Mash in a nylon bag?

[Sir Humpsalot]

It's winter here. I do everything but the boil indoors. The outdoor water is turned off because we don't want the lines to freeze. As a result, it's tough to rinse out the MLT. I was thinking about putting my grains into a nylon bag and tying it off, then mashing the grains in the MLT as normal. Only difference being, when I'm done, I can just toss the bag into the trash and rinse out the MLT with a minimal amount of water.

What do you guys and gals think about that idea?

 

[DAAB]

Using what is commonly known as amashing and sparging bag is still quite a popular method of lautering among UK homebrewers.

The mash/lauter tun still requires a little cleaning and the bag gets a little messy but it works very well.

The purpose made bags are made of fine mash with a corser nylon mesh sewn into the bottom of them, i'm not sure how effective a standard grain bag will be at keeping your mash tun relatively clean.

 

[heinz57]

Seems like a nylon 5 gallon paint filter would work great for lining the mash tun.

 

[Danek]

I've done something very similar to this - as long as you get a bag with a suitably fine mesh it'll work well. You'll still find that some of the finer grain particles will get through the bag, so you'll still have some cleaning of the MLT to do, but it's a much simpler process.

 

[david_42]

I use my Very Large Grain Bag for any mash up to 6 pounds. I take the spent grains upslope and rinse the bag out, then toss it in the washing machine with the next load of towels.

 

[hopshead]

This is the only way I have done all grain brewing - using a a straining bag. I got into all grain brewing by adapting the countertop partial mashing method chris colby wrote about in byo. My local shop sold "jumbo" straining bags that were 18" x 32" and I was able to up to 16 lbs of grain inside that bag and set it inside a 36 quart Coleman Xtreme cooler for a mash/lauter tun. I just recently bought a $100 worth of ingredients from Northern Brewer and needed to replace my straining bag. I find that after 8 to 10 brew sessions the bag seems a little weakened so I replace it. At under $7 that is certainly affordable. Check out NB straining bags at this link:http://www.northernbrewer.com/stir-strain.html
I just bought two Brewmaster filter bags. The dimensions of that bag will not hold as much grain as I am used to. that is why I bought two, if needed I will split the grain bill in half for each bag and drop them in the cooler. I think this method makes pretty good beers.