing 10 gallon batches anytime soon if ever. Any thoughts on a 10 or 15 gallon kettle?

Ball valve? This seems like a no brainer but I've read some threads that say no to that.

False bottom? Yay or nay?

Thanks all.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Kingbogart]

I don't BIAB, so take this with a grain of salt.

What I know of the process generally requires all of your water to be in the single pot during the mash phase. According to some calculators I've found, such as this one, you can see that a 10lb grain bill on a 5 gallon batch, will require at least a 7.75 gallon kettle. You would max out around 25lbs. Which is a pretty respectable grain bill. The pot will be pretty full, though once you lift the bag out, it will go down to safer levels. I would fiddle with one of the calculators and what size beers you like to brew so you feel comfortable. Specifically how much preboil wort you might need. My 15 gallon pot boils at a rate of 1.5-2 gallons per hour. So I need 7.5 ish gallons preboil to get 5-5.5 gallons post boil, that amount of wort would leave a 10 gallon pot susceptible to boil overs I would think.


Ball valve is helpful, but not required, but can make getting your beer into the fermenter easier. You could also use a racking cane, or other method for starting a siphon, or pick up the pot and pour. I personally use a ball valve on my kettle after attempting the racking cane and pouring methods. Easier to aim, fewer messes, and easily done one handed.

The false bottom answer really depends on your method. If you are planning on wrapping the kettle in a blanket/sleeping bag, or something similar I would think a false bottom would be unnecessary, as the bag is basically doing that job. If your intent is to direct fire with the bag in the kettle, scorching could be an issue with the grain sitting on the bottom. So you might want to get a false bottom or one of those strainer baskets so the grain is suspended off the bottom.

The scorching might be an old wives tale, I've just seen it one this site multiple times, so...I thought I would mention it.

 

[mbbransc]

Scorching a bag is not a wives tale. I spilled my grain brewing an oatmeal stout because the bag burned and split under the weight when lifting. I wrap the kettle in an insulated blanket now and the most temp drop I've ever experienced over 60m is 2*. If I'm being particular about it, the temp doesn't drop at all (set kettle out of wind, on wooden blocks, wrapped tightly and secured with bungee cords).

I use an 8.5g kettle and a 6.5g kettle. I do batch sparge in a cooler though. Nothing fancy, just the regular family cooler in the garage.

 

[Rockn_M]

Right now all I do is BIAB. I have a 10 gallon pot that a grain bill around 10-12 lbs. it gets pretty close to the top. But once you take the bag out the water will decrease. If you can get the 15 gallon, I would. You never know what you'll want to do in the future. Better to spend a few more dollars now vs. buying a 10 gallon pot then wanting to upgrade to a 1 gallon in the future. Just more money spent plus you now have 2 large pots.

For pots check out Wayfair.com. I've purchased 2 concord 62 quart pots. They are listed as $100 but if you sign up before you purchase you can get 10% off, plus free shipping. Ball valves are not necessary but if it is hard to lift heavy objects or you're alone and trying to pour 5-10 gallons of wort, you'll need one.

As for false bottoms, In my opinion, you don't need one. The bag will hold the grains so you don't need a false bottom to separate the grains from the wort.

Good Luck!

 

[wilserbrewer]

I'm deciding between a spike kettle and a concord. I will say that I'm not a huge fan of buying things on eBay but it's hard to ignore the price.

15 gallon kettle seems ideal but realistically I do not see myself doing 10 gallon batches anytime soon if ever. Any thoughts on a 10 or 15 gallon kettle?

Ball valve? This seems like a no brainer but I've read some threads that say no to that.

False bottom? Yay or nay?
Brew

I believe the spike kettle is a concord kettle with welded fittings.

10 will work fine for most 5 gal batches, for a huge batch you may want to add a sparge.

Ball valve is handy but optional IMO.

No false bottom or basket required, unless you want to automate and recirculate with a pump.

In the event you need to add a little heat with the grain bag In the pot, just heat gently and stir well while the heat is on.

Cheers!


Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

 

[enkamania]

I started with a 10 gallon pot, but ended up going with 15 gallon

 

[TexasWine]

9 gallon bayou classic pot has worked well for me. I just do a sparge.

 

[copper2hopper]

I just purchased a SS keg from a buddy of mine who delivers beer. He only charged me $30 for a fifteen gallon keg to cover the deposit. I'm turning it into a keggle eventually and plan on doing a BIAB with it for my first time ever brewing. I then plan on getting a false bottom and weld-less ball valve and sight glass/thermometer combo from Amazon and bargainfittings.com. All in all I'm looking at probably less than $100 for a fifteen gallon vessel in the end as opposed to several hundred for a pre made one. Just a possibility for u

 

[Transamguy77]

When I started BIAB I used a 7.5 gallon bayou classic pot, I had to watch it CLOSELY so it didn't boil over.

