HELP! BIAB melted, grain loose....

[mtbiker278]

Hey All,

So I wanted to show off my fix for my last disaster. I went to the fabric store and tried to find the Swiss Voile with no sucess. The closest this was this wedding dress fabric that had some sparkly stuff weaved into it. Instead I got some polyester yarn and a polyester drawstring. They I made a stop at walmart for a $5 curtain and some mason jars (yeast washing). About a half hour later I ended up with the following:

It fits my 15.5gal pot a little loose but I'm ok with that. All told I have a doubled over bag with a draw-string that cost me about $12 to make. It should be plenty sturdy to hold the weight.

Markab - I looked up some of the chemical properties of Nylon and aside from the plasticizers, there was only one chemical I found that could be harmful when nylon degrades. However, it's boil point is room temp, so I'm pretty sure whatever gases were release they were boiled off during the 60min time period.

On the same line of thought, should i still find that steamer basket to prop my new bag up off the bottom of the pot? From what I've read people just through them in without issue? I suppose it's really only a problem if I'm trying to heat the mash, and could be avoided by mashing in at ~165F, and some liberal application of sleeping bags and blankets.

Thanks again for all the replies and feedback!

 

[kable]

Is there any consensus on whether to put the grains into a dry pot, then add water and heat. Or bringing your water to strike temp and then adding the grain?

I was reading something about letting the grain get wet, hydrate?, before bringing up to temp?

 

[RM-MN]

If you put the grain into the cold water and then heat, it is very difficult to heat the mixture evenly and you will likely get the bottom way to hot before your thermometer shows the mix at the right temperature. By heating the water first, it will be all the right temperature and then you add the grain to it. You do have to calculate the correct temperature for the water so that when the grain is added the temperature of the mix is what you need for mashing. Just be sure to stir the grain in slowly and mix well to avoid big dry clumps as these will stay as dry clumps and won't convert.