Off the shelf BIAB RIMS system??

[Owly055]

This elegant little device (Sous Vide) is intended for cooking foods at precisely controlled temps while vacuum packed. A method employed by some very high class restaurants. The bags are immersed in water, and the device circulates the water and maintains temp within a fraction of a degree. In the one photo you can see the device apart, with it's coil element and an impeller that draws water up through the element and out the slots. In the other you can see it disassembled. This device or something similar would be made to order for BIAB RIMS. It would clip onto the side of your pot, and circulate the mash without having to draw it through the bag.

This is basically the same thing I've been planning to build for in bag circulation.... except that it has the heating element right in the unit, where my design would use a hotplate, and would be a larger scale, and centered in the pot. The flow would also be opposite to the flow on this... pushing the wort downward, and drawing it from near the surface. This would hold the bag down rather than drawing it up against the inlet. There are a number of motors that would work fine for this.

H.W.

 

[TopherM]

Great idea for 1-2 gallon batches. It's 1K watt element wouldn't be reasonable for 5 gallon batches.

For example (round numbers), a 5 gallon BIAB batch with 7 gallons of starting volume, it would take about 90 minutes to get to strike temp, then another 71 minutes to get to boil.

Also, not sure exactly why, but it says the max temp of the unit is 210 F. That's not boiling at most elevations

 

[Owly055]

Great idea for 1-2 gallon batches. It's 1K watt element wouldn't be reasonable for 5 gallon batches.

For example (round numbers), a 5 gallon BIAB batch with 7 gallons of starting volume, it would take about 90 minutes to get to strike temp, then another 71 minutes to get to boil.

Also, not sure exactly why, but it says the max temp of the unit is 210 F. That's not boiling at most elevations

The idea isn't to heat your strike water, but to maintain mash temp and recirculate. Everything's there to do that. Most of us heat our strike water on a stove of some sort. This would just give you a precise temp control during your mash, and the advantages of circulation.

H.W.

 

[bford]

Thanks for posting this.... I remember reading about someone.. maybe you using one of these a few months back.... I think its a great idea....

.... and I could use the Sous Vide to make meals at other times!!!!

 

[bford]

and one of these has just gone on my Christmas list!

So glad you posted this.... I was having trouble coming up with something unique I might want....


This is a great way to keep mash temps..... then take the bag out and heat up to a boil using the gas stove.... genius...

 

[The_Bishop]

I'd be worried that the grain could clog it up, potentially leading to scorching.

 

[DurtyChemist]

How much would this costs vs recirculating using a $160 chuggar pump, some hose and a PVC sparge arm while on top of your heating source?

 

[Owly055]

How much would this costs vs recirculating using a $160 chuggar pump, some hose and a PVC sparge arm while on top of your heating source?

Unfortunately in my case at least, circulation through the bag does NOT work well, resulting in clogged weave. The idea is that this would work for in bag circulation for us BIAB brewers.

H.W.

 

[Owly055]

Note that this attracted me because it was so close to what I had recently conceived as a way to allow me "mash while I sleep". https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/bag-circulator-500392/ My rough sketch is at the above thread. The circulator is designed to work with a hotplate on a timer, and could incorporate a PID controller, or STC-1000.... or not. Once you know the heat rate at a given setting on the hotplate, an alarm clock should be enough! You can get as simple or as complex as you want. This doesn't require a tapped kettle, hoses, etc. Just drop it in place like one of those Jacuzzi drop in pumps they used to sell, and go! Simple is good.......... this is simple.

H.W.

 

[The_Bishop]

It's a bit expensive for trying something that probably won't work in a porridge like mash. It's meant to heat and circulate *water*.

If you really don't like making beer to the point that you want to do it in 5 minutes and while you sleep, can I point you at a liquor store with a good craft beer selection?

 

[Owly055]

It's a bit expensive for trying something that probably won't work in a porridge like mash. It's meant to heat and circulate *water*.

If you really don't like making beer to the point that you want to do it in 5 minutes and while you sleep, can I point you at a liquor store with a good craft beer selection?

When doing BIAB, "porridge like mash" is hardly what you have. It's pretty thin when you are doing full volume.

