A Guide To All-grain Brewing In A Bag

[wambesi]

and dont listen to the things I say to closely... I am notoriously unreliable

Taking your advice then and ignoring that line

I've always left my temps to whatever the recipes have said and that's worked for me, like you said everyone's equipment is slightly different and what works on mine might not necessarily work on yours...

 

[Clarity]

Hi, I am really new here, I have just gotten back into brewing and lost much of my skill and talent from 15 years ago... Since returning to brewing I have been pretty much sticking to K&K, with slight modifications.

I was originaly going to move to extract brewing next, but after reading this thread and the guide I think I might move straight to BIAB and skip extract brewing. AG has always been my plan for the long term but it will take too much money and effort to set up a "proper" brewery. BIAB is the best plan for me right now.

now to shop...

oooooo shopping

I love shopping. :icon_chickcheers:

 

[Bribie G]

Welcome back, you'll notice a lot of things have happened in the last fifteen years !!
If you have about three hundred dollars or can buy better on EBay why not join the Electric Urn revolution B) and cut out the big brew pots, gas bottles, NASA burners etc.

Then later if you decide to go to three vessel brewing you'll still have an excellent hot liquor / sparge liquor tun.

 

[wambesi]

Hi CC, As you have (or will) read BIAB really is a simple, effective and inexpensive way to brew all grain.
Download the guides and check out Thirsty's guide as well which was written up on a US brewing forum.

For your first time I highly recommend sticking to the proven guides and then branch out from there, the material quoted (swiss voile) is one of the better materials for the job, and I would say almost all of the BIABers use - although there are some who use other types.

Stick to these and ask any questions you come up with here, it's most likely been asked before and I wouldn't expect you to sit down read and memorise 1000+ posts in this thread! So ask away and we'll all help out as much as possible.

Once you have some brews up, there is also the BIAB brewers register located here where you can add your details.

Happy brewing! :chug: and drinking!

 

[Mantis]

My wife went to spotlight to get some Swiss Voile and returned with a cotton fabric. They said at the store that they had never heard of Swiss Voile in nylon/polyester.

I went to spotlight and found what I think is the right stuff and the same as my smaller partial mash bag. It is 100% polyester and was labelled veoro voile or something like that.

I am sure that the same stuff would have been labelled swiss voile when I got the material for the partial mash bag, because if it was labelled something else I wouldnt have got it.

Anyway, the missus will make up my big bag this weekend and grain is on the way next week. So next weekend looks like the go for my first BIAB AG. It will be no chill as well

 

[wambesi]

From my experience with spotlights both in Vic and NSW their staff don't seem to have much idea - well some of them anyway.
Now I tend to look myself, and if I need to ask someone I find the oldest "mum" looking lady around!

Avoid the younger reps who don't have much of an idea and it's "just a job"

Sounds like what you found in the end should be the trick, let us know how you go.

 

[Thirsty Boy]

My wife went to spotlight to get some Swiss Voile and returned with a cotton fabric. They said at the store that they had never heard of Swiss Voile in nylon/polyester.

I went to spotlight and found what I think is the right stuff and the same as my smaller partial mash bag. It is 100% polyester and was labelled veoro voile or something like that.

I am sure that the same stuff would have been labelled swiss voile when I got the material for the partial mash bag, because if it was labelled something else I wouldnt have got it.

Anyway, the missus will make up my big bag this weekend and grain is on the way next week. So next weekend looks like the go for my first BIAB AG. It will be no chill as well

From Afromaiko's visit to Spotlight I beleive...

 

[Mantis]

View attachment 24183View attachment 24182

From Afromaiko's visit to Spotlight I beleive...

Thanks TB and I reckon thats exactly what it was labeled when I got the stuff for my small bag.
Anyhooo, the missus has sown up the bag to fit my 50lt pot, so now to wait for the grain to arrive.

 

[troopa]

Bribie or someone else, could you please post a pic or link to the Urn that you use

just curious as i figure its gonna cost me about $300 for a bigger pot and burner as it is

so may as well open up some more options before gouing in to deep

Thanks tom

 

[dr K]

Ahhh..Troopa, therein lies the heart of BIAB/Full Volume Brewing.
You skip the mash tun, you save money, you save space and you save time.
Boring old fart brewers who stick to their unhealthy mash tun philosophy are presented with the following scenario.
54 litre (3 kegs)Batch Option (divide as required for your set-up).
12kg grain which has a volume of 18 odd litres is doughed in with 30 litres of mash liquor in a 55 litre cooler box, the grain absorbs quite some of the water but it also swells to about 36 litres, the nett result during the mash is about 52 litres and after final draining about 45 litres, pushing the limits...yes but it fits with 3 litres to spare!
Boring old fart time wasting sparging to get about 70 litres in the kettle, which is about what you need for 54 litres. So big a kettle is required...mmmm if you were willing to watch like a hawk then you could maybe get away with 80 litres (rememebering that as the wort evaporates your volume decreases) but 90 litres would be a safe bet and anything larger a no-brainer or no watcher.
Our Modern BIAB Man makes life easy, he adds all volume first which indicates an L:G ratio of 7:1 rather than the 2.5:1 used by our hypothetical old fart.
So thats, lets see, 84 litres of mash liquor and 36 litres of swollen grain (120 litres) less the water absorption of the grain we come in at 106 litres brimming.
This is fantastic...our 110 litre plus brew kettle easily accomadates all the grain (well just but no different to the old farts expensive esky set up which is borderline as well) and we not have boil over, my tummy gets so excited about these things.
We just need a bigger boiler.

