A Guide To All-grain Brewing In A Bag

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Good post Kingy, good posts Spills.

At the end of the day we are all making beer, some better than others (at least in their own minds). After all, there is no such thing as bad beer, only good beer and better beer. If someone doesn't like my good beer, all the more for me.

Seriously, if BIAB can make good, drinkable beer. With good efficiency (75-80%), without the extra lifting, pumping (transferring), vessels and in less time. What's the problem?

We all (I assume) started with K&K and graduated to AG. We all make wort that yeast turns to beer. Fly sparge, batch sparge, rectangular tun, round tun, braid manifold, copper manifold, false bottom, march pump, HERMS, BIAB etc. etc they are all different methods people use to turn grain to fermentable wort. I really don't understand why BIAB has attracted such criticism.
If it was called 'Single vessel brewing' I believe it would have been received better.

Time for another (BIAB) beer.
 
Hashie,
you have hit the nail on the head as well. Does it really matter how you make your beer? I would say that most people when they first started K+K they thought their beer was good.
Once you graduate up from that you know you are making better beer.

Isn't the main reason we make our beer b/c it's great fun to do? I know it is for me, and then you get to drink great beer at the end. No down sides I can see.

Spills as always has put up a great post. Always good to read and informative. Usually says whats on my mind, except i can never seem to put it into words.

Kingy, great to see you are loving your brewing and drinking of beer again. I was a bit worried when you said it was becoming a chore, but that seems to be rectified. :super: .

I just wish I had more time to brew, but at least I love doing what I am doing, even it is BIAB.
eric
 
Guys, in the last 3 post you have encaptulated , at least for mine, why we all brew and are here in the first place. To brew good beer and hopefully make it better.

I have just made my fisrt partial brew in the last few days, but have been brewing for about 4 years now. The reason I have tried it is because of the encouragement I have recieved from everyone on the site

At the end of the day, so long as the people drinking the beer enjoy it, then for mine it is a great beer. Be it BIAB, full, partial or kit. Good beer is good beer.

At the end of a hard days work, is there anything better than pouring something you have created, taking that first sip and thinking to yourself "I made that.... and I love it"
 
"I made that..and i love it" :beerbang:
Who cares HOW i made it...... :)
End of rant :beer:
PJ
 
Nothing wrong with BIAB, just there are easier, more reproducible ways to do it.

cheers

Darren
 
Nothing wrong with BIAB, just there are easier, more reproducible ways to do it.

cheers

Darren


So, when you tried BIAB you found it harder Darren? Was there a particular part you had trouble with? Perhaps one of the more experienced BIABers has a solution for you. Thats what this thread is for after all, despite what it sometimes seems like.

How many BIAB brews did you do? I assume it was at least a few so that you can so confidently say that it was the method rather than inexperience on your part that made it difficult. Because of course I know that no one who thought they could command even a shred of credibility would be so obtuse as to pass judgment on the ease of a process that they had in fact not tried for themselves...

However I'm afraid that I utterly reject the "reproducible" part of your comment... you are just manifestly and obviously trotting out a statement simply because you like the sound of it. Please tell me unambiguously just which part of the BIAB process makes it in any way not just as reproducible as any other given physical feat?


You see, don't you? That this is why BIAB people get a little annoyed and defensive on occasion... POL was fine in most of her comments.. she outlined issues she saw, and gave reasons for her beliefs. That way people could provide opinions and /or evidence to either agree with her or oppose her point of view.. where she simply opined without reason.. people pointed it out. sternly.

So I'm pointing it out to you... if you don't want to BIAB, OK. But if you want to state as fact that BIAB has certain negative attributes, or that while it works, it works less well than an alternative; at least have the good grace to provide some sort of reason why you hold the opinion. Debate is fine, dogmatism is just boring.

I was really enjoying the last few posts on this thread... people were displaying some really mature and nicely human attitudes towards the hobby we all enjoy. Why cant it be like that all the time.

"I made that... and I love it" ........... surely that has to be good enough ?

Thirsty
 
You see, don't you? That this is why BIAB people get a little annoyed and defensive on occasion... POL was fine in most of his comments.. he outlined issues he saw, and gave reasons for his beliefs. That way people could provide opinions and /or evidence to either agree with him or oppose his point of view.. where he simply opined without reason.. people pointed it out. sternly.

Pint raised some stellar points, as she consistently tends to do. My favourite one is that while BIAB might be an excellent introduction to brewing, there are many other good methods for beginners and there are many better methods for experienced brewers.
 
