one gal biab

[MedBrewer]

Heya guys, I've made a few one gallon batches all grain sparging and I'm curious about trying biab for my next batch. I understand I need a bag...lots of people say the"paint strainer" bags from home depot. Are those bags food safe? Is the only difference that I will be mashing and sparging in the same pot? So I need to add mash water + sparge water all at once(I usually mash about 2lbs of grain with 2-2.25 qts water and sparge with 1 gallon)?
There needs to be an adjustment for initial water temp? Thanks in advance for the help. Been a little confused about all this

 

[NTexBrewer]

I use the Home Depot paint strainer bags and have not had any issues. I place a metal trivet in the bottom of my pot to prevent the bag from touching the bottom and melting.

With BIAB you have all of your water in the pot so when you pull your bag you are ready to boil. Before pulling the bag, I turn on the heat raise the temperature to 170 and hold it there for 10 minutes to mash out. I usually stir the grains constantly when I have the heat on. I usually use a colander and a pot lid to squeeze as much liquid out of the grains.

http://www.simplebiabcalculator.com

This website is great for calculating how much water you will need and at what temperature you will need your strike water to hit your mash temperature.

You will notice the check box for mashout at the bottom of the page. For larger BIAB batches people will use a dunk sparge. Having this box checked will divide your water so you have a large portion for mashing and a smaller portion to dunk the grain bag in to release more sugars from the grain bag.

I usually use the value of 0.05 gallons for Fermentation Trub and my volumes usually work out on my 1 gallon batches. I do squeeze the grains pretty well.

If you have had good volume numbers with your prior batches then you can use the website to help with your strike water temperature.

With BIAB you will notice more stuff in your fermenter that will eventually settle out. I usually place a sanitized paint strainer bag in my fermentation bucket to filter the wort one last time before aerating and pitching.

Hope that helps

 

[MedBrewer]

Thank you very much for all the info, I'll be trying that in the next couple days just seems like less equipment to clean and a faster method.

 

[RM-MN]

I use the Home Depot paint strainer bags and have not had any issues. I place a metal trivet in the bottom of my pot to prevent the bag from touching the bottom and melting.

With BIAB you have all of your water in the pot so when you pull your bag you are ready to boil. Before pulling the bag, I turn on the heat raise the temperature to 170 and hold it there for 10 minutes to mash out. I usually stir the grains constantly when I have the heat on. I usually use a colander and a pot lid to squeeze as much liquid out of the grains.

http://www.simplebiabcalculator.com

This website is great for calculating how much water you will need and at what temperature you will need your strike water to hit your mash temperature.

You will notice the check box for mashout at the bottom of the page. For larger BIAB batches people will use a dunk sparge. Having this box checked will divide your water so you have a large portion for mashing and a smaller portion to dunk the grain bag in to release more sugars from the grain bag.

I usually use the value of 0.05 gallons for Fermentation Trub and my volumes usually work out on my 1 gallon batches. I do squeeze the grains pretty well.

If you have had good volume numbers with your prior batches then you can use the website to help with your strike water temperature.

With BIAB you will notice more stuff in your fermenter that will eventually settle out. I usually place a sanitized paint strainer bag in my fermentation bucket to filter the wort one last time before aerating and pitching.

Hope that helps

Have you thought about what that mashout accomplishes that pulling the bag immediately and bringing the wort to a boil won't? I guarantee that the enzymes will be denatured before the wort even starts to boil.

 

[NTexBrewer]

I'm trying to get out as many sugars as possible.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[IvanBrew]

I'm also curious about options for a 1 gallon BIAB bag. I don't particularly like the idea of using something meant for paint without knowing it's food safe, but I haven't ruled it out...

An expensive option I'm considering is asking the guys over at Arbor Fabricating about a custom stainless mesh filter. I have no affiliation, but I do own and use one of their filters for hop additions in my 30 gal boil kettle...

I'd love to discover, though, that there's a known safe option that I could experiment with before spending bigger dollars on something like that...

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Just drive up to IKEA, it's 15 minutes if you're close to I96. Get the Lill curtains, they're massive and only a few bucks. I fold them over a few times till it's a rough square.

It's in textiles on the main floor, past the pillows/beddings.

I work there...
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/90111980/

 

[NTexBrewer]

Most brew supply stores and online stores sell Brew Bags.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I'm trying to get out as many sugars as possible.

Opinions vary on whether a mash out helps extract more sugar. Traditionally, a mash out is to denature the enzymes, NOT to dissolve more sugar.

At mash temps, all the sugar is dissolved, the idea that raising the temp of the mash will make the sugar more soluble and more easily rinsed at higher temps is just not true IMHO. Mashout if you like, but I am far from convinced that it serves any purpose in BIAB besides getting the runnings closer to boil temp.

 

[Bamsdealer]

I do these when I need a lot of yeast for a lager or big beer. Mash in pot one using a paint strainer bag. I like to pop my mash in a warm oven. It holds temps nicely. After your mash, dunk your grain bag in another pot of 190ish water, stir and remove your bag. Combine the sparge and mash water and proceed as normal.