# Biab or change to mashing



## brewtopbeer (14/9/14)

Hey everyone I am loving BIAB at the moment but in the long run I want to get my own mash tun and start doing it that way. Just one question I would like to ask. What is the huge difference? Does it make a better tasting beer? Does it add more body to the beer? I would like to know is it worth changing so your advice would be much appreciated before I start spending more money.


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## poggor (14/9/14)

I have used an esky with a false bottom as a mash tun and also various different incarnations of BIAB. To be honest I'm not sure there is much difference to the final product. The way I see it there are some pros and cons that are mainly about convenience:

1. A dedicated mash tun requires transfering of wort from one vessel to another. For small volumes (<under 20L) this is not too much of a drama although there is definite potential for mess! for bigger volumes, it's difficult and dangerous without pumps. 

2. Dedicated mash tuns can be made to allow better sparging/lautering and (particularly in the case of wort recirculation) can result in clearer worts. 

3. Handling the bag for very heavy grain bills can be dangerous and difficult. 

Bottom line: if you are thinking of doing 50L batches and above you should probably consider a PUMP and a dedicated mash tun. For smaller batches I don't think there is much difference between the two except i think BIAB is simpler. 
Anyone have any other thoughts?


g


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## brewtopbeer (14/9/14)

Cheers for your feed back mate and I will wait for other responses aswell. Cheers again!!


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## Bribie G (14/9/14)

3 vessel: mash and remove the wort from the grain
BIAB: mash and remove the grain from the wort.

Hoisting the bag is simple and very easy with an inexpensive pulley system and avoids having to scoop spent grain out of a mash tun.
Putting on my modesty cap, I've outright won a few comps with BIAB and recently brewed the second highest ranking beer in this year's NSW competition.

The use of pumps and several vessels can be conceptualized as a method of doing Industrial brewing scaled down to what you can do in your garage. However the beer factories do what they do because it's really the only way they can produce beer at their scale, and in the early days of All grain brewing, this seemed - at the time - to be the way to go. However, for an example, if you want to do a shop at a supermarket why would you want to hop into a meticulously crafted 1/10 scale B-double model truck and thunder down the street when you can do it far easier by jumping into your Corolla.


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## Moad (14/9/14)

I would say it gets difficult to do big volumes with BIAB but I'm still pretty new so don't give my opinion too much weight. I'm sure people would do triple + batches with pulleys etc but if you are going to that much effort why not just get another vessel and pump it.

I went BIAB, got a Braumeister and moved to 3v purely to do bigger volumes. No noticable difference in beers outside of other changes to my processes.


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## Bribie G (14/9/14)

I'd agree that with bigger volumes then you might want to go to a three vessel system, HERMS etc. However Braumeister do larger models as well that are basically BIAB in a steel cylinder and they work ok. Anything over 50L would be at the limits of BIAB for general home use.


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## Phoney (14/9/14)

The only downside to BIAB IMO is that the efficiency starts going south, quickly for over about 1.075 worts. Not that I brew big beers very often, but it would be nice to be able to pull off a RIS, triple IPA or barley-wine occasionally and not have to faff around as much as you do with BIAB. Juggling multiple pots etc.


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## Black Devil Dog (14/9/14)

I BIAB in a 40L urn, I'm pretty happy with most of my beers and the ones I'm not so happy with, I put down to recipe or brewer error, rather than equipment. Both of those things can be sorted out with some basic research. 

If I was to upgrade it would be to make my process easier, but how much easier than BIAB can it get?


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## Bribie G (14/9/14)

Phoney said:


> The only downside to BIAB IMO is that the efficiency starts going south, quickly for over about 1.075 worts. Not that I brew big beers very often, but it would be nice to be able to pull off a RIS, triple IPA or barley-wine occasionally and not have to faff around as much as you do with BIAB. Juggling multiple pots etc.


puzzled.

if you are doing a 1.075 wort with 3 vessel you can pull a very strong first runnings to ferment into your RIS. Then a lot of the fermentables are trapped in the remaining grains and need to be sparged out. So then you either use the spargings as a second runnings (partigyle) or you combine them back with the first runnings then boil for an extended period to get the OG back to 1.075.