I get really tired of comments suggesting that because I don't want to dedicate 5 hours to making a batch of beer I must not like brewing........... I brew once a week....... 2.5 gallon brews, and virtually every one is different. How often do YOU brew? If I really hated brewing as you suggest, would I brew weekly??? That makes no sense at all. If I hated homebrewing but loved homebrew, I would get a 15 barrel fermenter, and other equipment to match so I could brew once a year!!
What each person gets out of brewing is different........ Obviously you get your pleasure out of waiting through long mashes and long boils. I'm not someone who enjoys sitting around waiting. I like action. If I were a sports fan...... which I'm NOT, I would watch soccer, hockey, rugby, and basketball......... the real action sports, NOT football, baseball, and golf, where there long periods of waiting punctuated by seconds of action. Sports where you could condense 2 hours into 10 minutes and not miss a thing!
My enjoyment is in crafting a recipe and tweaking it, not in hours of sitting around waiting , when I can't leave, but really don't have anything to do for another hour. You measure your pleasure obviously by how many hours you can spend at it...... a 6 hour brew day must be more enjoyable than a 2.5 hour brew day (my usual start to finish now)....... presumably a 12 hour brew day would be better yet! I seem to be missing a gene or something... ;-)

H.W.

 

[bford]

Even if it doesn't or didn't recirculate it well.... it would keep the mash at the correct temperature... and that is something I don't enjoy standing over for the hour..


Bonus.. if you like to cook like I do.. I would actually use it more for making meals... so even if it didn't work they way I wanted... I'm not out anything... because I can still cook some amazing meats..

 

[Owly055]

Even if it doesn't or didn't recirculate it well.... it would keep the mash at the correct temperature... and that is something I don't enjoy standing over for the hour..


Bonus.. if you like to cook like I do.. I would actually use it more for making meals... so even if it didn't work they way I wanted... I'm not out anything... because I can still cook some amazing meats..

I had never heard of this cooking system before the other day, but I can see some huge benefits, particularly in cooking meat. The ability to take meat to the optimum internal temperature uniformly without the conventional methods that result in moisture loss, and continued cooking after removing just makes sense. It enables near perfect cooking.

That is in addition to being an asset for BIAB brewing. The very same equipment right down to the stock pot could serve both purposes.... at least at my brewing scale. I look forward to hearing the results of mashing experiments using this. It is beyond my brewing budget, but I will be building something similar.

H.W.

 

[bford]

I had never heard of this cooking system before the other day, but I can see some huge benefits, particularly in cooking meat. The ability to take meat to the optimum internal temperature uniformly without the conventional methods that result in moisture loss, and continued cooking after removing just makes sense. It enables near perfect cooking.

That is in addition to being an asset for BIAB brewing. The very same equipment right down to the stock pot could serve both purposes.... at least at my brewing scale. I look forward to hearing the results of mashing experiments using this. It is beyond my brewing budget, but I will be building something similar.

H.W.

My cousin does have another brand of these stick systems..... he cooked thick cut pork chops with it.. they were perfect... and amazing...

 

[Owly055]

My cousin does have another brand of these stick systems..... he cooked thick cut pork chops with it.. they were perfect... and amazing...

I'm jealous! Of course you need a grill to finish them properly, and a vacuum packing machine to prepare them. It's not a simple process. For a single guy like me, it just doesn't pencil.

Of course a perfect pork chop washed down with a perfect beer...................... Well Maybe ;-)

H.W.

 

[watermelon83]

Owly, just to be a turd, I have to point out that you said you like action and want to mash while you sleep in the same thread. I know what you mean, just found humor in it.

 

[Bassman2003]

Blichman has a product sort of similar to this called the RIMS Rocket - http://www.blichmannengineering.com/products/rims-rocket™

You need a pump but it does the same thing, heating the wort outside of the mash tun while it is travelling by. Unless I missed the point of how the Sous Vide works.

 

[Owly055]

Blichman has a product sort of similar to this called the RIMS Rocket - http://www.blichmannengineering.com/products/rims-rocket™

You need a pump but it does the same thing, heating the wort outside of the mash tun while it is travelling by. Unless I missed the point of how the Sous Vide works.

The RIMS Rocket looks like a great product....... for a conventional RIMS system. The reason I proposed a system like the Sous Vide is to allow circulation without circulating through the bag. Pump, element, thermostatic control and all are contained in a single tube that sits inside the bag, which eliminates the BIAB "stuck sparge" as some people have called it, where the grain particles plug the weave in the bag.


H.W.

 

[bford]

Just saw this picture from a review on Amazon... that would be a pretty cool BIAB mash system...... of course it would require a cooler to modify... and a bag that would fit the cooler... and something to keep the bag from running into the Anova....

Would make things really easy once you had it all figured out though..

(the person here is just using it for cooking.... )