As far as thinking that you don't see yourself making 10 gallons anytime soon that might change after a few batches, I know it did for me, the extra hour for 5 more gallons is really nice. Great when you want to experiment with 2 different yeasts, Or fruit, or 2 different anythings!

I made 3 keggles and I can fit any size grain bill I want in it, I have valves and thermometer sight glass kits from Brewhardware.com and love having them. All are weldless fittings.

 

[Leif-HB]

I bought a 10 gallon with a ball valve from Spike this summer. I was in the same situation as you were....debating on whether or not to go with a 15gal or not.
I went 10, because it will work for most of the beers I will be brewing, and if I really want to brew something bigger, I will add a sparge. It fit in my budget too.

You won't need a false bottom. I put a refletex jacket on my kettle and covered it with a carhart jacket for an hour and I lost about 1 degree.
If you can keep your temp, you won't need to worry about adding heat, which is the only time you would scorch your bag.

 

[copper2hopper]

Would anyone see any cons to marking scratch marks on the inside of my keggle to mark off gallon measurements. I do not have a sight glass yet

 

[wilserbrewer]

Would anyone see any cons to marking scratch marks on the inside of my keggle to mark off gallon measurements. I do not have a sight glass yet

Easier IMO to mark a stick or your brewing spoon. Inside the keggle will be full of steam and may not be that visible while boiling.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Easier IMO to mark a stick or your brewing spoon. Inside the keggle will be full of steam and may not be that visible while boiling.

+1

I made a dipstick for my first BIAB, worked like a charm! Did half gallon increments all the way up.

 

[madscientist451]

I say minimum 10 gal pot + valve. My only complaint with BIAB is that when I pulled the bag, I always spilled some wort before I could place the bag in a bucket. I brew in my kitchen and try to keep things neat.
I finally got a round cooler and a valve for it and mash in there with my BIAB bag. The blanket around the brew pot for mashing will work fine if you don't want to use a cooler for mashing.

 

[helibrewer]

I use a 1" dowel and put one of those red silicone O-rings on it where my finishing volume should be....I boil until I'm just above the O-ring to allow for heat shrinkage.

 

[pricelessbrewing]

I bought an aluminum ruler 4" for 2.99 from harbor freight. I do weird batch sizes all the time so need to know the height, which I plug into my calculator in my sig.

 

[bredle]

I just bought this along with an $8 bazooka screen - seems like a great sale price given everything else out there is smaller and more expensive (it also has great reviews). I've been using an 8 gallon pot with no valve for BIAB and doing smaller batches. This will allow me to do 5 gallon batches without a problem and to easily drain after boil.

http://boykingbrewhaus.com/2014/08/13/my-keezerkegerator-build/

 

[MindenMan]

I have been doing AG for a couple of years now, and having pots w/o valves leaves me having to lift hot, heavy pots almost full of liquid, and frankly my back isn't up to it anymore. I did a modified version of BIAB the other day, and only had to lift a heavy pot once. I heated my mash water, put in my bag, added the grain, stirred and walked away. At 60 minutes, I lifted the bag out and and put it in my Zapap tun, drained my mash pot into my BK, put 4 gallons of strike water on top of the grain bag, stirred and drained 15 minutes later, and then boiled like usual. I came out 0.002 gravity points higher than expected, no vorlauf or lautering saved a lot of time, and I didn't have to lift a heavy pot 3 times like usual.

 

[dilvish]

I've been doing BIAB for two years. I started with a 10 G pot but later upgraded to a 15 G. You should start with the 15 G pot. If you decide to brew larger batches and/or a high OG brew you'll be glad you have the larger pot.

 

[talos4]

Would anyone see any cons to marking scratch marks on the inside of my keggle to mark off gallon measurements. I do not have a sight glass yet

Check out this thread. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/ho...-kettle-illustrated-463099/?highlight=etching

I did it and it works great. no more measuring stick!

 

[copper2hopper]

Does anybody here have/use their mash tun as a combo HLT/Mash tun. Thinking about doing this and just wondered if this was a bad idea since heating up the initial strike water might melt any weld-less fittings or mess with the false bottom at all.

 

[MotorcycleMatt]

Does anybody here have/use their mash tun as a combo HLT/Mash tun. Thinking about doing this and just wondered if this was a bad idea since heating up the initial strike water might melt any weld-less fittings or mess with the false bottom at all.

