wilserbrewer BIAB bags

[BigJack]

Did my first brew with the bag last night. I hit my gravity dead on. The bag cleaned up in no time. I'm beyond thrilled.

 

[cannman]

Wonderful performance!

Milled Fine (much like steal cut oats). Minimal trub from grain! Out performs other BIAB Bags I've used/obtained from major online retailers.

Hand made quality.

FAST delivery coast-to-coast.

Amazing customer service directly from the maker.

You deserve a better bag, you need wilserbrewer's BIAB bag. :rockin:

 

[paulymd]

Excellent bag and great service. Needed a quick turnaround and he got it done and delivered to my doorstep. Too bad NB couldn't get me my kettle before the weekend!


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Four BIAB batches in so far, all with mash out, heat applied with bag in, maxing out the grain volume, using the ratchet pulley, totally satisfied customer.

 

[timcook]

I'm a big fan of Wilser's brewing bags. good quality & good customer service. I highly recommend his products.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

 

[Wrinkletusk]

I brewed with my recently delivered Wilser bag yesterday, and I'm thoroughly impressed. I hit my numbers bang on the nose, and it was the clearest wort I've produced so far (9 prior BIAB). I tried a new method as well (pour over sparge with 30 minute drip - no squeeze), and my efficiency into the fermenter got a bump to 71% from my usual 62%. Cleaning was a breeze too.

Thanks for making these, Wilser. Awesome bags.

 

[ronirish]

Looks and fits kettle great. Great product , good price and very fast delivery! Will be using it soon! Thanks

 

[wilserbrewer]

Thanks all, I appreciate the feedback!
wilser

 

[vNmd]

I love mine as well. It has worked flawlessly (I just did batch # 30 on my first bag last week). Was wondering how long they might last with normal use. Obivously I understand there are huge amounts of variables between different brewers and how they use / care for them. And of course accidents happen. Just wondering if the matierial ever gets old or just keeps going and going?

 

[wilserbrewer]

Ya know... These bags are just an awesome deal for the price. However, sometimes I like to buy new shi* and this effing bag won't break, rip or shred.. Lol ohhhhhh... I've tried. More than 150 batches on the damn thing and for the life of me I can't tell I used it.


Cheers!

Polyester voile material is lightweight yet very durable. In the post above, divrguy reports 150 batches on a bag and still going strong. With reasonable use and care, your bag should last many, many batches.
Thanks!
Wilser



Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

 

[barleywhore69]

Order Placed.:rockin:


I have grown weary of trying to hit temps in a cooler mash tun. I've used paint strainer bags a few times for 1 gallon batches. Lots of particles in the wort. I just wasted $5 at the LHBS on an L.D. Carlson fine nylon mesh bag, thinking it would magically fit perfectly. Its tall and too narrow and it looks like its going to fall apart already and I haven't even used it.

I'm looking forward to simplifying things.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Order Placed.:rockin:


I have grown weary of trying to hit temps in a cooler mash tun. I've used paint strainer bags a few times for 1 gallon batches. Lots of particles in the wort. I just wasted $5 at the LHBS on an L.D. Carlson fine nylon mesh bag, thinking it would magically fit perfectly. Its tall and too narrow and it looks like its going to fall apart already and I haven't even used it.

I'm looking forward to simplifying things.

Good call, the bags are awesome. Did you get the pulley too? I'm glad I did.

 

[barleywhore69]

I didn't order the pulley because I don't think I'll need it. Someone mentioned the possibility of the cord eventually thinning and possible slipping in the ratcheting mechanism. The thought of that bag splashing back into the hot wort on my kitchen stove is a little scary. I can rig something up if I need to and I'm trying to save money. I have pulleys and stuff around already. I really don't want to put an eye bolt in my kitchen ceiling either. I'm doing 5 gallon batches with less than 15lbs of grain. I should be able to lift it. If not, I usually have help around or I'll scoop some out of the bag until I can lift it. My plan is to mash in my 10 gallon pot, pull the bag out and set it in a bottling bucket. I'll have my 5 gallon pot heating sparge water during the mash. Sparge in the bottling bucket, then prop the bucket up above the BK to drain the rest of the wort right in the the BK while it heats. My cooler mash tun leaks at the ghetto bulkhead and requires preheating and blankets to keep temps. The bag system sounds like it will be easier for me to manage. I may be wrong. I like the simplicity of the voile bag for straining, however you choose to use it. I may end up using it in a cooler. I'll see how fussy it is to keep temps on the stove first.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I'm looking forward to simplifying things.

