19L pot, BIAB, some questions

[thisispants]

Hi, I have a big w 19L pot and am looking at moving into all grain brewing. I've previously been making extract based beers.

First question, what is the largest batch I could make using BIAB with a 19 L pot? I understand the grains love to soak up the water!

I've been making small brews to gain experience, I'd love to make a 12L batch, I'm just not sure if its possible in my pot.

 

[RdeVjun]

Yeah, depending on target Original Gravity (OG), 10- 12L is no real drama in that 19L stockpot, here's a handy guide to MiniBIAB. There was once a guide here on AHB called the "$30 All Grain" method but it doesn't have pictures any longer, while it really was a landmark thread for the technique its usefulness has now become limited.

FWIW, you can make around 23L by incorporating other techniques (eg. MaxiBIAB- incorporates a sparge and dilution), however I wouldn't recommend it first time round, you will benefit from experiencing the standard process in one vessel, so go with full- volume MiniBIAB to begin is my advice.

Edit: Tidied up specs (OG).

 

[yum beer]

plug your numbers into some software...Brewmate is good for BIAB, just change your settings.
You can add alittle water to top up your volume if a bit under but it shouldn't be far off.

 

[Tahoose]

You could even look at doing your mash in an esky and just using your pot for the boil, you'll be able to get 12ltrs no worries, I have 2 of these pots for a 24ltr batch...

 

[BilBrewing]

I use almost the exact setup and BIAB.

Currently brewing on a 19ltr pot from somwhere? The first few brews i targeted 11 ltrs of finished beer but the pot was literally full to the brim. I now aim for 8.8 ltrs and this gives me a nice margin once i mash in the grain.

Despite aiming for 8.8 ltrs and using BrewSmith to calculate my volumes i ended up with 10.1ish ltrs of 1.065 wort yesterday. With a little adjustment you could potentially obtain 12ltrs of wort. Even if you were topping up final volumes.

As above, check out some software and dive in!

 

[thisispants]

Thanks for the helpful replies guys. Much appreciated.

So to confirm, there's not really any issues with mashing with basically as much water as I can in the pot, and then once the grains have been removed, top up the wort to 14L to begin the boil, aiming for a post boil volume of 12L?

I've been using Brewmate for my extract and specialty grain brews. As long as I calculate the correct amount of grains for a 12L batch, it won't affect the mash to have slightly less water than it's supposed to?

I guess I could always sparge the grains to achieve the remaining volume in the wort.

Exciting times!!

 

[stakka82]

You can go to about 16 litres of 1045 ish with no dicking around with 2 pots etc.

 

[BilBrewing]

Thanks for the helpful replies guys. Much appreciated.

So to confirm, there's not really any issues with mashing with basically as much water as I can in the pot, and then once the grains have been removed, top up the wort to 14L to begin the boil, aiming for a post boil volume of 12L?

I've been using Brewmate for my extract and specialty grain brews. As long as I calculate the correct amount of grains for a 12L batch, it won't affect the mash to have slightly less water than it's supposed to?

I guess I could always sparge the grains to achieve the remaining volume in the wort.

Exciting times!!

You may not even need to fill the pot to achieve 14 ltr pre boil. Just yesterday i mashed 2.5kg of grain in 16ltr of water and ended up with 14.5ish ltrs pre boil of 1.045 wort.

With the grain bill for 12 ltrs you will have plenty of water to mash in and top up to your desired pre boil volume if required. And yes, you can sparging the grain bag after giving it a good squeeze, even if you only get a very weak wort from it, would be better than adding pure water.

 

[sb944]

I have 2x 19L pots, and even though I got 23L with the 2 of them, I'd say my best brew day was a single pot with sparge in the 2nd pot. I did that twice, and it's a very easy brew day, got me around 11-12L of 1.050 wort. I spent weeks focusing on how to get 23L out of limited equipment, and eventually realised I should just upgrade equipment. I gambled a little and bought a cheap 45L pot and over the edge 2400W element, and it works very well, no sparge, just pure BIAB, very easy brew day again.

 

[marksy]

I used my old 19L pot (leant my other gear to mate) and I took 14L into it and then a bit more into another pot from pantry to get a few more Ls. Ended up with 16L overall at 1.052 once all combined. I didn't split hops though I just whacked it all in primary pot, but boiled the secondary for a full 60aswell.

 

[szopen]

You could even look at doing your mash in an esky and just using your pot for the boil, you'll be able to get 12ltrs no worries, I have 2 of these pots for a 24ltr batch...

I also mash in the esky, lauter in buckets of death, boil in two pots Big W and make 30L batches without problems.
All done in the kitchen too.

 

[Pokey]

My setup with BIAB in a 19 litre pot I would mash with 11 litres then lift the bag out put it in a large strainer and 'sparge' with water from the kettle. I would get 10 litres into a small fermentor.

 

[linny]

Heres my big W pot , i regulary do 13L batches in it ... loose about 2 hot kettle worth of water to sparge with

 

[pat86]

Linny is that a false bottom in your pot? Have you found a big advantage with it since you BIAB anyway and at what stage do you really use it, just extra filtering when transferring to FV?

Cheers,

 

[yum beer]

The false bottom will allow step mashes, ramping to mash out.
Just gives a much wider range of options then just a straight pot.

 

[hellbent]

There was once a guide here on AHB called the "$30 All Grain" method but it doesn't have pictures any longer, while it really was a landmark thread for the technique its usefulness has now become limited.

regardless to the fact it was a useful tutorial that got a bloody lot of people into AG Brewing, I think it's demise was from the fact it was started by someone whose name is mud on this site but helped a lot of newbies while here.

Edit: I crossed out NickJD and replaced it with "someone whose name is mud" for political correctness reasons

 

[paulmclaren11]

You can make 12 litres easy in your 19 ltr pot.

This thread got me onto BIAB and I made awesome beers with the method before upgrading to a Braumeister: http://aussiehomebrewer.com/topic/44264-20l-stovetop-all-grain-aussie-lager/

My method, from the top of my head used to be for 20 litre batches was:

- Mash in with about 12 - 14 litres (never really went more than 4kg of grain)
- Pull bag and squeeze, let drain in a bucket.
- Dunk sparge the bag with about 6 litres of water
- 90 min boil to allow the pot to keep being topped up with sparge goodies during the boil
- At end of boil top the pot up with boiling kettle water
- Let pot chill overnight
- Dump into FV and then dilute as needed. Always got around 19-20 ltrs depending on desired SG

Easy as!

 

[linny]

Yeah Pat, thats a false bottom. I needed it because the first time i scorched the bag... its only a perf plate with SS bolts about 40mm long its plenty to ramp the temp at full power. Below is my pic , i just fill my $6 fermenter bucket with a bigW airlock with hot water from the tap to the desired starting level which is around 50*C then i pour that into the Pot and dump my crushed grain from MHB straight in ,,, follow the instructions and then sparge then fill the Fermenter .... Job done. I tend to get around 78-79% efficiency of that helps people to guess grain amounts

 

[RdeVjun]

regardless to the fact it was a useful tutorial that got a bloody lot of people into AG Brewing

Yes indeed, couldn't agree more- a huge number of novices started All- Grain brewing with that method*, many of them much sooner and with far less risk than they would have otherwise faced.

* And still the case, although those big double ewe 19L pots may be getting hard to source now.