No different with BIAB. The beer I referred to that got a gong in the NSW comp was actually a RIS at around 10% ABV and was done in one session with BIAB, with a sparge and a prolonged boil. No probs.

edit: the extra sparge "pot" was a plastic washing up bowl if you want to class that as juggling


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## poggor (14/9/14)

Yeah i was just thinking that myself. I have had OGs up to 1.085 no probs from BIAB.


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## poggor (14/9/14)

But i guess the volume limits constraints above still apply- if you are going to make a really big beer you will make less off it before you get into unweildy volumes for BIAB


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## manticle (14/9/14)

Both are methods of producing wort from mashing malted grain. Some differences on a scientific level but good beer is produced by both and I'd bet very few, if any could pick in blind tasting which method produced the wort that became the beer.


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## Spiesy (15/9/14)

I'm BIAB. I thought long and hard about upgrading to a 3V RIMS or HERMS system, but at the end of the day, for me, it's just not worth it. 

There are claims that 3V systems will give you the ability to achieve clearer wort (through sparging), ability to step mash (through RIMS or HERMS), better ability to hit and maintain mash temp, ability to achieve higher efficiency, more volume or higher OG beers but there always seems to be a workaround for BIAB, if you're willing to do it. 

The only thing I can't argue with, is a badarse 3V system certainly looks more impressive.


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## Spiesy (15/9/14)

Mind you, in an ideal world, if I had the room and money, I would move to 3V. 

I like the idea of controlled stepped mash (without having to constantly stir the grain out of fear my bag will melt), I like the idea of a better controlled mash temp, I like the idea of clearer wort and the ability to do bigger volumes, more easily, should I wish. 

But at the moment, BIAB is certainly more than adequate for me, and I'm able to make good.beer.


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## Yob (15/9/14)

I completely side stepped BIAB and went from partials to HERMS, partly because I like to build stuff, partly because I wanted an upgradable system, partly because I knew I'd be heading towards 75-100L output and partly because I just love pumps and setting ramp temps and walking away, the ease of control is awesome, no wrapping blankets etc, just set the temp, set the timer and away you go. Would be even better with a PID setup but I still like the manual control with an STC setup.

So biggest questions that need answering to enable choosing the correct system fro you are, do you like to build? Have you the space? What can you afford?


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## Yob (15/9/14)

poggor said:


> for bigger volumes, it's difficult and dangerous without pumps.


How so?


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## Kingy (15/9/14)

I'm currently upgrading to a 3 vessell with herms.
1. I'm Sick off turning the gas on and off and stirring the grains to maintain mash temp.
2. I want to make it easier to step mash and mash out.
3. Getting sick of hoisting the bag out.
4. I do double batches all the time now with my 80litre pot and it's pushed to within 5litres from the top of the pot. Id like to do bigger beers and bigger batches.
5. I'd like to be able to do twin double batch days. Mashing in another double batch while I've got one boiling. 
6. I've nearly been brewing for ten years now and I want a full system to stare at and admire.
7. So basically easier and a bit less hassle and more volume along with the bling factor and a bit more consistency with temps and replicating beers along with actually planning and building the thing which I'm enjoying.


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## MastersBrewery (15/9/14)

Yob said:


> So biggest questions that need answering to enable choosing the correct system fro you are, do you like to build? Have you the space? What can you afford?


To this I'd add time faffing around the rig on brew day, a lot have gone the way of the BM to make more time for SWMBO, kids etc, 3hr brew day.


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## Camo6 (15/9/14)

3 hour brewday?! My God...could such a thing exist!


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## slcmorro (15/9/14)

I generally get my 1V BIAB (Ok I cheat, I heat my sparge water up on the stove in a stockpot during mash!) finished within 3.5 - 4 hrs if I no chill.

I did one yesterday which started at 1pm and was finished by 4:45pm. I don't *really* count the heating of the strike water as time, because I can do shit for the first 20 mins and then come back to it. I usually measure and mill during this time. Takes me about 10 mins to sparge after the mash, then I throw the lid on the keggle while getting it up to a ripping boil, and once that's done I start the 60 min boil timer (and the lid comes off, of course). Takes another 10 mins to whirlpool and 5 to drain into a cube, and that's all she wrote.