I didn't order the pulley because I don't think I'll need it. Someone mentioned the possibility of the cord eventually thinning and possible slipping in the ratcheting mechanism. The thought of that bag splashing back into the hot wort on my kitchen stove is a little scary. I can rig something up if I need to and I'm trying to save money. I have pulleys and stuff around already. I really don't want to put an eye bolt in my kitchen ceiling either. I'm doing 5 gallon batches with less than 15lbs of grain. I should be able to lift it. If not, I usually have help around or I'll scoop some out of the bag until I can lift it. My plan is to mash in my 10 gallon pot, pull the bag out and set it in a bottling bucket. I'll have my 5 gallon pot heating sparge water during the mash. Sparge in the bottling bucket, then prop the bucket up above the BK to drain the rest of the wort right in the the BK while it heats. My cooler mash tun leaks at the ghetto bulkhead and requires preheating and blankets to keep temps. The bag system sounds like it will be easier for me to manage. I may be wrong. I like the simplicity of the voile bag for straining, however you choose to use it. I may end up using it in a cooler. I'll see how fussy it is to keep temps on the stove first.

With due respect, rather than simplifying things, your process sounds awfully complicated. The major upside of BIAB in my opinion is simplicity, yet you indicate you want to add a second kettle, and a bucket to sparge in. I would suggest full volume no sparge, or a small pour over the bag sparge with the bag sitting above the kettle to hit preboil volume, either in a colander or just sitting on a couple kitchen utensils spanning the top of the pot. Using a pulley in a kitchen shouldn't require a hook in the ceiling, but rather a small hook can be installed inside the upper cabinet, or on the wall above the cabinet in the soffit and will not be visible to SWBO or others.

I have never heard of a pulley slipping, the idea of the rope thinning was merely one posters imagination of what "could" happen after perhaps years of use. The bag can be hung and positioned a very slight amount, say only a 1/4" above the wort surface if you are concerned. Unfortunately there is risk every morning just getting out of bed. Car tires are just filled with air, and they are bound to leak eventually....but we all use them....

Again simplicity, most find wrapping the kettle in towels, a blanket, or an old coat works well to keep mash temps. Firing the stove burner may be tricky to keep a steady temp. If you can squeeze your pot into a preheated oven, even better and easier....

Oh, one more thing....I would not hesitate to try a cold water sparge, works fine, easier and doesn't make you a bad person

Thank you!
Happy and simple brewing wishes!
wilser

 

[LLBeanJ]

With due respect, rather than simplifying things, your process sounds awfully complicated. The major upside of BIAB in my opinion is simplicity...

+1 ^^^^^

Couldn't agree more. I was guilty of the same thing. I originally started to incorporate a sparge due to necessity, as my 8 gal pot couldn't handle a full volume mash when I was using larger grain bills and/or 90 min boils. In doing so, I found the sparge gave me some added efficiency points that I liked, as well as provided more consistency in my efficiency. To handle the sparge, I went with the bucket inside a bucket technique, which worked fine, but meant more equipment to haul and store.

Recently, I took a step back and looked at how I could simplify my process. For the reasons stated above, I wanted to keep the sparge, but I wanted to keep the entire process as simple as possible. After nearly 3 years of brewing BIAB, I had learned some things and used that knowledge to build a totally new system from the ground up. It hasn't been cheap, but I'm very pleased with the results, as my brew days have never been easier.

What did I do?

1) New 15 gal MegaPot 1.2 w/ ball valve + a new oversized brew bag designed for a keggle (tapered at bottom - my old bag was shaped like a pillow case). For 5 gal batches, a 15g kettle is ideal. It seems like it would be too big, but it's actually perfect. The keggle bag helps keep the grain from expanding the bag outside the rim of the pot, so no drips on the floor. My old kettle did not have a ball valve, so I had to lift and pour the wort into the fermenter. Now I can just open the valve. For the sparge, I add my total water to the kettle, add a campden tab and any other water salts, let it heat for a while, then before doughing in, pull off 1.5 gals of sparge water out of the ball valve. When the mash is done, I pull the bag and while it's hanging, pour the ambient temp sparge water over the grains. Let it finish draining, maybe squeeze a little to get my pre-boil volume (the volume marks on the inside of the MegaPot make knowing your wort volume a cinch), then drop the bag into a bucket and set aside for cleaning later.

