Show your BIAB Stand/Set up

[Gavin C]

Thanks, good to hear. So you basically just secure the probe by "clamping" the wire between the lid and kettle? I think I'm be investing in one of those. I like my pen style, but something to just rest on top makes a lot of sense to me to keep from opening the lid and potentially losing heat.

My thermometer

Polder Original Cooking All-In-One Timer/Thermometer

 

[TexasWine]

My thermometer

Polder Original Cooking All-In-One Timer/Thermometer

Same one I use. Does the job!

 

[Arttu]

My cheapo countertop setup. 33l kettle, PID controlled heating element and SCR for boil control. Constant recirculation with pwm controlled pump. Diy false bottom. The bag is naturally missing.

 

[Bock]

Nice build Arttu, what kind of pump is this?

 

[Just-a-sip]

Anyone use electric run into scouring due to the amount of grain material BIAB tends to leave behind.

 

[rossi46]

Haven't had any scorching issues with my eBiab or 3 vessel, the element doesn't seem to have anymore gunk on it than 3v

 

[Arttu]

Nice build Arttu, what kind of pump is this?

Thanks. The pump is a cheap 12v one from ebay (link). I had s similar one before but managed to break it while cleaning (snapped the axle). The new one I bought actually works better and the fact that you can slide it off the mount really helps cleaning.

As for scorching, as constant recirculation filters the wort really well, I've had no problems.

 

[MerlinWerks]

Thanks. The pump is a cheap 12v one from ebay (link). I had s similar one before but managed to break it while cleaning (snapped the axle). The new one I bought actually works better and the fact that you can slide it off the mount really helps cleaning.

As for scorching, as constant recirculation filters the wort really well, I've had no problems.

It looks like your return hose would reach through the mash all the way to your false bottom is that how it's set up? What's the largest mash volume you typically do?

Thanks

 

[Arttu]

It looks like your return hose would reach through the mash all the way to your false bottom is that how it's set up? What's the largest mash volume you typically do?

Thanks

The tubing sits snugly in the lid (there is a short piece of stainless tubing soldered to the lid), so I can adjust the height of the return hose. Usually I place it so that it just touches the liquid. I'm going to rig up something to spread the return flow to a wider area once I come up with something that is cheap and easy to clean. Having the return go all the way to the false bottom would pretty much render the whole system useless.

I just did a pale ale with a full volume mash and I had the kettle up to about 30l, that was pushing it

Usually I do 20l (5ish gallon) batches. I run the wort to a fermenting bucket and batch sparge, that way I've been getting around 85% efficiency (got about 75% with the no sparge, squeezing the bag). After lifting the bag, I pour the wort back to the kettle and sanitize the fermenter.

I might start doing full volume mashes as it's much less of a hassle, although that will limit me to 20l batches at 1.070 max.

 

[MerlinWerks]

...Having the return go all the way to the false bottom would pretty much render the whole system useless.

True dat, was not thinking it all the way through :smack:

I was just excited to see someone having success with a recirculating BIAB setup since it seems to be kinda hit and miss. I would really like to try this because even though it's not supposed to make a difference in the final beer I would like to keep more of the flour/trub out of the BK.

 

[Menhir]

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread, you have given me some great inspiration. I'm beginning to work on plans for a EBIAB brewery in a 10'x11' room in my basement.

 

[Thedutchtouch]

True dat, was not thinking it all the way through :smack:

I was just excited to see someone having success with a recirculating BIAB setup since it seems to be kinda hit and miss. I would really like to try this because even though it's not supposed to make a difference in the final beer I would like to keep more of the flour/trub out of the BK.

add a float to the end of the tubing and you're all good.

 

[JINKS]

I'm going to rig up something to spread the return flow to a wider area once I come up with something that is cheap and easy to clean.

This is what I'm going to try. My setup is going to be very similar to yours. Just waiting for parts and pumps and such to get to Montana from all over the country and world.

 

[Arttu]

View attachment 257005
This is what I'm going to try. My setup is going to be very similar to yours. Just waiting for parts and pumps and such to get to Montana from all over the country and world.

I saw that earlier, and although I don't believe hot side aeration is a major problem, I don't want to take any unnecessary chances. A sprayer like that would probably work very fell for fly sparging, but I'd be worried about using it with hot wort.

Let me know how it works out, it looks like a very good solution (simple, easy to clean). If hsa isn't an issue with this, I'd be willing to give it a shot.

 

[JINKS]

I saw that earlier, and although I don't believe hot side aeration is a major problem, I don't want to take any unnecessary chances. A sprayer like that would probably work very fell for fly sparging, but I'd be worried about using it with hot wort.