Pint raised some stellar points, as she consistently tends to do. My favourite one is that while BIAB might be an excellent introduction to brewing, there are many other good methods for beginners and there are many better methods for experienced brewers.


Pint did raise some great points.. but as you no doubt read... they all (but one) actually turn out to not be the issue that Pint thought they would be. It really is all in the 40 plus pages....

I agree absolutely there are many other good methods for beginner brewers. Everything from BIAB through to a re-circulating mash system... they are all great, and mostly not all that hard to do.

Having actually tried pretty much all of them though, its my opinion that the simplest and easiest of them all is BIAB. Hotly followed at not too great a distance, by a braid and esky set-up.

Its the next sentence of yours that I don't agree with at all.
". . . and there are many better methods for experienced brewers . . ."

I don't think thats true, I have tried beers produced using all the methods and I fail to see any trend whatsoever of one being "better" than the others. I have had fantastic BIAB beers and terrible beers produced on a HERMS. Surely the measure of "better" as a brewing technique is the beer it produces. So then doesn't that make BIAB better than a HERMS?? Of course it doesn't...

Yet you state as fact that there are "better" methods for experienced brewers; and in exactly the same manner as Darren, you say it without providing any reason or evidence as to why you believe it is so.

I am interested in brewing great beer.. I really want to know what these better methods are. I'd appreciate it if you could tell me.

PS: appologise for the wrong gender references in my last post. I have fixed them
 
My understanding of BIAB is it was designed as a good method for new brewers to make an all-grain beer with a minimum of headache over equipment and technique, both big hurdles for anyone who is new to the game.

My first point, good methods for beginners:

My first grain brew was a partial mash in the kitchen; 2.5kg of ale malt, some Perle and a Grumpy's XXXX masterbrew. Mashed in a 6-pack esky, first runnings collected with a jug & sieve and the same again for the sparge. Boiled on the kitchen stove in a twenty dollar pot from whatever cheap shop was local at the time. It had all the limitations of a partial mash brew but was a solid introduction to brewing with grain at the same time. The only thing I actually bought for this exercise was the cheapo 17L pot, everything else was in my kitchen already (including a 9L pot for heating hot liquor, even that's not too far out of the norm). As far as cheap, simple and easy goes, I think there are methods that are at least the equal of BIAB.

My second point, better methods for experienced brewers:

There are a lot of points here, that cover different categories. I guess it's easiest do differentiate them as what's good for the brewer and what's good for the beer. Some or all of these points have been raised already, no doubt.

Liquor:Grist ratio. Sure, it'll work ok with a "full volume" mash (ie you'll get conversion), but is it going to work ok for every brew? What if i you use a high proportion of adjunct? What if your malt is old and slack? What if you're after that extra level of fermentability? Are your enzymes going to cope? Note, this is assuming that brewers in a bag are mashing with their full liquor volume, my understanding of the process is this is how it's being done. Merely using a bag to mash/lauter is a different kettle of fish.

If the bag doesn't prevent particulate matter being removed as it would in an ordinary vorlauf, then I'd see that as an issue. I guess that would depend on your bag though?

Flexibiity. High gravity, low gravity, thin mash, thick mash. Decoction. Partigyle. Cold steeping. Double brew day. Triple brew day. All strange words that scare new brewers.

When it comes down to it, flexibility is the one that concerns me the most. I'm not brewing at home solely to make beer. I'm brewing for the sake of it, and you can't tell me that brewing with me grain in a bag will afford me the same level of flexibilty as the method of my choice will.

When it comes down to it though, it's all about the beer. I'm putting down my first and only BIAB this weekend and I'm looking forward to every minute of it :party:
 
My understanding of BIAB is it was designed as a good method for new brewers to make an all-grain beer with a minimum of headache over equipment and technique, both big hurdles for anyone who is new to the game.

My first point, good methods for beginners:

My first grain brew was a partial mash in the kitchen; 2.5kg of ale malt, some Perle and a Grumpy's XXXX masterbrew. Mashed in a 6-pack esky, first runnings collected with a jug & sieve and the same again for the sparge. Boiled on the kitchen stove in a twenty dollar pot from whatever cheap shop was local at the time. It had all the limitations of a partial mash brew but was a solid introduction to brewing with grain at the same time. The only thing I actually bought for this exercise was the cheapo 17L pot, everything else was in my kitchen already (including a 9L pot for heating hot liquor, even that's not too far out of the norm). As far as cheap, simple and easy goes, I think there are methods that are at least the equal of BIAB.