I use my keggle as my mash tun/boil kettle. All weldless fittings and it does just fine.

 

[copper2hopper]

Yes!

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Does anybody here have/use their mash tun as a combo HLT/Mash tun. Thinking about doing this and just wondered if this was a bad idea since heating up the initial strike water might melt any weld-less fittings or mess with the false bottom at all.

I also heat my strike water in my mash tun. Since it's a smaller volume of water than heating my mash and sparge water together, it goes faster. It usually takes me longer to measure and crush my brain than to heat my strike water.

 

[copper2hopper]

A good problem to have here everyone! SWMBO has given me the green light go for my next purchase in upgrading my system (a bet I won on whether dishes would come out of the dishwasher clean or not if we don't pre rinse them in the sink). My problem is that I can't decide (and would like some input) on whether to purchase (from brewhardware.com) my mash tun keg conversion kit (with a re-circulation port I would incorporate) or a pump kit. Both purchases would roughly be the same $ amount. I currently have one keggle (potetntially to be my mash tun if I go that route) and one blichman burner and I do BIAB. Having done two batches with it so far I could see the huge benefit of saving tons of time and energy if I were to incorporate a pump at this time with my current system. On the other hand I would love to get away from BIAB and have a smoother cleaner wort going into the boiling stage (I will soon be getting my 2nd and 3rd kegs to convert to keggles) and also probably increase my mash efficiency. Any thoughts????

 

[FuriousE]

A good problem to have here everyone! SWMBO has given me the green light go for my next purchase in upgrading my system (a bet I won on whether dishes would come out of the dishwasher clean or not if we don't pre rinse them in the sink). My problem is that I can't decide (and would like some input) on whether to purchase (from brewhardware.com) my mash tun keg conversion kit (with a re-circulation port I would incorporate) or a pump kit. Both purchases would roughly be the same $ amount. I currently have one keggle (potetntially to be my mash tun if I go that route) and one blichman burner and I do BIAB. Having done two batches with it so far I could see the huge benefit of saving tons of time and energy if I were to incorporate a pump at this time with my current system. On the other hand I would love to get away from BIAB and have a smoother cleaner wort going into the boiling stage (I will soon be getting my 2nd and 3rd kegs to convert to keggles) and also probably increase my mash efficiency. Any thoughts????

Does the wort not being clear translate to a clarity problem with your beer? In my experience, my finished BIAB batches are as clear as my traditional fly sparge with a cooler batches.

 

[copper2hopper]

Haven't had a finished product yet so I don't know yet but any thoughts on which option I should go with???

 

[FuriousE]

Why would you "love to get away from BIAB?" That should answer your question of what to get. I have a pump, but I don't use it when I BIAB...

 

[copper2hopper]

To get better efficiency more consistently and a clearer wort. I see so many AG videos on you tube with them saying and seeing how clear the wort is when going into the BK

 

[FuriousE]

I'm not sure you'll get better or more consistent efficiency efficiency with 3 vessel vs BIAB. In terms of efficiency, on average BIAB is in oar with traditional 3 vessel if you crush fine, stir well, and squeeze the bag. In terms of consistency this just depends on you! If you have the same crush and follow the same procedure both methods are very consistent.

In terms of clear wort, I don't think it makes a difference in the finished beer, so it's not something I'd worry about.

All that said, spend the money in what would make you the happiest. Or, better yet, spend it on high quality ingredients and make great beer with what you've got!

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Clear wort=!clear beer. I love the simplicity of my setup. I'd want to go electric with some low density heat sticks, a ceiling mounted pulley and a ball valve on my kettle. But for now im in an apt and don't have the luxury of a pulley.

 

[copper2hopper]

So....Couple questions....I just installed my false bottom mash tun kit with the 5/8 diptube from brewhardware.com on my converted keg. I have no pump yet so my draining method from the mash tun at this point will be just opening up the ball valve and letting gravity do the work. With that being said and doing my leak testing last night after it was all installed I let the water drain out through the ball valve and it initially was extremely slow and left a lot of water behind above the FB and I thought to myself "well that blows and will be leaving behind a ton of good wort". So I made some adjustments on the diptube and shaved some off the bottom and re-ran a drain test and that solved my slow trickling drain (it was pressed to far down and close to the bottom of the keg) however I'm still left with what appears to be roughly the same amount of liquid behind. Question 1: Is that normal with just letting gravity do the work???? And question 2: Will a pump solve this problem since I assume it will suck all it can through the diptube like a straw? Any help and input would be great. Thanks guys

 

[FuriousE]

Try putting a piece of tubing on the output of the drain and making sure the end is below the level of the keg. That should create a siphon and draw off more wort/water.