Grain in painters bag - for easy cleanup ???

[resslerk]

Kind of a newb question, but I was wondering if it would be possible to put all of my grain into a painters bag. Drop that bag into my mash tun. It should be large and pliable enough to fill out the bottom of the tun. Obviously the false bottom would still be there. The whole point would be to make cleanup really really easy. After the session you could essentially reach in and pull out the bag. It would also help further reduce the chances of chafe and other bits making it through the system and clogging things up.

 

[Gristulin]

Don't see any reason this would be a issue as long as the bag is clean and sanitized. Is it porous enough to flow liquid well? Seems like they would be made from a heavy canvas material that wouldn't want to let liquid through easily. Only 1 way to find out.
Where are you in SE WI?
Zac

 

[kanielb1]

I use them for each brew...then again I am only doing partial mashes. 6-7 lbs of grain in the bag. I use the 5 gallon nylon paint straining bags.

 

[Yooper]

sure, that would work. You might have to use two or three bags, depending on how much grain you are using. You want the grain to be very loose in there, not tightly packed, so you can stir it and thoroughly wet the grains. You might also want to consider a thinner mash, like 2 quarts per pound of grain, to ensure that the grain really gets in contact with the liquid.

Check out the BIAB (brew in a bag) threads to get more info.

 

[resslerk]

Don't see any reason this would be a issue as long as the bag is clean and sanitized. Is it porous enough to flow liquid well? Seems like they would be made from a heavy canvas material that wouldn't want to let liquid through easily. Only 1 way to find out.
Where are you in SE WI?
Zac

I was thinking of using the 5ga or 6ga nylon mesh bags. Water flows through these easily and they are available in differing mesh sizes. Plus they are washable and reusable.

For me easy cleaning and cleanup is key, more time spent doing the fun stuff.

 

[Yooper]

I was thinking of using the 5ga or 6ga nylon mesh bags. Water flows through these easily and they are available in differing mesh sizes. Plus they are washable and reusable.

For me easy cleaning and cleanup is key, more time spent doing the fun stuff.

Consider this, as far as cleanup, though! Are you going to throw away the bags? If so, your cleanup time is indeed reduced. If you're going to dump the grain out of the bag, rinse the bag(s), and then put it in the laundry, and then still have to rinse out your MLT, then you didn't save any time at all!

I use a cooler for a MLT. I dump the grain in the compost, then use a hose to rinse the MLT. Done.