2) Ditched the propane burner for a Blichmann floor burner with natural gas valve. Plumbed a natural gas line into my garage (where I brew) from the basement. I can't describe how wonderful it is to no longer rely on propane. I also made small wood brew cart with casters and mounted the floor burner to it for easy portability and to raise the kettle high enough to allow gravity draining from the ball valve to the fermenter. Since I work for a metal shop, my longer term plan is to make a nicer cart out of aluminum plate and bar, but for now, the wood cart works just fine.

3) Added a hoist hook to my garage ceiling. This seems like a no-brainer, but I brewed over 60 batches just pulling the grain bag manually, however, about 50 of those batches were brewed outside with nowhere to mount a hook above. To hoist the bag, I use a motorcycle tie-down that I leave in place between brews.

4) Added a large utility sink/tub to my garage and a installed sill cock right next to it. So far, the sink is just plumbed with a drain. My next step, probably inside the next month, will be to plumb water supply lines from the basement and add a faucet to the sink. For now, the sill cock allows me to connect my immersion chiller and provides water to the sink via a standard garden hose. Since I live in a freezing climate and my garage is only moderately insulated, my sink install wasn't as straightforward as it could have been. I had to put the drain trap on the other side of the wall in the basement and the water supply lines will need to have drain valves on the basement side as well, so I can drain them out during cold snaps.

In all, I've probably poured about $1000 into my system over the past 2 months and I still have a little more to spend to put a faucet on the garage sink, but as far as making my brew day as simple as possible, I couldn't be happier.

 

[barleywhore69]

Thanks for your tips.

Of course I could spend $1000 and have an ideal system. -If I had $1000 to spend on brewing stuff. I'm brewing all-grain because its a fun way to save a lot of money on beer. Everything beer related that I own probably cost me less than $300 and I'm thinking now I could have spent half of that. My BK was $40. I'd rather spend those hundreds of dollars I don't have on ingredients, since I have equipment that does the job. I planned on the sparge bucket because I don't think I would have room to do a full volume mash in a 10 gallon pot with 10 lbs+ of grain. I also figured I could get a little better efficiency by sparging the bag. By using the bag like I plan to, I am eliminating the annoying-to-clean mash tun and its extensive runoff time and replacing it with the sparge bucket, which is a quick rinse thing. It should simplify and speed up my current process with a very minimal investment for the bag. I don't have much space between the top of my BK and my vent hood for the stove. It would be tough for me to suspend the bag above the pot.

 

[barleywhore69]

I received my wilserbrewer bag today. He included some free hop bags. Thanks! Processing and shipping was fast, I ordered Thursday, received on Tuesday. I have not brewed with the bag yet. This is my initial observations review.

First thought: The stitching on the bag was not as heavy-duty-looking as I thought it would be. It doesn't seem like it will rip apart easily, but I was picturing more reinforcement. I test fit the bag in my kettle and discovered that it was made to completely line every square inch of the kettle, which I had not expected. Looking at the pictures on the website, I had noticed that the bottom of the bag is rounded. When ordering the bag, it says to specify exact dimensions of your intended vessel, which I did. I assumed incorrectly that the bag would hang around the top of the kettle, suspended off of the bottom, except possibly for the middle lowest part where it rounds. I had planned on being able to heat the mash if necessary to maintain mash temps. With the bag touching the bottom of the kettle, that would not be wise. Had I known this, I would have specified a full 6 INCHES less in kettle height to keep the bag off of the bottom. There is PLENTY of bag down there. I assume this is so one can completely fill every nook and cranny of their mashing vessel. I guess I should have asked more questions. I feel like a better description of the bag sizing would be helpful to people. I realized I would have to create some sort of false bottom to keep the bag from scorching. I went down to the local thrift store and found a stainless steel pot lid for $1.27 that was about an inch smaller than the inside diameter of my kettle. I took it home and drilled several holes in it to allow heat transfer. I think it will work to keep the bag off of most of the bottom. The burner on my ceramic top electric stove only covers about half of the bottom of the pot, so I think the bag touching the edges of the bottom should be ok. I'm not sure though. Check out the pictures and let me know what you think. Overall, for a custom product, I think it's pretty good. I can't say I know of any superior bags. The L.D. Carlson nylon bags at your local LHBS are definitely not woven at tight as voile. I compared. It's not too far off, but custom bag sizing (when you understand it) is a nice option here, though I would have liked to have had more information or some graphics explaining how the bag will sit in the vessel. I even considered specifying that I would like the bag to hang just above the bottom of the pot, but then I figured I would just follow the instructions to give exact dimensions. I'm going to try it with my "false bottom" tomorrow and see what happens.

