Joining the BIAB team

[DogFace_Brewing]

Been brewing for about 3 years...and after buying all grain equiptment and brewing AG for a while I realised I have made this more diffecult then it has to be. So i sold my 2 tier burner, sold my mash tun and HLT and went to BIAB in a keggle with a Blichmann floor burner w/ legs.

I am very please that I made the choice to go BIAB. Less cleaning..no more lifting heavy pots of hot water, more free time on my hands during brew day. Hit my numbers with BIAB just like I was with regular all grain methods according to Beersmith, so i see no reson for all the extra pots, mash tuns, etc.

Loving BIAB and now I have some extra cash on hand from all the equiptment sales I have been making plus extra room in the garage now...I guess I will continue brewing with this simple yet effective approach

Thanks to all of you who have been posting about BIAB, I never posted about it but I have read all your tips and tricks to make my brew day straight forward and simple... Cheers to you all

 

[Beer-lord]

I don't think one is any better than the other for quality and think it's strictly a personal decision. I've done both and sincerely enjoy my brew day but, I've found BIAB to work better for ME and that's why I do it.
I don't enter my beer in competitions but have shared mine with dozens of craft beer drinkers and they have always been impressed so I must be doing something right.
But, it comes down to ME.....I brew beer I like to drink and BIAB works for me.

 

[kh54s10]

Good for you!

What ever works. I do BIAB, but always 3 gallons or less. I don't enjoy the hot, heavy, wet, sticky mess the bag makes. However careful I am trying to get the bag out of the pot I always drip. I do my BIAB batches as experiments, usually in the winter when I don't want to go outside to brew.

I have my three tier AG setup plumbed so the only heavy thing I have to lift is getting rid of the spent grain. So for me I prefer not doing BIAB.

 

[msehler]

I'm considering it as well (or at least trying it on my next batch). Any details? Or a link to details? How big of batches are you doing (thanks, kh54s10)? I'm wondering what to do when removing the 12+lbs of 170*F grain from the water (how people are lifting it, what are they doing with it immediately after removal, etc.)

 

[Beer-lord]

When I'm by myself and can't lift 15 or more pounds of grain (I have no way to set up a winch) I put another grain bag in a Lowes 5 gallon bucket and strain about half the grains into that bag and let it drip (squeezing a bit to get the wort out) and the main bag is easier to pull.
If I have even more grains than that, I use 2 Lowes buckets to strain the grain in. Maybe takes me an extra 8-10 minutes.

 

[wilserbrewer]

How big of batches are you doing (thanks, kh54s10)? I'm wondering what to do when removing the 12+lbs of 170*F grain from the water (how people are lifting it, what are they doing with it immediately after removal, etc.)

Welcome to the team!

I have brewed up to 15 gallons BIAB, 35 lbs of grain. The key IME to large batches is planning ahead and having a method to lift and drain the bag with a pulley, ratchet strap type device. Then having a bin or rubbermaid tote waiting for the spent grain sack adjacent to the kettle.

I dump my grain in the backyard, the deer seem to like it.

 

[msehler]

Any details on your ratchet strap pulley system?

 

[wilserbrewer]

Any details on your ratchet strap pulley system?

perhaps here...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f244/biab-hoisting-w-ratchet-pulley-416419/

or here...

http://biabbags.webs.com/

I used a lashing strap from HF w/ locking buckle here..

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/biab-polyester-voile-strength-test-384445/

Having a lock on the rope or strap is the big advantage IMO, you can allow the bag to hang and drain into the kettle easily, rather than fighting with a bog full of wort...ick!

 

[msehler]

Haha...thank you much. Through my forum browsing (not just this forum), I've developed a (bad?) habit of skipping sigs.
Now I just need to figure out how I can do that outside in my driveway.

Pardon my lack of searching (I was going to post anyway), what do you do for sparging? I haven't researched this in depth and was just "winging it" so to speak (like most of my brewing).

 

[wilserbrewer]

Sparging is optional if you have a large enough kettle. You can sparge the bag in another vessel, aka the dunk sparge. Or pour the sparge water over the bag, aka the sprinkle sparge, or not sparge at all.

Pros cons either way just like most things, opinions and methods vary.

 

[DogFace_Brewing]

Finished a brew day today that consisted of 19lbs of grain and had no issues pulling out the bag with the steamer pot it was sitting in so all is well for now. Steamer pot fits perfect resting on the top of keggle to drain. Oh and I dialed in my mill as I hit 78% this batch today compared to 54% on my last batch. The reason for the 19lbs of grain was to compensate for the bad efficiency and since I "over achieved" what I was planning on hitting I will now have a much higher ABV beer. Hmmmm this one is gonna be for sippin

 

[adiochiro3]

I just joined the BIAB club myself last night. Brewed a Peach Blonde. Target OG was 1.04; hit 1.05 and thinned it. Pretty happy with that. Wort tasted great. I will add fresh peaches into the primary Tuesday night and let it ride at least 2 weeks.

 

[brewinginnc]

Finished a brew day today that consisted of 19lbs of grain and had no issues pulling out the bag with the steamer pot it was sitting in so all is well for now. Steamer pot fits perfect resting on the top of keggle to drain. Oh and I dialed in my mill as I hit 78% this batch today compared to 54% on my last batch. The reason for the 19lbs of grain was to compensate for the bad efficiency and since I "over achieved" what I was planning on hitting I will now have a much higher ABV beer. Hmmmm this one is gonna be for sippin

Nice job. What is the imperial brew you just made?

 

[DogFace_Brewing]

Nice job. What is the imperial brew you just made?

I am doing a bunch of differnet IPAs right now just to stock up....this one is:


Ingredients

1 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine
8.0 oz Victory Malt
2 lbs Corn, Flaked
8.0 oz Barley, Flaked
15 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) Canada (2.0 SRM)

1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 45.0 min
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 15.0 min
1.00 oz Northern Brewer - Boil 5 min

1.0 pkg Wyeast-Denny's Favorite

Est Original Gravity: 1.075 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 8.2 %
Bitterness: 58.1 IBUs
Calories: 249.4 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 5.7 SRM