Play devils advocate for me

[TxNative]

I intend on designed a BIAB set up and have looked around quite a bit. One of the things that had caught my eye was the "brew in a basket" method, which I really enjoyed in theory. And this is where I need yall... what are some, if any, of the disadvantages to this?

Along with that I could also use some advice on things that you would like to see in your BIAB brew day. A pulley system, insulation, temp control methods in general, re circulation etc.

Thanks in advance,
Chris



Feel free to post yalls BIAB set ups as well, I'd love to see them.

 

[Onkel_Udo]

what are some, if any, of the disadvantages to this?

Cost...pure and simple. $300 for a ss basket fine enough for BIAB verses $30 for a really, really good bag.

Hoist is required if you plan to do more than about 10-15 of grain.

I personally plan to do redneck eBIAB. 20 gallon pot, two 2000W elements on separate switches going to separate 110v GFCI outlet protected circuits. No temp control (conversion is done in a few minutes anyway) but a layer of reflectix for insulation. Reticulation is a consideration but unlikely.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Typically a basket does not line the entire pot, but actually a smaller percentage of the total volume. To correct this, many choose to recirculate, recirculation then leads to heat loss, so to correct this deficiency people often choose to automate temp control, and with these additions, challenges and problems can present that were not an issue to begin with.

I will remain with simple BIAB full volume single temp mash rest until the benefits truly outweigh the benefits of added "system improvements".

Does doing a simple mash and losing 2-3 degrees mean any thing to the finished beer if one mashes in 1.5 degrees high and anticipates the slight loss of heat?

Fwiw, I also do "red neck" BIAB w 2 elements at 2000w each and have no issues.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

The basket is about an inch smaller in diameter than the pot.I notice a definite temp difference between mash and wort temp,even stirring constantly.I guess recirculation (that I don't have) would fix that.It hasnt seemed to effect finished product.It just erks me a little.Its like 10 deg difference. A hoist is a must.I do 10 gallon batches.Aside from that its so easy on brew day.I highly recommend it.

 

[madscientist451]

I have a Bayou Classic pot that came with a SS basket. There's enough dead space under the basket for a heating element and to put a fitting for a valve.
I am thinking of rigging up a simple eBiab set up by using a 110v element, a standard temp control, a small pump like those used to recirculate water for solar collectors and a BIAB bag in the basket. The element would only be used to maintain the re circulation mash temp, I'd still heat the strike water in the BK. I'm not sure how many amps the element would draw and if too high, the temp control couldn't handle it.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I think the OP is asking about using a stainless mesh fabricated basket in lieu of a typical polyester bag...not using a strainer basket with a bag.

 

[TxNative]

Im talking about a mesh basket, micron 400 mesh seems to be the most commonly used. Something like this..

http://www.homebrewfinds.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/10_gal_biabaskit-222x300.jpg

So the space between this mesh basket and the kettle creates a temperature difference? The wort on the bottom and sides of the mesh basket is a different temperature than the mash inside the mesh basket? Thanks for the replies yall.

 

[ong]

Is there some advantage you see to the basket? I'm not really sure why it would work any better. I've done around 70 BIAB batches with the same tulle bag, and it's always worked pretty well (aside from when I made up dumb recipes!).

 

[MN_Jay]

This is the basket I use, I have the Wilser bag inside the basket and can maintain the same mash temp for the entire 60 minutes with just an insulated blanket thrown over it, even with stirring every 20 mins.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1430452947.596151.jpg

 

[okbecker]

I'm not a BIAB guy but isn't one of the big pros to biab only having one vessel. a basket to me kinda seems like another vessel with holes in it you have to deal with...have you considered 2 vessel no sparge....my preference personally...mash in cooler using a traditional 1-2 liquor to grist ratio. At end of mash add the remaining water which would bring to full volume, same as biab. I use this addition as mash out. Then just drain into kettle. Efficiency is a tad lower but not much. Im usually around 70%. Simple and produces great beer, for me the traditional mash thickness allows me to control pH easier, no sparge let's me avoid astringency issues.

Not against biab just another thought on brewing.

 

[RM-MN]

I intend on designed a BIAB set up and have looked around quite a bit. One of the things that had caught my eye was the "brew in a basket" method, which I really enjoyed in theory. And this is where I need yall... what are some, if any, of the disadvantages to this?

Along with that I could also use some advice on things that you would like to see in your BIAB brew day. A pulley system, insulation, temp control methods in general, re circulation etc.

Thanks in advance,
Chris



Feel free to post yalls BIAB set ups as well, I'd love to see them.

I'd say the disadvantages of the fine mesh basket are cost, cleaning, storage.
The cost has already been mentioned but the cleaning has only been skimmed over. When I finish the mash and dump out my bag of spent grains, there will be grain particles stuck to the bag and through the mesh. That's fine, I turn the bag inside out and shake it, then turn it back right side out and shake it again and most of those particles are gone. It will be a little harder to turn the mesh basket inside out so there will be some scrubbing involved to get it cleaned up. I don't like scrubbing.
Storage of the mesh basket might not be a problem for you as you can just set it inside the pot but I use my pot for other things occasionally. Then where to store the basket becomes a problem.

Temperature control only becomes an issue if your grains aren't milled fine enough and you have to use an extended mash time to get full conversion. Even then it isn't much of a problem because you will be using a large quantity of water in the mash and it takes a long time to cool that very much. I've gone to no-chill and in the winter I set the uninsulated pot out on my deck and with air temperature of 10 degrees I can expect it to take 4 hours or more to get the temperature of the wort from 210 to 60 for pitching the yeast.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I'm not a BIAB guy but isn't one of the big pros to biab only having one vessel. a basket to me kinda seems like another vessel with holes in it you have to deal with...have you considered 2 vessel no sparge....my preference personally...mash in cooler using a traditional 1-2 liquor to grist ratio. At end of mash add the remaining water which would bring to full volume, same as biab. I use this addition as mash out. Then just drain into kettle. Efficiency is a tad lower but not much. Im usually around 70%. Simple and produces great beer, for me the traditional mash thickness allows me to control pH easier, no sparge let's me avoid astringency issues.

Not against biab just another thought on brewing.

I have also done this, both with a cooler MT and BIAB, mash at more traditional grain / water ratio, then add water to full volume after the mash rest, works well and is very easy. The added bonus is that one does not have to wait for the full water volume to heat prior to mashing in.....so this can be a time saver as well.

 

[wobdee]

Im talking about a mesh basket, micron 400 mesh seems to be the most commonly used. Something like this..

http://www.homebrewfinds.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/10_gal_biabaskit-222x300.jpg

So the space between this mesh basket and the kettle creates a temperature difference? The wort on the bottom and sides of the mesh basket is a different temperature than the mash inside the mesh basket? Thanks for the replies yall.

I have a basket similar to that, got it from arborfab.com, I think they are about 100 bucks or so. He will also make custom sized.

I stir the crap out of my mash and the temps are pretty even. Storing isn't a problem for me, it sits right inside of my kettle. Cleaning is a breeze, just dump the grain, set it upside down and spray off with a garden hose.