K

 

[mikelinz]

View attachment 24183View attachment 24182

From Afromaiko's visit to Spotlight I beleive...

The problem is that true voile is very fine cotton(cotton blend) fabric.. So if you ask for voile that is what you will get offered. The wife had some and we tried it and it didn't work, the fabric tore when trying to get it out. and yes swiss voile it seems is cotton too, judgeing by the 100% cotton references on the google search i did. . Some clever marketing person was obviously trying to flog a nice fine completly man made fabric that looked a bit like the real thing so called it swiss voile too is my guess.

I have used three different types of white poly net curtian frabric, i just choose the really fine weave stuff and all three have been fine. And every piece has come out of the remnant bin for about $2 so i get a BIAB bag and hop bags out of each piece. Changed mash tuns, stuck one to the bottom the mash tun and made one to replace the melted one.

rgds mike

 

[Bribie G]

Bribie or someone else, could you please post a pic or link to the Urn that you use

just curious as i figure its gonna cost me about $300 for a bigger pot and burner as it is

so may as well open up some more options before gouing in to deep

Thanks tom

40L urn makes up either a 23 L batch to be cubed, or a 25 L batch (I bottle 24 litres so need a couple of litres extra) no problems. Currently at work so don't have access to the piccies, will post in the morning.
Cheers.

 

[troopa]

Bribie finally got round to doing a search and found a couple of options

1 is the high powered 3000w birko
2 a cheaper 2400w crown urn or similar

what im curious about is the birko with the larger element worth it and will the open element in the birko going to effect the Swisse Voile and cleaning?
or are we better off using an enclosed element like in the crown?

BTW can you tell me how long it takes to get the 25 litres to the boil?

Dr.K LOL thanks for your post that was good and i do agree with everything you said
i had already intended to going the BIAB route and have the swisse voile in hand and ready to be sewn up when SWMBO gets around to it :|
the only decision i have to make is weather a 40litre Elect urn is going to be a better option for me then going an 80litre stock pot and gas and being able to do double batches

thanks tom

 

[crundle]

I have been wondering about the benefits the Crown urn might have over the Birko, namely the concealed element, and was wondering if it is necessary to have a cake stand or similar in the bottom of the Crown urn while the element is on. I am assuming that being concealed, it uses some type of fluid in the bottom of the urn around the element, which would avoid the creation of hot spots in the urn.

If that is the case, would the Crown urn be a better choice for doing step mashes, and does anyone do step mashes in their urn setups?

I am waiting on some back pay from work then splashing out on a 40 litre urn, so I have been following this thread and others on urns with great interest. I am only interested in doing batches for single kegging, so 40 litres will be ample for me.

Crundle

 

[Bribie G]

Actually I found 2 options for the Birko 40L

2400w plugs into your existing socket. Tad over $300 from catering suppliers and Aus owned and made.
3400w that requires an electrician to fit a 15 amp circuit and socket.

The 2400 handles it great. At no point are you actually heating 23 L to a boil: as follows:

You start off with about 34 L and bring to strike temp, about 69 degrees for a 66 mash. takes about 25 mins.

What I do is

• switch the urn off, lower bag and secure around lip of urn with pegs. Pour and mix grain (thin stream to avoid doughballs)
• Temp check then wrap urn in feather doonah and walk away for an hour. Drops to about 65 over the hour.
• Raise bag and as it's draining, switch power back on again to boil, as the wort is at 65 it only takes about another 25 mins to crack a boil.
• Swing squeezed bag out of way. I usually end up with about 28 ish litres and boil down to 23 for cubing. I suspend hopsock on same skyhook as the bag.

So the element never gets turned on in contact with the bag.
Flattop in Melb. got a Crown flat bottom on Ebay and paid a bit over $200 - you might want to PM him and see how he got on with that. I read a post yonks ago that they take longer to heat than the Birko but he should be able to give you the stats on that.

Cheers
Michael

 

[Mantis]

Well I have received and installed the ball valve , pickup tube etc to my 50lt pot. So ready to do my first AG this Saturday. Can someone tell me if I am on the money with these water calcs for a BIAB to end up with 21.5lt for my small cube.

21.5 to cube. 23 post boil.
Loss to boil 15% so 27L
0.7L/kg absorption for 5.5kg so 30.85L
Round up to 38L

And looking for an SG of around 1050

cheers and thanks

 

[Hashie]

I'm guessing you mean "round up to 31 litres"

Other wise your calcs look good, I work to 0.5L/kg absorption. But even at o.7L/kg you'll be in the ball park.

Good luck with it and remember to have fun

 

[Bribie G]

Houston to Apollo, calculations look good, pitch is good, gimballs are good, go for insertion into moon orbit.

:beerbang:

I'll check that loss to absorbtion by the grain, I keep forgetting to bring the bathroom scales into the brewhaus, will do that next time.

 

[Mantis]

hehe, yes I did mean round up to 31lt. Must have been staring at my avatar

Thanks guys.
Bribie, do you mean weigh the spent grain bag to calc the water absorbed.

 

[Katherine]

Good Luck... and don't forget to update on Biab wiki!