Grain Volume question for BIAB

[OobleckMooBanana]

Hello,

I'm prepping for my first BIAB batch after two extract brews. I'm somewhat limited by my brew pot at 7.5 gallons, and won't be buying a new one real soon. I would like to use a standard mesh bag to hold my grains, and I'm concerned about weight for some of my bigger beers planned

A large straining basket came with my pot. It similar to a turkey fryer setup but its definitely stainless steel. My plan is to put the mesh bag in the steel basket, and lift from the sturdier handles on the basket.

The volume of the basket is 3.8 gallons to the brim. How many pounds of grain can I safely fit in here to BIAB?


Other questions

Can the bag be squeezed too hard? I could lower the basket into a bucket and stand on it then back to the pot for the boil

According to calculators and spread sheets i've used, the 7.5 gallon pot would lower my batch size to 4 gallons (down from 5 with extract). Does this sound correct?

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Grain takes up about 0.08 gal/lb, and absorps about the same amount for biab. Don't worry about squeezing, it's all good.

I can't say that using a 3.8G basket is going to be very effective, the wort will be compacted pretty tight and you won't be able to fit as much in there. You're probably going to have a super thick mash in the grain bag, and it'll suffer from lower efficiency I suspect (maybe 50-65% I'd guess) unless you stir constantly (which will lower your mash temp over time). I would suggest NOT using the basket and just using a full volume bag for the 7.5G pot.


You can either cut down the batch size, and do full volume if possible, or hold some of the water off and use that to sparge with after the mash.

Just pull the basket (and grains out) of the kettle, place in another container, and pour the water over it. Then take this and add it back to the boil kettle.

For calculators and spread sheets and stuff, they're not all made equally. Some use wrong info, some have out dated info, some don't let you change crucial things like sparging or grain absorption rates. I have one made that has every feature of beersmith, (plus a couple others it doesn't) and the biabacus of biabrewer.info

You can check it out on my blog in my sig or directly at
pricelessbrewing.github.io/BiabCalc

 

[RM-MN]

Hello,

I'm prepping for my first BIAB batch after two extract brews. I'm somewhat limited by my brew pot at 7.5 gallons, and won't be buying a new one real soon. I would like to use a standard mesh bag to hold my grains, and I'm concerned about weight for some of my bigger beers planned

A large straining basket came with my pot. It similar to a turkey fryer setup but its definitely stainless steel. My plan is to put the mesh bag in the steel basket, and lift from the sturdier handles on the basket.

The volume of the basket is 3.8 gallons to the brim. How many pounds of grain can I safely fit in here to BIAB?


Other questions

Can the bag be squeezed too hard? I could lower the basket into a bucket and stand on it then back to the pot for the boil

According to calculators and spread sheets i've used, the 7.5 gallon pot would lower my batch size to 4 gallons (down from 5 with extract). Does this sound correct?

The limitation for big beers is the size of the kettle, not the strength of the bag. It will hold all the grain you can deal with in the kettle and won't have any problem when you lift it out.

I've done some 5 gallon batches in the 7.5 gallon kettle I have. It's tight but possible. Plan on doing a sparge because the kettle will be right to the brim or spilling over if you use full volume of water plus the grains.

Something called Fermcap-S was suggested to me to control the hot break (much more than with extract, be prepared so you don't boil over) but instead I learned that I could pull the bag and start the sparge but not return the sparge wort to the kettle until after it had come to a boil and the hot break had subsided. If you do that, expect to get a second but smaller hot break from the wort you add. Watch your temperature so you only get a slow rolling boil or be prepared to add water back to account for the extra boil off.

 

[TexasWine]

I'm curious, what do you mean by mesh bag? If it's one of those muslin cloth bags, that's not gonna work.

 

[OobleckMooBanana]

TO sparge with BIAB, I just pour the hot water over the grain bag? What's the most efficient way to do this

Also, could someone recommend a good bag to use? Bigger is better as i will upgrade my kettle eventually. The bags I've seen look either super cheap and weak or are $30+.

Thank you

 

[McKnuckle]

BIAB sparging:

1) Pour sparge; suspend the bag over the kettle either by rope or in a colander. Pour hot water slowly over it.
2) Dunk sparge; reserve hot water in a second pot. Steep bag in this water, stir, then pour into main kettle.

About 1.5 years ago I bought two 5 gallon paint strainer bags from my local hardware store for a few bucks. I'm still on the first one and it's still holding up (although part of that is superstition at this point).

 

[doug293cz]

BIAB sparging:

1) Pour sparge; suspend the bag over the kettle either by rope or in a colander. Pour hot water slowly over it.
2) Dunk sparge; reserve hot water in a second pot. Steep bag in this water, stir, then pour into main kettle.

Except, the water does not have to be hot. See http://braukaiser.com/blog/blog/2009/05/12/cold-water-sparging/ for a comparison of cold vs. hot water sparging.

Brew on

 

[McKnuckle]

Except, the water does not have to be hot.

Even better!

Except, we do have to boil the whole mess straight away, so if we can heat it up we might as well. IMHO of course.

 

[doug293cz]

Even better!

Except, we do have to boil the whole mess straight away, so if we can heat it up we might as well. IMHO of course.

Agreed, if you have the capability to heat the sparge water (another pot and burner) it will save time getting to boil. But, if you don't have another pot or heat source, then no worries, you can still sparge effectively.

Brew on

 

[chickypad]

Looks like the guys have you covered for sparging. I will add that I have done both and find the dunk sparging to be easier and give better efficiency - be sure to open the bag and stir really well. I've got this $5 bag right now, it's about 10 batches in and still looks pretty new. They have a little bigger one for $7. The paint strainer bags worked well too but they don't quite fit over the lip of my pot.