My second point, better methods for experienced brewers:

There are a lot of points here, that cover different categories. I guess it's easiest do differentiate them as what's good for the brewer and what's good for the beer. Some or all of these points have been raised already, no doubt.

Liquor:Grist ratio. Sure, it'll work ok with a "full volume" mash (ie you'll get conversion), but is it going to work ok for every brew? What if i you use a high proportion of adjunct? What if your malt is old and slack? What if you're after that extra level of fermentability? Are your enzymes going to cope? Note, this is assuming that brewers in a bag are mashing with their full liquor volume, my understanding of the process is this is how it's being done. Merely using a bag to mash/lauter is a different kettle of fish.

If the bag doesn't prevent particulate matter being removed as it would in an ordinary vorlauf, then I'd see that as an issue. I guess that would depend on your bag though?

Flexibiity. High gravity, low gravity, thin mash, thick mash. Decoction. Partigyle. Cold steeping. Double brew day. Triple brew day. All strange words that scare new brewers.

When it comes down to it, flexibility is the one that concerns me the most. I'm not brewing at home solely to make beer. I'm brewing for the sake of it, and you can't tell me that brewing with me grain in a bag will afford me the same level of flexibilty as the method of my choice will.

When it comes down to it though, it's all about the beer. I'm putting down my first and only BIAB this weekend and I'm looking forward to every minute of it :party:


But see you illustrate my point.. only a few pages in the thread back, most of your points were addressed.

oh and BTW, I did my first BIAB (not partial mash, AG) in the kitchen for a total cost of $3.50 for the 1meter of voil... which one of us wins?. who cares really. Besides, remember, there was no argument about there being several different and good ways for a new AG brewer to go. I tried several of them out and I think BIAB is the easiest. But that doesn't make any of the others hard.

L:G ratio has been done to death I'm afraid... unfortunately the people who use it as an argument against BIAB cant decide whether the beers wont convert properly (they do) whether they will be overly dextrinous (they aren't) or whether they will be too thin and overly fermentable (again, they aren't) The overriding result of the actual beers produced.. is that the main influencing factor is, as it is in other forms of brewing, temperature. I mash at 1C lower when I BIAB to compensate.. and that allows me as much control over wort fermentability when I BIAB as I get when I use my HERMS.

You are right about it perhaps not being right for "every" brew, and its a point that has been made by several of the more verbose BIAB proponents, that brews at the "extremes" will be playing to the potential weaknesses of the method.

- Very high levels of Adjunct that require conversion might be an issue (up to 25% is OK, I've tried it, but haven't gone further)

- Slack grain... c'mon, no matter what system you have, you wont produce your best beer with bad grain. Would you really advise someone to change brewing systems to cope with slack grain? or would you tell them to brew a beer with it (maybe mash a little longer) take what they get, and try to turn their grain over a little more regularly?

- The one you missed that might also be an issue, is trying to do a single infusion at temperature extremes... right at the limits of Amalayse activity.. and you might bump into the "line" a bit earlier with BIAB than with another method. Dont really know if anyone has tried it out in a decently constructed side by side.

Particulate matter in the boil.. yep. There is more in BIAB. But then again, there is more in the boil of someone who simply vorlaufs a few litres and drains, than there is in the wort of someone who recirculates their wort for the entire mash.. I have yet to hear a convincing and unchallenged argument that says that clear wort is actually a precursor to better beer.. even the professional texts don't uniformly agree. It seems to be mainly that brewers "prefer" a clear wort.

It could lead to long term stability issues.. but I think that its been made clear that we know that. We are waiting till there is a bit of a body of actual evidence built up in some aged beers.. if its an issue, then we need to start flagging it as a limitation in the method. At 6 months.. we know we are OK... longer term, we are waiting to see.

- "Flexibiity. High gravity, low gravity, thin mash, thick mash. Decoction. Partigyle. Cold steeping. Double brew day. Triple brew day."

Well thick mash/ thin mash would obviously take some significant juggling of the original method, possible once you have been playing with it for a while, but lets just say that thats out. Fair enough.

Partigyle, not necessarily out (been giving this some thought) it could be done and would actually result in you brewing with a far more traditional L:G ratio.. use your imagination.

High/Low grav. Well I've brewed a Barley wine and a Scottish 60. Decoction, done it, easier than from my mash tun, you just pull up the bag a little to access the thick portion of the grain. Cold steeping, of course you could, double, triple brew days, of course you could. I've also done a cereal mash and a sour mash. I step mash every BIAB brew I do and have done a comprehensive right through. Dough-in, acid, Beta Glucan, low protien, high protien, Beta, Alpha and mashout... its a PITA, but it is on my normal AG system too.. I actually hit rest temps a little more accurately with the BIAB, but thats probably because I do smaller batches.