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## Yob (15/9/14)

MastersBrewery said:


> To this I'd add time faffing around the rig on brew day, a lot have gone the way of the BM to make more time for SWMBO, kids etc, 3hr brew day.


Faffing because you have to or want to? If the former, you havnt set it up right, if the latter.. well, its a part of the journey innit 

I now brew at night after the bub has gone down to make space for the family during the day. If you can get milled and the HLT set up before dinner, all you need to do is run off to the MT and can go back inside... unless you are faffing around the system and having a beer that is... For me, there are plenty of things I can do in the shed while mashing. h34r:


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## Forever Wort (15/9/14)

I concur with the BIAB fans. My brews take 3 hours now using two vessels including heating to strike, setup and sparging. 

I don't think I will ever change systems. More vessels and lines just means more hassle, more cleaning, etc. 

Part of the enjoyment of brewing for me is spending time outside, reading, gardening, etc. while I brew. On a nice morning with a jug of coffee there's nothing better. Especially if the puppy has just been walked and isn't running circles around my rig :unsure: - and I think BIAB is perfect for that "pottering about" mentality.


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## DJ_L3ThAL (15/9/14)

Seems to be a few BIAB'ers here that sparge, I would have thought that adds an arguably unnecessary step. I just got an 80% mash efficiency on the weekend due to having a new mash paddle and realising I must have had dough balls previously, doing a temp stepped mash with a protein rest at the start and using a swiss voile bag now (better drainage). I had anticipated 65%... the czech lager is going to be a strong one. Will shoot for 75% next time but yeah, after the weekend I can't see the need for sparging unless its because of pot size restrictions to full volume mash?


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## Aces High (15/9/14)

Moad said:


> I would say it gets difficult to do big volumes with BIAB but I'm still pretty new so don't give my opinion too much weight. I'm sure people would do triple + batches with pulleys etc but if you are going to that much effort why not just get another vessel and pump it.
> 
> I went BIAB, got a Braumeister and moved to 3v purely to do bigger volumes. No noticable difference in beers outside of other changes to my processes.


 I BIAB double batch pretty much every time. I have a 115L pot on a rolling trolley and a sky hook and pulley system. a couple of weeks ago I almost ran out of beer (yes it was embarrassing), but I picked myself up and did 2 x triple batches in 2 weekends.

Because I was getting to the limit of the pot with an IPA... 17kg of grain and about 100ish L of water, I held back 10L and just added it in after pulling the bag. I floated a bowl on the wort to keep the boil stong enough and it all went ahead perfectly.

3 vessel is good for making beer, but don't think biab is any less of a method and its certainly a lot less complicated and I reckon there is less that can go wrong. My wife even won a bronze at last years Perth royal show using biab, and I bet she beat a few 3 vessel brewers in her category.


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## philmud (15/9/14)

Slightly off topic, but what do BIABers suspend their pulleys from? My garage has nothing other than the brackets that the garage door rolls along & I doubt they are strong enough. Anyone have any brilliant solutions?


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## panzerd18 (15/9/14)

What about issues relating to the clarification of the wort as it is filtered through the grain bed? In biab do you get a much more cloudy wort as you are not recirculating through the grain bed?


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## DJ_L3ThAL (15/9/14)

Prince Imperial said:


> Slightly off topic, but what do BIABers suspend their pulleys from? My garage has nothing other than the brackets that the garage door rolls along & I doubt they are strong enough. Anyone have any brilliant solutions?


Do you have any rafters or exposed beams? I got a 200kg Velcro strap rated skyhook which I clip a pulley onto. The strap goes around one of my roof beams where it is exposed for the clear polycarbonate sections of roof sheet, all from the big green shed. Failing that, an expensive way would be to buy a car engine crane from super cheap auto.


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## DJ_L3ThAL (15/9/14)

panzerd18 said:


> What about issues relating to the clarification of the wort as it is filtered through the grain bed? In biab do you get a much more cloudy wort as you are not recirculating through the grain bed?


