Newish to brewing looking at BIAB, and other general questions

[zrikz]

Howdy all, new to the forums, just discovered them today.


I've done a few extract kits over the past year, but feel like I'm still pretty dang new to brewing, I'm looking at expanding my brewing capabilities and creativity!

I currently have a 5 gal kettle and 4 - 5 gal carboys.

Any recommendations for BIAB? I was looking at getting the bag set here: http://biabbags.webs.com/store along with a 15gal kettle from Ss Brewtech to accomodate all of the grain.

I honestly know nothing about the mash process, been trying to read up on it and how it works with grain and what not, does anyone have any recommendations for reading material?

And the final question, at some point I'd like to skip the bottling process and jump to kegging.. maybe a christmas present to myself this year, any recommendations / advice?

Thanks!

 

[NeoBrew]

How to Brew by John Palmer is the go to for all the basics of home brewing. It is a pretty dense book and hard to read all in one shot. I tend to use it more as a reference when I'm trying to learn something new or improve a part of my process.

The Northern Brewer videos give a pretty good overview of BIAB without being too complicated with details.

Not sure if there really is a seminal source for BIAB. It has really gained legitimacy over the last year. When I started 3 years ago we were still sort of on the fringe. It started in Australia. The Australian site http://www.biabrewer.info/ has everything you might ever want to know.

 

[Gavin C]

A bit on my process for BIAB.

I like the results. Single vessel brewing does not limit you at all.

Best of luck and welcome to the forum

 

[zrikz]

Thanks for the book recommendation! I was about to revise my post to ask for a book, I like having a nice reference I can flip to.

 

[dstockwell]

Exactly what Gavin said..!!

 

[casualbrewer]

If going biab then some of the best pieces of advice is to get a big enough pot, get a good bag like a wilserbrewer bag, and do alot of reading! In all honesty it's super easy. My advice is just do a full volume mash with no sparge. This will help you get your process nailed down good. Also, start using some of the online beer recipe calculators to help you formulate recipes.

 

[SteveH aka shetc]

Have a look here http://biabrewer.info/. The BIABacus calculator is very useful, and lots of great info on BIAB.

 

[zrikz]

Thank you all for the information.

Well, I wasn't planning on buying a Kegging system for a few months, but just got the northernbrewer email for $100 off the twin kegging system: Link Couldn't pass it up.

 

[Brian77095]

My suggestion would be to join a local club. Its really fun to brew with other people and have them give good actionable feedback on your beer. You can also see first hand how different processes work.

 

[Solidsnake]

I don't know what your plan is on keeping the kegs cold but check craigslist for kegerators that are on sale. Sometimes you can get a draft system and a fridge for the price of just the system new that's what I did. I too BIAB and its great same all grain results with less equipment.

 

[Aristotelian]

In general, I say Yes to BIAB. You have to be more specific if you want specific recommendations. Price point, constraints, etc.

I do 2.5 gallon batches on the stovetop because that is plenty for me and I wanted the cheapest possible setup.

 

[zrikz]

I don't know what your plan is on keeping the kegs cold but check craigslist for kegerators that are on sale. Sometimes you can get a draft system and a fridge for the price of just the system new that's what I did. I too BIAB and its great same all grain results with less equipment.

Hadn't gotten that far yet.. I have a full size beer fridge in the garage I might attempt to convert, we'll see. Could probably easily fit both + still have a shelf in there for more storage.