So the flexibility is there..

Its all about little differences, some methods are better for some things, some are better for others. Thats all I am trying to get across... BIAB isn't a better, nor is it a worse way of making beer. Its just another way of making beer. I think its a particularly attractive one for new AG brewers, but I also think its a perfectly valid brewing technique in its own right.

I'm glad you are actually going to try doing a brew.. but I really hope you give it more of a chance than 'one and only'. It might not turn out so great, but if you completely changed methods to a non-biab technique, would that not also be possible then? Like all the other methods, it takes a couple of goes to finese.

If your just trying it for a lark, fair enough and good on you too, don't bother with more than one; But if you are seriously trying to evaluate it as a method.. give it a bit more of a run. Trust me, the beers will not turn out so badly that you will need to tip them or anything.

I appreciate the response you made to my last post.. if all the posts were like yours.. then things would have been much more civilised around here lately.

Cheers and good luck with the brew

Thirsty
 
thirsty,

sorry for the slow response, been working my way round to it.

equipment - i assume you already owned a pot of 40L or greater? I'd say most people don't. That can be an expensive outlay.

L:G - yeah, I don't doubt that BIABers still make good beers even with the L:G ratios they're using. The proof is in the pudding, after all. However, this ties in with the extreme conditions that you say even BIAB proponents say may affect conditions. I think a mash is more likely to go wrong in a BIAB then it is with a more traditional mash regime, for all the reasons I mentioned before. That doesn't mean I think it's very likely, it may be a fart in a million depending on your brewing habits.

And you're right about temperature, but that just slots in alongside my point. Introduce temperature variance and it's all the safer to have a L:G ratio considered optimal for whatever enzymes are involved. And I'd say not many homebrewers bother to calibrate their thermometers. I know I've had some out by a few degrees or more in past. And again.. you'll still probably make good beer, most or almost all of the time.

Particulate matter - Yeah, it does seem to be ambiguous whether it's better to have it al gone or not. However, I definitely prefer to remove as much as conveniently possible. Maybe the placebo effect makes it feel better, but I know that less crap at the start of the boil = less crap at the end = less crap in the fermenter. I like that, and a couple litres of recirculating gives far, far less particulate matter than a BIAB does. More than a really solid vorlauf would, sure, but then again I've never had a mash recirc to clarity. Maybe one day...

Flexibility - yeah, you're right high and low gravs are both possible. Step mashing, I definitely understand is doable. Decoction, I don't understand how you do with a single vessel (I have been working under the assumption that BIAB is a single vessel system). Same with partigyles. And I'd love to see how long a triple brew day would take.

And you're right, it's a different way of brewing. No arguments here. My main motivation for posting was that I think there are a ) easier and cheaper methods for beginners and b ) better, more flexibile methods for experienced brewers. I don't think either of us would disagree there.

As for my BIAB, well it was a fun day and I made a great-tasting Pacific Gem ESB. Bloody thing won't drop below 1.018 though... not that I blame the bag...
 
I'll be attending G&G's BIAB day, really looking forward to it and it couldn't have come at a better time as I have my grain sitting on my desk as I type. Just got to pick up a tap etc for my new pot and I'm set :)
 
My main motivation for posting was that I think there are a ) easier and cheaper methods for beginners and b ) better, more flexibile methods for experienced brewers. I don't think either of us would disagree there.

Not so unfortunately.. I think we are just at a dead lock of intractable disagreement.

I absolutely do believe that BIAB is the easiest and cheapest way for a beginner to go fully AG, or I wouldn't recommend it as such. If you don't feel the same way, then we must just obviously define simple and cheap differently.

As a matter of fact that is the reason I find myself stridently sticking up for the method when it isn't even the main way I make beer... I think it is compellingly more appropriate for new brewers. And I want to encourage more brewers to brew from grain... so I promote BIAB as the way to do it if all the other stuff has made you shy away. And lets face it, all the other stuff DOES make people shy away.

while I believe that the beginners thing is the most important reason to actively encourage BIAB, I just also plain see it as a perfectly legitimate brewing technique in its own right.... simply one of the alternatives. Neither better now worse than any of the others

And so therefore I don't agree that the other methods of AG brewing are either better nor more flexible for the advanced brewer.

Better is so relative a term that it is almost pointless, there just isn't any way to prove it one way or another, I think ALL the methods are around equal in their ability to produce good beer, subject to the skill of the brewer.