I have noticed this in a pilsner eith unroasted nuts in the mash, because I dont recirculate I end up with nut oils in the beer and head retention is non existent, its only a problem for that beer for me as clarity doesnt really bother me. Most of my beers have a slight haze compared to megaswill


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## brewtopbeer (15/9/14)

Thanks everyone for getting back to me, I will do my research on different systems and cost etc.. I'm looking forward to bigger and better things in brewing but I love BIAB so I will have to sit down and think what's better for me! Cheers again and talk soon..


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## Milk-lizard84 (15/9/14)

I currently biab brew in my 50l keggle. So far I have done one stepped mash, usually do single infusions with a mashout. I enjoy the simplicity of it. I thought about slowly getting pieces together to build a 3v system but I rent and don't have much space for such a system.
I've been pretty happy with what I have made so far but would like to make higher gravity beers. My only upgrade may be a 70l pot running an electric element. I enjoy biab brewing so I don't think ill change anytime soon.


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## mje1980 (15/9/14)

I 3vd for 10 years. Tried BIAB once, and gave away my tun and HLT. I don't often do super high gravity beers, though I do brew 6-8% Belgians. I add sugar to them anyway so it's all good there. For every other beer I brew ( mostly uk ales and blonde ales ) it works fine. Simple, takes up less space, less variables, means less equipment ( to bite you on the arse mid brew day ). 

I've not noticed any difference in taste, and I step mash every beer, the hard way. I turn the gas on, lift the bag and stir for a few minutes, then check temp til it's right. I could add a herms etc and a pump, but for me, I don't find it back breakingly difficult to lift the bag and stir for a few minutes each step. I know my lifting arm never gets out of calibration or runs out of batteries, the same as my stirring arm.


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## DJ_L3ThAL (15/9/14)

mje1980 said:


> I 3vd for 10 years. Tried BIAB once, and gave away my tun and HLT. I don't often do super high gravity beers, though I do brew 6-8% Belgians. I add sugar to them anyway so it's all good there. For every other beer I brew ( mostly uk ales and blonde ales ) it works fine. Simple, takes up less space, less variables, means less equipment ( to bite you on the arse mid brew day ).
> 
> I've not noticed any difference in taste, and I step mash every beer, the hard way. I turn the gas on, lift the bag and stir for a few minutes, then check temp til it's right. I could add a herms etc and a pump, but for me, I don't find it back breakingly difficult to lift the bag and stir for a few minutes each step. I know my lifting arm never gets out of calibration or runs out of batteries, the same as my stirring arm.


Do you experience any difference in finished clarity of beer? Also I don't hoist my bag up when heating on gas with my Italian spiral in a 72L pot, bag seems to work well, I make sure I drape the bag before adding grain so that it doesn't rest on the bottom of the pot though.


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## mje1980 (15/9/14)

No, I don't think so. Though my last 2 saisons have had some chill haze. That may be yeast related or BIAB related but they're saisons, so it's no big deal for me. An apricot blonde I have on tap was my first BIAB and the clarity is great ( US05 ). I don't aim or really care for super "bright" beer but do like clear beers.


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## mje1980 (15/9/14)

Looks like I'll have to pull a small sample of that blonde right now to double check 


Ok, so it is slightly hazey, though it did have a good whack of wheat malt in it. Clear enough for me but could be clearer. I'll keep an eye on the next few. Again, it's no big deal for me, and I haven't bothered with clearing aids for a long time. Something I'll keep track of, but most likely not do anything about


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## philmud (15/9/14)

DJ_L3ThAL said:


> Do you have any rafters or exposed beams? I got a 200kg Velcro strap rated skyhook which I clip a pulley onto. The strap goes around one of my roof beams where it is exposed for the clear polycarbonate sections of roof sheet, all from the big green shed. Failing that, an expensive way would be to buy a car engine crane from super cheap auto.


No, no anchor pions I can see. A brew stand may be ok, if it was weighted correctly, but I'm considering 3v or a BM clone (or a GM) anyway.


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## mje1980 (15/9/14)

I screwed a beam under the top of my brew shelves. Just stuff I had laying around, and it meant not having to climb into the roof cavity. A plus in my book


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## Eagleburger (15/9/14)

I BIAB ales and mash tun lager. Both get brewbrite in boil, both go infermenter clear. 3 hours is a typical brew session. I brew after the kids go to bed at 7pm and am always finished by 10:30. Lagers take a little longer as I brew 45L. Having 8400w helps.


