reallllly on the fence !!!!

[JimTheHick]

I've done two BIAB as a new convert. I'm a fan. Simple. Efficient. Did a 15 lb grain bill in my 36 qt pot and ended up with 73% efficiency and a half gallon of 1.040 wort for a starter to boot. I use the top half of that basting pan that comes with a lot of ovens and just lay it over the top of my kettle, put the bag on to drain, pour some sparge water on top, while heating. I use the $7 coarse large grain bag sold by many online retailers. Cleans up well.

 

[CidahMastah]

I've heard of guys sparging and lautering for over 3 hours using a traditional mash tun. With BIAB, I pull up the bag, let it drain for about 5 mins, press the crap out of it on a grill for about 5 minutes and all this while my burner is going full tilt to get me to boiling. So, based on what I've heard (never used a mash tun myself) I think can be a huge time saver, especially with grains that are prone to getting a mash stuck.

Ok so I can understand that misconception (that same technique is what scared me from AG in the beginning). Using batch sparge techniique I routinely bang out 2 10G batches in about 5-6 hours.

I would venture to say the vast majority of folks batch sparge (I could be wrong).

After mashing, open your ball valve all the way and let wort drain off.
Batch sparge Add in water, not to exceed 168F, to make up your preboil volume (if you get 5 gallons wort and your preboil is 13g, you add 8 gallons to the tun). Stir the grains for 1 minute and let it sit for 2 minutes. Open ball valve up full throttle and drain into Boil kettle.

My batch sparge takes 3-5 minutes.

I know the way you are talking about as traditional. Many folks may do that, but I think that is more old school. Batch sparging is quick, gets you high efficiencies (76-78% is my usual).

As for stuck sparges,... not in a blichmann tun as far as my experience goes. I have done a lot of wheat and rye brews this year (I only do 10g batches). No stuck sparges to date.

The only major savings in BIAB IMO is the cost of a mash tun. For that reason though, I think that is why it is so clutch to getting extract brewers into the AG game. The low equipment cost makes it accessible.

The tough part comes when you try to up your grain bill. Imagine a BIAB with an IPA grain bill for a 10G batch. Get the pulley system out to lift that bad boy up!

 

[brewit2it]

I've done both. A Keg setup is expensive and takes more effort if you build your own unit (go with a Keezer) but the benefit of having a keg system goes way beyond not having to bottle, which in itself is a huge plus. I find my beer is much tastier on tap plus you have more control over the carbonation. You can dry hop right in the keg for unbeatable fresh hop flavor. You can use the Keezer to cold crash, cold condition, lager, etc. You can make great beer and have it ready to drink in 3 weeks or less if you force carb.

As far as quality of brew, I saw a big improvement going from liquid extract with specialty grains to partial mash with DME to make up gravity, but cant say I see as big (or maybe really any) a difference in partial mash to AG.

Do both, but the sooner you start kegging the sooner you will wonder why you waited as long as you did IMO.

 

[JimTheHick]

+1 on BIAB being a different beast at 10 gal vs 5 gal. At 5 gallons it's easy as pie. While I haven't done 10 gallons and don't plan to for a while, a 30 pound grain bag sounds tough to handle.

 

[dallasdb]

+1 on BIAB being a different beast at 10 gal vs 5 gal. At 5 gallons it's easy as pie. While I haven't done 10 gallons and don't plan to for a while, a 30 pound grain bag sounds tough to handle.

I've only done BIAB with 5 gal batches but if I were to do a 10 gal batch, I would use two bags.

That way you aren't manhandling a giant bag but call pull out one then the other. My wife sewed my BIAB and 6 hop bags for under $10.

Voile material, heavy duty thread, and some material to reinforce the seams that looks like a wide shoe lace and it holds the grain REALLY well.

 

[JonK331]

Get the keg system and a bigger kettle. There are cheaper ways to go all grain such as BIAB or the Zapap system.

 

[Aschecte]

Hey just to update I got all the above the keg system the mlt and hlt and a 10 gallon brew kettle.... ended up buying the keg system outright the mlt and hlt I did a DIY and built them using a 10 gallon round igloo's and the brew kettle I bought a straight 10 gallon brew pot and then drilled it and added a sightglass and thermo and a tubescreen and spigot setup. saved a bunch of money with the diy aspect of things and was able to afford everything at once.

 

[CidahMastah]

I've only done BIAB with 5 gal batches but if I were to do a 10 gal batch, I would use two bags.

That way you aren't manhandling a giant bag but call pull out one then the other. My wife sewed my BIAB and 6 hop bags for under $10.

Voile material, heavy duty thread, and some material to reinforce the seams that looks like a wide shoe lace and it holds the grain REALLY well.

Not saying 2 5 gallon bags can't be done. However in my experience, with a 15G pot for a 5 gallon batch BIAB, it was pretty tough to keep the bag submerged fully for the mash because the grains don't get to spread out as much. I would think at a minimum you would have to work with thinner mashes. Unless you come up with a good method, lifting even the 5lb grain bills isn't any fun after a while. You do one little thing wrong and you have have wort all over the place when you squeeze, etc.

IMO, l think using a mash tun is way easier than the BIAB method. For me the BIAB was a patch to fix the problem that I didn't have a MT. That said it allowed me to do a couple AG batches and realize it was way easier than people lead me to believe. Once my buddy bought out MT I never considered going back to BIAB.