There is a little give and take in all of them... fly sparge can get the best efficiency - but you have to be careful of the ph in the sparge or you get tannins, Batch sparge is easier and simpler - but you lose efficiency and you usually need a bigger mash tun than for fly, in BIAB you need to be careful of your temps if you go "extreme" - but you take up a lot less room in the shed..... and so on and so on. If one way is definitively better than all the others... why aren't we all brewing that way??

As for Flexible - I dont see where the less flexible argument wasn't easily answered by my last post?? All the examples of "flexibility" you have mentioned... I can do with BIAB. Oh and just to be sure.. I did a brew with Spills tonight where we did indeed do a partigyle brew.

Of course for a cereal mash, for partigyle, or for decoction... you need another pot, in exactly the same fashion you need an extra pot if you do any of those things on any other sort of system.. they are advanced techniques that need it.. so with BIAB you are up to a grand total of 2 pots if you want to do a decoction. On my normal system, I'm up to 4...

I'm waiting for the beer that people can point to that I cant brew BIAB... I haven't been able to think of one. I also cant think of a variation of the standard brewing techniques that cant be adapted to BIAB, there might be one, but its none of the ones you thought of, and I haven't thought of one.


So unfortunately we cant agree there.. there are points of opinion, where we are just obviously of a different mind, and it seems, some things that you just dont believe me on. Oh well.

Long live the difference, it make the world a more interesting place I suppose.

Thirsty
 
And I want to encourage more brewers to brew from grain... so I promote BIAB as the way to do it if all the other stuff has made you shy away. And lets face it, all the other stuff DOES make people shy away.

If that's the point of BIAB, then I suppose I'm living proof. I saw BIAB as the simplest and cheapest way of turning my extract gear (i.e. one pot) into an AG set-up. No alterations to existing equipment, no risk. I just jumped straight in and started doing it.

I own an esky and I reckon I could make a braid in the same time that I made my bag, but for some reason BIAB stood out as the ultimate risk-free piece-of-piss project. I'm learning about all the gear and methods as I go and I may end up with another method as my favourite, but BIAB fast tracked me down that path.

Most people are comfortable with steeping grains by the time they consider AG, which is probably why BIAB stands out as more attractive than something equally simple like a braid or bucket-in-bucket.

I'm sure there are plenty of people like me who have been lured to AG by BIAB. For this reason alone it should be judged a success.
 
Hi, sorry if its been discussed already (couldnt be bothered sifting through 47 pages :p) But you must be able to reduce the cost significantly (ie the burner and stockpot) buy using a big food grade pail and a kettle element. Electric BIAB! :) - would need to make sure teh bag sits off he element though I guess..

edit: actually, im certain I couldnt be the first to think of this, it seems like a pretty obvious thing to try and do :p
 
Hey Sammus, there are people who do electric BIAB. Spillsmostofit is one that comes to mind, I believe he uses immersion heaters. Might be worth a PM if your interested.
 
Yep - my FB Boiler gets heated with two 2400watt 'over-the-side' immersion heaters. More than enough energy falls out of them to get a standard sized brew looking like an annoyed lava pool and one day soon it will get tested on a double batch.

When the over-the-side heaters die, I think I will be installing fixed elements in that boiler along with a false bottom, just because I can (and it works out a bit cheaper if you're happy boring more holes in your boiler).

I believe Poppa Joe might make his beer in a plastic bucket. I just can't bring myself to boil in plastic...
 
Hi, sorry if its been discussed already (couldnt be bothered sifting through 47 pages :p) But you must be able to reduce the cost significantly (ie the burner and stockpot) buy using a big food grade pail and a kettle element. Electric BIAB! :) - would need to make sure teh bag sits off he element though I guess..

Justing looking through my post history I find:

http://www.aussiehomebrewer.com/forum/inde...c=12282&hl=

A bit later I posed this:

I've just started BIABing and my setup cost about $150.

Breakdown:
$100 - 60ltr ally pot delivered (see allquip or kenscom online)
$18 - two electric jugs from the warehouse
$15 - brass tap from bunnings
$6 - material for the bag

AG beer & a world of new tastes - priceless.

I think I was about the 3 guy doing BIAB after Pat and jimmysuperlative... Pat was living just up the road at the time.

Hey looking at the dates... I've just passed my 1 year anniversary of AG brewing.
 
That's got to be worth a celebratory glass of AGHB...

So then... you can hoist a celebratory glass of AGHB that you brewed by EBIAB (and maybe NC) in your FBpot .... the acronyms here are worse than APEC


btw ... happy first anniversary zizzle.

Thirsty
 

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