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## Bribie G (15/9/14)

Kingy said:


> I'm currently upgrading to a 3 vessell with herms.
> 1. I'm Sick off turning the gas on and off and stirring the grains to maintain mash temp.
> I lag my urn in a sleeping bag and a sheet of metallised foam then walk away for an hour or 90 mins. Lose about a degree and a half.
> 
> ...


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## n87 (15/9/14)

Prince Imperial said:


> No, no anchor pions I can see. A brew stand may be ok, if it was weighted correctly, but I'm considering 3v or a BM clone (or a GM) anyway.



what... so you dont have an engine crane? :huh:


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## Aces High (15/9/14)

DJ_L3ThAL said:


> Do you experience any difference in finished clarity of beer? Also I don't hoist my bag up when heating on gas with my Italian spiral in a 72L pot, bag seems to work well, I make sure I drape the bag before adding grain so that it doesn't rest on the bottom of the pot though.


Ive never had problems with the clarity of the beer. Often a heap of hop residue goes into the cube and I also dry hop directly into the fermenter. I just cold chill before kegging and add some gelatine into the keg and it clears perfectly in just a few days.


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## Phoney (15/9/14)

Bribie G said:


> puzzled.
> 
> if you are doing a 1.075 wort with 3 vessel you can pull a very strong first runnings to ferment into your RIS. Then a lot of the fermentables are trapped in the remaining grains and need to be sparged out. So then you either use the spargings as a second runnings (partigyle) or you combine them back with the first runnings then boil for an extended period to get the OG back to 1.075.
> 
> ...



Whats the most grain you've fit in a 40L urn? I put in 8kg yesterday and got 1.076 OG. I've done 9.5kg and only hit about another 12 points, and then I had to reserve 5L, heat it up on the stove, hoist bag up a bit and pour it through the bag otherwise with 32L of strike water it wouldn't fit.

I have NFI how I can get a 1.100 OG without using a secondary vessel or an epic long boil and smaller volume. Granted this would be easier if I just had a larger vessel.


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## hotmelt (15/9/14)

Prince Imperial said:


> Slightly off topic, but what do BIABers suspend their pulleys from? My garage has nothing other than the brackets that the garage door rolls along & I doubt they are strong enough. Anyone have any brilliant solutions?


I think your garage door would be heavier than a bag of wet grain so it should be ok to hang a pulley off.

I don't bother lifting the bag out now,I just drain into two buckets then lift it out to drain in another bucket while heating up to the boil.It adds about 20 mins to the brewday but the wort stays clear compared to when I used to lift the bag.I'll get another vessel and pump it over one day.


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## slcmorro (15/9/14)

Lifting the bag out on a pulley works great for me. Means I can squeeze it over the keggle (the bag that is!) and get more preboil volume out of it before a sparge to full volume. All the crap stirred up by lifting the bag should *mostly* be contained except for the minute particles anyways, and what is leftover should whirlpool out and/or settle into trub in the cube or fermenter.


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## Bribie G (15/9/14)

Phoney re #41
Yes the 40L urn size is a constraint due to urns being designed for catering and not for brewing. Inconsiderate bastards.

However that's not a BIAB downside, just a vessel size downside. I'm a mechanical feckup and don't mind admitting it. When I was poor and had to change 4 spark plugs in my bomb I'd buy 6 because I knew I would crunch 2 as well as skinning my knuckles. 

But If I was starting again I'd seriously consider going 50 or 60 with elements and ball valve.

Least stressful way of doing high grav in urn is to aim for say 15L that's almost a kegful. I'd guess most guys doing RIS or barley wine might be vintaging in glass anyway.


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## Phoney (15/9/14)

Fair point. When I'm doing a big beer I aim for 18L and keg in 2 x 9L corny's. One for now and one for later


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## Eagleburger (15/9/14)

I nearly went the urn. The turn off for me was the low wattage, more time for temp change. I got a 80L pot and glad I did as I now do 45L brews for two cornies. Always good to have plenty of swill on hand for guests and a chaser for a stout.