 

[LLBeanJ]

You don't want the bag holding the grains off the bottom. That would decrease your efficiency as the grains would be impeded from having full freedom of movement inside the kettle. Even without the "false bottom" you would likely not have any scorching as long as you maintained continuous stirring during the heat cycle. The false bottom will provide a level of added protection above and beyond and would allow you some degree of recklessness (I.e., not having to stir continuously while heating). I don't think you will have any issues in the exposed areas.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

I agree with Bean, and would add that I direct fire for mash out with the bag laying on the bottom, no special bottom, just a thick aluminum pot, and have not had any problems with melting the bag. I stir the entire time heat is on.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Sorry you seem disappointed with your order. The fit of your bag appears appropriate to me, fully lining the kettle, as that is typically the desire with BIAB, if you are not happy, please return it for a refund.

Please feel free to PM should you have any questions or issues with your purchase.

Thanks,
wilser

 

[PackerfaninSanDiego]

here is something that should be on all your bags. Makes it easier to snug the bag around the kettle. By the way, your bags are awesome

 

[makisupapolice14]

Im looking to make the move from extract to biab and sent my wife the link to wilsers site with my 10 gallon tall boy kettle dimensions. It should hopefully be a nice surprise under the tree and a good start to my 2015 brew year. I'm just annoyed with myself for just finding out about his site now and missing the black friday sale!

 

[divrguy]

As others stated, making the bag suspend off the bottom is not typical. It's custom with specific directions and with a procedure you are using. You probably should have specified that in your order IMO.

That said, I keep my bag at the correct height with a bungee. I have direct fired my kettle with the bag on the bottom to warm it up when I missed my mash temp. Stirring it preventing anything from happening.

Also, the hop bags which I frigging love, are always on the bottom of my 10 gallon pot and my 5 gallon pot during the whole boil and they have survived at least 40+ brews now being fired for at least an hour. Probably because they are constantly moving from the boil. I believe they will survive your mash with a little stir now and then.

RDWHAHB

 

[barleywhore69]

I brewed today with my bag from wilserbrewer. I decided to try a full volume mash with no sparge in my 10 gallon stock pot. "Can I Mash It" said that it would require 8.8 gallons of volume with 8 gallons of water and 10 lbs of grain. It was up to the very top. Not sure what happened there. I left the electric stove element on low for most of the mash and I only lost a degree or two. I wrapped a towel around the pot during the mash and set my cooler mash tun cover on top of the pot because I don't have a stock pot cover. I left my spoon in and stirred it gently several times to even out temperatures.

Side note: I wonder if you need to stir after the initial dough-in with heat that low and a ghetto false bottom. The grain will sink lower in the bag, somewhat insulating the thin part of the mash. As long as the thin part of the mash remains below mash out temps, it should leave the majority of the enzymes intact, right? Kind of like how a decoction removes the thick part of the mash and actually boils it but the majority of the enzymes will continue working because they are in the thin part of the mash (the liquid). It would change the sugar profile of the wort, but that could be desirable. Even if used just for laziness, which was my initial motivation, leaving the heat on low to maintain temps and only stirring when you first add grain and right before you pull out the bag could be very helpful. You would have to try it a couple times while testing things to be sure you won't boil over your mash or something but the high laziness factor there is undeniable.

Anyway...
I found that my large, cheap plastic spaghetti strainer would sit inside a 5 gallon pot that I usually use for heating sparge water. I set it up next to the mash pot and pulled up the bag after a 60 minute mash. It was more inconvenient to lift it than I had expected, partly because the vent hood above my stove is less than a foot above the top of my 10 gallon pot. I pretty much just pulled it out and plopped it right in the strainer. It was mostly drained in a minute or so. I added the 1/2 gallon-ish back to the main pot and realized that I had overshot my boil volume by at least a 1/2 gallon. I'm used to a grain absorption rate of 0.13 gallons per pound. I knew the bag would not hold back as much liquid, so instead of adding 1.3 gallons for my 10lb grain bill, I estimated only 1 gallon absorbed. So I guess its more like .05 gallons per lb of grain. I didn't squeeze the bag while draining. I lifted it and repositioned it a couple of times, but that's it.