Let me know how it works out, it looks like a very good solution (simple, easy to clean). If hsa isn't an issue with this, I'd be willing to give it a shot.

http://brulosophy.com/2014/11/18/is-hot-side-aeration-fact-or-fiction-exbeeriment-results/

I'm basing my design on the fact that HSA is not to be worried about. To many brewers pour hot wort into fermenters, aerate while stirring etc. I'm pretty new at this but wouldn't sparging be aerating the wort also? Seems like pulling the bag and letting it drain hot into the wort has a chance of aeration too. Maybe someone with more experience can chime in as set the record straight.

 

[JINKS]

Not finished yet but getting there. Here is the build thread.

 

[Magnus314]

Some of you guys have awesome setups.

For me it's:

Old rusty turkey fryer burner? Check.
Big ol' kettle? Check.
Wilserbrewer bag? Check.
Plastic 1 gallon pitcher? Check.
5 gallon bucket? Check.

Brew time!

 

[doug293cz]

Not finished yet but getting there. Here is the build thread.

Nice design, very compact.

Love the logo on the BK. How did you create the resist (etch mask) pattern prior to electro etching?

Brew on

 

[JINKS]

Nice design, very compact.

Love the logo on the BK. How did you create the resist (etch mask) pattern prior to electro etching?

Brew on

Printed on some plastic paper the shop called bumper sticker paper.
I and a friend from work whom I plied with Raspberry wine cut out the details.
A.K.A. I did the letters and she did the rest. A 9 hour venture with 7 being hers.

Used a friends professional etching machine.

More pictures of the kettle closer in my build thread here.

 

[doug293cz]

Printed on some plastic paper the shop called bumper sticker paper.
I and a friend from work whom I plied with Raspberry wine cut out the details.
A.K.A. I did the letters and she did the rest. A 9 hour venture with 7 being hers. View attachment 262580

Used a friends professional etching machine.

More pictures of the kettle closer in my build thread here.

Wow! That's a lot of time consuming detail work. I don't have the manual dexterity for that kind of thing. I was hoping you had some kind of photo lithography method that could be implemented at home.

Brew on

 

[JINKS]

Wow! That's a lot of time consuming detail work. I don't have the manual dexterity for that kind of thing. I was hoping you had some kind of photo lithography method that could be implemented at home.

Brew on

Yah, I don't have the dexterity or patience either, hence I conned a friend into doing the work for a bottle of home made raspberry wine.

If you keep your design simple, a standard vinyl cutter at most sign shops will work, that is how I did the inside kettle gallon markings.






Inspired to etch from this thread.

 

[1977Brewer]

Some of you guys have awesome setups.

For me it's:

Old rusty turkey fryer burner? Check.
Big ol' kettle? Check.
Wilserbrewer bag? Check.
Plastic 1 gallon pitcher? Check.
5 gallon bucket? Check.

Brew time!

You have a wilser bag? Fancy pants.

 

[Arttu]

Here's what I came up with for a cheap and easy way of spreading the return flow to a wider area with a recirculating system.

3 t-connectors (pp plastic) and a few pieces of silicone tubing with holes punched on the sides. It's extremely easy to clean (and replace) and seems to work pretty well. The tubing connected to the "spreader" goes trough a piece on stainless tubing soldered to the kettle lid. The fit is snug enough to keep the silicone tubing in place, which allows for easy and precise height control.

 

[RM-MN]

To those of you with recirculation systems, have you ever checked for conversion early in the mash?(like before 10 minutes) Have you seen big improvements with conversion with recirculating? Have you taken an OG reading, then stirred well and taken another without the recirculation?

 

[BroStefan]

To those of you with recirculation systems, have you ever checked for conversion early in the mash?(like before 10 minutes) Have you seen big improvements with conversion with recirculating? Have you taken an OG reading, then stirred well and taken another without the recirculation?

Before my BIAB direct fired rims I did 2 vessel batch sparge. My mash efficiency has gone up and - more important to me - very consistent and predictable. 85% +- 1.5

I monitor my mash with a refractometer and when it gets to the target I mash out, pull the grain and put the heat to it.

All that and a typical brew day of 4 hours.

I'm sold in on BIAB

 

[BroStefan]

I finally remembered to take some images of my BIAB direct fired RIMS brew stand.

Everything I need for brew day is on the cart or on a shelf nearby. My mill is on the other end of the garage.