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## jkirky (15/9/14)

DJ_L3ThAL said:


> Seems to be a few BIAB'ers here that sparge, I would have thought that adds an arguably unnecessary step. I just got an 80% mash efficiency on the weekend due to having a new mash paddle and realising I must have had dough balls previously, doing a temp stepped mash with a protein rest at the start and using a swiss voile bag now (better drainage). I had anticipated 65%... the czech lager is going to be a strong one. Will shoot for 75% next time but yeah, after the weekend I can't see the need for sparging unless its because of pot size restrictions to full volume mash?


My efficiency with BIAB was about 65% until I realised that I was getting 'balling' with the grain- this improved a fair bit with better stirring and through slower, more careful introduction of the grain to the strike water. Its an easy thing to look past and not realise that its happening, but will definately effect efficiency...


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## poggor (15/9/14)

Yob said:


> How so?


moving large volumes of wort from vessel to vessel without pumps either involves:
1) lifting very heavy vessels of hot fluid
2) pouring very large vessels of hot fluid or
3) having large vessels of hot fluid above should height 

all are dangerous

g


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## slcmorro (15/9/14)

poggor said:


> moving large volumes of wort from vessel to vessel without pumps either involves:
> 1) lifting very heavy vessels of hot fluid
> 2) pouring very large vessels of hot fluid or
> 3) having large vessels of hot fluid above should height
> 4) using gravity to siphon from stable and strong purpose built platforms


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## manticle (15/9/14)

Any objections from the OP if I change the title? BIAB is a mashing process so I would change it to something like 'BIAB or change to 3v?'


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## Kingy (15/9/14)

Gravity fed is so yesterday.


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## poggor (15/9/14)

slcmorro said:


> > moving large volumes of wort from vessel to vessel without pumps either involves:
> > 1) lifting very heavy vessels of hot fluid
> > 2) pouring very large vessels of hot fluid or
> > 3) having large vessels of hot fluid above should height
> > 4) using gravity to siphon from stable and strong purpose built platforms


obviously not impossible. potential for accident is still higher than vessels all at work bench level using pumps. ladders also introduce element of danger. I have seen bad things from vessels of hot water and ladders (although not combined!).... bad things.


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## slcmorro (15/9/14)

Kingy said:


> Gravity fed is so yesterday.


And the day before that, and the day before that etc etc back to when brewing began


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## anthonyUK (15/9/14)

When I brew with a mate on his 100l 3v system we transfer in 3-4 batches. Not had any issues or accidents as yet.
What is the reasoning that all the wort has to be transferred in one hit?


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## poggor (15/9/14)

anthonyUK said:


> When I brew with a mate on his 100l 3v system we transfer in 3-4 batches. Not had any issues or accidents as yet.
> What is the reasoning that all the work has to be transferred in one hit?


efficiency


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## Flash_DG (15/9/14)

I burnt my leg really bad when I was doing BIAB, never had an issue with my new 2v set up, oh and not doing my back in lifting a wet bag of hot grains out and trying to squeeze it over another bucket and not get hot wort on myself. Yeah BIAB was hard on my body, needed a good lay down afterwards. That or I'm getting old


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## anthonyUK (15/9/14)

poggor said:


> efficiency


Well 3V isn't as efficient process-wise which I think is what you mean so by the time you transfer the first runnings then sparge it has basically split your transfers anyway.
It is not something I worry about though as it just works for us.

Regarding the clarity non-issue there is an article on Brulosophy that is worth a read - http://brulosophy.com/2014/06/02/the-great-trub-exbeeriment-results-are-in/


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## Yob (15/9/14)

poggor said:


> moving large volumes of wort from vessel to vessel without pumps either involves:
> 1) lifting very heavy vessels of hot fluid
> 2) pouring very large vessels of hot fluid or
> 3) having large vessels of hot fluid above should height
> ...


My HERMS system can run gravity fed if required, hardly dangerous at all, open tap, done.


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## RdeVjun (16/9/14)

DJ_L3ThAL said:


> Seems to be a few BIAB'ers here that sparge, I would have thought that adds an arguably unnecessary step. I just got an 80% mash efficiency on the weekend due to having a new mash paddle and realising I must have had dough balls previously, doing a temp stepped mash with a protein rest at the start and using a swiss voile bag now (better drainage). I had anticipated 65%... the czech lager is going to be a strong one. Will shoot for 75% next time but yeah, after the weekend I can't see the need for sparging unless its because of pot size restrictions to full volume mash?


