Trying BIAB after all-grain

[NewkyBrown]

I am thinking of giving BIAB a try as I am going to use a smaller induction set-up in the kitchen through winter.
I normally use a basic all-grain system and have had fairly good results. I figured that the shorter times and easier cleanup might be beneficial. To people who have tried both, there any downsides regarding
taste, quality of the final product using BIAB?
Thanks.


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[Oginme]

Nope. The wort made with BIAB turns out a little bit more fermentable for the same corresponding mash temperature in my mash tun. Other than that, I cannot tell the difference. I now do almost all BIAB, 10 liter batches until I get to a point where I really like a recipe. Allows for more brewing and more rapid recipe repeats.

 

[dobes]

No real down side.
Done them both and the ease and time saving of BIAB is great. Especially nice for brewing inside like you want to.
My sister wanted to start brewing and I started her off with the BIAB and also doing partial mashes.
I think if the option of doing BIAB will work for you then go for it.

 

[stevedasleeve]

No changes in my beer but I finally got tired of squeezing and the like like for BIB, went back to my aged and reliable all grain rig and haven't looked back!

 

[jschein]

I have never seen a difference in mine

 

[Beernik]

I switched to BIAB in a keggle from a mash tun as a rest stop on my way to build a HERMS. You can't argue with the simplicity of it.

I got about 66% efficiency doing it no-sparge. And that's about the same efficiency I got doing no-sparge in my MLT.

My next time with it, I might try a double crush and some manual recirculation to up my efficiency.

 

[gabeweisz]

I did a bunch of BIAB batches before getting a mash tun. It worked very well, but I never found a way to drain the bag that I was happy with. 12 pounds of grain soaked in water is heavy and awkward to hold over the kettle.

The beer that came out was very good - no complaints there.

 

[NewkyBrown]

Thanks for the replies.
So I guess for a no sparge set-up you
mash with full volume? I am thinking about 2.5 g batches as I only have a
1800w induction plate. Therefore I
figure I'll still be heating up around 4.5 to 5 gallons of water.

 

[Beernik]

That's what I did and what my brew calculator defaults to for BIAB.

 

[gbx]

BIAB is all grain brewing and holding the bag over the kettle to drain is for chumps. At the end of the mash, I pull the bag out and put it in a bucket with the mash paddle wedged in to keep the bag off the bottom. i let it drain out and then dump it back into the kettle without concerning myself about the dangers of HSA (like bigfoot and ufo's, it isn't real). If you are a BIAB purist, you will say its cheating because its actually 2 vessel brewing, I don't care because I have the bucket that I grind the malt into sitting there anyways.

 

[rupert130]

I did a bunch of BIAB batches before getting a mash tun. It worked very well, but I never found a way to drain the bag that I was happy with. 12 pounds of grain soaked in water is heavy and awkward to hold over the kettle.

The beer that came out was very good - no complaints there.

All you need is a pulley and something to hang it off of. Wilserbrewer sells BIAB bags and the pulleys. I hang mine off of a step ladder placed over my brew kettle and then I squeeze the bejeezus out of it with two pot lids until I have extracted all of the wort possible. I routinely get 80% brewhouse efficiency with this method of BIAB. I don't double grind the grains either.

Also, as a side note. After reading many threads on this forum I have stopped trying to remove kettle trub from my fermentor. Everything goes into the fermentor and I have had some of my best beers to date. Plus it saves time cleaning extra equipment.

 

[rekoob]

I squeeze the bejeezus out of it...

I have stopped trying to remove kettle trub from my fermentor.

I hate trying to squeeze any bags of grain after a mash or steep. I used to brew on our back porch and would hang the bag from an eye hook over the pot just let it drain.

Agree with the trub in the fermentor, I never really worried about it but I do try to leave what I can behind in the keggle, but whatever gets into the carboy gets in.

 

[TexasWine]

It worked very well, but I never found a way to drain the bag that I was happy with. 12 pounds of grain soaked in water is heavy and awkward to hold over the kettle.

Tons of ways to do this. I put a grate from my oven on top of the kettle, drop the wet bag on the grate, and go about my business.

 

[stevedasleeve]

FWIW you can still do 5 gallon all grain batches in the kitchen. I use an induction plate & a 1500 W heat stick