MLT w/ Brew Bag?

[Guidry]

Was reading about the Brew in a Bag idea and thought it seemed like a cost efficient way of easing into AG. Then I started wondering, why not use the bag as the filter in the MLT instead of building one out of pipe or hose? I was thinking as long as it is supported off the bottom of the cooler, why couldn't I mash and sparge with this? I'd probably still replace the spigot on the cooler to avoid leaking problems with the heated liquid.

Any thoughts?

I'm sure somebody has come up with this idea before, right?

 

[BrewHerc]

I've brewed several beers using this technique. It's worked fine. An issues you might run into is a little lower efficiency from wort retention.

 

[phishfood]

Right now I use pretty much this method exclusively, except I don't bother to support the bag up off of the bottom, I don't drain out of the cooler valve, and I do a dunk sparge in the brew kettle. Actually draining out of the cooler and sparging in it as well might produce a clearer wort than what I am getting. I loose ~ 1 gallon that I leave behind in the kettle due to so much sediment being in it.

My efficiency seems to be running around 75% or so. I used to think that I was up in the high 80's, but I think that was because I was leaving so much sediment in suspension that it was causing a really high original gravity reading.

 

[PT Ray]

I don't see you not. I would plan on batch sparging if you're looking at getting the most mileage. If you fly sparge the spigot may just have a tendency to pull liquor via a narrow path from the top.

 

[paraordnance]

I'm going to give this a try untill I build a manifold

 

[Revvy]

I sometimes use an unmodified 2 gallon cooler for a lot of my small btaches it holds up to 4 pounds of grain.

I just us a folding steamer in the bottom along with a grain bag. Just break off or unscrew the center post. And use a big elastic band to hold the bag in place.

One of these, it helps to lift the grain bag above the spigot to keep the drainig from getting stuck.

No problem with doing it in a larger sized cooler. A 5 gallon paint strainer bag would work perfectly.

 

[specialkaye]

One of these, it helps to lift the grain bag above the spigot to keep the drainig from getting stuck.

Flip that rascal over, grind or cut the stubby legs off, and add a layer of that voile material, and I think you'd have a very easy, cheap, false bottom. Hmmm, I'll probably have to try that sometime. Bet it'd be a snap to clean too.