At first I would control the temp manually. Then my wife/brewing partner got my the Tower of Power control. This allows me to multitask while water is heating and my brew day is around 4 hours from set up to putting it all away.

The recirculating immersion wort chiller drops the temp to 65 in about 15 minutes.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1427748525.244678.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1427748544.339402.jpgView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1427748559.458612.jpg


View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1427747895.940431.jpg

 

[chiefairwrench]

Here are some of mine that I built the purple one is mine well my wives...lol

View attachment 1436903702742.jpg

 

[zgja2]

Here is mine. Not pictures is the sink i recently installed and the ratchet pulley above the kettle.

 

[Beernik]

This is my current setup. Pot on the right is BIAB. Pot on the left is for heating sparge water. The blue cooler is my old MLT. Off screen is an orange igloo cooler that is the HLT for the sparge water.

 

[schiersteinbrewing]

Finally got some time to install a Christmas present and brew some beer.
Installed a 12v Harbor Freight ATV winch, I got for Christmas, to lift the grain bags . Once it was installed I couldn't resist brewing not one but two beers today. Had to bust out the old induction BIAB system to run two brews at once. Can't beat the exact mash temp control you get with the Brew-Boss tho. The winch is going to make the 10g grain bills much easier to deal with.

 

[ranchonodinero]

Mine is bases on a rolling metal shelf. It's OK, but I need a little more room and will be moving to a stainless table after I weld up a lift of sorts. This was the first brew session and electric brewing is quiet! The road runner in the picture got to within 6 feet or so.

 

[Just-a-sip]

How was recirculating with the mesh basket. I'm buying one this week and wondered how well it strained and if it had the same effect as a bag and gets clogged

 

[ranchonodinero]

I've never brewed with a bag. But I brewed the popular cream of three crops. I added a pound of rice hulls to the grain bill. Didn't clog. Coming from a three vessel rims setup this was a piece of cake. The basket worked great. Easy cleanup. It will be interesting to see how it does with a larger grain bill.

 

[wilserbrewer]

How was recirculating with the mesh basket. I'm buying one this week and wondered how well it strained and if it had the same effect as a bag and gets clogged

I believe what happens with a basket, either a SS basket, or a basket lined with a bag, the wort can flow out the sides of the basket above the grain as needed, sort of like a relief or bypass. With a bag and a FB, if flow slows you can actually suck the pump dry and best to throttle the flow down with a valve after the pump.

 

[MerlinWerks]

How was recirculating with the mesh basket. I'm buying one this week and wondered how well it strained and if it had the same effect as a bag and gets clogged

Are you buying just the basket for an existing system? Or a complete new system?

 

[MerlinWerks]

When using a mesh filter basket the temp sensor is in the mash liquor only, with a bag it is at least contacting some grain, although it is one small area relative the total mash volume. I'm curious if there is any difference in mash temperature between the two systems. Has anyone with a COFI style filter measured the mash temp inside the filter at various points?

 

[Just-a-sip]

Are you buying just the basket for an existing system? Or a complete new system?

I'm building a basket... I work in a fabrication shop. The issue I had with traditional voile bags was even in my steam basket with feet, if I ran the pump it clogged the bag and turned it into a waterballoon. I eventually had to switch to a more course material similar to a paint strainer bag, but I get a bunch more drain matter in my wort then I would like. Just wondering how the baskets prevail.

 

[ranchonodinero]

When using the COFI filter, you do have to monitor flow. I had to watch and close the valve on the pump output in order to keep it from pulling too much liquid out.

 

[hafmpty]

When using the COFI filter, you do have to monitor flow. I had to watch and close the pump a little in order to make sure it wasn't too dry.

What "it" are you referring to? The mash or the pump?

 

[IowaHomeBrewer]

Sorry for shaky pictures.. still getting used to the camera on my phone.

So here is my set-up. All ready to stay nice and warm inside when the winter comes.

At first I had just a single pulley, but man those grains are crazy heavy and on my first batch with this system I made a huge mess. Changed it up a little bit and used a 4 pulley system. Nice and light now, and much easier to let it drain. Once it has dripped enough I move my kettle over and lower it onto a rubber mat.

Ventilation was a pain. At first I was using the same vent as my dyer to go outside, but when the dryer was on it just blew the hot air out of my fan. And when I was brewing it just blew all the steam into the dryer. I cut some plywood to fit my window and I just pop it in the window frame and hold it in place with 2x4s and a bracket.

And I can't stand how long it takes to bottle, so it all goes right to kegs.

Next step is to get a grain mill and stock up on the grains my recipes use.