Yes, for Full- Volume BIAB a Sparge step is unnecessary, however in certain circumstances where the desired Brewlength or Fermenter Volume is greater than the Kettle Volume then a Sparge is vital. It is seen commonly with 23L Brewlength in a 19L Stockpot, aka MaxiBIAB, that's not recommended for beginners but nevertheless pretty straight forward.

The issue of served beer clarity up above is fairly simple to tackle no matter what the process- substances such as Brewbrite, Whirlfloc, Coppafloc, gelatine etc, plus a dash of patience during post- ferment cold conditioning seem to make all the difference, while filtering is in the arsenal as well if you can be arsed. A relationship between wort (or even runnings) clarity and the final served beer clarity isn't that strong AFAIK, pleased exclamations about bright, exceptionally clear wort (my own included) are novel but perhaps misguided, there's a heap more particulate generation, precipitation and flocculation to happen once yeast is added to the process.


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## sp0rk (16/9/14)

Am I the only one that actually enjoys lifting a big heavy bag of wet grains out of their BIAB vessel?
Saves me from a trip to the gym...


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## mje1980 (16/9/14)

I now no longer have to lift with one arm while heating up to the next step. I got hold of an extremely technical bit of gear, used for high tolerance work in neurosurgery I believe. Super technical.


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## DJ_L3ThAL (16/9/14)

What will they think of next!?


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (16/9/14)

DJ_L3ThAL said:


> What will they think of next!?


2 cheap plastic buckets with holes in the top and a tap at the bottom h34r:


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## DJ_L3ThAL (16/9/14)

Shameless plug


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## philmud (16/9/14)

hotmelt said:


> I think your garage door would be heavier than a bag of wet grain so it should be ok to hang a pulley off.


Yes, but the weight of the door is dispersed more evenly across two brackets. The weight of the grain would be greater than the weight of the door at any one point of the bracket. 

I don't mind the idea of draining though.


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## DJ_L3ThAL (16/9/14)

Prince Imperial said:


> Yes, but the weight of the door is dispersed more evenly across two brackets. The weight of the grain would be greater than the weight of the door at any one point of the bracket.
> 
> I don't mind the idea of draining though.


It's more of a safety concern that you'd be ADDING weight to the already loaded garage door bracket. Rolling the door down should be relieving said bracket of enough strength to take the 10-20kg weight of wet grain though, exercising caution as always of course.


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## Lord Raja Goomba I (16/9/14)

DJ_L3ThAL said:


> Shameless plug


Naaaah.

No mention of awards and the like _unlike some people  _


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## Blind Dog (16/9/14)

Lord Raja Goomba I said:


> 2 cheap plastic buckets with holes in the top and a tap at the bottom h34r:


Was wondering how long it would be. Was worried you were ill or something. Good to see my fears were unfounded


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## DJ_L3ThAL (16/9/14)

Haha I cant double like!!


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## superstock (16/9/14)

Prince Imperial said:


> Slightly off topic, but what do BIABers suspend their pulleys from? My garage has nothing other than the brackets that the garage door rolls along & I doubt they are strong enough. Anyone have any brilliant solutions?


I have recently purchased a 60 L urn. Have just finished the frame to get it at a reasonable working height. Next is to make a single arm gantry up the back of the frame and over the urn centre. I'm going to make this pivot so I can swing the bag to the side and finish drain/sparge into a separate container.


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## superstock (16/9/14)

mje1980 said:


> I now no longer have to lift with one arm while heating up to the next step. I got hold of an extremely technical bit of gear, used for high tolerance work in neurosurgery I believe. Super technical.


I got the heavy lift version. For those of us with big bags.


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## Bribie G (16/9/14)

Doesn't help me, I still need to get a scrotum tuck when I win lotto.


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## hotmelt (16/9/14)

Bribie G said:


> Doesn't help me, I still need to get a scrotum tuck when I win lotto.


I'm sure a few Tasmanians could help you with that for free.


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