I decided to just do a 90 minute boil to lose the extra 1/2 gallon or volume. I had already saved at least 30 minutes by not having to wait for vorlauf and batch sparging and draining. (Heating up my 8 gallons of water from 68F to 159F took AN HOUR though, so no real time savings. Usually it's 5 gallons for strike water and it only takes 25-30 min. I didn't take into consideration the length of time it would take to heat the larger volume of water.

I turned the bag inside out in my 5 gallon pot and then rinsed the bag. It took just as long to rinse out the bag as it does to rinse out my mash tun. No real time savings there today, but I can probably develop a faster method.

The wort was noticeably more cloudy than with my stainless braid mash tun + vorlauf. As it neared boiling, the grain bits in the foam became even more apparent. It was not nearly as grainy as when I tried paint strainer bags for a few 1 gallon batches, but there was obviously more stuff in there than I'm used to with the mash tun. Not a huge problem for me, until the foamy beast tried harder than I've ever seen to boil over. I was blasting it with a squirt bottle with one hand while stirring with the other. I even had to kill the heatstick once. Once it finally broke out into a stable boil, I did my regular thing. I actually got a 5 gallon batch bottled while this one boiled.

When it was done and cooled, I transferred it and noticed a rather large amount of trub/hop gunk. Probably double trub-ble compared to what I had last time I brewed with the mash tun (last week). I did use more hops this time and did not use any hop bags yet.

It was still a 5 hour brew day, due to my underestimating the time the water would take to heat and overestimating how much water I would need. Those things added an hour, so it could easily be a 4 hour brew day next time. There was a big time savings in the full volume mash with the bag vs a batch sparge mash in the mash tun. Even a full volume mash in my mash tun would take much longer to drain overall than the bag.

Storage: I could fit 2000+ bags inside one cooler mash tun. I have limited space, so I really want the bag to work as well or better for me as the cooler does.

I guess time will tell the quality of the beer. As far as the quality of the bags goes, they should last for years with care. I don't know if I would want to hang it from the nylon cord with wet grain in it though. It is just a single layer of voile up to the edge of the openings for the cord. I would prefer if that opening were reinforced to feel sure the cord won't tear through the voile while suspending it. I do like to see things that are overbuilt or heavy duty. These bags are well made and fully functional, but I know there could be a more heavy duty version that could, reasonably, cost more. On the wilserbrewer website, there is a picture of a 145 gallon size bag. That HAS to have additional stitching on it compared to my 10 gallon size bag. That and/or it has some kind of alternate lifting points.

In the end, I'm sure this bag will work fine for a long time. The additional grain particles in the wort don't concern me and I will try using some Irish moss to knock more of the trub down. I give them 9/10.

 

[watermelon83]

Have you seen the weight test vids Mike posted? After viewing them I have all the confidence in the world that I'm not going to hurt the bag.

 

[bford]

Got my bags today Wilser! Thanks... look forward to many more great brewdays using them.

Bryan
Alvin, Texas

 

[divrguy]

....... As far as the quality of the bags goes, they should last for years with care. I don't know if I would want to hang it from the nylon cord with wet grain in it though. It is just a single layer of voile up to the edge of the openings for the cord.....

Seriously! The cord is there to hang it from! Use it and look at the tests! It's strong enough!

 

[barleywhore69]

It's strong enough to a point, I'm sure. Looking at the weight tests though, I don't see the bag hanging from the nylon cord. The top of the bag seems to be gathered together and tied with the ratcheting strap several inches down from the top of the bag. I would not trust hanging it from the nylon cord with grain in it. It would be much stronger to lift it as in the demonstration.

 

[wilserbrewer]

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1418498994.923459.jpg

Ok, nothing like real world physical testing. I secured a bag by the drawstring in my garage and hung all 190 pounds of my weight on it. Then I had my son perform a half dozen pull ups with all of his 150 lbs.

No issues whatsoever, I believe the weight becomes well distributed to the entire top seam of the bag.

Can't decide on my next proof load, either tow a school bus, or fill with 500-600 lbs of sand and lift with an excavator...haha, yet very serious....

Cheers,
Wilser

 

[sfrisby]

Barleywhore-listen, I have brewed my RIS with 35lbs of wet grain hanging with no problem. I worry about the eyelet ripping out of the ceiling before I worry about the bag tearing.

I respect your right to worry about something that hasn't happened, but multiple real world users are telling you your fears are unfounded. End of story.